Watch inventor Léon Theremin show off the Theremin in 1954
Utilised by everyone from Led Zeppelin to Dmitri Shostakovich, the Theremin is perhaps the strangest instrument ever to be discovered totally by accident. Here, Soviet inventor Léon Theremin demonstrates his creation in a short film recorded in 1954 for the Soviet government.
The Theremin wasn’t designed for musical purposes. In fact, it was an accidental byproduct of Soviet-sponsored research into proximity sensors, hence why you don’t even need to touch the instrument to play it. Instead, the thereminist moves their hands in the proximity of two metal antennas. The pitch of a note is determined by the distance from one antenna, while the distance from the other determines the volume. The closer the hand, the higher the note.
The Theremin was unveiled in 1919 and was originally known as the Aetherphone. This first model featured a foot pedal, but Theramin eventually decided that it would be far more intriguing to have the operator play the air itself. In 1922, he travelled to the Kremlin, where he demonstrated the instrument to Vladimir Lenin, who was impressed by its futuristic charm. Over the next few years, Léon toured Europe, giving demonstrations to packed auditoriums. Eventually, he settled in America, where he debuted the instrument at the Plaza Hotel. It was here, during Léon’s performance with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, that the classical violinist Clara Rockmore first heard the instrument. She would later record an entire album of classical reworks using the Theremin.
After setting up a lab in New York and working with composer Joseph Schillinger to create the Rhythmicon – an early drum machine – Theremin abruptly returned to the Soviet Union in 1938. Rumours that he’d been kidnapped and killed by the Soviet government began to circulate. In fact, Leon had returned for tax reasons, but he was arrested shortly after his return and sent to work in the Kolyma gold mines. He was later moved to a secret laboratory in the Gulag camps system, where he worked with other leading scientists to invent eavesdropping technology.
After the end of the Second World War, there was a wave of interest in the Theremin, and several amazing recordings remain from this golden age. Sadly, the instrument fell into disuse by serious musicians when Moog began introducing early synth technology. By this time, Léon had stopped working for the KGB and taken up a position at the Moscow Conservatory of Music. It was only in 1989, by which time he’d spent 51 years in the Soviet Union, that he started travelling again. In 1991, he was invited to America by director Steven Martin, where he was at least reunited with Clara Rockwell.
