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Sunday, August 29, 2010
Two rare videos of Leon Theremin and his daughter Natalia Theremin Kavan have been posted to YouTube by ThereminFamily.org. In the first, Leon and Natalia Theremin perform Glinka's Skylark in 1987. According to a comment on the site, this is one of the songs he performed for Lenin.
In the second video, Natlia Theremin performs on the theremin with piano accompaniment by Rubin Abdullin.
These two videos are a rare glimpse into Theremin family history and certainly a treasure! Special thanks to YouTube user Lirego for posting these!
Watch: Leon and Natalia Theremin Perform in 1987 (YouTube)
Watch: Natalia Theremin and Rubin Abdullin (YouTube)
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Friday, August 13, 2010
This Sunday, August 15th, is Lev Termen's birthday, he was known as
Leon Theremin in the U.S. We champion the theremin as a serious classical and experimental instrument, but the early popular side of the theremin in records and film is important too. The flying saucer would not have had it's iconic ooo00OO00ooo sound, there would not have been a Tannerin (see Beach Boys), or even the Moog Synthesizer without Lev's invention.
It is very likely that up until the YouTube era, Samuel J. Hoffman was the most heard thereminst in America. He was the primary, if not only, thereminst in Hollywood during the forties and fifties recording records and film scores, and even some T.V appearances.
For Lev's birthday this year I'll indulge my love for B Movies. No "The Day the Earth...", "Ten Commandments" or "Spellbound" this time, here's a short list of B Flicks and Spooky Movies you'll hear the theremin in.
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The Thing from Another World (1951)
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It Came from Outer Space (1953)
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The She-Creature (1956)
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The Indestructible Man (1956)
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The Queen of Outer Space (1958)
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House on Haunted Hill (1959)
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The First Spaceship on Venus (1960)
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Journey to the Seventh Planet (1962)
(this might be a Tannerin)
Please add on your favorites in the comments!
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Monday, June 21, 2010
Oregon Public Broadcasting's "History Detectives" will investigate different historical artifacts in each episode to reveal more of the interconnectedness of things.
The season finale will be about the Theremin and it's inventor Leon Theremin. Should be a great episode, there is a ton of interesting connections to sleuth out in that story! |
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Monday, November 02, 2009
Lev Termem, also known as Leon Theremin, died in Russia on November 3rd, 1993.
His invention of the theremin has been key to all of us. It's survival through the years into our times was dependent
on the inspiration and hard work of
other great individuals like
Bob Moog and
Clara Rockmore whose lives were touched by Lev and his work. Like ripples in a pond,
it is up to us to continue and expand
on what Lev started back in 1917 when our wonderful instrument was born.
In his forward to
THEREMIN: ETHER MUSIC AND ESPIONAGE
by Albert Glinsky, Bob Moog wrote:
""Around this time, the documentary filmmaker Steven Martin contacted me.
He told me that he planned to produce a feature-length documentary film on Theremin's life and work,
and he asked for my assistance. He wanted to film Clara Rockmore as she played her theremin in public,
but her instrument was not working at the time, and in fact had not been working for several years.
Martin asked me to come to Ms.. Rockmore's apartment to help restore her instrument.
The opportunity to work on an instrument that Leon Theremin himself had built was too attractive to resist,
so I agreed to do it. I arrived at Mrs. Rockmore's apartment with my tool kit and test equipment on a Friday.
Michael Jansen (Mrs. Rockmore's regular technician) and I completely dismantled her instrument.
We found many components that were faulty and had to be replaced. By Sunday afternoon we had reassembled the
instrument. Mrs. Rockmore then tried it by playing a few notes. "No" she said impatiently, "it doesn't play right".
Michael and I reset some internal adjustments, and Mrs. Rockmore tried the instrument again.
"No, it's still not right" she said. Once again, we reset the adjustments. Mrs. Rockmore tried a few notes,
then proceeded with George Gershwin's "Summertime" from beginning to end. At the end, tears were in her eyes.
She turned to us and said "I was afraid I would never be able to play that instrument again."
At that moment I sensed a strong spiritual connection with Leon Theremin, a feeling that remains with me even now.
I consider that that moment was the high point of my professional career.""
Thank you Lev, we remember and we'll carry it on!
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Friday, August 14, 2009
Saturday is Lev Termen's birthday. Man! where would we be without him?
He was born was born August 15, 1896 in Russia.
According to Albert Glinsky's book, Theremin: ETHER MUSIC AND ESPIONAGE,
around 1920 when Lev Termen, as a young man, was
newly accepted to work in the Physico-Technical Institute his first
project assignment involved using the body as a capacitor which could interfere
with an electrical circuit without touching it and set off a signal
to create the first invisible burglar alarm.
Lev's next assignment was to
measure gas fluctuations using the harmonics of a tuned circuit, or
oscillator, and the oscillator issued a whistling note that changed in
pitch as the properties of the gas ("aether") changed. He noticed
that as he moved his hand towards and away from the circuit the pitch
rose and fell. These first two practical jobs given to him at the
Institute became the basis of his greatest invention: the theremin.
During his time in the United States his name was Leon Thermein,
and the rest as they say, is history.
Do you have any theremin fun planned this weekend to celebrate?
Thank you Lev! |
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Friday, April 24, 2009
[ Updated. Here is the link to the eBay Auction]
TW member theremaniac (and long time owner of Mischa Tulin's Theremin), and ThereminVox.com, helped assemble some information on this important, but somewhat forgotten Thereminist of the early days.
“”
Mischa Tulin was born in Russia and schooled in piano and composition at the Imperial Conservatory of Music in Petrograd. He came to New York at the onset of the Russian revolution c. 1917. During the late 1920s, while working for RCA Victor, he was sent to Russia to persuade Professor Theremin to come to the US so RCA could benefit from his electronic knowledge. [Fact conformation needed here.] It was around this time that he was introduced to the Theremin.
In 1930 at the request of Professor Theremin he took up the study of the new space controlled musical instrument and received many invitations to appear as soloist with some of the finest musical organizations in the country. He volunteered much of his time giving free concerts and participated in the Chautauqua traveling circuit of adult education and entertainment movement popular in the late 18th and early 20th century. He often played Theremin with his wife Helen at the piano.
Tulin even appeared on Broadway in 1952 providing the off stage spooky sound effects for the play ‘Mrs. McThing’, staring Helen Hayes and featuring the stage debuts of Ed Gwynn and Earnest Borgnine. The sound design was revolutionary for the time and was controlled by four pan pots connected to a speaker in each corner of the auditorium so the ‘voice’ of the ghost provided by Mischa’s Theremin could seemingly revolve around the whole theater. [ed. It is mind blowing how everything old becomes new again!]“"
Now, theremaniac is going to sell this unique and historical instrument, his auction on Ebay is scheduled to start on May first and he's posting the information about it in the TW Forum.
Theremaniac forwarded some details about the Tulin Theremin:
 
“”The cabinet is custom made with tiny wood inlay. This may have been done by Mr. Tulin’s friend who was a master craftsmen in order to provide a separate two piece Theremin for easy travel. One story says the power supply caught fire in an Arabian country and their woodworker fashioned a replacement cabinet. There is no evidence of fire damage or any replacement of parts at all on the chassis. The story of a substitute for the volume control tube as mentioned by [renowned American theremin expert] Howard Mossman is true. It has a different tube that has a very slow reaction. It is in working order and is a work of art as well.“”
More information on Tulin is available at ThereminVox.com.
Thanks theremaniac for the great information and best of luck with your auction!
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Friday, January 09, 2009
We usually only hear of Leon Theremin's (Lev Termen) travels in Russia and Europe and his time spent in New York City. In his vintage news blog "Vitaphone Varieties" for December 2008 Jeff Cohen found and posted a Cleveland news paper clipping telling of Theremin's performance with the Cleveland Orchestra on Thanksgiving night 1929. (It's about half way down the page)
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The instrument is called a Theremin after Leon Theremin, its Russian inventor. It is really an apparatus consisting of radio tubes and antennas and is operated by the aid of electricity. It will be played by Theremin himself when he appears as soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra here Thanksgiving night.
""
Thanks Jeff for this extra bit of Theremin History and a very fun blog!
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Tuesday, January 06, 2009
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Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Monday, Nov 3rd, was the 15th anniversary of Lev Termen's passing into the Aether. This has been such an historic week, I was not able to do him the honor of a memento until today. Gosh, 15 years already, that man changed our lives. We cannot let him be forgotten!
Hope you have a moment this week to think of him.
Keep On Playing!
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Friday, October 17, 2008
Of the three biggest influences in the early history of space controlled instruments, the theremin triumvirate of Lev Termen, Clara Rockmore, and Lucie Bigelow Rosen, Lucie Rosen has been the least documented and appreciated. Almost no recordings of her have been available.
With her work as sponsor of the inventor, Lev Termen, a commissioner of new works for the theremin, and a touring performer, Lucie Rosen was tremendously important in the early life and eventual survival of the instrument. She and her husband, Walter Rosen, also created a lasting public legacy in The Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts where her theremin, built by Lev circa 1935, is still displayed.
Rosen's Theremin (photo: T. Holmes)
In Dec. 2007 ThereminWorld was delighted to help share Kip Rosser's find of a rare recording by Lucie performing in a big band arrangement called Gigolette
Since that time music historian Thom Holmes has consolidated and expanded on the currently available information about her in his article "The Lost Recordings of Lucie Bigelow Rosen"
As part of that process he has been able to share another recording restored from the Caramoor archives of Lucie Bigelow Rosen performing on her theremin with piano. The recording was a 78 RPM glass master coated with acetate most likely made around 1946 and 1947.
This is a great addition to the documentation of theremin history, and a unique chance to hear Lucie Rosen play just a little bit more.
Many thanks to Thom for publishing this material and for sharing it with ThereminWorld.
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