Léon Theremin

Infobox person
name=Léon Theremin


caption=A young Léon Theremin playing a theremin
birth_date=birth date|1896|08|15
death_date=dda|1993|11|03|1896|08|15
known_for=Theremin
occupation=Inventor

Léon Theremin (born Lev Sergeyevich Termen, _ru. Лев Сергеевич Термен) (August 15 1896 [Harvnb|Glinsky|2000|p=10] Julian calendar = 1896-08-27 Gregorian calendar – November 3 1993) was a Russian inventor. He is most famous for his invention of the theremin, one of the first electronic musical instruments.

Léon Theremin was born in Saint Petersburg—renamed Leningrad from 1924 until 1991—and his family had French ancestry.

Electronic inventions

He invented the theremin (also called the "thereminvox") in 1919,Fact|date=March 2008 when his country was in the midst of the Russian Civil War. Theremin invented the first motion detector for use as a "radio watchman", [Glinsky 41, "patent ... radio watchman and the Termenvox ... By December 8, 1924, Len had two German Empire patent applications pending"] and in 1925 he went to Germany to sell both the radio watchman and Termenvox patents to the German firm Goldberg and Sons. According to Glinsky this was the Soviet's "decoy for capitalists" to obtain both Western profits from sales and technical knowledge.

During this time Lev was also working on a wireless television with 16 scan lines in 1925, improving to 32 scan lines and then 64 using interlacing in 1926 and he demonstrated moving, if blurry, images on June 7,1927. [Glinsky 43-44]

After being sent on a lengthy tour of Europe starting 1927 - including London, Paris and towns in Germany [http://www.oddmusic.com/theremin/theremin_bio.html Leon Theremin - a short memoir] Lev Termen, 1983-01-12] [Glinsky 340] - during which he demonstrated his invention to full audiences, Theremin found his way to the United States, arriving December 30, 1927 with his first wife, Katia ConstantinovaMattis 1989] . He performed the theremin with the New York Philharmonic in 1928. He patented his invention in the United States in 1928 [Glinsky 346] [US patent|1661058] and subsequently granted commercial production rights to RCA.

Léon Theremin set up a laboratory in New York in the 1930s, where he developed the theremin and experimented with other electronic musical instruments and other inventions. These included the Rhythmicon, commissioned by the American composer and theorist Henry Cowell.

In 1930, ten thereminists performed on stage at Carnegie Hall. Two years later, Theremin conducted the first-ever electronic orchestra, featuring the theremin and other electronic instruments including a "fingerboard" theremin which resembled a cello in use.

Theremin's mentors during this time were some of society's foremost scientists, composers, and musical theorists, including composer Joseph Schillinger and physicist (and amateur violinist) Albert Einstein.Clarifyme|date=March 2008 At this time, Theremin worked closely with fellow Russian émigré and theremin virtuoso Clara Rockmore.

Theremin was interested in a role for the theremin in dance music. He developed performance locations that could automatically react to dancers' movements with varied patterns of sound and light. After the Soviet consulate had apparently demanded he divorce Katia and while working with the American Negro Ballet, the inventor fell in love with and married the young prima ballerina Lavinia Williams. His marriage to the African-American dancer caused shock and disapproval in his social circles, but the ostracized couple remained together.Fact|date=November 2007

Return to the Soviet Union

Theremin abruptly returned to the Soviet Union in 1938. At the time, the reasons for his return were unclear: some claimed that he was simply homesick, while others believed that he had been kidnapped by Soviet officials. Beryl Campbell, one of Theremin's dancers, said his wife Lavinia "called to say that he had been kidnapped from his studio" and that "some Russians had come in" and that she felt that he was going to be spirited out of the country."", written, directed and produced by Steven M. Martin. Orion/MGM, 1994: 26mins Beryl Campbell reports Lavinia's call; 50mins Lydia Kavina reports Stalin's award]

Many years later, it was revealed that Theremin had returned to his native land due to tax and financial difficulties in the United States [ Glinsky, Albert (2000). Theremin: Ether Music and Espionage. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-02582-2] , however Theremin told Bulat Galeyev that he decided to leave himself because he was anxious about the approaching war.Bulat Galeyev LMJ6] Shortly after he returned, on Joseph Stalin's order, he was imprisoned at Butyrka and later sent to work in the Kolyma gold mines.Fact|date=November 2007 Although rumors of his execution were widely circulated, Theremin was, in fact, put to work in a "sharashka", together with Andrei Tupolev, Sergei Korolev, and other well-known scientists and engineers. The Soviet Union rehabilitated him in 1956.

Espionage

During his work at the sharashka, where he was put in charge of other workers, Theremin created the Buran eavesdropping system. It worked by using a low power infrared beam from a distance to detect the sound vibrations in the glass windows. [Glinsky 261] Lavrentiy Beria, head of the KGB used the Buran device to spy on the U.S., British, and French embassies in Moscow. [Glinsky 261] According to Galeyev, Beria also spied on Stalin; Theremin kept some of the tapes in his flat. In 1947, Theremin was awarded the Stalin prize for inventing this advance in Soviet espionage technology.

Theremin invented another ingenious listening device called The Thing. Disguised in a replica of Great Seal of the United States carved in wood, in 1945 Soviet school children presented the concealed bug to U.S. Ambassador as a "gesture of friendship" to the USSR's World War II ally. It hung in the ambassador’s office in Moscow residential office, and intercepted confidential conversations there during the first seven years of the Cold War, until it was accidentally discovered in 1952. [George F. Kennan, "Memoirs, 1950-1963", Volume II (Little, Brown & Co., 1972), pp. 155, 156.]

Later life

After his "release" from the sharashka in 1947, Theremin volunteered to remain working with the KGB until 1966. By 1947 Theremin had remarried, to Maria, and they had two children: Lena and Natalia.

After working for the KGB, Theremin worked at the Moscow Conservatory of Music [Glinsky 341, "where Lev Sergeyevich had constructed musical instruments"] for 10 years where he taught and built Theremins, electronic cellos and some Terpsitones. There he was discovered by a visiting New York Times correspondent, but when an article by Christopher Walker appeared, according to Lydia, the Vice President of the conservatory said "The people don't need electronic music. Electricity is for killing traitors in the electric chair", fired Theremin [Glinsky 341, "his rough dismissal in 1967"] , closed his laboratory and had his instruments destroyed.

In the 1970s, Léon Theremin began training his nine-year-old niece Lydia Kavina on the theremin. Kavina was to be Theremin's last protégé. Today, Kavina is considered one of the most advanced and famous thereminists in the world.

After 51 years in the Soviet Union Léon Theremin started travelling, first visiting France in June 1989 and then the United States in 1991, each time accompanied by his daughter Natalia, [Glinsky 339] where he was reunited with Clara Rockmore who performed a number of concerts at this time. He also made a demonstration concert at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague in early 1993 before dying in Moscow in 1993 at the age of 97 [cite journal|last=Jolly|first=James, general editor|journal=Gramophone Magazine|volume=71|issue=848|publisher=General Gramophone Publications Limited|location=Middlesex, UK|date=January, 1994|pages=17|title=Obituaries|issn=0017-310X] .

Documentary film

Léon Theremin is the subject of the documentary film, "", written, directed, and produced by Steven M. Martin. The documentary was a winner at the Sundance Film Festival in 1994. The film features legendary thereminists Clara Rockmore and Lydia Kavina as well as electronic instrument pioneer Robert Moog, Nicolas Slonimsky, The Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson, and Theremin himself. In the documentary Lydia Kavina reported that Stalin, when he saw that Theremin was to be given the Second Level Stalin Awards, changed it to the First Level. [Bulat Galeyev LMJ6, "while still in prison, Theremin was granted the most prestigious Soviet scientific award, the First Class Stalin Prize (the Soviet analogue of the Nobel Prize) in 1947"] [imdb title|0108323|Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey ]

ome of Theremin's inventions

* Theremin - the classic Theremin (1919-1920)
* Burglar alarm, or "Signalling Apparatus" which used the Theremin effect (1920s)
* Electromechanical television - Nipkow disk with mirrors instead of slots (ca. 1925)
* Terpsitone - platform that converts dance movements into tones (1932)
* Theremin cello - an electric Cello with no strings and no bow, using a plastic fingerboard, a handle for volume and two knobs for sound shaping (ca. 1930) [ [http://www.peterpringle.com/cello.html Theremincello] Peter Pringle]
* Theremin keyboard - a piano-like device (ca. 1930)
* Rhythmicon - world's first drum machine (1931)
* The Buran eavesdropping device (1947 or earlier)
* The Great Seal bug, also known as "The Thing" - one of the first passive covert listening devices; first used by the USSR for spying (1945 or earlier)

References

* Citation
last = Glinsky
first = Albert
title = Theremin: Ether Music and Espionage
location = Urbana, Illinois
publisher = University of Illinois Press
year = 2000
id = ISBN 0-252-02582-2
* cite book
last = Wright
first = Peter
authorlink = Peter Wright
title = Spycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer
year = 1987
publisher = Viking
location = New York
id = ISBN 0-670-82055-5
*cite journal
last=Galeyev
first=Bulat M.
coauthor=Translated by Vladimir Chudnovsky
year=1996
title=Special Section: Leon Theremin, Pioneer of Electronic Art
journal=Leonardo Music Journal (LMJ)
volume=6
url=http://leonardo.info/isast/journal/journal96/LMJ6/galeyevintro.html
accessdate=2007-11-22 linked from [http://www.leonardo.info/isast/journal/journal96/LMJ6/contentslmj6.html LMJ6]
*cite web
url=http://www.oddmusic.com/theremin/theremin_interview_1.html
title=An Interview with Leon Theremin / Olivia Mattis and Leon Theremin in Bourges, France
author=Olivia Mattis
coauthors=Translated by Nina Boguslawsky and Alejandro Tkaczevski
date=1989-06-16
accessdate=2007-11-21
copied [http://www.thereminvox.com/story/495/ here]

ee also

*Raymond Scott
*Robert Moog
*Bruce Haack
*Brian Wilson

External links

* [http://theremin.ru/ Theremin Centre, Moscow, holds Lev Sergeivitch Termen archives (Russian only)]
* [http://www.thereminvox.com/story/27/ Lev Sergeivitch Termen: The Inventor of the theremin]
* [http://theremin.info/leon-theremin.shtml An Introduction to Leon Theremin]
* [http://www.thereminworld.com/pubs.asp Online bibliography about both the man and the instrument]
* [http://leonardo.info/isast/spec.projects/thereminresource.html Theremin International Resource Directory] compiled by Matthias Sauer for Leonardo/ISAST
* [http://silvertone.princeton.edu/paul/theremin.html An encounter with Léon Theremin]
* [http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/theremin.html Inventor of the Week Archive - LEON THEREMIN (1896-1993)]
* [http://sonhors.free.fr/panorama/sonhors3.htm Lev Sergeyevich Termen (1896-1993)]
* [http://moogmusic.com/history.php?cat_id=2 History of the theremin from Moog Music]
* from The History Channel
* [http://www.robotspeakmagazine.com/articles/bob_moog.html Moog re LT's work on television, bugging]
* [http://artmargins.com/content/cineview/drubek-meyer.htm ARTMargins] by Natascha Drubek-Meyer, "Between “Bad Things” and Good Vibrations: Leon Theremin and his T-Vox" - long article with citations
* [http://www.ima.or.at/theremin/ Lew Termen, German Website by IMA :: Institute of Media Archeology, Austria]
* [http://www.pekkanini.se/english/index.htm PEKKANINI, Swedish composer and thereminist]