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The theremin was invented in 1919 and became the first electronic musical instrument that had a career in the XX-century and it is still the only instrument which can be played without any mechanical touching. The theremin-player moves his hands near two antennas. The proximity of the right hand to the vertical antenna changes the electromagnetic field thus changing the pitch of the sound over a six-octave range. Left hand controls the volume. Theremin's sound remembers sometimes the cello or violin, sometime the flute and often the human voice. The instruments circuit uses a beat frequency oscillator, in which an audible musical tone is derived from the beating between two high-frequency oscillators. The frequency of one of the oscillators is fixed. The frequency of the other is altered by the performer's proximity to the pitch antenna.
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1896 |
Lev S. Theremin was born in St. Petersburg. |
| 1919 |
He invented the theremin. He did entertaining demonstrations of the theremin and gave a lot of concerts all over Russia, Europe and USA. |
| 1927-1937 |
He had a studio, students and organized production of his instruments in New York. |
| 1938 |
He returned to Russia, where he was arrested for no apparent reason and imprisoned. After one year in Siberia he was moved to a labor camp at Omsk and later to Moscow, where a special center for scientists under arrest had been set up. Theremin worked there as a prisoner until 1947 and then as civilian until 1964. |
| 1964 |
He went to the Acoustic Research and Tape Recording Department of Moscow State Tschaikovsky Conservatory. |
| 1971 |
The last twenty years of his life Lev Theremin worked at the Acoustics Department in the Moscow Lomonosov University. |
| In the 1990s |
Lev Theremin was beginning to be rediscovered. He was invited to Bourges, Stockholm,USA, The Hague. S. Martin, an American filmmaker has created a documentary"Theremin - an Electronic Odyssey" in 1993.
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| 1993 |
Leon Theremin died in Moscow |
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"He was easygoing and humorous, while also soft-spoken and modest. His great idealism did not preclude his practical nature: he built his inventions with his own hands." L.K.
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| concert performance of Clara Rockmore in the USA and Konstantin Kovalsky in Russia |
| film music: "Lost weekend", Spellbound", "Ed Wood", "Mars Attack" |
| popmusic: Beach Boys, Led Zeppelin, Portishead |
| compositions by Edgar Varese, Alfred Schnittke, John Cage, Boguslav Martinu |
| use in the theater: "Alice" by Tom Waits and Robert Wilson |
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