Leon Theremin |
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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."Continue reading Lydia Kavina: My memories of Lev Theremin |
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Key biography facts
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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. | |
| 1993 | Leon Theremin died in Moscow |
Theremin -
the Musical intrument
| 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. |
 Theremin
principles explained - historical diagram from
1980s
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Historical instruments:
open the page to see
the theremins Lydia played on throughout her
career
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