Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 5, No. 1 (1930-10)

4 The Phonograph Monthly Review The instrument is named after the inventor, Professor Leon Theremin, a Russian musico- physicist in his early thirties. (The name is us- ually Englished in this country, with the “h” sounded. A friend of Theremin’s tells me, how- ever, that he is of French as well as Russian de- scent, and that he pronounces his own name Gal- lic-wise, with the “h” silent and a nasal “in”.) Theremin’s work with television, acoustics, and radio, carried on at the State Physico-Technical Institute in Russia, resulted in a number of in- ventions, of which the originally named There- minvox or “ether-wave instrument” has become the best known. It was first demonstrated in this country two and a half or three years ago, when the inventor gave demonstrations in many leading cities. The astonishment of the public was a tribute more to the quasi-magical features of the instrument than to the purely musical, but the latter aspect attracted the attention of the leaders of the country’s musical life, and drew out their liveliest praise. Gabrilowitsch, Rach- maninoff, Sir Henry Wood, Bruno Walter, Szi- geti, Leo Slezac, Rudolph Ganz, Elizabeth Reth- berg, Respighi, are only a few of those who spoke of the Theremin with praise. Dr. Stokowski— always alert to the latest musical developments —was perhaps the most enthusiastic: .... It is only a question of a few years before we will have entirely new methods of tone production by electrical means. Some of these new possibilities have been demon- strated by the Russian Theremin. . . . Thus will begin a new era in music. . . . One wonderful feature of the new electric instruments is, or will be, that there is practically no technical difficulty in playing them. There will be no more long hours of practice every day. Electricity will do all the mechanical part. The musician will give musicianship, interpretation, variety of tone color and tone volume and all the non-material side of music. . . . The rapid development of the first Theremin- vox models and the promise the instrument gave of widespread popular appeal so impressed the Radio Corporation of America that it arranged with the inventor to take over the production and distribution of the instrument (renamed the Vic- tor Theremin) on a commercial scale. It was put on the market by Victor dealers toward the end of 1929. Demonstrations are being given all over the country and a strong sales campaign is getting under way that will soon result in mass production to fill the awakening demand. Such in brief is the nature and history of the Theremin to date. News reports and popular comment on the instrument have largely confined themselves to these aspects. Eventually, how- ever, it must be judged on strictly aesthetic grounds. We know that it produces a musical tone of which pitch and volume can be controlled. But so does the ocarina, the “musical” saw, the flageolet. Is the tone a pleasing one? Can it be manipulated to expressive purpose? Is the in- strument suitable for both solo and ensemble performance? Are there limitations that will prevent its acquiring and retaining favor among both the trained and untrained musical publics? Will it stimulate the so-called serious composers to write for it? The Theremin, or any other new instrument can attract attention by virtue of its novelty, but eventually it must stand or fall by its ability to answer satisfactorily such questions. At present the Theremin suffers from the en- thusiasm of its admirers far more than from its own inherent limitations. There can be no doubt that it will greatly lessen the time for technical training by the elimination of strictly digital ex- ercise. Anyone who can “carry a tune” or even think a tune should be able to play it. But like any other instrument of genuine musical worth, it is going to require musical abilities plus care- ful study plus intelligence to play well. There is no royal road to musical perfection. The vaunt- ed ease of playing the Theremin should not be allowed to obscure the fact that good playing is never easy. The essential point is whether the results will justify study. If the entirely un- musical person can play it just as well (or as badly) as the person of genuine musical gifts, its artistic value will be that of the lowest com- mon denominator, and its sphere of serious mu- sical worth negligible. Thinking musicians who have made a careful examination of the Theremin do not hold this view. They believe that it is worthy of study and that time and effort expended on it will be well spent. Already contemporary composers are writing for it, and at least one large work has been given public performance—Joseph Schillinger’s First Airphonic Suite for There- min and orchestra, performed by the Cleveland Orchestra in November of 1929, with Sokoloff conducting and Theremin himself in the role of soloist. (The composer, by the way, has a claim to phonographic fame through his work for the Russian State Institute of the History of Arts in recording the folk music of Georgian tribes— Khevsuri, Mokhevi, Mteculeti, and Ajari,—hith- erto unknown to musical ethnographers.) It is rumored that Dr. Stokowski is interested in us- ing the Theremin as an integral part of the or- chestra, and that a new model is being made with a keyboard, so that fixed pitches can be deter- mined. (The latter is necessary for orchestral use in order that the Theremin may make quick and accurate entrances in the courses of a piece). The Theremin is primarily a cantilena instru- ment of strong, rich, singing tone. Tone colors may be varied to imitate—often with amazing versimilitude—the tone qualities of string, reed, and brass instruments, the soprano voice, and even string harmonics. Its rangq is between three and four octaves. A choir of Theremins, as has been demonstrated in concert, can cover the entire orchestral range of pitch and color. The lengthy and tiresome cultivation of digital dexterity has long been the bugaboo of learning to play musical instruments. Bernard Shaw has pointed out the irony of one’s having to become a sort of acrobat or gymnast with one’s fingers in order to express oneself musically. Unques- tionably the emphasis on finger technique has been a tremendous handicap to musical progress. It bars the person of a musical mind and recal- citrant fingers from an adequate expression of his innate musical feelings, and it puts a prem- ium on technical virtuosity for the sheer sake of