A young Leon Theremin playing on a theremin

Leon Theremin (born Lev Sergeivitch Termen) (August 15, 1896–November 3, 1993) was a Russian inventor, most famous for his invention of the theremin, one of the first electronic musical instruments. This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons, a repository of free content hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation. ... This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons, a repository of free content hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation. ... Léon Theremin playing an early theremin The theremin or thereminvox (originally pronounced /tay-ray-meen/ but often anglicized as /there-uh-min/ [1]) is one of the earliest fully electronic musical instruments. ... August 15 is the 227th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (228th in leap years), with 138 days remaining. ... 1896 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... November 3 is the 307th day of the year (308th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 58 days remaining. ... 1993 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003) Events Media:January January 1 - Czechoslovakia divides. ... An inventor is a person who creates new inventions, typically technical devices such as mechanical, electrical or software devices or methods. ... Léon Theremin playing an early theremin The theremin or thereminvox (originally pronounced /tay-ray-meen/ but often anglicized as /there-uh-min/ [1]) is one of the earliest fully electronic musical instruments. ... An electronic musical instrument is a musical instrument that produces its sounds using electronics. ...

Léon Theremin was born in Saint Petersburg. His invention in 1919 of the theremin (also thereminvox) came at a time when his country was in the midst of the Russian Civil War. After a lengthy tour of Europe, during which time he demonstrated his invention to packed houses, Theremin found his way to America, playing the theremin with the New York Philharmonic in 1928. He patented his invention in 1929 (US1661058 [1] (http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=1661058.WKU.&OS=PN/1661058&RS=PN/1661058)) and subsequently granted commercial production rights to RCA. Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, English transliteration: Sankt-Peterburg), colloquially known as Питер (transliterated Piter), formerly known as Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991) and Petrograd (Петрогра́д, 1914–1924), is a city located in Northwestern Russia on the delta of the river Neva at the east end of the Gulf of Finland... In music, an invention is a short composition with two or three part counterpoint. ... 1919 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... The Russian Civil War was fought between 1918 and 1920. ... Wikiquote has quotations relating to: United States Wikinews has news related to this article: United States United States government Official website of the United States government - Gateway to governmental sites White House - Official site of the US President Senate. ... The New York Philharmonic is an American orchestra based in New York City. ... 1928 was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1929 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... RCA, formerly an initialism for the Radio Corporation of America, is now a trademark used by two companies for products descended from that common ancestor: Thomson Consumer Electronics, which manufactures RCA-branded televisions, DVD players, video cassette recorders, direct broadcast satellite decoders, camcorders, audio equipment, telephones, and related accessories; and...

Leon Theremin set up a laboratory in New York in the 1930's where he developed the theremin and experimented with other electronic musical instruments and other inventions. In 1930, ten thereminists performed on stage at Carnegie Hall and, two years later, Léon 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 society's foremost scientists, composers, and musical theorists, including composer Joseph Schillinger and physicist (and classical violinist) Albert Einstein. At this time, Theremin worked closely with fellow Russian émigré and theremin virtuoso Clara Rockmore. Events and trends Technology Jet engine invented Science Nuclear fission discovered by Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner and Fritz Strassmann Pluto, the ninth planet from the Sun, is discovered by Clyde Tombaugh British biologist Arthur Tansley coins term ecosystem War, peace and politics Socialists proclaim The death of Capitalism Rise to... 1930 is a common year starting on Wednesday. ... Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Manhattan, New York City. ... A cropped image to show the relative size of a cello to a human (Uncropped Version) The cello (also violoncello or cello) is a stringed instrument and a member of the violin family. ... Joseph Schillinger (1895-1943) was a music teacher. ... Portrait of Albert Einstein taken by Yousuf Karsh on February 11, 1948 Albert Einstein (March 14, 1879 – April 18, 1955) was a theoretical physicist who is widely regarded as the greatest scientist of the 20th century. ... A virtuoso is a musician who has attained the highest level of skill in a fine art, especially at playing a specific instrument or singing. ... Clara Rockmore (born Clara Reisenberg, 1911 - 1998 in Vilnius, Lithuania), along with Lydia Kavina, is considered to be one of the two greatest players of the Theremin electronic musical instrument since its invention and was without peer in the early decades of its use. ...

Determined to establish his instrument in mainstream scientific and musical settings, Léon was interested in the role of the theremin in dance music. He developed performance locations that could automatically react to dancers' movements with varied patterns of sound and light. While working with the American Negro Ballet, the inventor fell in love with the young prima ballerina Lavinia Williams. His eventual marriage to the African-American dancer caused shock and disapproval in his social circles, but the ostracized couple remained together. A ballerina is a female ballet dancer. ... African Americans, also known as Afro-Americans or Black Americans, are an ethnic group in the United States of America whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to West and sub-Saharan Africa. ...

Theremin returned to the Soviet Union in 1938. At the time, the circumstances of his return were unclear, with some claiming that he was simply homesick and others believing that he had been kidnapped by Soviet officials. His wife Lavinia was always certain the latter was true, and many years later it became known that Theremin had indeed been seized by Soviet KGB agents and made to return to his native land. Shortly after he returned, he was at Butyrka prison and later sent to work in the gold mines in Kolyma. Although rumors of his execution were widely circulated, Theremin was in fact put to work in a sharashka, together with Tupolev, Korolev and other well-known scientists and engineers on several tasks. He was rehabilitated in 1956. 1938 was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti  listen, or KGB, (Russian: Комите́т Госуда́рственной Безопа́сности; English: Committee for State Security), was the name of the main Soviet Security Agency and intelligence agency, as well as the main secret police agency from March 13, 1954 to November 6, 1991. ... Butyrka prison (Бутырская тюрьма in Russian) was the central transit prison in pre-revolutionary Russia, located in Moscow. ... The Kolyma River (Колыма́) is a river in Russia that empties into the East Siberian Sea. ... Sharashka (sometimes Sharaga or Sharazhka, Russian: шара́шка) was an informal name for secret research and development laboratories in the Soviet Gulag labor camp system. ... Tupolev (Russian: Туполев) is a Russian aerospace and defence company. ... Korolev (in Russian, Королёв), is an industrial city near to Moscow, well-known as the cradle of space exploration. ... 1956 was a leap year starting on Sunday. ...

Some have suggested that he designed the first "bug" or covert listening device but this is not exactly the case. Theremin's bug was the first to use inducted energy from radio waves of one frequency to transmit an audio signal on another. This made the device difficult to detect since it did not radiate any signal unless it was actively being powered and listened to remotely. This feature also endowed it with (potentially) unlimited operational life. "The Thing", as it was called, was very simple by today's standards, having only a capacitive membrane (a condenser microphone) connected to an antenna. Thus the impedance seen by the the quarter-wavelength antenna was altered by sound, and the reflections of the 330 MHz signal impinging on the device were modulated, allowing the audio to be detected. A bug of this nature was embedded in a wooden plaque and presented to the American ambassador in Moscow by Russian schoolchildren where it hung in his office until detected by a professional bug sweeper. [2] (http://www.spybusters.com/Great_Seal_Bug.html) A bug is the common name for a covert listening device, usually a combination of a miniature radio transmitter with a microphone. ... Electromagnetic induction is the production of an electrical potential difference (or voltage) across a conductor situated in a changing magnetic field. ... A microphone with a cord A microphone, sometimes called a mic (pronounced mike), is a device that converts sound into an electrical signal. ... In electrical engineering, impedance is a measure for the manner and degree a component resists the flow of electrical current if a given voltage is applied. ... In biology, antenna (plural: antennae) refers to the sensing organs of several arthropods. ... A megahertz (MHz) is one million (106) hertz, a measure of frequency. ... For the musical use of modulation, see modulation (music). ...

Theremin invented the first motion detector for automated doors and worked on an early burglar alarm. Burglar (or intrusion), fire and safety alarms are commonly found in electronic form today. ...

Léon Theremin and nine-year-old Lydia Kavina in the 1970s

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 the one of the most advanced and famous thereminists in the world. This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Events and trends Although in the United States and in many other Western societies the 1970s are often seen as a period of transition between the turbulent 1960s and the more conservative 1980s and 1990s, many of the trends that are associated widely with the Sixties, from the Sexual Revolution... Lydia Kavina (born September 8, 1967) is universally recognised as being the greatest virtuoso of the Theremin in the world. ...

In 1991, Léon Theremin returned to the United States, where he was reunited with Clara Rockmore who performed a number of concerts at this time. He returned to Russia and died in Moscow in 1993 at the age of 97. 1991 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Saint Basils Cathedral Moscow (Russian/Cyrillic: Москва́, pronunciation: Maskvá  listen), capital of Russia, located on the river Moskva, and encompassing 1097. ... 1993 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003) Events Media:January January 1 - Czechoslovakia divides. ...

Léon Theremin is the subject of the documentary film, Theremin – An Electronic Odyssey, 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 and founder of The Beach Boys Brian Wilson. The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival in the United States, and ranks amongst the top five events of its type in the world. ... Bob Moog Dr. Robert A. Moog (born May 23, 1934) is the inventor of the Moog synthesizer. ... The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are a pop music group formed in Hawthorne, California in 1961, whose popularity has lasted into the twenty-first century. ... Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942, in Hawthorne, California) is an American pop musician, best known as a founding member of and the main producer, composer, and arranger for The Beach Boys. ...

References

• Theremin – Ether Music and Espionage by Albert Glinsky with a foreword by Robert Moog. University of Illinois Press, 2000.
• Theremin – An Electronic Odyssey, written, directed and produced by Steven M. Martin. Orion/MGM, 1994

Bob Moog Dr. Robert A. Moog (born May 23, 1934) is the inventor of the Moog synthesizer. ... 2000 is a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1994 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ...

External links

• Lev Sergeivitch Termen: The Inventor of the theremin (http://www.thereminvox.com/story/27/)
• An Interview with Léon Theremin (http://www.thereminvox.com/story/495/)
• http://theremin.info/leon-theremin.shtml
• Online bibliography about both the man and the instrument (http://www.thereminworld.com/pubs.asp)
• An encounter with Léon Theremin (http://silvertone.princeton.edu/paul/theremin.html)
• http://web.mit.edu/invent/iow/theremin.html
• History of the theremin from Moog Music (http://moogmusic.com/history.php?cat_id=2)
• Theremin – An Electronic Odyssey (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108323/) at the Internet Movie Database