When most people today think of the history of electronic music (not electronica music, ELECTRONIC MUSIC — the start of it all!) they think of synthesizer pioneer Robert Moog. And in fact, Robert Moog (born in 1934 and died in 2005) played an essential and formative role in the development of electronic music.

(We are not speaking of electronic music as the amplification of acoustic musical instruments — we are talking about making music purely out of an electronic source.)

But even the brilliant technologist Bob Moog had a mentor — the Russian scientist and cellist who started making music electronically as early as 1918 — Leon (Lev Sergeyevich) Theremin.

Shortly after the invention of the vacuum tube, which America’s Thomas Edison and others were working on as early as the 1870s, Theremin conceived the idea of building an essentially electronic musical instrument.

In 1918, Theremin built the prototype of what he called his “aetherphone.”

According to MIT

“It was fairly simple in shape: a wooden box, mounted on four legs, with a straight antenna rising up from its top and a P-shaped loop antenna extending horizontally from its left side. Inside the box, the antennas were connected to very high frequency oscillators made with vacuum tubes. On the front of the box were control switches.

“The key to the aetherphone’s sound is the principle of heterodyning: when two signals of close but different frequency are mixed, a new signal results whose frequency is equal to the difference of the two original signals. Alone, the signals produced by the Theremin’s oscillators are too high-pitched for the human ear to hear; but when those signals combine, the resulting signal can be heard, and more importantly can be varied by the position of the ‘musician’ standing between the two antennas. Specifically, the player waves his or her hands near the straight antenna to control pitch (the range is about 2 1/2 octaves on either side of middle C), and near the looped antenna to control volume (bringing the hand within an inch of the antenna cuts off the sound completely).

“Theremin’s invention is still the only musical instrument which is played without any physical contact. The sound it can produce runs from a drone to a whine, but is always somewhat other-worldly. For this reason, although Theremin himself and others have composed complex musical works in the classical style for the Theremin (as the device is better known), it is best recognized for its prominence in the soundtrack to various early Hollywood sci-fi movies, like ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still.’ However, the Theremin does make a memorable pop music appearance in the background of the Beach Boys’ ‘Good Vibrations.'” [Arguably, “Good Vibrations” is THE song that introduced the masses to the weird, futuristic sound of the Theremin.]

The Theremin was not a commercial success, although a variety of versions of it are still sold and there are many kits available to “build your own”.

The Theremin is difficult to play with any degree of musical proficiency. This is likely the reason that, in the music world, it is often thought of as a “novelty” and used primarily to make “special effects” sounds.

But virtuoso Theremin players did develop, notably Leon Theremin’s fellow Russian, Clara Rockmore. Said Bob Moog of Ms. Rockmore, “…no other thereminist has ever come close to Clara Rockmore’s artistry.”

Ironically, when played artistically, the Theremin sounds a good deal like a cello, the instrument played by Theremin himself. No doubt his interest in the cello helped fuel his passion for perfecting the Theremin.

But virtuoso Theremin players did develop, notably Leon Theremin’s fellow Russian, Clara Rockmore. Said Bob Moog of Ms. Rockmore, “…no other thereminist has ever come close to Clara Rockmore’s artistry.”

Ironically, when played artistically, the Theremin sounds a good deal like a cello, the instrument played by Theremin himself. No doubt his interest in the cello helped fuel his passion for perfecting the Theremin.

“For ten years Theremin worked in New York. With the help of Clara Rockmore, he developed what would today be called ‘performance art,’ featuring stages which automatically reacted to dancers’ movements with varied patterns of sound and light.

“Then, in 1938, Theremin was kidnapped by the KGB and taken back to Russia. Forced to abandon his music, he spent a year in prison, and later developed listening devices for the Soviet secret police. Meanwhile, RCA scrapped its stock of theremins in order to provide raw materials to the US war effort.

“In 1991, at the age of 95, Theremin returned to the US, where he was reunited with Clara Rockmore and gave a number of concerts. He then went back to Russia, and died in Moscow two years later. But the Theremin has enjoyed a recent resurgence in popularity, due to its inventor’s recent visit and a documentary film of his career made at that time. Numerous sites on the World Wide Web testify that Leon Theremin’s ‘music of an alternate universe’ still has a strong appeal.”

SIDEBAR: Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin played a Theremin solo in live versions of the song “Whole Lotta Love.”