5 August: The Theremin

On this date in 1920, 100 years ago today, Leon Theremin gave the first public display of his electronic musical instrument, the theremin, at the Moscow Polytechnic Institute.

1. He called it a Thereminovox but others came to call it the Theremin.
2. What is it? It’s a musical instrument, unique in that it can be played without actually touching it. It consists of a box containing oscillators and two antennae producing electromagnetic fields. The sound is produced by moving the hands around between the antennae.
3. Theremin discovered it by accident when he was working on a machine for measuring the density of gases and discovered that the sound it made changed when he moved his hand.
4. As word spread about the demonstrations Theremin gave of his instrument, he was summoned to the Kremlin to give Lenin a personal demo. Theremin was nervous about meeting Lenin, but the demo went well and Lenin even had a go at playing the instrument himself. Lenin sent him on a demo tour of Russia and later the rest of Europe and the USA.
5. After a performance at Carnegie Hall, Theremin was contacted by the Radio Corporation of America, who saw it as an invention as important as radio itself, and signed a contract to manufacture theremins, which went on sale at $220 each. RCA thought that it would catch on quickly because, after all, anyone can wave their hands about in the air so it would be easy to play. However, the combination of the theremin not being as easy to learn as RCA thought, and the Wall Street Crash, meant it wasn’t the great success they’d hoped.
6. Theremin’s trip to America was about more than showing off his innovative musical instrument. He was actually there as a spy, to collect information about the large American companies and their technology and pass it back to Russia.
7. Despite being paid $100,000 by RCA, Theremin wasn’t well off. Most of the money was taken by the Soviet government. Theremin stayed in the US working on other projects, not all musical – one was an electric door opener, while continuing his main mission as a spy. None of his other products were all that successful. In due course, he married a black dancer called Lavinia Williams. In 1930s America, mixed race marriages weren’t acceptable which meant people stopped investing in him. Eventually, Theremin went back to the Soviet Union, leaving Lavinia behind. Some say he was kidnapped and forced to go back; others say he was simply homesick and fed up of being in debt. Back in Russia, he was accused (falsely) of being a counter-revolutionary and sent to prison for eight years. He spent WWII working on aircraft technology as a prisoner. After his release he ended up at the Moscow Conservatory, teaching people to play the theremin.
8. The instrument was used in several film sound tracks, some of the best known being Spellbound, The Day the Earth Stood Still, It Came from Outer Space, The Ten Commandments, Ed Wood, Batman Forever and Mars Attacks!
9. Contrary to popular belief, it wasn’t used in the sound track to Forbidden Planet, or, indeed, for Star Trek. The unearthly sounds there were produced by a mixture of instruments with human vocals provided by soprano Loulie Jean Norman.
10. In popular music, the theremin was played on Velouria by The Pixies, Echoes by Pink Floyd, Glory Box by Portishead, Little People by The White Stripes and Good Vibrations by the Beach Boys. Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones played one on their albums Between the Buttons and Their Satanic Majesties Request.

Killing Me Softly

Sebastian Garrett is an assassin. It wasn’t his first choice of vocation, but nonetheless, he’s good at it, and can be relied upon to get the job done. He’s on top of his game.

Until he is contracted to kill Princess Helena of Galorvia. She is not just any princess. Sebastian doesn’t bargain on his intended victim being a super-heroine who gives as good as she gets. Only his own genetic variant power saves him from becoming the victim, instead of Helena. 

Fate has another surprise in store. Sebastian was not expecting to fall in love with her.

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