Strange and Unusual - The Evolution of the Theremin

I cannot say that I have much experience or knowledge surrounding one of the most interesting instruments I have ever had the pleasure of listening to, the Theremin! Until after I did a little digging and found out, maybe we're all more familiar with it than I anticipated.

Humble Ether-phone Origins

"After Lee De Forest invented the oscillator in 1915, revolutionizing the radio industry, Russian inventor Leon Theremin (born Lev Sergeyevich Termen, 1896), utilized this technology in 1919 to develop the first fully functional electronic musical instrument."(Gilinsky) Theremin was born in St. Petersburg in 1896. He was a music enthusiast to his core, but dedicated his life to electrical engineering, hence the creation of the theremin, the perfect combination of the two great interests in his life. He had big aspirations for his musical invention, wanting to create something new, something different for the masses. This instrument is just as unique as it looks and sounds. It sits on a stand (a standing played instrument) with two antennas attached on either end, is a smaller rectangular shape, has 3 to 4 small knobs on the side facing the player, and a chord that must be connected to an electrical source to give it power. Theremin anticipated his fellow musical enthusiasts would quickly and with little difficulty learn how to play his new instrument, but it proved to be a formidable opponent in the end, unfortunately.  

Modern Theremin

Leon Theremins Original 

Another Fun Theremin Version

My previous description was of a more modern version of our featured instrument; this black and white image shows us one of the first versions made and its inventor, Leon Theremin! It has a larger boxy exterior with a spacious compartment holding the oscillators (the key ingredient to making this instrument work), and the same two antennas needed for pitch and volume are located on either end. There have been other shapes and sizes of this instrument made throughout the years, but those changes were purely for aesthetic purposes. This is primarily a minimal contact instrument, meaning your hands hover over or near the two antennas, with no actual contact. The sound produced is based on the position of your hands and how quickly/slowly they move in conjunction with each hand's respective antenna. You are an integral part of the instrument!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Theremin brought this unusual device to America to seemingly share his innovation (or so we thought). But after some time, he swiftly returned to his motherland and was not met with the warmest of welcomes. "He returned to the soviet union in the grip of Stalin's purges. He was arrested and falsely accused of being a counter-revolutionary, for which he received an eight-year sentence in 1939." (Vennard) There were rumblings of his reason for being in the US to begin with: espionage, psyops? "He was sent to the gulag, but with the war looming, he was taken back to Moscow, and while still a prisoner, made to work on aircraft technology; he also developed highly advanced bugging devices that were used against foreign embassies."(Vennard) The Theremin, in its time, unfrotunatley did not take off as Leon wished, but in more modern times it is more widely used and in my personal opinon adds such a cool component to the songs that it is featured in.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Musical Analysis                                                                                                                                                     I was not aware of the versatility of this instrument; it is featured in so many famous songs! While it is probably very likely that Theremin intended it to be used in a more classic style, I am personally more familiar with it being featured in rock and pop songs. It has the capability to adapt and morph into something different in each style its used in, while maintaining its eerie sounding nature. Two of the three songs I will be including in the analysis part of this post are in the style in which I am more familiar. Time stops for no man (or instrument) lets take a look at how that translates through song.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

                                                                                                Leon Theremin - Deep Night                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

            M83 - Dont Save us From the Flames                                                                                                                        The Pixies - Velouria

                                                                                                                                                                  Texture - In each of the songs that I attached, the theremin is accompanied or is a part of the accompaniment. Not usually played on its own, but definitely can be! In Leon's performance of Deep Night, even with just the piano accompanying him, it has such a full sound. It adds an eerie operatic vocal-sounding component that you do not quite expect. A smooth, connected noise that threads through all parts of the song, every note leading into the next, creating a complete, complex sound.                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Pitch - This instrument has such a wide range in all three of the songs attached. In Velouria and in Dont Save Us From The Flames, it helps kick of the two songs with wild demonstrations of its range in the background. It has the capability of jumping through many octaves!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Timbre - I wanted to note the vibrato this instrument is capable of! Of course, it is based on the player's skill level, but with the right focus and physical control, you can achieve the coolest haunting sound. As I said previously, it has an operatic vocal sound; its intense vibrato ability just adds to that statement. In Deep Night, Leon showcases it perfectly, in particular, seconds 14 to 35 show you a beautiful example of what im talking about.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        While the times have changed and the theremin might be used in some interesting and different music styles, it seems the instrument is still used in the way it was intended and the way that Leon used it personally. It adds such complexity that many other music lovers and I appreciate. It is a peculiar instrument, but a welcome one at that. In fact, aside from Theremin's crazy espionage scandal, let's all thank him for such an interesting innovation; I'd definitely like to try my hand at it. Bye for now.

            

                                                                             Bibliography                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Glinsky, Albert Vincent. “The Theremin in the Emergence of Electronic Music.” Ph.D. Thesis, ADS, 1992, http://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1992PhDT.......106G/abstract. Accessed 4 Mar. 2026.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       “Leon                                                                                                                                 Theremin | Lemelson.” Lemelson.mit.edu, https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/leon-theremin                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Miller, Norman. “The Theremin: The Strangest Instrument Ever Invented?” BBC, 12 Nov. 2020, https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20201111-the-theremin-the-strangest-instrument-ever-invented.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Vennard, Martin. “Leon Theremin: The Man and the Music Machine.” BBC News, 13 Mar. 2012, https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20201111-the-theremin-the-strangest-instrument-ever-invented.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       “60.17 -- Theremin.” https://web.physics.ucsb.edu/~lecturedemonstrations/Composer/Pages/60.17.html.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

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