Theremin, Beginning of Electronic Music

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The first synthesizer was constructed by Russian physicist Lev Sergeyevitch Termen (1896-1993) in 1919. While working as a Russian military scientist in the oscillator laboratory at the Physico-Technical Institute in Petrograd (St. Petersburg), Termen was trying to develop a means to locate enemy radio transmitters for the military. One day while working with various gases in vacuum tubes he serendipitously noticed that the presence of his body could detune a radio receiver. Being a trained classical cellist, he realized the implications of his discovery and was soon playing several tunes for his scientific and military colleagues. He soon developed the first prototype for use as a musical instrument. Its creation opened up the whole field of electronic music that eventually led to the invention of the ondes Martenot, electronic organs, and today's synthesizers. Professor Termen's name was later anglicized to Leon Theremin, and his improved design became known as the Thereminvox. Finally the generic term "theremin" made its way into the musical lexicon to describe any of these instruments. Most famous uses of theremin: Pink Floyd (Echoes), Konstantin Kovalsky, Beach Boys, Led Zeppelin, Portishead, Tom Waits...
From Wikipedia: The theremin or thereminvox is one of the earliest fully electronic musical instruments. The instrument was invented by Russian Léon Theremin. The theremin is unusual in that it requires no physical contact in order to produce music and was, in fact, the first musical instrument designed to be played without being touched. The instrument consists of an array of circuitry including two antennas around which the user moves his or her hands to play.

Look at the photo-story how it looked like:




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Teremin inside



	Lev Theremin and Robert Moog	Theremin




Theremin plays with pitch accuracy and expression that few thereminist today can match.