Moog Claravox Centennial, User Manual

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8
LEON, BOB
& CLARA
The theremin is a magical instrument. Invent-
ed in 1920 by Russian physicist Leon Theremin
(Lev Sergeyevich Termen), the story of how the
theremin ventured from the science lab and
the concert stage to hit records and Hollywood
soundtracks is as fascinating as the instrument
itself. For with the theremin, there is no string to
pluck, no key to press, no bow to scrape. Instead,
the theremin is controlled entirely through ges-
tures of the hands and body. For some, the ther-
emin may conjure images of mad scientists and
sci-fi movies. For others, the tone and technique
is reminiscent of an expert violin solo.
Early on, composers such as Joseph Schillinger,
Edgard Varèse, Percy Granger, and Dmitri
Shostakovich wrote concert pieces that featured
the theremin. Along with these compositions
and classical applications from professional mu-
sicians like Clara Rockmore, after whom your
Claravox Centennial theremin is named, the
theremin has made its mark on popular culture
through film scores, television references, and
more. The instrument was used to create other-
worldly audio effects in mid-century films such
as The Day the Earth Stood Still and Alfred Hitch-
cock's Spellbound, was used in music by Led Zep-
pelin, and provided the sounds that accompanied
Neil Armstrong on the first trip to the Moon.
In 1949, a teenager by the name of Bob Moog
first learned of the theremin in an issue of Elec-
tronics World, and shortly after built his first
model of the instrument. By 1954, when he was
just 19 years old, he and his father were build-
ing and selling theremins out of their home in
Queens, NY. “I became a designer of electronic
musical instruments because of my fascination
with the theremin,” Bob wrote in his foreword
to Albert Glinsky's Theremin: Ether Music and
Espionage, the definitive biography of Leon
Theremin. “Using the experience and insights I
gained by designing theremins, I started design-
ing and building synthesizers.”
Throughout his life, the theremin remained
near and dear to Bob—as did the artists who
helped shape the instrument and bring it to life.