review of bio about LEON THEREMIN

[Nemoguitt@aol.com]

thought some might be interested.....:)m    

    
In electronic music's history, mystery and Cold War — related speculation 
have shrouded the life and work of one man: Leon Theremin. Albert Glinsky's 
biography Theremin: Ether Music and Espionage pieces together, for the first 
time in English, the facts about the inventor once known in his homeland as 
“the Russian Edison.”
Glinsky creates spy novel — worthy suspense as he unravels the schemes 
Theremin and his associates used to cloak their work. The author explores a 
number of interesting themes, including Theremin's lifelong interest in 
reanimating the dead.
All Things Theremin Lev Sergeyevich Termen was born in St. Petersburg, 
Russia, in 1896. As a young man, he excelled in science, engineering, and 
music. That interesting subject combination helped him — while still in his 
early 20s — to conceive the electronic instrument that would bear his name.
The theremin's success gave the inventor opportunities unheard of for Soviet 
citizens of the time. Theremin toured Europe promoting his instrument, which 
was as much a propaganda tool as he was. The concertizing led to a visit to 
New York City, where Theremin remained from 1927 to 1938. The revelations 
about Theremin's sudden departure from New York under mysterious 
circumstances and his whereabouts for several decades are what make the book 
most historically important.
As expected, Glinsky details the theremin's production and marketing. He also 
covers Theremin's many other inventions, including an early form of 
television, a polyphonic keyboard instrument, an aircraft altimeter, 
electronic security devices, and the bugging technologies used by the KGB.
In addition, the book documents Theremin's interaction with many important 
personalities of the 20th century. In the Soviet Union he gave a private 
demonstration of his “etherphone” to Soviet leader Vladimir Ilyich Lenin 
(who believed it would be “an ideal propaganda tool for electricity”). In 
the musical world, Theremin worked with composers Joseph Schillinger, Nicolas 
Slonimsky, Edgard Varèse, and Henry Cowell (for whom he built the 
rhythmicon), and conductor Leopold Stokowski.
Glinsky's attention to historic detail vividly displays the arbitrary manner 
in which millions of Soviet citizens' lives were devastated by those in 
power. It's difficult to imagine how anyone could survive what Theremin was 
subjected to, let alone remain productive. Yet he outlived the political 
system that controlled — often destroyed — his work and kept him a 
second-class citizen. Glinsky portrays Theremin as a man determined to 
fulfill his creative urges despite continual setbacks. When Theremin emerges 
from the shadows in Moscow in an unexpected encounter with his old friend and 
theremin virtuoso Clara Rockmore, one cannot help but marvel at the melding 
of luck, cunning, and naïveté.
Theremin: Ether Music and Espionage is an important book for readers 
interested in the theremin or electronic music's history. The book is 
exhaustively researched and engagingly written, and it includes an insightful 
forward by Robert Moog. Glinsky's exceptional portrayal of Leon Theremin is 
more than a mere music-related biography. I recommend Theremin: Ether Music 
and Espionage to anyone who enjoys reading about 20th-century history or 
Soviet-American relations.