By: Luis Pellegrini
Source: www.luispellegrini.com.br
Clara Rockmore (1911-1998) had two privileges in life: being born into a family full of musical talent, and inheriting "perfect pitch." She was born in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, exactly 105 years ago. Her destiny was to dedicate herself entirely to mastering a rather rare and difficult instrument, the theremin.
Clara Reisenberg (this is her maiden name) was a child prodigy: at the age of two she could already play major and minor scales on the piano. At the age of four, she was the youngest violin student to be accepted into the Imperial Conservatory of St. Petersburg. She had a peaceful childhood, disturbed only by the Reisenberg family's decision to flee the Soviet revolution. Lithuania, at that time, was under Russian control.
Young Clara Rockmore during one of her theremin performances.
After a long and troubled journey as stowaways, desperately seeking a visa to enter the United States, Clara and her family finally landed in New York in 1921. It was in the American metropolis that, due to malnutrition, the girl developed some bone problems that prevented her from continuing to play the violin and piano.
Seeking a new instrument, Clara Rockimore became interested in the theremin, an electronic music device that was beginning to gain popularity in Russia and the United States. She met the instrument's inventor, the Russian physicist Léon Theremin, who quickly recognized in the young woman an excellent musical skill and knowledge.
The theremin is a radio frequency instrument that allows you to modify the sound according to the position of the hands of the person manipulating it: the hands, in effect, depending on their distance from the device, interrupt or alter the radiated magnetic field.
A “phantom instrument”
The theremin is, in effect, and as far as is known, the oldest musical instrument that can be played without “direct” physical contact with the performer. For this reason, it is particularly difficult to play: it has no keys or pedals, but only two antennas installed next to a box that houses two oscillators that produce an inaudible frequency “at rest.” But when someone approaches it with their hands, the sound appears and can be controlled and modulated in its pitch and intensity.
The theremin quickly became Clara's principal instrument, a pioneer in its use for classical music, to such an extent that Léon Theremin modified the instrument's structure to meet Clara's specific needs. She developed an unprecedented mastery of performance and frequently played for the best audiences in New York, Philadelphia, and Toronto, among other cities. She was often accompanied on the piano by her sister Nadia. The audience was enchanted by the duets of the two instruments, especially because, as can be seen in the videos at the end, the timbre of the theremin remarkably resembles that of the human operatic voice.
Nádia Reisenberg, Clara Rockmore's sister, was a renowned pianist who had her own career.
Before Clara, the theremin had only been used for the production of sound effects requested by the film industry in the United States. Clara – who in the meantime had refused several marriage proposals from Léon Theremin, preferring to marry the American Robert Rockmore – was also often asked to record for cinema sound systems. But she always refused, saying that her desire was to produce "good music" with the theremin, and nothing more. Above all, no sound effects.
Clara Rockmore released her first LP, titled "The Art of the Theremin," in 1977. Today, the theremin is taught in various music schools around the world, notably in Japan.
Clara died of pneumonia in 1998, two days after witnessing the birth of her sister's granddaughter, an event she had eagerly awaited. But her music was never forgotten.
For those who are not yet familiar with the sound of the theremin and the interpretations of Clara Rockmore, here are three videos with her recordings:
Video: Theremin – Clara Rockmore performs “The Swan” by Saint-Saëns.
Video: Theremin – Clara Rockmore performs “Aria” by Johann Sebastian Bach.
Video: Theremin – Clara Rockmore performs – “Aria from Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5”, by Heitor Villalobos. Note the extraordinary similarity of the theremin to the human voice (soprano) in this interpretation of the Fifth Bachiana.