Theremin Cello - The forgotten Theremin

Not all that is rare glitters like gold. Take wine, for example. While some rare wines are the stuff of legend, others are considered, simply put, fancy vinegar. When it comes to rare or unusual instruments, few are of value. Often instruments are rare for a reason! In brief, most fail to achieve that perfect blend of sound, versatility, and playability that music requires. The Theremin cello is, without doubt, amongst the rarest of instruments, but like many that have fallen before, there could be just cause. Still, the story of this unusual and unknown instrument is well worth telling.

Invented in the late 1920's by Leon Theremin, the Theremin Cello, aslo known as the Fingerboard Theremin, has basically been extinct for the last 70 years. There is no record of the number made, though it is clear some may have been destroyed by the Soviets when Theremin was sent into prison camps to work for the Soviet miltary machine. Only two originals are known to exist, and neither one of those have worked for decades.

The Theremin Cello was held in the same manner as a standard cello, but looked rather like the 1930s vision of a robot complete with brass dials and faceplates. Instead of strings, there was a plastic membrane that triggered a tone when pressed, higher notes to the top, lower pitches toward the bottom. In place of a bow, there was a lever controlling the volume. When you pushed the lever down the sound got louder, and when returned to its original position, the sound stopped. On the face of the cello were knobs to control tone and sensitivity. The intrument itself was simply a controller, with a heavy cord running to a box that contained the actual electronics that created the sound and acted as amplifier. Without the box, the Theremin Cello was silent. Without the Theremin Cello, the box was useless, as it would not work with any electric guitar, in spite of its visual similarity to a guitar amp.

For a few years a variation on the Theremin Cello was used by the great conductor Leopold Stokowski as a super low bass in the string section. The stories vary in their details as to why this experiment was discountinued, but it appears that the notes were so low as to make the other musicians in the orchestra sick. From what I know of musicians in classical orchestras, there seems to be a great number of things that make them sick, especially if it has anything to do with the conductor!

Although the Theremin Cello could play a simplified version of many cello pieces, there seems to have been only one piece written specifically for the instrument, Ecuitorial by Varese. It was written in the 1930's for two Theremin Cellos, bass singer, winds and percussion. The first performance was, by all accounts, a disaster due to insufficient rehearsal time given the demanding nature of the music. By the time Varese was ready to try again Leon Theremin had returned to Russia. Varese was devastated as he had hoped to work with Theremin on a refinement of his instrument. By all accounts, this was the last performance of a piece featuring the Cello Theremin.

All this changed when retired toymaker Floyd Engels became interested in the instruments of Leon Theremin. After years of research and effort Engels was able to take the incomplete remains of the two existant Theremin Cellos and use them as a guide in creating ten virtually identical replicas.

On an October evening in 2002 at the University of Buffalo's Amherst Campus, the Theremin Cello was heard again in public for the first time, playing the second performance ever of Varese's Ecuatorial as orginally written. Learn more.

I've owned one of the Engels Theremin Cellos for about one year now, the one you see featured in the two YouTube videos above. Floyd did a wonderful job and was a delight to work with, and though I am delighted to own the instrument I can't help but wonder what would have happened if Theremin and Varese had been able to continue their collabortation on the instrument. For my taste the fingerboard seems fully developed, but the volume lever seems a little clumsy and slow. I can't imagine a cellist, or any instrumentallist for that matter, feeling fully satisfied by its limitations. Perhaps with some adjustment the action on this "bow" will be quicker.

Recommended Videos, Recordings and Links

Theremin Cello is Back - An article with more details regarding the second Ecuatorial performance.