Rob Schwimmer demonstrates Lucie's Theremin and its inner-workings.
Filmed at Caramoor on September 21, 2010 in the Rosen House.
(Double click the image to enlarge the view)
 

Lucie Bigelow Rosen and the Theremin

Caramoor founder Lucie Bigelow Rosen (1891-1968) was a daring maverick. In the late 1920s she was smitten with “a new sound in the world” – produced by the futuristic electronic musical instrument named after its inventor, Soviet scientist and spy, Leon Theremin (Lev Sergeyevich Termen -1896-1993.)

Walter and Lucie Rosen met Theremin at a soirée in 1929 in New York City. The couple were so impressed by this new music and the ground-breaking instrument - a wooden box with two antennae, played by the waving of the hands through the electromagnetic fields and without actually touching the instrument - and they were also so taken by its inventor that they offered Theremin the use of one of their five brownstones on West 54th Street, as his studio and residence. At the time Theremin was in a financial bind so the idea of a very small rent appealed to him and immediately accepted the offer.

Shortly after, Lucie Rosen set out to master the instrument becoming one of Theremins’ pupils as well as a patron and advocate. Her first performance was as a member of Theremin’s Carnegie Hall ensemble.

By 1936 Mrs. Rosen was frequently performing in New York as a soloist, but it wasn’t until 1935 that she made her official New York debut recital at Town Hall, with Frank Chatterton as her accompanist. “Mrs. Rosen wove with eloquent hands the magical-seeing spell,” the New York World-Telegram wrote, “and the theremin responded to her summons with some of the most strictly musical sounds it has yet produced in our concert rooms.” The New York Times conceded “the instrument got out of gear and its inventor, Leon Theremin, was called onto the stage to set it right…Mrs. Rosen was in command of its resources all evening. She plays the theremin, not only with an awareness of its possibilities, but with a knowledge of music.”*

That same year, Lucie Rosen gave a very successful concert in London, deciding then to follow up the following year on a European tour. She played to enthusiastic reviews in Naples, Rome, Venice, Zurich, Munich, Budapest, Hamburg, Stockholm, Oslo, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris and London.

Lucie Rosen also continued performing in the United States giving numerous concerts in New York City and throughout the Northeast again to rave reviews “Lucie Rosen is one of the most original women in New York’s social world,” the New York Evening Journal observed. “She has a very curly blond hair which fuzzes out into a wide halo around her delicate and ethereal face…her robe de style evening gowns are said to be designed by Mr. Rosen.”(February 3, 1936)*

By late 1938 the Rosen’s support for Theremin was vanishing. He had a significant amount of unpaid taxes and the FBI was monitoring him. He was also seriously behind in his rent payments. Later that year Mr. Rosen wrote Theremin a letter demanding him to vacate the brownstone, and to take all of his possessions with him.

In September of that year, in a very suspicious way Theremin set sail on the Stary Bolshevik which took him back to the Soviet Union. When he arrived he was sent to a Siberian labor camp. Theremin was put to work on a secret project to create eavesdropping devices to be used by the soviets at the American Embassy. After his release from the camp he briefly took a teaching position at a music conservatory, but was soon expelled by the authorities. In 1991, two years before he died, he visited the United States giving lectures and once again demonstrated the theremin.

During the 30’s and beyond, the theremin was becoming very popular in the States and Europe. Mrs. Rosen continued to maintain a very active performing schedule here and abroad. She commissioned many works for the theremin (Jenö Szanto; Jenö Takács; Mortimer Browning; John Haussermann; Bohuslav Martinu.)

In April 1950 the Rosens traveled to Europe for Lucie Rosen’s third and last European tour, (her second tour took place in 1939,) again crisscrossing the continent…London, Amsterdam, the Hague, Zurich Geneva, Rome and Vienna. Her career lasted over a quarter of a century. Her last concert took place in 1953 in Celina, Ohio.

Just before Leon Theremin fled the country he completed a new instrument for Lucie Rosen, which she called the September theremin. It was the most advanced instrument Theremin had built to date. Today the September theremin is on display at Caramoor’s Rosen House, alongside a Moog Music Etherwave Theremin.


* Transcript from Albert Glinsky’s 2000 book “Theremin – Ether Music and Espionage”

Leon Theremin	Theremin Poster
Diagram of Theremin	Diagram of Amplifier

Speaker Box	Speaker Box Cord	Theremin Travel Case
Theremin Accessories	Theremin Accessories	Theremin Accessories