Clara Rockmore

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Clara Rockmore and Leon Theremin

Clara Rockmore (born March  9, 1911 in Vilnius , †  May 10, 1998 in New York City ), born Clara Reisenberg , was an instrumentalist who worked as a virtuoso on the theremin , an electronic musical instrument invented at the beginning of the 20th century, got known. She significantly influenced the technical development of the theremin and the corresponding playing technique and was the only known thereminist in the first decades after the invention of the instrument. To the present day she is considered one of the most outstanding musicians in the history of the theremin.

Life

From an early age, Rockmore was considered a child prodigy with the violin . At the age of five she was admitted to the Saint Petersburg Conservatory , making her the youngest student in the history of this institution to this day. She completed her violin training under the guidance of Leopold Auer . However, due to diet-related bone problems, she had to give up playing the violin in her youth, whereupon she turned to an electronic instrument introduced by the Russian physicist Leon Theremin in 1920 , which was later named theremin after its developer . With this instrument, the sound is generated by means of two oscillating circuits , the beat frequency and thus the pitch of which can be influenced by the posture and movement of the hands via an antenna. Another antenna is used to regulate the volume .

Clara Rockmore emigrated to the United States with her family in 1921 . On October 30, 1934, she gave her first solo concert on the Theremin in New York's Town Hall . Due to various circumstances, she developed into one of the most talented and outstanding virtuosos in the history of this instrument. Classical music lessons in their childhood and youth proved to be an advantage over theremin artists without such training. In addition, they had a perfect pitch and an important prerequisite for playing an instrument over a wide range sounds in any pitch, including tones between the conventional grades produced. She was also able to coordinate her movements quickly and with extraordinary precision. She completed several extensive tours and worked with the conductor Leopold Stokowski and the singer Paul Robeson, among others .

In the early phase of the theremin's development, she worked closely with its inventor, Leon Theremin. She contributed to the technical improvement of the instrument through various suggestions and in her later career played on a theremin that had been specially made for her by Leon Theremin. In addition, she developed a playing technique that made it possible to use special finger movements to play fast passages of music as well as larger note jumps without a sliding change in pitch known as a glissando . Clara Rockmore played classical pieces on the theremin , her music sounded like a cello or a violin. In the first decades after the invention of the instrument, she was the only known concert virtuoso, since the theremin was usually only used in film music to create special sound effects , here almost exclusively by Samuel Hoffman as a soloist. Clara Rockmore died in New York in 1998 .

Albums

  • The Art of the Theremin. Delos International 1987
  • Clara Rockmore's Lost Theremin Album. Bridge Records 2006

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Rockmore, Clara
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Reisenberg, Clara (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Russian instrumentalist
DATE OF BIRTH March 9, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Vilnius
DATE OF DEATH May 10, 1998
Place of death New York City