Ondes Martenot

The Ondes Martenot (plural; French for “Martenot waves”; when it was first introduced in 1928, the Ondes Musicales , called “musical waves”) are a monophonic electronic musical instrument .

description

The instrument was invented by its namesake, the French music teacher and radio amateur Maurice Martenot , inspired by a meeting with the inventor of the theremin , Lev Sergejewitsch Termen , in 1923. Like the theremin, the Ondes Martenot are based on the principle of the beat buzzer , the Sound can be changed with electronic filters . The electronic keyboard instrument with a range of 7 octaves is played with the right hand via a manual or by means of a ring ( glissandi ), while dynamics and timbre can be controlled with the left hand . The ring for glissandi sits on a wire that runs parallel to the keyboard . On early versions of the instrument, the pitch was only controlled via the ring, the keyboard was used solely for visual orientation. With the left hand, the player can regulate the volume and use filters to influence the timbre.

Of the early electronic music instruments , it is considered the one that was most widely used. It was used by important composers, especially from France, including Olivier Messiaen , Darius Milhaud , Arthur Honegger , André Jolivet , Charles Koechlin and Edgar Varèse . In the film music , the instrument found its way by composers such as the French Maurice Jarre , but also by the Americans Elmer Bernstein . The manual series production was discontinued in 1968, it was not until 2001 that the first instrument was built again according to the old specifications.

Examples of the use of the Ondes Martenot

In the opera Saint François d'Assise , Olivier Messiaen used three Ondes Martenot (widely distributed) in the orchestra , in his Turangalîla symphony he used the Ondes Martenot as a concertante solo instrument, and also in his Trois petites liturgies de la présence divine .
Edgar Varèse used the Ondes Martenot in his pieces Ecuatorial (revised version, previously Theremincello ) and Nocturnal .
Ondes Martenot play an important role in Arthur Honegger's dramatic oratorio Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher . (Honegger was one of the first composers to give this instrument space in the orchestra).
For the music for the film Lawrence of Arabia , the composer Maurice Jarre used not only conventional instruments but also the sounds of the Ondes Martenot. Other films with succinct Ondes Martenot solos are z. B. The Billion Dollar Brain (music by Richard Rodney Bennett ), Ghostbusters , My Left Foot (the latter both set to music by Elmer Bernstein ).
In rock music, the Ondes Martenot have recently been used by the British band Radiohead (albums Kid A , Amnesiac , Hail to the Thief ). The instrument is played by Jonny Greenwood , who also used it in his film scores for Bodysong and There Will Be Blood for the film of the same name.
The French composer Yann Tiersen has been accompanied on several albums and at concerts by Christine Ott on the Ondes Martenot.
On Bryan Ferry's As Time Goes By , Ondes Martenot was played on some tracks.
The Belgian chansonnier Jacques Brel repeatedly used the Ondes Martenot as an accompanying instrument, including in his famous chanson Ne me quitte pas .
Tristan Murail plays the Ondes Martenot on Tucker Zimmerman's 1974 LP Over here in Europe .

At the opening concert of the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg on January 11, 2017.

Player of the Ondes Martenot

Web links

Commons : Ondes Martenot - collection of images, videos and audio files