The musicologist and composer Dorit Chrysler demonstrates the eerie, strange, and endless range of the theremin, a unique musical instrument created by the physicist-turned-electronic-music-pioneer Léon Theremin as a result of his Soviet-sponsored spy research into electromagnetic waves and proximity sensors.
Featuring additional commentary by John Huth, Donner Professor of Science, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Introduction by Immaculata De Vivo, interim faculty codirector of the science program, Radcliffe Institute; professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School; and professor of epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Theremin Demonstrations:
1. “The Swan” by Camille Saint-Saëns (8:22)
2. “The Day the Earth Stood Still” by Bernhard Herrmann* (27:45)
3. “Rubies and Pearls” by Dorit Chrysler (32:30)
*Piano: Rob Schwimmer
This event is part of The Undiscovered Science Lecture Series at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University.
For information about the Radcliffe Institute and its many public programs, visit www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/.