O.T. - Rare "CROIX SONORE" Recording

[Peter Pringle]

Got the following private email sent today by an ebay seller in France. Thought perhaps someone here might be interested. The instrument known as the "croix sonore" was a theremin-like gestural controller developed in 1918 by Russian composer Nicolai Obukhov.

***********************************

***********************************

We are a french record seller. Since yesterday we have put at auction on eBay an ultra-rare 1934 78 rpm record, the only commercialy issued with playing of the Croix Sonore, sort of Theremin built by the composer Nicolaï Obukhov (who plays piano beside). 

This kind of document may interest you or someone else. It has been already seen only one time on the market, one year ago (in last 10 years for sure), and sold $ 400. 

The ours is in excellent condition, good for professional  copy, with excellent clear sound.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/290997892203?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

Thanks for your attention,

Best regards,

Christine Goffinet.

[Peter Pringle]

Here is a piece of music written by the inventor of the "croix sonore", Nicolai Obukhov. The instrument sounds very much like a theremin and according to French author and musicologist, Claude Samuel, it was conceived to surprise and delight the Paris salons of the 1920's. 

Its shape - that of a cross - may well have been an attempt to capitalize on the general impression at the time that the music coming from these instruments was somehow mystical and "etheric". Remember, it was reported that when Leon Theremin gave his demonstrations of the theremin at the Paris Opera in 1927, women fainted. The suggestion is that they thought they were hearing angelic or spirit voices from the beyond, and went into a swoon!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOTRsrk5rH8#t=28m43s

[Thierry Frenkel]

I got exactly the same email. While less interested in 78rpm recordings, I feel that I should start enlarging my horizon in the Obukhov direction as soon as I'll be done with Maurice Martenot (unfortunately still waiting for Jean Laurendeau's book)...

I had the occasion to meet Olesya Rostovskaya and her husband some time ago in the
Netherlands and what Olesya knew and could tell about Obukhov was already very impressive. If I could only free up more time for study and research, there are still so many things to (re-) discover!

[Peter Pringle]

Hi Thierry,

I was surprised when the girl in the post office told me that the book would take at least THREE WEEKS by regular air mail from Canada to France. It was sent around Sept. 25 so it should be there any minute.

The "croix sonore" is one of those strange musical curiosities that simply never caught on. I would love to know more about it but have no personal interest in attempting to acquire one, or learning how to play it. There is NO FUTURE IN IT FOR YOU EITHER, but you might develop a lucrative little business maintaining and refurbishing les ondes martenot. 

The ondes is a highly sophisticated and delicate instrument, capable of all sorts of wonderful things but as you pointed out in a previous post, it is "labor intensive" and costly to manufacture. For most ears, it's a synthesizer (something that author/ondiste, Jean Laurendeau, insists that it is not). 

Curiously, in the attempt to remedy the shortcomings of the theremin, something was lost. As hauntingly beautiful as the ondes can be in the hands of a real virtuoso, it does not have that ineffable human quality we hear from a skillful thereminist. 

As I understand it, les fils Martenot, after the death of their father Maurice, attempted to make the manufacture of the ondes a profitable business by cutting corners. 

Bankruptcy inevitably and quickly followed. 

[Thierry Frenkel]

It's not that I see a future kind of business in the croix sonore, but I feel a kind of rather academic curiosity and/or interest into Obukhov's music and creations. It seems that besides the croix sonore which was rather a kind of Kovalski theremin (with a push button unit for the volume), he developed or traced at least ideas of other revolutionary electronic music instruments in order to give his music which seems to have most times a mystic idea behind, a voice.

IMHO (and limited knowledge) there hasn't been much mysticism in music since J.S.Bach (let Mozart's freemasonry fall apart), and that's why I tend to be interested in Obukhov's opus in general, not at all limited to the croix sonore, and be it only to find a rather intellectual approach to what people describe as mysticism, because my rather scientific mind refuses to accept things to be placed in a dark "mystic" drawer once forever, without any attempt to put some light on them.

Actually I'm thinking a lot about the effect of a music instrument's timbre onto the listener's emotions, triggered by some remarks about people showing extreme reactions when they first heard a theremin or a croix sonore. You may also observe the one or the other tear discretely appear when timbres like Vox humana or Vox coelestis are selected on a classic pipe organ. I've come to the conclusion that this has a lot to do with the variation of harmonic content vs. pitch. The more it resembles the behavior of the human voice with a strong chest voice, a well defined transition zone, and an expressive head voice, the more it seems to move the listener. The audio files of the Hoffmann Theremin helped me a lot in understanding how L.T. managed to create this voice change in his instruments and also in understanding why almost all modern Theremins and also the Ondes Martenot, which have all a relatively constant harmonic spectrum throughout their whole pitch range, sound often not enough "organic" but rather synthetic. But there is still a lot to think about, to study, and to analyze for me, before I'll hopefully be able to write some more substantiated details in this place.

[Peter Pringle]

Thierry wrote: ".......there hasn't been much mysticism in music since J.S.Bach."

Thierry, 

Musically speaking, what do you feel mysticism is? What defines it musically? 

"Mysticism", according to the dictionary, is "an immediate awareness of ultimate reality, or God". If music is able to trigger this awareness, is the mechanism universal? 

Are all those who are susceptible to being mystically ignited by music, ignited by the same thing? Is the same process happening within someone who is mystically moved by Bach's SAINT MATTHEW PASSION, happening within someone who has an equally transcendental experience through the songs of John Lennon, or though a 'raga' played by Ravi Shankar?

Do you feel the mystical "current" (if I can call it that) in the music of more modern composers like Olivier Messiaen or Alexander Scriabin? How about contemporary composers whose music is thought by many to be profoundly mystical: Arvo Pärt, the late Henryk Górecki (whose music I find tremendously overrated and excruciatingly pretentious and dull) or Morten Lauridsen? 

Our sometime friend and theremin colleague Reid Welch (aka "Mr. Trubble") built a special tube amplifier exclusively for listening to the vinyl LP recording THE ART OF THE THEREMIN. It was quite an impressive beast, and he demonstrated it for me once. He sat me down in particular chair that was placed strategically for the best sound, and put on the record. 

The familiar tones of Clara Rockmore filled the room. The composition being played was Tchaikovsky's VALSE SENTIMENTALE which starts in the lower register and gradually rises higher and higher. As the pitch rose, Reid became increasingly excited and said, "O.K., now listen very carefully because something amazing is going to start happening when Clara hits the B above Middle C....we waited......THERE IT IS!! Do you hear how the sound suddenly changed and became ALIVE?? Look! Look what it did to me!" He thrust out both his arms to show me the goosebumps the experience gave him. 

I did not get goosebumps, nor did I rush manically around the room, but I definitely felt the shift he was pointing to. It was exactly what Reid said it was - a curious morphing of the sound from a decidedly electronic buzz to the exquisite tone of a gifted human soprano. 

When I bought my first theremin in the spring of 1996 (a Big Briar Etherwave kit) I was very disappointed with it. It sounded nothing at all like Clara's theremin. The instrument was extremely difficult to play, and I was not getting what I had expected from the effort - namely, the sonic reward of the living human soprano. 

At the time, I was unaware that much of the magical/mystical effect I could hear in THE ART OF THE THEREMIN had to do with Clara's superb musicianship and her mastery of space control, and not simply the circuitry that Lev had built into her instrument. 

[Lawrence P Kaster]

I 

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[Lawrence P Kaster]

I do not tend to separate experiences or things into categories of sacred vs. mundane.  In a very special sense, at least for me, everything is imbued with hair-raising quality that is referred to as "mystic." Nothing is ordinary.   In fact, I am challenged to look beneath the surface of each moment and sense it in this way.

To me, all experiences are simultaneously mundane and "mystical." It's just a matter of shifting between thoughts about them to realize how amazing the simplest thing really is, numinous and totally unique in each moment of its manifestation.  It's just very difficult to carry on some kinds of activities with a focus like that.  It doesn't mean that it isn't simultaneously both, and more.

What seems to happen for me is a shift of focus, analogous to the way brain functions; verbal and arithmatic are separated while supposedly "multitasking." It is demonstrably impossible to actually perform both functions simultaneously, but shifting between them can be rapid enough to appear that way.  (Experiments have been performed that prove that multitasking is simply rapid shifts of different modes of attention.)

 

So to me the experience of music always operates on many levels; the historical, anecdotal, commercial, personal, and universal, the lyrical and the tragic, etc. While I listen I will consider all the ways to listen.  To split the world between sacred and mundane, this music as mystical and that music as mundane, invites me to test my ability to hear it again, and  differently.

LPKaster

http://lpkaster.com

Sent from my iPhone

On Oct 20, 2013, at 7:21 AM, Peter Pringle <peterp...@cgocable.ca> wrote:

[Peter Pringle]

lpkaster wrote: I do not tend to separate experiences or things into categories of sacred vs. mundane.  In a very special sense, at least for me, everything is imbued with hair-raising quality that is referred to as "mystic." Nothing is ordinary. 

Spoken like a true yogi!!

This kind of thinking is a bit too "new-agey" for me. I have known a number of people who see, or ATTEMPT to see, the world in this way but for me it is a kind of cosmic rationalization. My problem with the "nothing is ordinary" world view is that it is so all-inclusive that discrimination is lost in the attempt to embrace everything as equal.

You say, "While I listen I will consider all the ways to listen....". While I find that commendable, I have to admit that when I listen - when I REALLY listen - there is no part of me that is left to "consider" anything. It's an entirely emotional, gut-level thing. 

After listening, there is no part of me that says, "Now I will listen again to this piece of shit to see if I can hear God in it."

[Peter Pringle]

Thierry,

I found the following website (in French) very interesting. The writer mentions two musical instruments other than the "croix sonore" invented by Nikloai Obukhov: the "cristal" and the "éther".

The "cristal" was apparently a keyboard with hammers that struck tuned crystal spheres. The "éther" was a large wheel to which paddles were attached that could be controlled to produce a variety of humming sounds. 

The site also mentions that there is a "croix sonore" in the Musée de l'Opéra in Paris. Do you think you might be able to persuade the authorities at the museum to let you examine the instrument? 

Curiously, my copy of the Dictionnaire de la Musique LAROUSSE does not mention the croix sonore or its inventor Nikolai Obukhov, but there is an interesting article in the 1939 edition of The International Cyclopedia Of Music And Musicians (to which Nicolas Slonimsky, of ELECTRONIC ODYSSEY fame, was a major contributor). It says, among other things, that Obukhov studied for a time with Maurice Ravel, something which the extensive Wikipedia article on Obukhov does not mention.

http://www.chercheursdesons.com/archive/2010/12/08/croix-sonore.html

[Lawrence P Kaster]

Glad I'm not the only one who changes the conversation so easily. We were talking about the schism of "mystical" 

and mundane music and you become concerned about the ability to discriminate between what is effective and ineffective in communicating an idea.  I admit that I do not find "New Age" presentations entirely distasteful. Perhaps you find that many adherents are simply sloppy in their scholarship and thinking as I do, too. I chalk this up to the effects of popularity. There is always a curve in popular culture, of laziness and inattention within a large population that renders the whole subject more trivial than it might be.

I sometimes think that you don't trust your critical faculty enough. Whether a communication is effective or not is one issue, while the concept or idea might be really unique and interesting, and entirely sound (pun intended) It isn't really discriminating to dismiss it simply out-of-hand. It's much more significant to point out why it doesn't work and not be so concerned about being cheated.

LPKaster

http://lpkaster.com

Sent from my iPhone

[Thierry Frenkel]

Thorwald, who seems to follow our discussion here, sent me a link yesterday, pointing towards a German seller on Amazon, who has a few CDs with recordings for Croix sonore and piano by the Moscow state conservatory. I couldn't refrain from ordering one.
http://www.amazon.de/Nikolai-Obouhov-Sonore-Nikolay-Obukhov/dp/B00AVKKLOO

[Jessica Hummel]

On 21-10-2013 23:10, Thierry Frenkel wrote:
> Thorwald, who seems to follow our discussion here, sent me a link yesterday, pointing towards a German seller on Amazon, who has a few CDs with recordings for Croix sonore and piano by the Moscow state conservatory. I couldn't refrain from ordering one.
> http://www.amazon.de/Nikolai-Obouhov-Sonore-Nikolay-Obukhov/dp/B00AVKKLOO
>
>

I was amazed at first, but then saw it is a contemporary recording with
theremin.

Wilco and I have been busy with the history of the Croix Sonore in
2006/2007 when Wilco was building a replica for the Holland Festival,
and we took it to Hands Off 2007 where I gave a lecture. That new Croix
Sonore uses an etherwave board, and was played on the festival by Lydia
Kavina. Wilco gave a demonstration on it.
The original Croix Sonore has the mystic thing because Obuhov himself
was into mysticism and was highly influenced by baronesse
Marie-Antoinette Aussenac-Broglie, pianist, only player of the croix
sonore and Baha'i priestess.
(I have to search for my paperwork to be really sure, but I think it was
in 1937 that Obuhov didn't succeed to get involved in the World
Exhibition in Paris, but rented a room nearby for demonstration of the
Croix Sonore, and did put an add for this in the booklet of the World
Fair. The same edition of the World Fair where the Ondes Martenot was
presented.)

If one of you Levren buys the record, please please please make a
recording and share it with the rest of the wordl!
It is the only way to hear the original Croix Sonore. (We sadly can't
afford to buy the record.)

greetings,
Jessica

[Peter Pringle]

Thierry,

Here is Facebook site about a new documentary film on the ondes martenot - LE CHANT DES ONDES (Wavemakers). It was made by The National Film Board Of Canada and judging from the trailer, includes some very interesting vintage film. 

There will be a short run of this film in Paris from November 26 to December 1, 2013, in the context of an event called "Le Cinéma Du Québec à Paris". I have not seen this movie and did not even know about its existence until Charles Lester emailed me this morning about it.

It looks very interesting. Since I personally know EVERYBODY involved with it, I will see if I can round up a DVD of the thing. 

https://www.facebook.com/wavemakers.lechantdesondes

There is also the following link on the facebook page to some interesting performances of L'Ensemble d'ondes de Montréal in combination with various instruments: oud, pedal steel guitar, etc.

http://www.espace.mu/special/ondesmartenot

[David Curtis]

Forgive the slightly enhanced re-post (from April 30), but since La croix sonore has come up as subject, the following Gaumont Pathé references might interest some:

The Gaumont Pathé Archives (http://www.gaumontpathearchives.com) contain several references and B&W (with sound) media files related to the theremin, croix sonore and ondes martenot. Understandably, though regrettably, the videos are somewhat marred by large Gaumont or Pathé watermarks.

Theremin:

Titre : LA MUSIQUE DES ONDES

Dates : 1ère diffusion : 21/02/1930

Référence : PJ 1930 015 6

Collection : Journal Actualité Pathé

Durée : 00:02:29

[N.B. no online video]

Titre : AU SALON DE LA TSF

Dates : 1ère diffusion : 11/09/1931

Référence : PJ 1931 096 3

Collection : Journal Actualité Pathé

Durée : 00:02:14

[N.B. the video claims to show 'l'inventeur français' Theremin demonstrating his instrument, but it is someone else playing a volume-switch version not unlike Taubman's Electronde. I suspect that the still image used to illustrate the theremin in early publications of the Oxford Companion to Music, eg. 

on plate 57 of 

The Oxford companion to music : self-indexed and with a pronouncing glossary / by Percy A. Scholes. 

London ; Toronto : Oxford University Press, 1938.

was taken from this or a contemporary demonstration given at the 1931 edition of the Große deutsche Funkausstellung in Berlin]

 

Titre : ACTUALITES N° 10 - MARS 1987.

Titre original : khronika nachikh dnieï. [хроника наших днеи]

Lieu : URSS-Russie : Russie : Moscou.

Dates : 1ère diffusion : 01/01/1987

Référence : 8000AKDOC00052

Collection : Documentaire ; Gaumont Arkeïon (Arkeïon)

Durée : 00:10:18

Description :

BOBINE 1/1.

sujet 1 : de 0'00 à3'50 - 24 images/s" Pages de la mémoire: Termen ".

Le soir, passants devant vitrines de vêtements éclairées et décorées.

Visage de vieil homme regardant les vitrines : Lev Sergueievitch Termen.

Branche de glaïeul séchée.

Interview en intérieur du vieil homme (détail des objets dans la pièce).

Lui au milieu de la pièce joue d'un instrument de musique électronique (mais sans toucher l'instrument : vibraphone).

Banc-titre photos de lui jeune.

Termenovox (theremin).

Le vieil homme chez lui ouvre un placard.

Vue de la fenêtre.

Interview (avec son), il raconte la fois où il a montré son invention à LENINE.

Vues de la pièce.

Termen prend un album de photos, le feuillette.

Banc-titre de portraits.

Lui dans sa cuisine.

[LT plays Schubert's 'Ave Maria' on the 'vibraphone'[sic]]

--------------------------

La croix sonore:

Titre : INSTRUMENT RADIOELECTRIQUE

Dates : 1ère diffusion : 23/05/1934

Référence : AF 86 3

Collection : Journal Actualité Pathé (Actualités féminines)

Durée : 00:02:39

Détails plan par plan

Carton : "Un nouvel instrument radio-électrique présenté par Madame Aussenac-Broglie, au piano, le compositeur Nicolas Obouhow"

Le pianiste, devant partition :  "Le Tout Puissant bénit la Paix"

Mme Aussenac-Broglie joue du nouvel instrument (sonorité proche de la scie musicale - elle approche plus ou moins sa main de l'appareil qui rend alors un son grave or aigu)

En surimpression sur les musiciens, images de nature

Titre : PARIS. UN NOUVEL INSTRUMENT, MME AUSSENAC BROGLIE

Dates : 1ère diffusion : 01/06/1934

Référence : 3422GJ 00011

Collection : Journal Actualité Gaumont (Journal Gaumont)

Durée : 00:02:08

Résumé descriptif

FRANCE, PARIS. Vie musicale. Un nouvel instrument, Madame AUSSENAC BROGLIE. Une nouvelle notation musicale, Monsieur Nicolas OBOUKHOV et son harmonie absolue. Chant, Madame Louise MATHA. Nouveau résonateur d'Alton, piano double PLEYEL. Musique, musiciens.

---------------------------

Ondes Martenot:

Titre : PR MARTENOT INVENTE UN NOUVEL APPAREIL

Dates : 1ère diffusion : 02/05/1934

Référence : PJ 1934 234 7

Collection : Journal Actualité Pathé

Durée : 00:02:03

Titre : A L EXPO UNE AUDITION DES "ONDES MARTENOT" 27

Dates : 1ère diffusion : 30/09/1937

Référence : PJ 1937 412 18

Collection : Journal Actualité Pathé

Durée : 00:00:56

[Ensemble de femmes en robe du soir jouant du nouvel instrument, etc]

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[David Curtis]

Re: Le chant des ondes (Wavemakers)

More information (I posted this last June):

Those interested in Martenot and his work may wish to track down a copy of Caroline Martel's 2012 documentary 'Le chant des ondes / Wavemakers' produced by the National Film Board of Canada. Official website: http://artifactproductions.ca/lechantdesondes/

 

Here is a film review with a promotional clip tacked on at the end: http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/movie-guide/Review+chant+Ondes/8098931/story.html

---

I asked the folks at the NFB to keep me posted regarding the DVD release, and will pass along any announcements or information they send. 

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[Peter Pringle]

Jess, 

From the looks of the photos of Wilco's "croix sonore" that I could find on the internet,  it seems to have been a full-sized replica.

The CROIX SONORE must have been a formidable looking instrument. First of all, it was HUGE! It was not a little desktop type of thing like the modern matryomin and other mini, pitch only theremins. It measured 175 cm (5' 9") from the bottom of its sphere to the top of the brass cross, and the polished brass sphere (which housed the vacuum tubes and electronics) was 44 cm in diameter (about 18").

The cross alone measured 131 cm (about 4' 3") in height, and where the vertical and horizontal arms intersect, there was a 12 pointed star (reminiscent of a rather gaudy Christmas tree ornament) about 20 cm (8") across. 

Volume was controlled by a small device concealed in the left hand of the "sonoriste". 

Here is a photograph of sonoriste Marie-Antoinette Aussenac-Broglie, dressed in the robes of the High Priestess of the Croix Sonore, playing her instrument. She is standing slightly closer to the camera than the "croix" so she seems a little taller in perspective. If she were standing right next to it, I bet she and the cross would be about the same height.

http://www.peterpringle.com/pppix/croixsonore.jpg

[mpic...@earthlink.net]

there was a 12 pointed star (reminiscent of a rather gaudy Christmas tree ornament) about 20 cm (8") across.

Ha! I thought exactly the same thing!!!

This all appeals to me greatly!

Thanks you guys, you always keep it interesting!

LOVE this group.

XOXO,

Sarah

[Peter Pringle]

Just to heighten the fantasy a bit, the "sonoriste" and concert pianist, Marie-Antoinette Aussenac, married Prince Jacques de Broglie, a celebrated French nobleman, and became Princess Marie-Antoinette Aussenac de Broglie.

Check out the following newspaper article from 1926. 

I wonder how Jacques felt about Marie-Antoinette's relationship with Russian mystic and composer, Nikolai Obukhov. Don't tell me Marie & Nikolai weren't "doin' it" 'cuz THEY WERE. My inner Obukhov tells me he was completely CRAZY about the woman and there was a helluva lot more to that priestess dessup routine than meets the eye!!

Hey.....we're talking about a composer who wrote some of his musical manuscripts in blood!!!

Obukhov was apparently attacked and very seriously injured by what is described as a "gang of thugs" in 1949, and that put an end to his career. My inner Obukhov tells me there was a lot more to THAT story as well. 

LOL

http://tinyurl.com/ny58b9b

[mpic...@earthlink.net]

My life is so dull by comparison...

S

[Lawrence P Kaster]

She should have completed her regalia with a "Statue of Liberty"-style tiara.  It would have tied them together stylistically, (and completed the French connection if a US tour was in order.)

Thanks for the visual.

LPKaster

http://lpkaster.com

Sent from my iPhone

--

[Peter Pringle]

Lawrence,

Did you notice that at the top of the sphere in the photo (above) where the bass of the cross emerges, you can see the letters "LA C". 

I presume the rest of what is written is "LA CROIX SONORE"....

Jessica mentioned above that sonoriste Marie-Antoinette Aussenac de Broglie was a follower of the Baha'i faith - a curiously ecumenical amalgam of just about every major religion, whose followers embrace Moses, Krishna, Buddha, Mohammad, Jesus, etc. etc. This has resulted, not surprisingly, in its true believers being rejected by just about every major religion because the Baha'i faith is based on a concept of the unity of all mankind. 

The religion was started in the 19th century by an Iranian Shi'ite Muslim......you can imagine how the ayatollahs in Teheran love THAT!

[Lawrence P Kaster]

No, I admit I missed that detail.  You're undoubtedly correct that it is the title.  The whole thing is about the same sort of artistic statement as our "Big Tex" at the Texas State Fair. Kinda like a Batman costume that says "Hi, I'm Batman" on it. Oh well.

My Dad while at layover in WW2 in San  Francisco was impressed by the Baha'i Center, and put some photos and literature in his journal from the time. There is a Baha'i Center in Dallas, too. My personal contact with them in the late 70s was brief. The Baha'i are mostly harmless, but I am nervous whenever a committee says "It's all really the same. -ie. Our idea of sameness". 

  I preferred the Sufi Dances and had some contact with a turuq, was briefly 'tested' and remained friends with adherents. I just have issues with dualism, though the argument has been made that the inner teachings are not, in fact, dualistic. Oh well.

LPKaster

http://lpkaster.com

Sent from my iPhone