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ONDES MARTENOT |
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At the end of W.W.I, Maurice Martenot (1898-1980), a sergeant in charge of a wireless station, noticed the purity of vibrations produced by radio tubes (a recent invention).
This led to a series of investigations in sound and electronics. He presented his new musical instrument to the public in may of 1928 at the Paris Opera. The first concert with an electronic instrument.
He called his invention the Ondes Martenot (Martenot's waves).
It was monophonic with low note priority.
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It was played two ways:
1. At the keyboard (7 octaves). The speaker was separate. The player's right hand played the keyboard while the left hand controlled dynamics and timbre by manipulating switches that controlled filters. The keyboard allowed lateral movement of the keys allowing the player to have vibrato by wiggling his finger.
2. The 'speaking' play. A ribbon (also 7 octaves) allowed inflections like a voice or stringed instrument. It allowed for a wide glissando where the player moved a finger ring attached to the metal ribbon which controlled the frequency. The left hand functioned the same as the keyboard mode.
The left hand controlled a key which served the same as the bow of a violinist or the breath of a wind player. With a touch of the finger, the player controlled the intensity ranging from PPP to FFF. It also controlled the attack.
The left hand also controlled the loud speaker buttons, timbre, harmonics, etc.
There was also a knee lever which could be used instead freeing the left hand to join the right.
The martenot was intended to become a member of the orchestral family, not to be used to create a new type of music. The tone was glass like.
In 1938, Martenot, then a professor at the Paris Conservatoire, built a special Martenot to be used for microtonal Hindu music.
Hundreds of symphonic works, operas, ballets, film scores, and other works were composed for the Martenot by composers such as Olivier Messian, Milhaud, Varese, Boulez, Honneger and more.
The theremin similar in the way it produced tone.
It is amazing how present day synths have many of the controller functions of the martenot. ribbons, switches, knee levers , and supposedly Kurzweil is coming out with a keyboard that has a ring.
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We will listen to examples by:
Oliver Messiaen, FetesDes Belles Eaux for Sextet of Ondes martenot. 1938
Darius Milhaud, Suite for Martenot and Piano. 1.Choral 2. Serenade 3. Impromptu 4.Etude 5.Elegie
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