Music for ondes Martenot, Theremin, Trautonium, etc.

[Kullervo]

Just in case you don't know what these are:

Ondes Martenot
Trautonium
Theremin

Can anyone name any examples of music written for these remarkable, exotic and, possibly, kitschy () instruments?

Off the top of my head I can think of:

Messiaen's Turangalîla-Symphonie and various other pieces (though not a composer I particularly care for!)
Honegger's score for L'idée (Martenot)
Varèse's Ecuatorial (Martenot)
Jolivet's Concerto for ondes Martenot
Milhaud's Suite for ondes Martenot
Martinů's Fantaisie for Theremin, String Quartet, Oboe and Piano
Hindemith's Concertpiece for Trautonium and strings

I am not really interested in music made for other instruments being played on these instruments (e.g Clara Rockmore).

[Daverz]

Koechlin, Le Docteur Fabricius includes an Ondes Martenot.

Also, according to Wikipedia: "One movement of the Second Symphony requires four of them (and has not usually been included in the few performances of the work, for that reason)."

[Dax]

Messiaen's Fetes des belles eaux for 6 ondes martenot.

Jolivet's Suite Delphique uses a rare ondes martenot effect - that which sounds like a barking dog . . .

[vandermolen]

Honegger's score for 'Le Demon de L'Himalaya' includes music for the ondes Martenot. It can be found on the same new Naxos release which features the wonderful score for L'Idee.

Also in Honegger's 'Jean d'Arc' there are sections for the ondes Martenot.

[gomro]

Just in case you don't know what these are:

Ondes Martenot
Trautonium
Theremin

Can anyone name any examples of music written for these remarkable, exotic and, possibly, kitschy () instruments?

Off the top of my head I can think of:

Messiaen's Turangalîla-Symphonie and various other pieces (though not a composer I particularly care for!)
Honegger's score for L'idée (Martenot)
Varèse's Ecuatorial (Martenot)
Jolivet's Concerto for ondes Martenot
Milhaud's Suite for ondes Martenot
Martinů's Fantaisie for Theremin, String Quartet, Oboe and Piano
Hindemith's Concertpiece for Trautonium and strings

I am not really interested in music made for other instruments being played on these instruments (e.g Clara Rockmore).

Millennia ago I heard an album, perhaps on the Westminster label, of a ballet score written for the Trautonium by one Remi Gassmann, whom I know absolutely nothing about. It was titled Electronics and, if my memory serves, was not unlike some of Wendy Carlos' or Larry Fast's "classically influenced" synthesizer pieces.  Side Two of this disc was several "Improvisations" on Trautonium by Trautwein's student Oskar Sala.

[Ugh!]

Anis Fuleihan:

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,9911.msg247557.html#msg247557

[Tsaraslondon]

Messiaen: Trois Petites liturgies, St Francois d'Assise (3 Ondes Martenot I thInk)
Jolivet: Suite Delphique
Koechlin: Seven stars symphony

I believe Jolivet also composed a quartet for 4 Ondes Martenot

The Ondes Martenot has also been used in countless film scores, and is prominent in the theme music for the TV programme Midsomer Murders

[pjme]

The ondes Martenot is, afaik, the most succesful of these three instruments.
The Theremin is very difficult to perform on, very few Trautoniums were built ...again, afaik!
Moreover, many (most) works that were written for Theremin can be performed on the ondes Martenot.
I found a lot of good information on the ondes Martenot and its inventor & history in "Maurice Martenot, luthier de l'électronique" by Canadian ondiste Jean Laurendeau.(Dervy Livres 1990 Croissy/Beaubourg / Louise Courtreau editrice Montreal)
Martenot was quite an extraordinary man, not only interested in "high art", but trying over the years, to construct a cheaper,"school" instrument ( ca 1950), he designed an instrument for Rabrindanath Tagore ( ca 1933-1935 – but the origins of this particular story are unclear), worked on an instrument called the "Claviharp", together with his sister Ginette, he developed teaching methods for children, solfeggio..etc. He was interested in Zen and Boudhism .

Laurendeau gives an impressive list of compositions – from short solos to large scale concertos and symphonic poems. The ondes Martenot is used in songs by Jacques Brel, Edith Piaf, Leo Ferré, Dalida, Nana Mouskouri....countless film and TV scores.

Althgough Messiaen's name is closely associated with the instrument, he wrote little for it : a few short  (untill recently unpublished) works, Fêtes des belles eaux, Trois petites liturgies, Turangalila symphonie and (indeed 3 ondes) Saint François.

I add a few works that (some have been recorded)  feature the ondes in some way :

Marcel Landowski's concerto ( with strings & perc.), symph.poem "Edina", the operas Montségur and Le fou., Messe de l'Aurore
Jean Martinon : Symphony nr 2 "Hymne à la vie"
Jacques Bondon : Kaléidoscope ( ondes + small orch.)
Sylvano Bussotti : Due voci, for coloratura sop.,ondes & orch.
Jacques Chailley: Cimetière marin for chorus & orch.
Marius Constant : Septentrion ( ballet)
Karel Goeyvaerts: Honneurs funèbres à la tête musicale d'Orphée (sextuor d'ondes)
Arthur Honegger: Sémiramis (ballet) available on Timpani, Jeanne au Bucher
Jacques Ibert: Golgotha ( filmscore) Naxos
Jacques Hétu: Concerto (Radio Canada)
Charles Koechlin: Offrande musicale sur le nom de Bach ( orch. with organ, piano and ondes solo)
Alain Louvier : Houles for piano, ondes and percussion ( one of several workd written for the Trio Françoise Deslogères)
Tristan Murail : Mach 2.5
Nicholas Obouhov: in the sprawling ( and largely unperformed) oeuvre of this Russian émigré mystic, the Theremin features regularly. ( Performed at the Holland Festival)
Henri Sauguet: Symphony nr 4 ( Naxos)
Antoine Tisné: Visions des temps immémoriaux ( ondes, perc.,piano)
Henri Tomasi : Symphonie du Tiers Monde
Jacques Charpentier: Concertino "à la francese"(slow/fast/slow) for ondes, two percussion and strings. Once available on a Philips LP. Lovely work with a stunning fast movement.
Lalita for ondes & percussion and Charpentier's Quartet are available on CD.

...

I'd love to hear : those 4 ondes in Canteloube's opera "Vercingetorix"
Koechlin's second symphony ( the BBC has a recording with Constantin Silvestri and the London Phil.)
Clermont Pépin's symphony nr 3 "Quasars"
Yvonne Loriod's Mélopées africaines for ondes, piano and percussion.
Dimitri Levidis Symphonic poem for ondes and orchestra (1928) – the first ever composition for ondes and orch.
Michael Gielen : Pentophonie for ondes & orch.

Maurice Ravel's Quartet has been transcribed for ondes.

Check out Thomas  Bloch website – he his one of the best ondistes of the moment! http://thomasbloch.chez.com/

[Kullervo]

Thank you Peter, that was very helpful.

[pjme]

Thanks Corey.
I just remembered that I have two Trautonium Cd's.
Wergo 6266-2 with Harald Genzmer's two concerto's: Konzert für Trautonium und orchester ( 1938/39)

Oskar Sala, soloist with the Bremen Philharhomisches Staatsorch./ Siegfried Goslich ( rec. 1950)

and the Konzert für Mixtur Trautonium und grosses Orchester(1952).
Oskar Sala ,soloist and the S.O.Süddeutschen Rundfunks Stuttgart / Hans Müller-Kray (rec.1958)

Then there is a 1996 Cd from "Erdenklang Musikverlag" - produced by Sala himself.
It has a "Langsames stück und Rondo" by Hindemith, 6 Caprices for Mixturtrautonium ,3 Compositions for Mixturtrautonium und Studio technique and "The strangler of Blackmoor" soundtrack for Trautonium, all by Oskar Sala.

None of these works are timeless masterpieces, but it is good to have the strange,somehow nasal/metallic sound of the Trautonium available.
The Genzmer concerti are very Hindemithian and neo Classical. The first concerto features possibly the only surviving recording of a special Telefunken two manual instrument constructed by Sala ( with Telefunken help) in 1934. It was designed as an easily transportable instrument ( the Konzerttrautonium) , independent of the Radiostudios. The concerto was premiered in 1940 by the Berliner Philharmoniker under Karl Schuricht, with Sala as soloist. The Konzerttrautonium was destroyed by burglars in the 1950-ies....


Sala's Mixturtrautonium is the only instrument surviving - stored at German Museum ( Museum für Wissenschaft und Technik) in Bonn!

Sala's most famous production was the background music for Hitchcock's The birds. Other works mentioned in the booklet:
a Fantasie -sonate for piano and Trautonium by Genzmer, and a ca 1940 Musik für Trautonium und grosses Blasorchester ( for the Berliner Waldbühne).
Paul Dessau and Sala worked together on incidental music for Goethe's Faust in 1948.
THe Trautonium has been used in Honegger's Jeanne au bucher and in Wagner's Parsifal ( for the bell sounds) , in Richard Strauss' Japanische Festmusik ( instead of tuned gongs).

Peter

[Drasko]

Gavriil Popov's score (suite) for documentary film Komsomol: Patron of Electrification has prominent scoring for Theremin, but the only available studio recording on Olympia omits it, is the part optional or they just didn't have the instrument handy I don't know.
Salonen with LA Philharmonic did use it in concert, and I have the broadcast recording somewhere on hard disc so could upload it if anyone is interested.

http://www.laphil.com/music/piece_detail.cfm?id=2377   

[pjme]