33:
99:, to interrupt the flow of light between bulbs and phototoreceptors aligned with the disk perforations. The interrupted signals created oscillations which were perceived as rhythms or tones depending on the speed of the disks. Although it generated both pitches and rhythms, it has often been described as the world's first drum machine.
613:" ... in 1932 ... Cowell wrote two compositions for it ... the concert was 'Rhythmicana' in four movements, a polyrhythmic percussive performance united with an orchestra and 'Music for Violin and Rhythmicon.' The first performance of this technical chamber music ... took place in the same year in San Francisco....". ThereminVox cites
245:
One of the original instruments built by
Theremin wound up at Stanford University; the other stayed with Slonimsky, from whom it later passed to Schillinger and then the Smithsonian Institution. This latter instrument is operational; its sound has been described as "percussive, almost drum-like".
224:
Like many a futuristic contraption, the
Rhythmicon was wonderful in every respect, except that it did not work. It was not until forty years later that an electronic instrument with similar specifications was constructed at Stanford University. It could do everything that Cowell and Theremin had
154:
Schillinger once calculated that it would take 455 days, 2 hours, and 30 minutes to play all the combinations available on the
Rhythmicon, assuming an average duration of 10 seconds for each combination. The early introduction of the instrument was fortunate for Cowell and Theremin as brothers
149:
The rhythmicon can play triplets against quintuplets, or any other combination up to 16 notes in a group. The metrical index is associated ... with the corresponding frequence of vibrations.... Quintuplets are ... sounded on the fifth harmonic, nonuplets on the ninth harmonic, and so forth. A
238:
198:, 1931 (later renamed 'Concerto for Rhythmicon and Orchestra'), and Music for Violin and Rhythmicon (1932). Slonimsky said that Cowell's special piece Rhythmicana (presumably the one Cowell referred to in his letters to Ives) was completed too late to be used at the Paris concerts.
171:
Cowell had planned to exhibit the rhythmicon in Europe. In
October 1931, in a letter to Ives from Berlin, he said, "I have been composing and have finished the second movement of my work for the Rhythmicon with orchestra for Nicolas to use in Paris in February." Composer
253:
experimented with the instrument, though it seems very unlikely that he had access to any of the original three devices; similarly, a number of accounts claim, without substantiation, that the
Rhythmicon may be heard in the soundtracks of several movies, including
150:
complete chord of sixteen notes presents sixteen rhythmical figures in sixteen harmonics within the range of four octaves. All sixteen notes coincide, with the beginning of each period, thus producing a synthetic harmonic series of tones.
139:. The instrument produces its percussion-like sound using a system, proposed by Cowell, that involves light being passed through radially indexed holes in a series of spinning "cogwheel" disks before arriving at electric photoreceptors.
51:
578:"This apparatus, of which two models existed, one in Cowell’s possession and the other given up by Slonimsky to Schillinger - stirred great arousal in 1932 during an early concert at the New School for Social Research in New York."
209:– a demonstration of Cowell's new instrument. According to some sources, the concert premiered Cowell's "Rhythmicana", in four movements with orchestra, and "Music for Violin and Rhythmicon". According to several others, the
246:
Theremin later (in early 1960s) built a third, more compact model after his return to the Soviet Union toward the end of the 1930s. This version of the instrument is operational and now resides at the
Theremin Center in Moscow.
119:
impossible for one person to perform simultaneously on acoustic keyboard or percussion instruments. The invention, completed by
Theremin in 1931, can produce up to sixteen different rhythms—a periodic base rhythm on a selected
135:(if played) beats twice, the second overtone beats three times, and so forth. Using the device's keyboard, each of the sixteen rhythms can be produced individually or in any combination. A seventeenth key permits optional
290:) performed by the Tufts Electronic Music Ensemble, led by Paul D. Lehrman. The performance featured a reconstruction of the Rhythmicon played, designed and built by Mike Buffington for multi-instrumentalist and composer
52:
17:
49:
225:
wanted it to do and more, but it lacked the emotional quality essential to music. It sounded sterile, antiseptic, lifeless — like a robot with a synthetic voice.
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Shillinger eventually bought an original machine. Schillinger's widow donated the device to the
Smithsonian Institution in 1966.(Mooney, op.cit.)
50:
398:
115:
in designing and building the remarkably innovative
Rhythmicon. Cowell wanted an instrument with which to play compositions involving multiple
836:(1 minute 50 seconds video of Andrej Smirnov demonstrating a Rhythmicon with keyboard and spinning disks at the Theremin Center, Moscow, 2005)
131:. Like the overtone series itself, the rhythms follow an arithmetic progression, so that for every single beat of the fundamental, the first
176:, Cowell's close friend, commissioned Theremin to build a second model of the Rhythmicon for use by Cowell and his associate, conductor
476:
904:
374:
267:
designed and programmed a virtual
Rhythmicon using Java Music Specification Language and JSyn. Edmund Eagan also created a
194:
The radically new instrument attracted considerable attention, and Cowell wrote a number of compositions for it, including
127:
and fifteen progressively more rapid rhythms, each associated with one of the ascending notes of the fundamental pitch's
191:
in New York. Schillinger had known Theremin since the early 1920s and had a lifelong interest in technology and music.
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concerto was not performed publicly until 1971, and it was played on a computer. (Cowell later used the same title,
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A similar but more sophisticated magneto-mechanical (rather than opto-mechanical) scheme would soon be used by
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Cowell soon left the Rhythmicon behind to pursue other interests and it was all but forgotten for many years.
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On May 15, 1932, a New Music Society concert in San Francisco included – along with the premiere of
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The Rhythmicon was publicly premiered January 19, 1932 by Cowell and fellow music educator and theorist
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Example of what a rhythmicon would sound like if all the keys were pressed down. Fundamental = C1.
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According to many unsubstantiated accounts, in the 1960s, innovative pop music producer
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Turning Pitch Into Rhythm: Henry Cowell and the Evolution of the Rhythmicon
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Brooklyn, N.Y.: Brooklyn College Institute for Studies in American Music.
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83:—was an electro-mechanical musical instrument designed and built by
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415:. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2000 p. 136.
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has also been working on a similar instrument with the same name.
91:, intended to reveal connections between rhythms, pitches and the
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In 1930, the avant-garde American composer and musical theorist
95:. It used a series of perforated spinning disks, similar to a
863:"The ‘Rhythmicon’ Henry Cowell & Leon Termen. USA, 1930"
672:"Henry Cowell--Piano Music--Rhythmicana [Endnote 1]"
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Before long the shine wore off. In 1988, Slonimsky wrote:
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https://ccrma.stanford.edu/~mburtner/polyrhythmicon.html
859:(Flash needed) (YouTube copy of Smirnov Rhythmicon demo)
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The History of Experimental Music in Northern California
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646:"Henry Cowell--Piano Music--Rhythmicana [1938]"
217:, for a set of solo piano pieces he composed in 1938.)
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Slonimsky, quoted in Leta E. Miller, Fredric Lieberm,
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Electronic music machines: the new musical instruments
334:. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. p. 136.
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Modern music-makers; contemporary American composers
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Lev Sergeivitch Termen: The Inventor of the Theremin
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The Music of Henry Cowell: A Descriptive Catalogue.
756:Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
714:part of the composer's website. Retrieved 3/4/07.
451:Composing a world: Lou Harrison, musical wayfarer
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502:Ann Arbor, Mich.: UMI Research Press (excerpted
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466:(New York: Philosophical Library), pp. 666–667.
725:"Tell Me More: A Passion for the Musical Past"
540:"Opaque Melodies: The Rhythmicon: Background"
453:. University of Illinois Press, 2004, p. 12.
241:The third Rhythmicon constructed by Theremin
304:Leon Theremin#Some of Theremin's inventions
397:: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
915:Musical instruments invented in the 1930s
874:American Mavericks: The Online Rhythmicon
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331:Theremin : ether music and espionage
801:"VIDEO: Rhythmicon demonstration (6 mb)"
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602:. Perfect Sound Forever, October, 2009]
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789:. Schirmer Trade Books, 2002, 318 pp.
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479:. Oxford Music Online. Archived from
288:Concerto for Rhythmicon and Orchestra
282:hosted the premiere of Cowell's 1931
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500:Henry Cowell's New Music, 1925–1936.
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413:Theremin: ether music and espionage
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111:collaborated with Russian inventor
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189:the New School for Social Research
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275:(Firmware 9.5 released 01–2021).
273:Haken Audio Continuum Fingerboard
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850:from the original on 2021-12-21
787:Perfect pitch: an autobiography
767:Lichtenwanger, William (1986).
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538:Mooney, David R. (2007-09-21).
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712:Rhythmicon by Nick Didkovsky
462:Schillinger, Joseph (1948).
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905:Inventions by Léon Theremin
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695:'A Life Story', quoted at
611:ThereminVox.Com, op. cit.
328:Glinsky, Albert. (2000).
24:and the Rhythmicon (1932)
843:Rhythmicon demonstration
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263:More recently, composer
869:The Schillinger Society
840:Andrej Smirnov (2005).
754:Henry Cowell, Bohemian.
752:Hicks, Michael (2002).
880:Rhythmicon for Windows
634:. Dutton, 1952, p.272.
621:, Giulio Einaudi, 1963
498:Mead, Rita H. (1981).
369:. London. p. 95.
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440:, introduced in 1935.
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676:www.cowellpiano.com
650:www.cowellpiano.com
79:—also known as the
826:Unknown parameter
785:, Electra Yourke,
558:Glinsky, pp.140-1.
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185:Joseph Schillinger
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22:Joseph Schillinger
783:Nicolas Slonimsky
670:Barelos, Stacey.
644:Barelos, Stacey.
619:Musica ex machina
571:ThereminVox.Com,
436:to construct his
376:978-1-119-61811-9
178:Nicolas Slonimsky
161:Benjamin Miessner
143:Nicolas Slonimsky
117:rhythmic patterns
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257:Dr. Strangelove
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477:"Rhythmicon"
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438:first organ
284:Rhythmicana
233:Later years
215:Rhythmicana
211:Rhythmicana
196:Rhythmicana
137:syncopation
122:fundamental
103:Development
97:Nipkow disk
894:Categories
854:2014-01-28
810:2014-01-28
735:2021-01-26
545:2011-11-09
385:1099434309
309:Polyrhythm
77:Rhythmicon
68:media help
43:Rhythmicon
830:ignored (
729:Tufts Now
393:cite book
278:In 2019,
848:Archived
819:cite web
350:43286443
298:See also
251:Joe Meek
133:overtone
575:, p. 3.
806:. 2005
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681:31 May
655:31 May
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504:online
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203:Xanadu
804:(m4u)
315:Notes
125:pitch
832:help
773:ISBN
758:ISBN
683:2015
657:2015
508:ISBN
417:ISBN
399:link
381:OCLC
371:ISBN
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336:ISBN
159:and
157:Otto
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