# Leon Theremin's good vibrations

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/composers-datebook-550176/leon-theremin-s-good-vibrations
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/composers-datebook-550176/leon-theremin-s-good-vibrations.md
Podcast: [Composers Datebook](https://stenobird.com/podcast/composers-datebook-550176)
Published: 2026-08-15T05:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/5/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/tracking.swap.fm/track/VnCzW2iO9G8z4eDWfXCd/play.publicradio.org/podcast/o/composers_datebook/2026/08/15/datebook_20260815_128.mp3
Audio file: https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/5/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/tracking.swap.fm/track/VnCzW2iO9G8z4eDWfXCd/play.publicradio.org/podcast/o/composers_datebook/2026/08/15/datebook_20260815_128.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/composers-datebook-550176/episodes/leon-theremin-s-good-vibrations
Duration seconds: 120

## Resource

Synopsis When a flying saucer circled over Washington, D.C. in the classic 1951 sci-fi film, The Day the Earth Stood Still , it did so to music played on an electronic instrument known as the Theremin. Its Russian inventor, Leon Theremin, was born in St. Petersburg on today’s date in 1896. In 1927 he traveled to America, where he obtained a patent for an electronic instrument he called the Thereminovox. In the 1930s, he arranged concerts for his creation at New York’s Carnegie Hall. Then, in 1938, without explanation, he disappeared. Some said it was because he was in debt, others because he was married to two women at the same time. The truth was even stranger: Theremin was a spy. He had been passing on American technical information to the Soviets. Ironically, when he returned home, he was immediately thrown into a Soviet prison for seven years. While incarcerated, he developed miniature electronic eavesdropping devices for the Soviet government. Decades later, in 1989, as the Soviet Union was collapsing, 92-year old Theremin again showed up in New York to be honored at a festival of electronic music, amazed his name and instrument were even remembered. Music Played in Today's Program Bernard Herrmann (1911-1975): The Day the Earth Stood Still ; National Philharmonic; Bernard Herrmann, conductor; London 443 899 Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971): Berceuse from The Firebird ; Clara Rockmore, theremin; Nadia Reisenberg, piano; Delos 1014

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