No Touching, Only Playing: The Theremin

In 1919, Termen took over as director of the Physical-Technical Institute in Petrograd. That same year he started development on his groundbreaking invention, initially called the Aetherophon (etherophone) because the instrument wasn't played by touching it as usual but was fully contactless.

The player moved their hand through the antenna's electromagnetic field at a distance of up to 20 inches, generating different pitches. The volume was controlled by a pedal at first. It was later adjusted by raising the hand over a second antenna.

Lenin was also fascinated, however, because he knew that the functionality of the etherophone could also be used for other purposes, such as alarm systems—but, more to the point, potentially also listening devices. Termen was then put in contact with the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs, the precursor to the later KGB secret service, in 1927.

1927 was also the year when he traveled across Germany and Europe with his instrument and moved shortly after to New York. He founded the company Teletouch which, alongside instruments, also developed security systems, including metal detectors for high-security prisons such as Alcatraz.

Mostly because of his extraordinary instrument, Lew Termen—who now called himself Leon Theremin—soon became part of the American avant-garde. He rubbed elbows with George Gershwin, the Rockefellers, Albert Einstein, and even Charlie Chaplin.

Theremin, himself an outstanding cellist, developed yet another fascinating instrument in 1930: the theremin cello. It could be played entirely without strings and a bow. The fretboard instead consisted of a black plastic strip which was used to adjust the pitch. Musicians changed the volume using a lever on the body.

However, Theremin would also continue to meet members of the Soviet secret service to spill the details of his meetings with big names in the US establishment.

Theremin, whose marriage to African-American dancer Lavinia Williams sparked major controversy in 1930s America, suddenly vanished from New York in 1938. Whether Stalin forced him to come back to his Soviet home, or whether he returned of his own accord due to homesickness or because he was trying to escape collectors after falling deep into debt, is still a matter of debate.

…and was first discovered in 1952 when a colleague from the British office in Moscow accidentally heard a nearby conversation between American colleagues on an unknown frequency. The ambassador's room was turned inside out. The silver board barely measuring 2/3 of an inch with its 9 inch antenna was eventually discovered behind the impressive seal. Countless conversations between the current ambassadors and US President Henry Truman could have been listened to by then. And the person who built and developed the bug? Leon Theremin—or Lew Termen, as he now called himself again.