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The ‘Ondioline’ Georges Jenny, France, 1940
Georges Jenny’s ‘Ondioline’ By the late 1930’s with the advent of reliable vacuum tubes and octave divider techniques it became possible to create small, portable electronic instruments that could,...
View ArticleThe ‘Sonothèque’. L. Lavallée, France.1936
L. Lavalée’s ‘Sonothèque’ or “sound library” was a “coded performance electronic instrument using photo-electric translation of engraved grooves”. The instrument was capable of reading music and...
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The ‘Givelet’ or ‘Coupleux-Givelet Organ’ Armand Givelet & Edouard Eloi...
Armand Givelet & Edouard Coupleux at the paper-punch controls of the ‘Givelet’ c1932 The last instrument of the Givelet – Coupleaux collaboration was the ‘Coupleaux -Givelet Organ’ or ‘Givelet’....
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The ‘Ondium Péchadre’ Henri Camille Robert Péchadre. France, 1929
The Ondium played by the Pianist Gaston Wiener. (‘L’Ouest Eclair’ 1931) The Ondium Péchadre was developed in France by Henri Camille Robert Péchadre in 1929. The instrument was a monophonic...
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The ‘Ondes-Martenot’ Maurice Martenot, France, 1928
Ondes Martenot Maurice Martenot a Cellist and radio Telegraphist, met the Russian electronic engineer Leon Termen in 1923, this meeting lead him to design an instrument based on Termens ideas, the...
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‘La Croix Sonore’ Nicolai Obukhov. Russia – France, 1929-1934
Modern reconstruction of the Croix Sonore at the musée de L’Opéra, Paris. Nicolai Obukhov was a Russian composer who, after studying at the Moscow and St. Petersburg Conservatories with Maximilian...
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The ‘Orgue des Ondes’ Armand Givelet & Edouard Eloi Coupleux, France. 1929
Organist Charles Tournemire at the Orgue Des Ondes in the église de Villemomble 1931 In 1929 the radio engineer Armand Givelet began a long collaboration with the organ builder Edouard Eloi Coupleux...
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The ‘Groupe de Recherches Musicales’ Pierre Schaeffer, Pierre Henry & Jacques...
Console at GRM Paris showing the EMI mixing desk and parts of the Coupigny Synthesiser c1972 The GRM was an electro-acoustic music studio founded in 1951 by the musique concrète pioneer Pierre...
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The ‘Clavecin Magnetique’. M. l’Abbé Bertholon. France, 1785
M. l’Abbé Bertholon’s ‘Clavecin magnétique’ of c1870 The ‘Clavecin Magnetique’ was an early acoustic carillon type instrument operated by magnetic attraction. The instrument was the result of an...
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