Around 1919, Термен, Лев Сергеевич (Leo(n) Theremin) invented this weird instrument, the theremin (in Russian the instrument is called the терменвокс), in Petrograd (aka St. Petersburg). It’s played without touching the instrument: The player’s hands act as grounds for a variable capacitor inside that box. So, that’s cool: It’s basically how the touch sensor works on your phone. Your body, which is conductive and produces a bit of a charge, becomes part of a circuit with your phone. The theremin uses the same principle to produce a tone and modulate the volume. Watch the video and you’ll see!
Theremin also invented and engineered “the Thing” — a crest that hung in the American Embassy from around 1945 to around 1950 that allowed the Soviets to listen in on super-double-secret conversations… Since it didn’t use a power source and didn’t have to transmit very far, it weighed an ounce (think: five quarter coins) and could be hidden in the eagle’s beak. Made it hard to discover! When it was discovered, it was (of course!) immediately replicated by the West and used to bug… the Soviets. Wow.
Personally, I find Led Zeppelin tedious. Lots of talent, but not a group I ever listen to. Anyway, the really famous solo in the middle of their song Whole Lotta Love, was played on a theremin, because (said Jimmy Page) it made “evil sounds.” (Page wrote the song, but Robert Plant is the one playing the theremin in the video.) Here’s a video of just that solo… YouTube has lots of versions of the whole song, but, like I said… Pretty tedious. Whole lotta love. “This is Spinal Tap.”
In my longish list of things I don’t like figures large this version of Bach’s Orchestral Suite no. 3 in D major BWV 1068 as played on the theremin. God forgive me.