The Ondes Martenot

Like many (not all!) musicians of my age, I was introduced to the ondes martenot through the music of Radiohead, and specifically by the work of their guitarist Jonny Greenwood. The instrument was developed around the time of the thermin. In fact, Leon Theremin with help from Soviet research funding, developed and patented the theremin in 1928, which, according to wikipedia, is when Maurice Martenot invented his instrument. The ondes took a back seat while the theremin amazed specators with it’s magical means of touchless pitch manipulation. The two instruments can sound very similar, owing to the fact that both employ simple, clean oscilators for producing the sound. More importantly however is their shared characteristic of prominant glissandi and portemento. For those unfamiliar with Italian, this means musical notes that slide around to each other. Skilled performers of both instruments try to minimize it when they don’t want it and maximize it when they do. But is almost always there. For it is their voice. To the uninitiated, sliding tones can be comical, like a birthday whistle at a kid’s party, or to parody the movement of an animated charcter in a Looney Tunes episode. All valid and wonderful uses to be sure. But for a deep-dive into the waters of glissando and portamento, and some of the stunning ways it is used in both Western non-Western music, their is much music to explore. The American born, German-based composer Gloria Coates probably is the high royalty of the slider. In non-Western music, the giant wealth of Indian music, and specifically for my taste, Indian slide guitar. And Tahitian choral music. Oh my, that stuff moves me heavy.

One Western composer clearly loved the ondes, Olivier Messiaen. He wrote for it specifically, but also, many of his melodies for other instruments seem to fit nicely on the ondes. I played all the parts to one of his most beautiful short pieces for a choir. O Sacrum Convivium.