Clara Rockmore

Good morning.

Today we’re listening to Clara Rockmore, a Lithuanian thereminist. Born in 1911 in Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius, Rockmore was a violin prodigy and enrolled in conservatory at age 4. As the October Revolution neared, Rockmore and her family fled to the United States, whereafter tendinitis tragically impaired her bowing arm. A chance encounter with the inventor of the theremin led her to take up the newfangled electronic instrument. Applying her natural virtuosity and classical training, Rockmore became the most prominent thereminist and proved to a skeptical public its serious potential for musical beauty. We’re playing one of her records, The Art of the Theremin, which collects her otherworldly performances of classical composers like Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, and Stravinsky.

The Art of the Theremin - Clara Rockmore (50m, no vocals)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Tidal

We’re remembering Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the psychologist who named and described the state of flow, after his passing on Friday.

Have a really nice Wednesday.