Instruments | Dynaphone | Modern Era | Classical
While in Paris, Varèse became interested in the dynaphone. Invented by René Bertrand and Nadal in 1927, this monophonic instrument was placed on a table. The right hand turned a knob controlling the pitch of an oscillator, while the left hand controlled volume and timbre. Honegger wrote for four dynaphones and a piano in his ballet score Roses de metal; despite his interest, Varèse himself never collaborated with Bertrand in developing new electronic instruments.
In 1931, Cowell collaborated with Lev Theremin on developing an electronic machine capable of playing polyrhythmic music, the ‘rhythmicon’. Cowell also wrote a concerto specially for it, performed in 1971, with a computer, not with the original device.
Styles & Forms | Modern Era | Classical
Instruments | Synthesizer | Modern Era | Classical
AUTHORITATIVE
An extensive music information resource, bringing together the talents and expertise of a wide range of editors and musicologists, including Stanley Sadie, Charles Wilson, Paul Du Noyer, Tony Byworth, Bob Allen, Howard Mandel, Cliff Douse, William Schafer, John Wilson...
CURATED
Classical, Rock, Blues, Jazz, Country and more. Flame Tree has been making encyclopaedias and guides about music for over 20 years. Now Flame Tree Pro brings together a huge canon of carefully curated information on genres, styles, artists and instruments. It's a perfect tool for study, and entertaining too, a great companion to our music books.

David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
his life, music, art and movies, with a
sweep of incredible photographs.