The other day I stumbled upon Joseph Schillinger's First Airphonic Suite, a 1929 orchestral suite that includes a part for theremin. Since this was written 10 years after the invention of the theremin, I was curious to see if there are any earlier known electronic music pieces. The next earliest one I was able to find was Bohuslav Martinu's Fantasia for Theremin, Oboe, String Quartet, and Piano, which didn't premiere until 1945, so perhaps I'm not going about this search in the correct way. Anyone know of any earlier ones?
1 Answer
TL;DR
Theremin is considered the first electronic instrument in terms of the modern development of such instruments. The first piece composed specifically for Theremin was Andrey Pashchenko's "Symphonic Mystery" (1923).
The earliest score for an electronic instrument (that I've found so far) is from 1916: Luigi Russolo's "Awakening of a City" (see score below).
NTL;DR (Not too long; did read)
The first known electronic instrument (though, while it employed electricity, it's debated whether the sound itself was produced electronically) is the Denis d'or (Golden Dionysus), invented by Václav Prokop Diviš in or around 1748.
I first encountered mention of it at mmmmaven.com, and Wikipedia has an entry. There is also a write-up with documentation at 120 Years of Electronic Music.
Next came the Clavecin Électrique, invented in 1759 by Jean-Baptiste Delaborde. The original instrument still exists, and is in Paris at the French national library. (See also: Wikipedia.)
The earliest reference to compositions for electronics, given in Brittanica, is from Luigi Russolo, who invented "noise instruments", but "Russolo’s instruments and most of his music apparently vanished during World War II." IMSLP includes one item of Russolo's, the book L'arte dei rumori (The Art of Noises) (1916), which includes a score for "Risveglio di una città" ("Awakening of a City").
It's interesting to note an early use of graphical notation.
The theremin, invented in 1919 (Wikipedia), is generally considered the first electronic instrument to directly impact modern development. According to Everything Everywhere:
The first song ever played on the theremin in that first demonstration was The Swan by Camille Saint-Saëns. The Swan has been compared for theremin players as to what Stairway to Heaven is for guitar players. It is one of the first things which everyone learns.
The first Theremin concert was given in November 1920, according to the website of the Philharmonic Academic Symphony Orchestra and A History of the Theremin.
Peter Theremin's post on Theremin World ("First Composition for Theremin") indicates that the first composition for the instrument was by Soviet-era composer Andrey Pashchenko: "Symphonic Mystery" (1923).
