Ondes Martenot: repertoire and performers

Lavrova Svetlana Vital'evna Doctor of Art History Associate Professor, Head of Research and Development Department at Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet 191023, Russia, g. Saint Petersburg, ul. Zodchego Rossi, 2 slavrova@inbox.ru Other publications by this author

Li Menkhan' Postgraduate Student, Department of Social Sciences and Humanities, Institute of Contemporary Art 121309, Russia, 2, Zodchego Rossi street region, Moscow, Novozavodskaya str., 27-a 403901578@qq.com

The basis of the research of this article is the performing repertoire of the electronic instrument of the Marteno Wave, reflecting all stages of improvement: the creation of additional mechanisms, the enrichment of timbre and articulation capabilities, etc. Consideration of the history of the formation of the performing school also allows you to trace the evolution of the instrument. In Russian musicology, this topic has not yet been considered, despite the fact that Marteno Waves are actively developing and are used both in composing and performing practice. These factors determine both the novelty of the study and its relevance.

The history of the development of electronic musical instruments, which in the twentieth century was marked by the invention of the theremin, for a century enriched the composer's creativity with specific electronic timbres and new ideas for creating music. Martenot Waves (Ondes Martenot) is one of the first electronic instruments that appeared in 1928. Its creator – Maurice Martinot – did not cease to improve his innovative invention, attracting the attention of modern composers with the bright unusual timbre of his creation.

Maurice Martenot was more of a musician than an inventor. He was a virtuoso pianist, as well as a cellist, combining the activities of an engineer and an inventor with incredible intelligence. It was he who brought a fresh stream to the established views not only on musical composition, but also on the specifics of music education and art in general. Talking about the reasons that prompted him to create the instrument, he stressed that he initially had no special technical interest in the game. He was captivated by the purity of the vibrations created by electronic lamps, and it was they that attracted him as a professional musician in the first place. This principle prompted experiments, the result of which was the idea of using some of these resources in an artistic context ^[1] Marteno stated: "What immediately struck me was an unusually clear sound, of extraordinary quality. It varies from ultrasound to infrasound. And I thought that with the help of these technologies it would be wonderful to create a new instrument for musicians. In fact, I was thinking about a tool that could be created for mass use, but at the same time, it would be necessary to provide much freer expression than with traditional tools"^[1].

The Marteno wave range covers more than seven octaves, building registers from contrabass to the corresponding piccolo flute. The mechanics of the instrument allows you to play both with the keyboard and with the help of the so-called "ring". The keyboard is movable, which provides maneuverability and vibrato expressiveness. The ring or in French "jeu ? la bague" resembles the expressive sound of a human voice or the timbres of stringed instruments. The specificity of the timbre and the features of sound production allow you to operate with a wide range of various glissandos, vibrato and intonation gradations. The dynamic control key (la touche d'intensit), which exists in the instrument's design, acts similarly to the bow of a cello or the breathing of a wind instrument. Thanks to its existence, all imaginable forms of attacks or articulations become possible in combination with a wide range of nuances. Instrumental colors can also be modulated by a certain preset series of timbres using a conventional speaker and various acoustic resonators.  Thus, the Marteno Waves allow the performer to fully control the available resources, allowing for the possibility of combining musical parameters in real time, which creates a wide range of interpretation possibilities and makes it unique among all other electronic instruments, attracting performers to work with this instrument and composers to create works for it.

Marteno waves also have an amazing unique cosmic timbre, despite some "old-fashioned", which is expressed in association with the accompaniment of visual images of space, nevertheless, they have stood the test of time. The history of the instrument's existence was known as periods of rise, accompanied by its high popularity among composers and performers, as well as "falls" associated with a weakening of interest on the part of all participants in musical creativity. At the beginning of its history, the instrument immediately became famous and widely popular, but several times, it literally disappeared from concert venues. Endowed with a sensual timbre and incredible expressiveness, the instrument opens new musical horizons today, enriches the works with bright timbres, sounds connecting electronics and mechanics of sound production.

The Marteno Waves have become the only electronic instrument used in academic music, including as part of a symphony orchestra. The repertoire of the instrument has firmly included solo works, chamber music, concertos for the instrument with orchestra, as well as a number of orchestral works with the participation of Marteno waves, to create an unusual timbre effect. As one of the most famous examples, we will name the symphony "Turangalila" by Olivier Messiaen.

The first piece written specifically for the instrument was the "Symphonic Poem" by Dimitris Levidis for Marteno Waves with orchestra, first performed on 23. December 1928 at the Paris Opera under the baton of Rene Baton, with the soloist Maurice Martinot himself. Initially, this composition was supposed to be a concerto for violin and orchestra. However, when Levidis heard about the appearance of a new instrument, he was inspired by the idea of using it in his music. Up to this point, the performers on the waves of Marteno played exclusively pieces originally written for violin or flute. The first model of Marteno waves, on which Maurice Marteno performed the premiere of the "Symphonic Poem", was still quite limited in terms of playing techniques on the instrument. Since the only way to control the pitch of an instrument is a special ring that exists in the construction of the instrument, rapid sequences of sounds could be accurately reproduced with great difficulty, and the main methods of articulation were glissando or portamento. The performer had the possibility of dynamics of individual tones, realized by lowering the volume. However, even this was feasible at a certain – not too fast pace. The ring, which allowed to control the exact pitch of the sound, created certain intonation difficulties at a fast pace. Levidis took this limitation into account and for the most part almost everywhere kept a not too fast pace, adhering to Adagio molto. Thus, most of the virtuoso passages could be played accurately enough. In his preface, which Levidis placed before the musical text, the specifics of the notation of music for Marteno waves are explained. These designations are documented information about the first design of the instrument. Levidis, for example, used arrows pointing left or right to indicate the desired timbre: the left arrow meant one timbre effect ("doux et velout? des cordes") ^[2], i.e. the soft and velvety sound of a stringed instrument (cello or violin), meaning the timbre correspondence to the sound, not the specifics sound extraction. The right arrow ("celui du cuivre (avec un m?lange d'instruments ? vent sans anche)")^[2] was intended for a sound contrasting with the timbre point of view, which is an analogue of the sound of wind instruments. So here it should be assumed that Marteno, who at the beginning of his career worked only with pure sine waves, assumed that the instrument would develop by mixing with a large number of output waves more complex, thus producing sounds and timbres richer in overtones. Depending on the choice of the performer and the mixing ratio of the output waves created, the sound of the Marteno waves becomes more diverse. It can also be assumed that Marteno has prepared special sounds. which could be chosen directly by the performer., The timbres changed so quickly that the performer did not have time to synthesize them independently during the performance. The sounds produced by the Marteno waves were probably reproduced using switches or special buttons, which were most likely next to the volume control on the side. Thus, it was possible to easily and in a very short time to carry out the tone tuning of the instrument. However, there were other sound control options on a special side table.

At the beginning of the Symphonic Poem, in accordance with the traditions of the instrumental concert genre, a short introduction by the orchestra sounded. Then, after the orchestral fermata, Marteno waves with a characteristic glissando entered. Pulling the ring back and forth has a special gesture effect for Marteno waves, and glissandi is very easy to implement thanks to the floating pitch. Glissandi is one of the most typical ways of playing an instrument, which was subsequently used by many composers. This is followed by a melody, which, with the exception of a short diatonic stroke, operates mainly with stable tones. Levidis proceeded from the idea that Marteno waves allow the use of not only tempered tones, but also quarter tones. The possibility for the production of quartertones, using glissanding from the original sound, is marked in the score with a "+" sign above a specific note. The orchestral accompaniment is limited in the first bars mostly to strings and harp. In addition to this, Levidis includes the variable timbre of the Marteno waves, defining it in the text with the right and left arrows.

Fig. 1 D. Levidis "Symphonic poem" for Marteno waves with orchestra (fragment of the score)

After the second longer orchestral interlude, which is characterized by fast passages, and the strings are emphasized by high trills of flutes, the waves of Marteno regain the role of a solo instrument. Soon after, the timbre of the instrument is transformed for the first time, and the resulting sound is largely enriched with overtones. The trills are replaced by rapid reciprocating movements of the ring, but this becomes more like a broad vibrato, since it allows for smooth transitions from tone to tone.

On the last trill, the soloist switches the timbre from strings to wind instruments. This rapid change confirms that the Marteno waves have tone change buttons located in close proximity to the volume control. The musical phrase ends with a sharp glissando two and a half octaves down.

In his Symphonic Poem, Levidis also plays with the spatial factor, taking into account the special specificity of electronic musical instruments. Unlike traditional instruments, sound on Marteno waves, that is, an acoustically perceived signal, does not originate from the instrument, but appears on the instrument itself. In all cases, acoustic amplification is necessary - a speaker that is located on the instrument and converts the received electronic signal into an acoustic one. The placement of the speaker/ speakers in relation to the listener can, in principle, be determined quite freely, since this distance is limited only by the length of the cable connecting the instrument and the speaker. Thus, Levidis was able to include a second speaker in his composition, which could be placed at a greater distance from the listeners. So the recipient felt a sound and visual discrepancy between the instrument and the sound source, which was not previously used in the concert hall. Other instruments, especially strings, also support this sound effect by playing both crescendo and diminuendo, giving the impression of approaching or distancing. Closer to the finale, the orchestra's fast passages and glissandis are replaced by similar objects in the Marteno waves, and, relative to the speed of the game, they reach their limit. In the Symphonic Poem, Marteno's waves become similar to a solo violin, but in relation to the instrument, Levidis demonstrates great sonic flexibility. The instruments of the orchestra correlate with Marteno's solo waves according to the principle of similarity, or on the contrary according to the principle of contrast. It also shows the possibilities of microtones through the use of quaternions.

Levidis also knew about the limited capabilities of the Marteno waves due to the specifics of the electronic instrument. He created fast passages almost exclusively on the chromatic or diatonic principle.

After that model, the specifics of which can be determined by Levidis' score, Marteno continued to transform the instrument, and during the following 1929 a second model was ready, which still differed little from the first. Then the third model of 1930 introduced innovations that greatly simplified the technique of playing on the waves of Marteno. Now the performer was located directly in front of the instrument and with the help of a ring controlled not through a cord, but through a tape that held the plate and the capacitor. The side table was also moved into the tool space. The design of the instrument combined a small box ("tiroir") located to the left of the keyboard, on which a volume key and controls and timbre adjustments were installed. The keyboard became a tactile reference point of pitch: a special wooden bar was also installed on it, through which the performer put his finger through the ring, there were small depressions and protrusions built into the black and white keys of the keyboard.

After a two-month tour of the United States, Martenot worked on the fourth model, and upon returning to Paris, the construction of a new model was completed by 1931. The sound control capability has been significantly changed in this instrument. Marteno removed the tape completely and transformed the functions of the keyboard, which until now had served only as a guide. Thus, all the keys could be easily moved to the left or shifted to the right, which led to a fluctuation in pitch. The keyboard had only 6 octaves, but it became possible to switch between high "aigu?" and low "grave" using a special mechanism. The upper position ranged from the "C" of the first octave to the "C" of the 5th, and the lower position from the "C" of the control octave to the first octave. The range was only 7 octaves. Marteno noticed that the reverberation of acoustic instruments, especially strings, is short—lived. Marteno experimented with reverberation by attaching a speaker to the bottom of the piano, creating a special mount to transmit vibration to the strings and a resonance chamber. The inventor was concerned about the fact that the piano pedal had to be constantly pressed. He had to disconnect the dampers from the strings and act in such a way as to allow for increased vibration. Of course, this made it difficult for the pianist to interact with the instrument. In addition, it was not always possible to use the piano as a pure timbre, using special resonators ^[3].

In 1930, based on these experiments, Martenot built in a second speaker, and also used an orchestral gong as his membrane. The speaker was connected to the gong with a metal pin and made it vibrate. This loudspeaker became an analogue of a metal "diffuser" depending on the material used, as well as because of the timbre associated with the metallic sound it produced. A small wheel appeared in the body of the Marteno waves, which not only determines the choice of the speaker, but can also become what Levidis already used in the "Symphonic Poem", and can be applied to the ratio of timbral mixing. Thus, the performer could decide for himself what strength of signal he needed and which speaker he would like to direct it to. 

The Suite for Martenot Waves and Piano – 1933 by Darius Millau contains both fast passages that require virtuoso keyboard playing, and dragging sounds that need to be played using tape. 

In the Millau suite, the parts are designed to be played on different models: at the time of composition, there was a third model, and the possibility of playing on the keyboard of the fourth model appeared later. In the notes, you can find an indication that an additional speaker is required, i.e. a third loudspeaker, which appeared in the instrument only towards the end of the 1940s. This edition of the play dates back to 1962.

 Fig.2 D. Millau Suite for Martenot Waves and piano (1933) (fragment of the score)

An example of the new possibilities offered by the fourth model of Martenot Waves can be found in the solo cadence of the second part. It begins in the episode designated as "modere", and then grows within eight bars.

In an almost continuous movement, the sixteenth notes are followed by wide interval jumps that would be impossible to play at such a pace if the instrument had limited keyboard capabilities. The chromatic series must be played exactly in the eighth bar, and in the cadence it cannot be performed as a glissando. A speaker with a "metal" membrane was used only in the fifth part. Millau works here to a lesser extent with a metallic timbre, and to a greater extent with the resonance effect and the reverberation capabilities of the speaker.

In Marteno waves, the electronic sound of the instrument meets the musical and dramatic specifics. In Honegger's cantata "Joan of Arc at the stake", the sounds of the waves of Marteno symbolize something unearthly, unreal and seem dematerialized.

Although Marteno waves are never used in a solo capacity in an orchestra, they have a very peculiar timbre that does not merge with other orchestral instruments. It is characteristic that Honegger in his suite provides almost no information either about which particular timbre should be used, or about which filters should be turned on or which of the speakers should be used and in what capacity. The performer chooses all these sound-defining settings independently. Martenot waves are used in "Jeanne d'Ark at the Stake" is mainly used to simulate musical events mentioned directly in the plot. The timbre of the Marteno waves supports conventional instruments with their specific means of imitation. The first example of such imitation occurs directly in the first scene of "The Voice of Heaven". Honegger follows Claudel's text: "A dog's howl is heard through them," where Martenot's waves imitate this sound image using a glissando in the range of almost four octaves. In the fifth part, "you can observe a similar figure, in response to Jeanne's question, "What kind of dog howled all night?".

An example of the support of orchestral musical instruments can be found in the ninth scene of "The Sword of the Virgin". Here a string group with quintols creates a special atmosphere, while the voices of St. Margaret and St. Catherine from the divine face call Jeanne, as the daughter of the Lord, to ascend to heaven to him. The Marteno waves play together with the Strings, however, they do not double, but create a sublime feeling through a special sound contour. The chords every two bars are also accentuated by Marteno waves, which slide between the highest and lowest notes of the chord. Even if Honegger does not point out the features of the speakers in the musical text, it can be assumed with a high degree of confidence that when he talks about a special "effect" in the seventh part of "Katarina and Margarita", the use of a speaker with a metal diffuser is implied.

Honegger uses the most elementary techniques of Marteno waves.  The flexibility of the timbre, as an integral part of the instrument, is also an important aspect in the oratorio. In addition to expanding the possibilities of timbre design, an instrument that imitates heavenly voices and is able to display the "howl of a hellhound dog" and "flames" with the help of glissandi can only be Marteno waves and nothing else. The reasons that prompted Honegger to use electronic sounds also speak of the need to compensate for the acoustic and technical shortcomings of traditional instruments.

Maurice Martenot, who had previously been attracted by active sound vibrations when he experimented with piano strings, developed a third speaker in the late 1940s that worked on a similar principle. It consisted of a 7 cm thick wooden case with a two-sided resonator and was connected to 12 chromatically tuned guitar strings that ran along the body and were fixed on it. The transmission in vibration, on the one hand, enriched the timbre of the Marteno waves with overtones and formants, and on the other hand, created a reverberation effect, since the strings had to vibrate naturally. This loudspeaker was originally named the Marteno diffuser ("diffuseur palme") based on a visual analogy with a lotus petal. In the score, its use is marked by the designation "timbre d'espace", borrowed from Olivier Messiaen. Messiaen is also strongly connected with the history of the waves of Marteno: his wife Yvonne Loriot was the sister of Maurice Marteno's close friend Jeanne. Lorio, who accompanied him on a trip to America in the early 1930s, who became the author of a textbook on the technique of playing an instrument.

Olivier Messiaen's composition "F?te des belles eaux" is considered to be the first composition created specifically for the fifth model of Martenot waves. However, it is worth noting that from a technical point of view, it is not too different from the "Suite for Waves by Marteno and Piano" by Millau. Messiaen mainly uses the keyboard as a pitch control and only occasionally requires the use of tape. Like Millau, he defines a special style of play for each of the parts. This composition deserves special attention, and first of all because it was created for the first time for the ensemble of Marteno waves.

The "F?te des belles eaux" uses a Messianic ensemble of six instruments, which are modeled in such a way that it gives the impression of a string or wind ensemble. The sound of Marteno's six waves gives the impression of an ever-changing group of traditional instruments: sometimes imitating clarinets or flutes, then brass, then strings and even an organ." For example, in the eighth movement, a semblance of an ensemble of French hunting horns ("cors de chasse") sounds, which is supposed to be imitated by one part of the ensemble, while the first instrument from the Martenot waves in a sarcastic form should imitate the contraphagot. The letters "C", "g" and "O" mark Messiaen's intentions in the score regarding the use of a specific timbre. They also denote certain output waves. 

There are many other works for the waves of Marteno, specially created by composers, both in solo and ensemble / orchestral quality. Let's name the most famous of them belonging to the authorship: Andre Jolivet (Concerto for Waves of Marteno and Symphony Orchestra – 1947), Giacinto Schelsi (Uaxuctum for seven percussionists, Waves of Marteno chorus and orchestra – 1966), Ivan Vyshnegradsky ("Transparences I, II" for waves Marteno Op. 36 and 47 – 1953, 1963), Edgar Varese ("Ecuatorial" for bass or one-voice choir, eight brass, piano, organ, two theremins or waves Marteno and six percussion – 1933), Toru Takemitsu ("Distance de F?e" for Marteno Waves and piano – 1951), Tristan Muray ("Tigres de verre" for waves Marteno and piano – 1974). In addition, Marteno Waves are also part of the orchestra in opera scores: Olivier Messiaen's opera "Saint Francis of Assisi", Thomas Ades' opera "The Exterminator Angel". Of course, the above—mentioned compositions are an insignificant part of the repertoire of Marteno Waves, which only proves the importance of this instrument for the music of the twentieth century.

Of course, electronic music with its fundamentally new space-time settings has radically influenced the principles of composers' thinking and composing technique. Marteno's waves became part of the history of electronic music, simultaneously with the evolution of percussion instruments, transformed orchestral thinking, legitimizing the introduction of new timbres into the orchestral palette, creating an orchestral-electronic sound continuum. However, it should be emphasized that the Marteno Waves, as they were originally, remain precisely an instrument with its bright characteristic timbre and the specifics of sound production and articulation, and not technology. According to Kristin Ott, one of the most famous performers on the Waves of Marteno, "It was unusual to hear unknown, unreal sounds live, but it was even more amazing to extract them, to control them" ^[5].

The bright specificity of the Marteno Waves contributed to the fact that this instrument had a whole galaxy of performers and a performing school arose, leading directly from the creator of the instrument, Maurice Marteno, who taught a class of playing on his own invention at the Paris Conservatory.

Among the famous French performers there are many outstanding, great musicians who stood at the origins of the performing school of playing on the Waves of Marteno and studied with the creator of the instrument himself. These are Karel Gayverts, Jeanne Loriot, Georges Savaria, Gilles Tremblay, Ginette Martenot (the inventor's sister), Valerie Hartmann-Clavery, Francoise Cochet.

 The repertoire of Jeanne Loriot, one of the outstanding performers, included 14 concerts for Marteno waves with orchestra, as well as about 300 orchestral and 250 chamber works in which the part of Marteno waves was present. She played all of Messiaen's works for this instrument, including the "Turangalila Symphony" and was a participant in six audio recordings of this composition. For a long time she taught a performance class on the waves of Marteno at the Paris Conservatory, and in 1987 published an extensive (in 2 volumes) manual on playing on the waves of Marteno.

The younger generation of musicians are their students and followers, teachers who teach students all over the world: Thomas Bloch ^[6] (Boulogne-Billancourt), Valerie Hartmann-Claverie (Paris), Nathalie Forge ^[7] (Paris), Christine Ott ^[5] (Strasbourg), Aurora Dallamaggiore, Claude-Samuel Levin, Christine Rohan, Takashi Harada ^[8] (Tokyo), Wakana Ichihashi ^[9] (Tokyo), Motoko Oya (Kanagawa-ken), Marcel Lessoyle-Delman (Montreal), Yvonne Clerico (Saint-Denis), Jean-Philippe Dartois (Neuilly-sur-Seine), Cecile Lartigo ^[10] (Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes-Centre-Val-de-Loire), Arnaud Milland (Agen, New Aquitaine), Pura Penichet-Jamet (Brittany), Bruno Perrault ^[11] (Strasbourg), Nadia Ratsimandresi ^[12] (Boulogne-Billancourt), Pascal Rousse-Lacordaire (Boulogne-Billancourt), Jacques Chamkertin (Geneva), Augustin (Augustin) Viard (Paris), Francesca Paderni (Ile-de-France), Agatha Deva (Essonne), Francoise Delauger-Lisnar (Boulogne-Bayoncourt).

At the moment, performers on the Waves of Marteno are trained in four higher educational institutions of the world: the National Higher Conservatory of Music and Dance of Paris (class of Natalie Forge), the Boulogne-Billancourt Regional Conservatory (class of Nadia Ratsimandresi), the Strasbourg Conservatory (classes of Thomas Bloch and Christine Ott), the Janis Xenakis Departmental Conservatory in Evry-Courcouronne (Conservatoire ? Rayonnement D?partmental Iannis Xenakis d'evry) ^[13]. However, the main center of learning is still Paris – the city where this original instrument was born.

The students of the founder and inventor of the Waves of Marteno – Maurice Marteno – were his sister Jeanette Marteno, Jeanne Loriot, Karel Gayverts, Georges Savaria, Gilles Tremblay, Francoise Cochet. These musicians can be considered representatives of the first generation. Jeanne Loriot (1925-2001) trained outstanding musicians of the new generation: Thomas Bloch, Christine Ott, Wakana Ichihashi, Bruno Perrault, Bushi Harada, etc. Natalie Forge, Bruno Perrault, Kristin Ott studied with Valerie Hartmann-Clavery. From Francoise Cochet, Christine Ott took lessons on the Waves of Marteno.

The repertoire of performers on the waves of Marteno today traditionally includes works by French composers of the first half of the twentieth century: O. Messiaen, A. Honegger, A. Jolivet, E. Varese, as well as spectral composers of the second half of the twentieth century, such as T. Muray. The waves of Marteno sound in the instrumental compositions of various rock bands and even pop groups (for example, in the British rock band Radiohead).

 Among the performers of the second generation of the Marteno Wave school, the French musician, composer and producer Thomas Bloch, born in 1962 in Colmar, France, was mentioned ^[6], it is he who plays rare and unusual instruments. (Marteno Waves, Glass harmonica and Crystal Basche), and is also known as an interpreter of classical, modern and experimental music.

T. Bloch is the winner of the first prize (the equivalent of a diploma with honors) in the class of Marteno Waves of the National Higher Conservatory of Music of Paris (class of Jeanne Loriot), he participated in more than 3,000 concerts in 40 countries around the world. At various times, Bloch collaborated with such famous bands as Radiohead.

Since 1992, T. Bloch has been Professor of Martenot Waves at the Strasbourg Conservatory, and since 2012 – at the Higher Academy, he is also the artistic director of the Evian Festival (2005 – 2011) and the International Festival of Glass Music (Paris, 2005), co-author of various musical works, organizer of the exhibition of his instruments at the Paris Music Museum since its opening (1997). Thomas Bloch is also a composer. His compositions are performed all over the world, and music for the Waves of Marteno is performed in particular. As a performer on rare instruments, T. Bloch turns to a wide range of classical and modern repertoire with the participation of Marteno Waves, glass harmonica or Crystal Bashe. His repertoire includes music of various styles and eras: Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Hasse, Mozart, Donizetti, Beethoven, Richard Strauss before the music of the twentieth century, including the works of Messiaen, Varese, Honegger, Jolivet, Bussotti, and others. Every year the musician participates in recording, performing or creating new works together with contemporary musicians such as Michel Redolfi, Regis Campo, Etienne Rolin, Bernard Visson, Jan Erik Mikalsen, Damon Albarn, Tom Waits, Valery Gergiev, etc.

There are also a number of works by T. Bloch and created specifically for the Waves of Marteno. One of them is "Formule" from 1995 – a virtuoso, bright, very concise work that usually sounds as an encore in one of his solo concerts. The title refers the listener to the use of virtuoso instrumental techniques specially designed for Marteno Waves and performers on this instrument. This is a mechanical toccata. Individual sound formula patterns are repeated at a fast pace, the entire range of the keyboard is used, as well as the transpose buttons.

Fig. 3. T. Bloch. Toccata "Formule" for Marteno waves

The toccata has a two-part form (parts are not equal in duration) with an introduction. The introduction of the work is based on the noise effect. The timbre, Marteno waves, is mechanical and resembles the roar of a car. However, already here it is possible to distinguish melodic movement, since a certain pitch of sounds is felt.

Imitation of the "roar of the motor" gradually turns into a mechanical, lifeless sound, filled with ostinate passages. The coloring of the sound is similar to electronic signals (for example, a telephone). The counter-movement of the melodic line contrasts vividly with the obsessive ostinate motifs. The play contains the fundamental signs of the toccata genre – impetuosity, technicality, virtuosity, but for performance on the waves of Marteno, these figures are quite complex from a technical point of view. This is due to the fact that Marteno waves do not have a keyboard in the usual sense, and it is quite difficult to achieve an accurate uniform temperament. The ability to perform all these passages accurately, clearly, without falsehood is a sign of virtuosity.

These rapid passages are contrasted with the ostinate repetition of sounds. Their timbre is related to noise, with a less distinguishable pitch. In the second episode, the classic contrast technique of matching high and low registers is used. Although the melody appears difficult to distinguish in this context, this episode, nevertheless, has its own special sonorous expressiveness. To discover and hear it becomes one of the fundamental tasks of the performer and listener.

The use of small technique continues until the final cadence. The whole movement is reduced to a single, almost non-invertonic, extended sound. He sums up the whole composition by combining the multidirectional streams of passages to a single note.

The texture of the composition is combined: homophony is combined with contrasting polyphony. In musical notation, signs of exact repetition are used, which once again proves the monotony and mechanistic nature of the music of "Formule". Perhaps the idea of the work is the movement of a mechanism in a machine; it can also be assumed that it is a symbol of the passage of time.

French pianist, vocalist and composer Christine Ott ^[5] also studied with Jeanne Loriot, became a laureate of the Strasbourg Conservatory and the National Conservatory of Music and Dance of Paris.

To. Ott has performed as a soloist on the Waves of Marteno in many classical orchestral compositions at various festivals (the Menotti Festival in Italy, the Olivier Messiaen Festival in Stockholm, etc.). Her repertoire is also quite wide, it includes modern compositions such as "Smear", written by Johnny Greenwood (Radiohead), which she performed At the Pr?sences de Radio France Festival with the Oslo Symphony Orchestra in 2008, K. Ott represented the Waves of Marteno at the First Electronic Music Festival in Budapest. Solo career of K. Ott as a performer on the waves of Marteno began in the 2010s. His first album "Solitude Nomade" was released in 2009 with the participation of Yann Tiersen, Eric Grolo and Mark Sens.

In 2020, she published "Chim?res (pour ondes Martenot)", an album entirely based on Dirstein's musical waves — a modern version of Martenot's Waves. In 2015 , K. Ott became a participant in the project "Snowdrops" with Mathieu Gabri, which resulted in a number of compositions for the instrument and soundtracks. for cinema and theater. The duo's album titled "Volutes" (Injazero Records), released in 2020, was included in the list of the 10 best albums of modern music in 2020 by the British newspaper The Guardian ^[5]. In 2021, the duo teamed up with Ofer Levy (an oud performer^[1]) to create Theodore Wild Ride in partnership with Icarus and Consouling Sounds.

In addition to original compositions, K. Ott is a co-author of soundtracks for films: "Le Fabuleux Destin d'Am?lie Poulain" (Jan Tiersen), "O? Va la Nuit" (Hugues Tabar-Noval), "Les Salauds" (Tindersticks) or "Minute Bodies", in collaboration with Stuart Staples and Thomas Belom. Kristin Ott wrote the original music for the film "The End of Silence" by Roland Edzard (Directors' Fortnight, Cannes, 2011) and the film by Thai director Futtifong Arunfeng "Manta Ray" (Venice Film Festival 2018, Best Film, Orizzonti).

From the position of her piano specialization, Kristin Ott claims that playing on the Waves of Marteno gives her a very special performing technique. Her compositional creativity flows into the stream of works of the twentieth century, created for the waves of Marteno.

One of Kristin Ott's compositions for Marteno waves and piano "Szczecin" (Szczecin is the name of a city in Poland) begins with a lyrical, melodious piano introduction in a quasi-polyphonic texture.

The author uses the ostinate harmony characteristic of the music of the second half of the XX – beginning of the XXI century, the repetition of the same motif. Ostinato is based on the sounds of the tonic triad g-moll. The piano part recalls the romantic miniatures – preludes of F. Chopin, "Songs without Words" by F. Mendelssohn; also in them one can notice some proximity to the Intermezzo by I. Brahms.

Fig. 4. K. Ott. "Szczecin" for Marteno waves and piano.

In this piece, the waves of Marteno imitate the timbre of the cello with its velvety and melodious sound. The piano interlude, with its intricate combined texture and tonal instability, refers to F. Schubert's impromptu performances. In the middle section, the Marteno waves continue to imitate the cello, but soon the color of the sound approaches the timbres of wind instruments, but is used on pp and the sound becomes barely audible. The third instrument, the timbre of which is imitated by the waves of Marteno, is the violin. An imitation of the violin sound appears in the reprise code, built on the material of the introduction (after the return of the initial piano theme). In Ott's music, allusions to the work of European romantics are clearly manifested. However, the fact that this work was still written at the turn of the XX and XXI centuries, tonal instability in the middle part, ostinatnost, referring to the music of minimalism.

Performing technique on the Waves of Marteno requires a lot of effort and time. In an interview, N. Forge told that she had to study playing the Waves for 10 years after she entered the Paris Conservatory as a pianist. In addition to the technique of playing, the performer needs to understand the device of the instrument, the ability to adjust it to the acoustics of the hall, and also in some cases technical skills are needed to repair the instrument independently ^[14]. The problem of modern performance on the waves of Marteno is that there are much fewer performers themselves than there are instruments. Forge named about 40 professional musicians who studied playing on the Waves of Marteno ^[14]. Another difficulty is the volume and weight of the tool, which reaches 150 kg. It's not easy to go on tour with such a heavy instrument.  Another specific point is the designation of timbres, which can be different (it is impossible to specify the timbre exactly, it all depends on the characteristics of the instrument). For example, in the Turangalila Symphony, Messiaen indicated a poetic description of the timbres, so their interpretation is a creative moment for each performer. The timbre may vary depending on the acoustics of the hall, the orchestra, the soloist-pianist, the wishes of the conductor, the design of the instrument ^[14].

Unlike the synthesizer, the Marteno Waves are an analog instrument that is made by craftsmen manually, and not in a factory, so each of them is individual. It is necessary to get used to your instrument, to its behavior, features. For each instrument, all components – speakers, threads, etc. – can sound differently ^[15].

An important part of playing on the Waves of Marteno are necessary for the correct psycho—emotional tuning of performers - meditation and relaxation, which were taught by Maurice Marteno himself. It is necessary to be calm when touching the instrument, otherwise every tension in the body or excessive excitement, one way or another, affects the sound. The instrument is very sensitive to the movements of the human body – this is its difficulty and charm at the same time ^[14], N. Forge told about it in her interview.

As S. Lartigo clarifies, there is a special button in the design of the instrument, which is similar to the role of the bow.  There is a membrane under it, pressing this button gives an electric pulse of a certain strength, and any tremor or uncertainty differs in the sound. All this requires absolute control of the body and relaxation during the game ^[15]. On the other hand, the timbre and sound quality directly depends on pressing the button.

There is also a special ring in the design of the instrument, which has been repeatedly mentioned above. It determines the position of the sound: the thread that regulates its position is parallel to the keyboard, so exactly where the finger is located also affects the pitch of the sound. This requires good concentration and a developed musical sound from the musician – since the finger must be constantly in the same position.

As S. Lartigo, who studied playing Marteno Waves at the Paris Conservatory and became a "wave player", told in an interview, she was impressed by the subtle, sensitive to the slightest movements, sound production on Marteno Waves ^[15].

Summing up, we emphasize that the history of the Waves of the Marteno – a complex electronic analog instrument with many timbre and dynamic capabilities, reflected the transformation of electronic music of the twentieth century as a whole, when innovations became part of the commercial music industry. Initially, the instrument was a source of compositional innovations: its introduction into the orchestra had the character of a bright timbre accent. Subsequent instrumental practice contributed to the spread of the instrument and its inclusion in the musical part of the film industry and use in popular and rock music.

Performers on the instrument – mostly graduates of the Paris Conservatoire – often become creators of new works for Martenot Waves (for example, K. Ott and T. Bloch). And in this respect, the composing and instrumental-performing practice of a rich instrument with high sensitivity complement each other. The performing school formed in the course of the history of the instrument's existence from its starting point - the Paris Conservatory - has also spread around the world: today, "wavers" are trained not only in France, but also in Japan. These factors allow us to draw the final conclusion that the instrument continues to live and develop and, unlike many other electro-musical instruments, and, along with the theremin, it becomes an integral part of concert and composing practice in the broadest context.

^[1] The Oud is a stringed plucked instrument common in the countries of the Near and Middle East, in Syria, Egypt, Greece, Armenia, Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan.