'The instrument is first and foremost ourselves.'
This was Maurice Martenot, inventor of one of music's most extraordinary instruments. He's giving us an insight into how this particular instrument has a unique ability to capture a personal, almost ethereal sound through its very individual workings.
It was in the year 1928 that Martenot introduced to the world the Ondes Martenot, a monophonic electronic instrument with a quite inimitable sound. The Ondes Martenot's unique soundworld has since been harnessed by composers including Arthur Honegger, Florent Schmitt, Jacques Ibert and, perhaps most famously, Olivier Messiaen.
Honneger even thought it might replace the contrabassoon in an orchestra. The Swiss composer remarked, ‘The instrument has power, a speed of utterance, which is not to be compared with those gloomy stove-pipes looming up in orchestras.’ Here's a brief guide to this atmospheric and rather special instrument.
What is the Ondes Martenot?
The Ondes Martenot is made up of two units. The main section is made up of a keyboard and pull-wire operated by a ribbon controller for the index finger. The keys are capable of slightly shifting, which has the effect of moving the pitch. Sliding the ribbon with the index finger creates glissando sweeps and expressive portamentos.
The left-hand uses the other unit of the instrument, which has controls accessed from a pull-out drawer. These are able to adapt and modify the articulation, dynamics and tone produced.
Famous fans
Modern-day fans of the instrument include Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood, who often tours with an Ondes Martenot. French pop duo Daft Punk have also used the instrument in many of their tracks.
Its mysterious sound has been compared to the human voice. In some instances it can sound like a soothing string quartet; in others it is eerie and ominous.
What works use the Ondes Martenot?
The most famous work to feature the Ondes Martenot is undoubtedly Messiaen's Turangalîla Symphony. We heard a stunning performance of the Turangalîla, featuring Cynthia Millar playing the instrument, at the 2024 BBC Proms.
Here is Cynthia Millar explaining the instrument, and its role and significance in Messiaen's Turangalîla Symphony:
Elsewhere, the French composer André Jolivet (1905-74) wrote an entire Concerto for Ondes Martenot. Here is the first movement - see what you think!
A movie score favourite
The Ondes Martenot became a popular choice for movie composers who have wanted to create an otherworldly soundscape or unusual texture within their music. It was a favourite of late composers Elmer Bernstein and Maurice Jarre, the latter using three Ondes Martenot in his scores for Lawrence of Arabia and Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.
Jarre also memorably included the sound of the Ondes Martenot in his scores for Jesus of Nazareth and Ghost. Bernstein, meanwhile, often used the Ondes Martenot as a solo instrument in his scores; it features prominently in My Left Foot, Ghostbusters, Slipstream, Heavy Metal and Marie Ward, among many others.
Other composers to add the sound of the Ondes Martenot to their scores include Howard Shore and Danny Elfman, while Dario Marianelli recently employed it in his score for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire; Cynthia Millar was the soloist.
Ten more weird and wonderful instruments
1. Theremin
Played without touch, the theremin uses hand movements in the air to control pitch and volume. Its eerie, wavering tones became synonymous with 1950s sci-fi.
2. Pyrophone
Also called the “fire organ,” this 19th-century oddity uses explosions of ignited gas in glass tubes to generate tones. Musical flame-thrower meets pipe organ.
3. Glass Armonica
Invented by Benjamin Franklin, this instrument features spinning glass bowls played with dampened fingers. Its shimmering, ghostly sound was once thought to drive performers mad.
4. Waterphone
A stainless-steel instrument of rods and resonating chamber, often bowed or struck. Its shrieking, aquatic tones became a horror-film staple, dripping with menace.
5. Nyckelharpa
A Swedish keyed fiddle with sympathetic strings, producing a haunting, drone-rich sound. Played with a short bow while pressing wooden keys along the neck.
6. Crwth
An ancient Welsh bowed lyre with a flat, boxy shape. Its droning resonance feels both medieval and strangely modern, bridging folk tradition and experiment.
7. Hydraulophone
A water-based instrument where players block jets of water to produce sound. Both sculpture and instrument, it’s part fountain, part organ, entirely strange.
8. Sharpsichord
A giant solar-powered pin-barrel harp created by Henry Dagg. Resembling a Victorian contraption, it plays programmed sequences of metallic, chiming tones.
9. Stroh Violin
A violin fitted with a metal resonator and horn instead of a wooden body. Its brassy, loud tone once helped early recording engineers capture strings.
10. Aeolian Harp
Strung but unplayed, it sings when the wind passes over it. A Romantic-era favourite, it makes music literally out of thin air.
Top pic: musician Jonny Greenwood playing the Ondes Martenot. All pics: Getty Images
