Les Fleurs du Mal
- The Thinking Man's Ritual Theatre -
presents:

THEREMINIAD 7
Tiger Lily

A multi media ritual, dedicated to the memory of Vera Tyermenova, a Russian artist and poet, wife of the inventor of the world's first space controlled music instrument, the Theremin

Dance:
Atilla Gergely

Music:
Vilmos Vajdai
DJ NoMore 

Video
Adrian Costache

Written and directed by László Najmányi

 Ludwig Museum
Budapest, Hungary
June 21, 2006, 8 PM
 

An introduction to the piece

Les Fleurs du Mal, "The Thinking Man's Ritual Theater" (founded in New York, 2000) is a traveling troupe, dedicated to re-marry science and art, in the form of multi-media rituals. The THEREMINIAD is an electronic theatrical epoch of seven parts. It is based on the lives and times of a Russian scientist, Professor Leon Theremin, the inventor of the world's first space-controlled electronic music instrument, the theremin.

The seventh, last part of the series, titled Tiger Lily will premier on June 21, 2006, at the Ludwig Museum, in Budapest. This is the story of Katia Constantinova, Professor Theremin's first, Russian wife. She was a Futurist poet and a theatre artist originally, involved with the young artists' circle  around the revolutionary poet, Mayakovsky, before she met and married the scientist, in 1922. She accompanied her husband on his concert tour of Europe, then on his voyage to America, in 1927.

Professor Leon Theremin and his invention, "The music instrument you don't have to touch in order to make it sound" arrived to New York in December, 1927. A long time agent of the Russian intelligence service, Professor Theremin came to America with a double task. He was to propagate the superiority of Soviet science, and also, he had to gather information on prominent American artists, scientists, politicians and military personel, whom he befriended as he's quickly found his way into the heart of High Society. Albert Einstein, Leopold Stockowski, Arturo Toscanini, Charlie Chaplin and Dwight Eisenhower were among his closest friends. He reported to Moscow on all. According to some sources he had a long range radio transmitter built into his theremin, which he was using to contact his NKVD superiors, in Moscow.

Katia felt lonely and neglected in New York. She did not speak English, couldn't communicate with her husband's celebrity friends. Professor Theremin was too busy with concerts, with his new inventions, with his love affair with the theremin virtuosa Clara Rockmore, and with his candlestine activities. He had no time for his pretty, moody wife. Longing for company, for some tenderness and understanding, Vera joined a Russian cult, headquartered in Brighton Beach, New York. They were followers of the last Tzarina's spiritual mentor and friend, Grigoriy Rasputin. Rasputin taught purification through sin. His followers worshipped by getting drunk and engaging in week long orgies. When his superiors at the Russian secret service learned about Katia Constantinova's involvement with the banned Rasputinist sect, they ordered Professor Theremin to divorce her. The scientist has obeyed the order. He had Katia move out of their apartment, to a rented walk-up, in the East Village, gave her some money, then he stopped communicating with her. They've never met again.

The Russian secret service did not approve Professor Theremin's marriage with the Afro-American dancer, Lavinia Williams. He was ordered to divorce his second wife too. This time he did not obey his superiors' order, and refused to return to Moscow. In the winter of 1937 the Professor was kidnapped from New York and was secretly taken back to the Soviet Union, by Russian agents. The inventor was put on trial and he was found guilty of anti-Soviet propaganda. He was sent to the Gulag, to a labor camp, in Siberia, for 13 years.

During the war years Katia Constantinova worked in an ammunitions factory. After the war she moved to a farm, near Manitoac, Wisconsin, with her religious congregation. She became an animal caretaker. She was no longer writing poetry or dreaming of modernist theatre. She's learned horse riding and performed stunts on horseback, at county fairs. She had two children, fathered by her priest, Father Fiodor. She married the manager of a traveling circus. The circus needed an animal trainer. Katia took the job and began working with Siberian tigers. She took up the stage name Tiger Lily. Dressed in a tiger skin bikini, she used to ride two white tigers on stage. Katia Constantinova died in 1989, just a year before Professor Theremin came back to New York, for his last show. Her sons, Duane and Leon have traveled to Russia and threw Katia's ashes in a stream, near the village of Prokovskoie, where the staretz Rasputin was born.

Even after his release from the labor camp, in 1951, Professor Theremin was not allowed to take up contact with foreigners, until the system-change in Russia, in 1990. After his release from nearly four decades of house arrest, his American friends brought him to New York, with great fanfare. His Afro-American wife, Lavinia was dead by that time. So was his Russian wife, Katia Constantinova, the Futurist poet and theatre artist, who died as  the Tiger Lily of Manitoac, Wisconsin. Shortly after his last concert at the Radio City Music Hall, Professor Theremin died too, while walking on a New York street. They have found a small, cracked photograph of Katia in his Russian passport.

ARTSCAPE Magazine (USA): THEREMINIAD

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THEREMINIAD performances - THEREMINIAD előadások:

Les Fleurs du Mal:
THEREMINIAD 6
Clara & Leon (Version 1)
Süss Fel Nap
Budapest, Hungary
February 27, 2006, 22:10 H

Les Fleurs du Mal:
THEREMINIAD 6
Clara & Leon (Version 2)
Millenáris Park, Budapest (Hungary)
May 12, 2006, 9 PM

DJ Redo - DJ NoMore
TheReMix

DJ NoMore:
ThereminTime

DJ NoMore:
BassCulture

DJ NoMore
1. Autonóm Gigazóna
Millenáris Park Theátrum
Budapest, Hungary
November 19, 2005 04 PM

Remix Africana
Süss Fel Nap
Budapest, Hungary
November 28, 2005, 10 PM

THEREMINIAD (Eng) - THEREMINIADA (Hu)
Concert for Theremin and Computers - Koncert thereminre és számítógépekre
- Hommage to Lavinia Williams -
Mu Theatre, Budapest (Hungary)
April 23, 2005, 8 PM

THEREMIN Oratorio's Libretto (Hu)  - A THEREMIN Oratórium librettója

Najmányi László:
THEREMIN
Dokumentumregény

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