Especially during his American exile, Bohuslav Martinů was strongly interested in the latest technical achievements and newly construed electronic musical instruments. In addition to systematic reading of latest publications from the field of natural and social sciences (particularly the work of Albert Einstein), from 1942 Martinů according to the testimony of Miloš Šafránek in collaboration with Dr. Antonín Svoboda, a Czech specialist in mathematical instruments, dealt with new possibilities of mechanical recording of a musical idea. The composer planned to achieve this goal by taking a path divided into three phases: 1. Creation of a file of sound colour of all kinds; 2. Construction of an instrument for analysing rhythm; 3. Creation of an abstract musical score with new signs (not the usual notation) for recording the musical action. Based on this score, the so-called order tapes for an unspecified machine for a synthesis of sounds would be produced. Unfortunately, we can say about this unexamined part of the musical thought of Bohuslav Martinů no more than that it evidently remained a peripheral episode without any documented influence on his later work. Nevertheless, it was for sure this very interest which led Martinů in 1944 to compose Fantasy for Theremin, Oboe, String Quartet and Piano, H 301. In addition to Martinů, theremin was used, for example, by Edgar Varése in the first version of Equatorial of 1934 (in the second, revised version he used instead the Martenot waves).
Fantasy for Theremin was commissioned by the American artist Lucie Bigelow Rosen who premiered it a year after its creation in New York. The one-sentence composition, which is clearly arranged in three parts, consists of many elements untypical of Martinů. The first slow part “Largo” is based on the heavy rhythm of sarabanda and begins by orchestral accords of strings which appeared in Martinů’s chamber work for the last time in his early Quartet Es moll of 1917. The rhythm is rather simple and clear, obviously taking into account the limited possibilities of the solo instrument; Martinů’s characteristic syncopes appear in it rather as an exception. It is almost unbelievable that only a month later Songs on Two Pages, H 302, came into being whose genius consists of their simplicity. However as a whole, Fantasy for Theremin may be ranked to the Neo-Classicist phase of Martinů’s American period, which includes also works such as Piano Quartet No. 1, H 287.
Eva Benešová and Aleš Březina, concert programme Bohuslav Martinů Festival, 8 December 1997.