When the Theremin was introduced in the 1920s, it was deemed “mysterious and otherworldly,” Trace Reddell recounts in his book The Sound of Things to Come (University of Minnesota Press). The electrical instrument briefly excited the avant-garde but never firmly established itself in classical music. The Theremin found a second life in 1940s Hollywood where its eerie wavering tones proved an apt soundtrack for science fiction movies
However, Reddell reminds us that the Theremin and other electronic audio outputs have not been the only way to aurally suggest cosmic vastness or the presence of aliens. Witness Stanley Kubrick’s use of Richard and Johann Straus for 2001: A Space Odyssey or Andrei Tarkovsky’s deployment of Bach in Solaris. But yes, the pathfinding technology of electronic music and its aura of the “mysterious and otherworldly” made it almost a fallback soundtrack source for many filmmakers.
The Sound of Things to Come touches on many other points of sonic science-fiction interest, including the role of SF films since the late ‘70s as cinematic “research and development zones: for noise reduction technology, loudspeaker configuration and even theater design.
