Croix Sonore

The Croix Sonore is an electronic musical instrument that was developed in 1926 by Pierre and Michel Billaudot Dauvillier together with Nikolai Obukhov in Paris. It is similar in function and play the Theremin, but is designed in the form of a cross. The oscillators are in a sphere of 44 cm diameter, while the two antennas are in a 1.75 m wide cross that is decorated with a central star. The player is determined by the right hand, the pitch, while the left by means of a rotary knob adjusts the volume.

The Croix Sonore produces a sound, the descriptions by between cello and fragile human voice is, but clearly artificial and " unearthly " sounds. His gameplay after it is particularly suitable for glissandi. The already existing at the Theremin theatrical play was inflated again especially for Obuchows mystical compositions with mostly religious motifs through the cross shape. The remaining photographs and descriptions of Croix- Sonore concerts describe the player Marie- Antoinette off Senac de Broglie in a priest -like robe, which has reinforced the sense of a Gesamtkunstwerk of the performance. In 1934, she filmed the experimental filmmaker Germaine Dulac at such a recording, the film is now in the Gaumont - Pathé archive.

Obukhov wrote several compositions for the Croix Sonore. Among the approximately 20 pieces also was his main work Le Livre de Vie. 1934, the three further developed version of the instrument. A resulting instrument is issued in the possession of the Musée de l' Opéra and located since 2009 on permanent loan to the Musée de la musique. Obuchows grave in Paris was once adorned by a Croix Sonore in stone, but this was destroyed in the course of time.