ThereminWorld is happy to announce a special holiday gift from Kip Rosser: a copy of what may be the only known commercial recording of Lucie Bigelow Rosen still in existence.
Soon after Lucie Bigelow Rosen became a student of Leon Theremin in 1930, she and her husband enabled his continued work by providing studio and workshop space as well as financial backing.
Lucie Rosen became a very active concert performer on the theremin and worked closely with Leon Theremin on customizations to the instruments he built for her. She toured internationally and spoke frequently promoting the theremin. And though very little of her legacy as a player has survived, she was Leon Theremin's greatest benefactor and a critical part of the instrument's early survival and evolution.
Now for the first time in almost 60 years we can hear her play!
ThereminWorld is extremely happy to play "Santa" and help to deliver this rare and special gift.
Gigolette
Recorded late in 1948 or early 1949, Gigolette is a popular recording by band leader Elliot Lawrence with Lucie Bigelow Rosen playing with his orchestra behind the lead male vocalist.
The photographic materials from the recording session, and notes attached to them, establish this as what may be the only known surviving recording of Lucie Bigelow Rosen.
This rare find comes to us from thereminist, Kip Rosser. In noticing the promotional blurb on the back of one of the photos of Rosen and Lawrence that were for sale on line, he realized that he’d found proof that a commercial recording of Lucie Rosen was made and actually existed, at least for a time. Mounting an extensive wild goose chase internet search over the course of a few days finally yielded the long-forgotten recording!
We extend our thanks to Kip for this historic discovery and for allowing ThereminWorld to assist in letting the modern day theremin community finally hear a bit of an important person in our instrument's history who we have only known in photographs and interviews, until now.
More information about the recording and it's discovery are included in the article here at ThereminWorld:
"Gigolette: Lucie Bigelow Rosen Rediscovered"
