GIMN

T25

GIMN Institute
The State Institute for Musical Science (GIMN - the Russian abbreviation) was founded in
Moscow in 1921 in an attempt to centralize all activities related to musical science including
disciplines such as acoustics, musicology, psychology, physiology, construction of new musical
instruments and ethnomusicology. Nikolai Garbuzov was elected Director.
From the beginning GIMN was oriented towards academic research. Among GIMN associates
were many scholars and inventors from the realm of music and beyond, including Peter Zimin,
Leonid Sabaneev, Leon Theremin, Nikolai Bernstein, Paul Leiberg, Boris Krasin and Emiliy
Rosenov. Numerous research projects were conducted, articles published and experimental
devices built.
In 1923 GIMN supported the performance of the Symphony of Sirens in Moscow and even
applied for an additional nighttime show, which was never realized. In autumn 1923 Arseny
Avraamov was involved in the reorganization of GIMN. He considered this institution his own
creation since most of its research activities were based on ideas he had developed and
published in numerous articles between 1914 and 1917. It came to represent a struggle between
revolutionary artistic approaches and the increasingly conservative mentality. Although the draft
program of the new GIMN was signed by Avraamov, Garbuzov and Gnesin, the final document
contained neither Avraamovs ideas nor his signature. Even though Mikhail Gnesin one of
Russias foremost composers considered Arseny Avraamov one of the founders of Russian
musical acoustics, in the official documentation of GIMN Avraamovs name is not even mentioned.
In 1931 GIMN was closed and in 1933 Garbuzon established a new Research Institute for
Musical Science (NIMI) at Moscow State Conservatory where in 1940s it was renamed as the
Acoustical Laboratory. In the realm of music and its technology GIMN/NIMI was the highest-level
organization in Moscow. Projects from all over Soviet Russia seeking a patent or financial support
needed a positive review from the appropriate GIMN/NIMI experts. As many of these experts were
undertaking similar research or having different aesthetical views, their responses were often
negative, based on biased opinions and self-interest rather than scholarship, discourse and the
greater good.
GIMN Studio, Moscow, 1920-s.
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In a book Five years of GIMN scientific activity 192126, Moscow, 1926. Theremin Center archive.

Meeting of the GIMN Board, 1925.

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Nikolai Garbuzov (in the centre). Five years of GIMN
scientific activity 1921-26, Moscow, 1926. Theremin
Center archive.

Research at GIMN
Peter Zimin was specializing in the research of musical instruments, especially organs and
piano. He made very advanced research into rhythm and the temporal characteristics of
instrumental musical performance, which was very similar to the research concurrently taking
place in Leningrad, conducted by Evgeny Sholpo. Leonid Sabaneev undertook research into
Alexander Skriabins music, microtonal ultrachromatic music, synesthesia and colour hearing.

Paul Leiberg was exploring microtonal scales, combinational tones and beats, while Alexander
Samoilov, supposing that the structure of a spatial lattice of musical intervals possesses the same
features as the structure of a spatial lattice of crystals, conducted research into the
multidimensional nature of sonic space, studying the locations of musical intervals on a line, on a
plane and in space.
Among the many researchers and inventors involved were Leon Theremin, Nikolai Bernstein,
Boris Krasin, Emil Rosenov, Mikhail Gnesin, and Arseny Avraamov. Numerous research projects
were conducted, articles published and experimental devices built, including a harmonium in
natural (overtone) scale, and a quarter-tone harmonium with two keyboards. Sergei Rzevkin built
his radio-harmonium on cathodic valves, which was the second electronic musical instrument to
have been built in Russia after the invention of the Theremin. It was a sort of three-voice
oscillator, capable of producing polyphonic chords in any temperament. Nikolai Garbuzov built a
device to study the phenomena of synopsia (colour hearing).
Acoustical microtonal instrument
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GIMN studio, 1920-s. Theremin Center archive.

T26

Radio transmitter from the GIMN studio, 1925.

Theremin Center archive.

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GIMN radiostation, 1920-s.

In 1923 GIMN was equipped with a radio-station,
developed by I. Homutov, to broadcast music and
related discussion. Theremin Center archive.

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One of the devices from GIMN, 1920s

Theremin Center archive.

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MICROTONAL MUSIC
One of the most popular areas of experimentation and research in the first decades of the
20th Century was microtonal music. It was stimulated in 1907 independently by Ferruccio Busoni
in Europe and Nikolai Kulbin in Russia. But the first practical and theoretical work in Russia was
developed and published in numerous articles by Arseny Avraamov in 1914-16. By the 1920s
there were numerous musicians involved in this research and related composition. Among them
were Leonid Sabaneev, Artour Lourie, Emiliy Rosenov, Georgy Rimsky-Korsakov. One of the most
advanced studies on microtonal music was developed by polymath Paul Leiberg - a teacher of
mathematics and physics at Moscow University as of the 1890s. Being very much involved in

musical acoustics, he undertook substantial research on acoustical resonances and from 1923,
working at GIMN, he developed a series of studies on microtonal music which he presented in a
series of reports. He compared various microtonal scales as well as explored the physical nature
of microtonal scales and related problems of human perception.
Among other projects under development related to microtonal music were those of Leonid
Sabaneev, who developed a mobile instrument based on a 28-tone modulation scale as well as a
53-tone well-tempered scale and related harmonium with 4 musical keyboards. Emil Rozenov
conducted research into the analysis of temperaments from 12 up to 48 steps based on RimskyKorsakovs methods. He proposed the construction of a harmonium based on a 17-tone overtoneuntertone modulation scale (permitting transpositions between different tonalities), possessing 3
keyboards and special controls for transposition. Piotr Renchitsky was at work developing a 24tone well-tempered system as a way of extending the common temperament. Arseny Avraamov
made several studies on the De-temperament of Music, Ultrachromatism and the Universal Tone
System (the Welttonsystem).
Harmoniums in natural and microtonal tuning at 30x40
GIMN studio, 1920. Arseny Avraamov used these
instruments in his lectures in 1923-24. Theremin
Center archive.

Rudolph Koenigs Grand Tonometer, based on

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multiple tuning forks (up to 700), tuned in microtonal
scale. Circa 1880. Photo plate from the GIMN Archive.
Theremin Center archive.

One page from Pavel Leibergs manuscript To

systematization of harmonious combinations.
GIMN, 1923. Theremin Center archive.

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Microtonal diagrams by Paul Leiberg. Study on

calculation of microtonal scales. GIMN 1923-1927.
Theremin Center archive.

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Pavel Leiberg. Harmony diagram of microtonal

duads.
GIMN, 1923-1927. Theremin Center archive.

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Pavel Leiberg. Diagram of combinational tones FRAME

and beats. GIMN 1926. Theremin Center archive.
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Pavel Leiberg. Intervals of the first five orders

on quartertone instrument. GIMN 1926.
Theremin Center archive.

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Pavel Leiberg. Intervals of various orders.

GIMN, 1926. Theremin Center archive.

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Pavel Leiberg. Comparison of intervals in

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natural scale with 41-tone, 12-tone and 24-tone 50x70
well tempered scales. GIMN, 1923. Theremin
Center archive.

Pavel Leiberg. Example of 41-tone scale with a

project for a related keyboard. GIMN, 1920-s.
Theremin Center archive.

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Pavel Leiberg. Comparison of various scales.

GIMN, 1926. Theremin Center archive.

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Explosion of creativity in the early 1930-s

In the field of music and its technology NIMI was the highest-level organization in Russia. Projects
from all over Soviet Russia seeking a patent or financial support needed a positive review from
the appropriate NIMI experts. The explosion of creativity in 1920-s resulted in the avalanche of
proposals for invention, produced in early 1930-s all over the Soviet Russia. Dozens proposals,
related to new musical instruments, new systems of harmony, new scales and temperaments,
new musical interfaces, keyboards and fingerboards etc. are collected in the GIMN/NIMI archive,
where one can find a number of surprising stories that illustrate the process of interaction
between the authoritarian State and the creative community. According to NIMI correspondence,
by the late 1930-s this avalanche almost finished and never came back again.
Example of expertise at NIMI institute.
A4
Moscow, 1930-s.
Negative expert review on the "straight violin by the
composer and artist Mikhail Matushin, who suggested
the simplified construction facilitating mass
production in conditions of total shortage of musical
instruments.
Theremin Center archive.

The Straight Violin by Mikhail Matushin.

1920-s.

A4

K.L. Isupov. The Instrument for the Magnetic

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Recording of Sound on Tape.
The copyright certificate N 34173, field 4 May 1932.
Inventor proposed the method of magnetic sound
recording, based on the system of rotating magnetic
heads, very similar to those used in the modern video
recorders.
NIMI archive, Theremin Center collection.
The Person-Orchestra. Special techniques to play 40x50
the whole set of the instruments of the small
orchestra by the single person was proposed by the
amateur inventor Alexander Sovetov from the village
Bolshaya Ugrezhskaya.
NIMI archive, Theremin Center collection.

Gilzotone.
The new musical instrument, based on multiple used
military cartridge cases proposed by the amateur
musician Grigory Rakov from the village Budeny
(South of Russia).
NIMI archive, Theremin Center collection.

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Request for advice regarding the human perception 30x40

of pitch and the methods of construction of tuning
forks from the Siberian amateur musician Ignatuk.
NIMI archive, Theremin Center collection.

Construction of the new musical instrument,

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proposed in 1936 by the amateur inventor Mstislav
Yagodnikov. NIMI archive, Theremin Center collection.

V6

Official correspondence of NIMI and Acoustical 40x50

Laboratory at Moscow Conservatory with the Central
Administrative Board of Musical Organizations
regarding construction of the device for execution of
the Hymn of the USSR on Spasskaya Tower of the
Kremlin. The executor - engineer A. Magnushevsky.
Moscow, 1949.
Theremin Center archive.