ondes Martenot

/ ɔ̃d mɑːtəˈnəʊ /

noun

1. music an electronic keyboard instrument in which the frequency of an oscillator is varied to produce separate musical notes

Word History and Origins

Origin of ondes Martenot¹

C20: French, literally: Martenot waves, invented by Maurice Martenot (1898–1980)

Example Sentences

But it was immense: written on a grand scale, with more than a dozen principal roles, a chorus and an orchestra equipped with idiosyncratic sounds like that of the spooky, electronic ondes Martenot.

From New York Times

And the woozy, slippery wail of the theremin-like ondes martenot.

From New York Times

Cynthia Millar was a subtle presence at the ondes martenot — to the point that the instrument could have been more assertively amplified.

From New York Times

Along with Debussy’s “Faun” last weekend, he led Messiaen’s “Trois Petites Liturgies de la Présence Divine,” a fabulously intricate, half-hour multicolored extravaganza for solo piano, the theremin-like ondes Martenot, women’s chorus, strings and percussion, written in 1944 and never before performed by the orchestra.

From Los Angeles Times

Gone is the eerie ondes Martenot, though it lives on in swinging glissandos in the strings; still intact, however, is the opera’s excess and horror, made all the more unsettling by the orchestra’s coolly crisp, virtually objective delivery on Saturday.

From New York Times