"As a kid who grew up on the celluloid junk food of the 1950s and '60s, "The Simpsons" creator heard the ghostly wail of that early electronic instrument in sci-fi film scores and in albums by his beloved Frank Zappa. Its cousin, the ondes martenot, was featured in one of Groening's favorite classical pieces - the "Turangalîla-symphonie" by Olivier Messiaen - which would inspire the name for a lead character in "Futurama," Turanga Leela."
"Clausen quickly became a fixture of "The Simpsons," scoring every episode from that first "Treehouse of Horror," now an annual Halloween tradition, all the way through the end of the 28th season, which wrapped in 2017, as well as composing many unforgettably funny songs with the show's writers. Groening often referred to Clausen as the show's "secret weapon." The show's producers were always pushing to save money, Groening says, and to have the show scored with synthesizers and a drum machine - par for the course for TV music in the 1990s."
"So, when composer Alf Clausen was recruited in the sophomore season of Groening's popular new show about a yellow nuclear family and answered a request to use theremin - a small lectern with two metal antennae sticking out, which a musician plays by moving their hand in the space between - in the inaugural "Treehouse of Horror" episode in October 1990, Groening immediately recognized it was a fake; it was bouncing around the scale in a way a real theremin can't do."
Matt Groening grew up hearing the theremin's ghostly wail in 1950s and '60s sci-fi scores and Frank Zappa albums. The ondes martenot in Messiaen's Turangalîla-symphonie inspired the name Turanga Leela. Composer Alf Clausen joined in season two and was asked to simulate a theremin for the inaugural Treehouse of Horror; Groening immediately recognized the part as a keyboard imitation. Clausen later admitted it was a keyboard, and the show eventually acquired a real theremin despite its limitations. Clausen scored the series through season 28 and composed many songs, while producers often pushed for cheaper synthesized scoring.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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