“Prometheus-1”, the bureau’s first permanent light-music instrument, was built at the Kazan Aviation Institute in 1962. Its designers were Yu. M. Kovalenko, G. V. Pronin and O. E. Shornikov.
More than 1,000 incandescent lamps, each rated at 15 W and painted in one of seven colours, were arranged behind a 30 × 6 metre translucent screen. Each colour channel was controlled from a console using 3 kW LATR autotransformers. The instrument was used for the first Soviet concert performance of Alexander Scriabin’s “Prometheus” to follow the composer’s lighting score. Conservatory student E. Bigusheva performed the Luce part under A. G. Yusfin, drawing on G. M. Rimsky-Korsakov’s interpretation of Scriabin’s light line.
Alexander Scriabin’s relatives in the USSR and abroad responded to the concert, which also received national press coverage.
