Broderick Lemke

MUSI 168

22 April 2015

The Symbiotic Existence of Architecture and Music Creation in the Renaissance

Musicians discuss the acoustics of most spaces that they perform in, whether it be a high

school auditorium where the sounds fall flat once they leave the stage, or the musicians shower

with reverberation that could challenge the Saint Norbert Abbey. While not a particularly current

discussion, these concepts have been discussed by many for a long time, not only by musicians but also

by their philosophical and scientific counterparts. In both the secular and religious environments of

the Renaissance, music shaped the design of architecture, and the architecture that was designed

influenced the works created by composers of the time.

Looking at the understanding of musical knowledge throughout time, some concepts have

proven to be true even when the scientific thoughts behind them are no longer supported. One

example of a musical and architectural idea that is still thriving in conversations on acoustics is

the topic of reverberation. The music of the Renaissance was beginning to branch out from

monophony into ideas of polyphony, and the messages brought out by the texts became harder to

understand. The use of multiple languages, numerous distinct melodies, and a more dramatic

range could lead to an emphasis on the musical aspects of worshiping, rather than on the words

of God. These ideas played into the churchs desire to keep the word of God pure, and thus

changed how cathedrals were built. Tapestries were introduced in an attempt to dampen sound,

and wooden molding that could also absorb sound while adding a sense of elegance to the space

(Betts, 1993, p.7).

 To allow clarity of the notes, many of the personal music rooms from the Renaissance

and into the early baroque periods were a small size, which lowered the resonant qualities of the

rooms. In addition to the modest dimensions of these rooms, the audience would also be seated

close to the musicians. This meant that they would hear a distinct attack and pitch from the

musicians followed briefly by an echo from the rectangular parallel walls (Howard, 2012, p.158).

The parallel walls also created reverberations for lower pitches that would enhance the volume of

instrumental lower registers. One downfall of the small rooms is that loud instruments, such as

brass instruments, would be excessively loud and as a result would often not be performed inside

(Howard, 2012, p.158).

Although reverberation was a heavily discussed topic that holds true today, several ideas

about musical theory and acoustic properties are no longer seen as correct. The mathematicians

and scientists of the time did not see music as sound waves that bounce around as they do today.

Rather, they were focused on principles and ideas of sound that came long before them. One

major obsession that architects attempted to include in their creations of cathedrals was to

incorporate the Music of the Spheres.

The practices of physical science and ideas of sound can be traced back to Sir Isaac

Newton and Galileo, who each brought their own ideas of music to the table (Stillman, 1970,

p.484), but one of the most influential thoughts in the renaissance era was from Pythagoras with

his idea of the Music of the Spheres. He theorized that celestial bodies such as the moon, sun, or

planets, and the proportions of their movements created a sound that was audible, although it was

very faint. Today we know that this concept is not true, but the idea was dominant on the main-

stage of musical ideas, so much so that it influenced Andrea Palladio. Palladio was an architect

and it was believe that under one of the domes in his cathedrals a high-ranking cleric would be
able to hear a faint ringing that was the Harmony of the Spheres (Howard, 2009, p.8). This idea

today would be discredited, but at the time carried a sense of mystery, divinity, and a thought of

cosmic understanding that brought with it a powerful feeing that would not be felt that strongly

until the philosophical and scientific advancements of the enlightenment.

Not all of Renaissance music theory was stagnant and based upon untrue beliefs. In fact,

by early 1529 Pythagoras view on music that was based on the Harmony of the Spheres was too

limiting, and Ludovico da Fogliano was accepting the use of major and minor tenths as chords in

his composition (Pirina, 1985, p.368). This was further expanded by Heinrich Glarean when he

began to use newer contemporary forms. He accepted the seventh chord, but also began to define

a major mode that was characterized using the triad C E G and a minor mode using D F

A. These advancements continued throughout the Renaissance and the architecture would begin

to embrace these changes as well making subtle adaptations to better suit these new ideas.

One way that architects and composers would come to adapt their ideas of music was

through the use of reverberation. By playing with reverberation an architect could provide a

space that would allow for flowing music that had little definition, or he could provide the

opposite with a room that did not carry sound far. The composer could also work in various

spaces and would have to understand where his music would be performed when writing. If they

were using some of the newer forms of modes and theoretical concepts it may have been difficult

to work in rooms with large amounts of reverberation because of the inherent dissonances it may

create.

In religious environments music was used as only one facet to expose people to the

power and grace of God, and was definitely not the only idea given consideration. For example,

the visual stimulations in churches were being considered equally as much. Through various
churches in this period the locations of the choir changed, drawing attention to different areas of

the cathedral, not only increasing aural quality, but to occasionally draw attention to people who

had passed on. San Marco in Venice was known as the templum aureum (the golden temple)

(Howard, 2009, p.4) for this reason. Their church did not focus solely on God or the music, but

rather sought to inspire a person through all of their senses. Along with the beautiful choir there

were large mosaics, incredibly amounts of money in materials, and the large choir of hundreds of

people singing beneath the domes was meant to enlighten a person to the beauty of God. Music

cannot be taken out of these ceremonies because it was a key element, but it was not the only

consideration that went into Renaissance architecture.

The concept of architecture and music working hand-in-hand is still present today, even

in classrooms when a teacher is asked what they would like when a school is remodeling. These

concept developed quite a bit, but the space that were created in the Renaissance era are still

around and continue to provide the beauty they were created to produce. L. N. Higgins wrote on

Architecture and Music, stating that architecture is static, it is just bricks and materials that

remain, while music is dynamic (Higgins, 1925, p.509). He views music as an event that is

present in a place, while architecture provides the place that the music is experienced. One

cannot be more important than the other, as they are both reliant upon each other to produce

beauty. This was the founding idea for some Architecture in the Renaissance, but its message

still comes through in our society today.

 References
Betts, R. (1993, March 1). Structural Innovation and Structural Design in Renaissance
Architecture. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 5-25.
Higgins, L. (1925, June 1). Music and Architecture. The Musical Times, 509-510.
Howard, D. (2012). The music room in early modern France and Italy: Sound, space, and object.
Oxford: Published for the British Academy by Oxford University Press.
Howard, D., & Moretti, L. (2009). Sound and space in Renaissance Venice: Architecture, music,
acoustics. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Pirina, C. (1985, September 1). Michelangelo and the Music and Mathematics of His Time. The
Art Bulletin, 368-382.
Stillman, D. (1970, October 1). Renaissance Music and Experimental Science. Journal of the
History of Ideas, 483-500.