Buildings that sing

The influence of acoustical conditions in a performance space upon the design, composition, and aufführungsṕraxis of Western liturgical music was examined for correlations between architectural characteristics (volume; proportion; reverberation; selective absorption; placement of sound‐producing elements; and liturgical purpose) and musical characteristics (performing resources; melodic and contrapuntal density; rate of harmonic change; intervalic consonance as derived from the harmonic series; timbre of solo, chorus, and instrumental sounds; and relative intelligibility of sung texts). Gregorian chant, melismatic organum, iso‐rhythmic motets, Renaissance masses, Baroque cantatas and oratorio, 19th‐century symphonic forms, and 20th‐century compositions were studied in the context of the worship spaces and theological currents for which they were developed. The unique factor of vocal participation by the “listener” in the presentation of liturgical music in the Western tradition was heavily weighted [E. A. Sövik, The Hymn 41 (3), 10–14 (1990)], and the analogy of proportion between the geometry of Medieval worship buildings and the vertical harmonic structure of triads was explored [R. Lawlor, Parabola 3(1), 12–17 (1978)].