Sound and Space in Renaissance Venice. Architecture, Music, Acoustic.

New Haven and London, 2009. Cm. 25×17, pp. xv-368, figg. a col. e in nero n. t., tela e sovrac.
The focus of this fascinating study is the direct relationship between architectural design and sacred music in Renaissance Venice. The designs of two of the greatest architects of the Italian Renaissance, Sansovino and Palladio, are seen against the background of the innovative polyphonic choral music in split-choir formation – coro spezzato – pioneered in St Mark’s by the Flemish musician Adrian Willaert and disseminated as a result of the rapid development of music printing in Venice. Later composers refined and elaborated these innovations, whic culminated in the innovative sacred music of Monteverdi. The needs of elaborate state ceremonial stimulated the demand for musical virtuosity and imposing architectural settings, but the innovations filtered down to affect music in the simplest parish churches. It was also in the sixteenth century that Venetian state orphanages began to acquire their international renown for the performance of sacred music.This book combines historical research into the architectural and liturgical traditions of a dozen Venetian churches with the results of parallel series of scientific surveys of the acoustic properties of the chosen buildings. The research culminated in a programme of in situ choral experiments and acoustic measurements , carried out in Venice using the celebrated Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge, in 2007, revealing the strong awareness of acoustic effects on the part of architects, musicians, patrons and churchmen of the Renaissance period.
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