Wednesday, November 02, 2011
Sounds of the Renaissance Reproduced through Acoustical Archeology
From American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Music lovers and appreciators of the Renaissance may now experience this beloved classical music in a more acoustically authentic fashion.
Researchers have used modern acoustic simulation technology to explore how complex polyphonic music was heard during the Renaissance in two of Venice’s churches: the Basilica of San Marco and the Redentore.
“We built a filter for the churches’ acoustics as they would have existed in the 16th century,” explains Braxton Boren, a Ph.D. student in music technology at New York University involved in the research. “Then we can record a choir singing in an anechoic chamber, with no sound reflections, and put it through the filter to hear the choir as it would have sounded during the Renaissance.”
It was during this time that music became more complex and choirs were separated to produce the first “stereo” effect in Western history.
Read the full article here.
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