Notre-Dame de Paris is famous for its music - from the famous bells to its three pipe organs. But did you know the building itself has influenced how Western music developed? Today (actually nearly five months ago, but who's counting?) we're speaking with Sarabeth Mullins, a researcher at Sorbonne Université about her research into how the cathedral of Notre-Dame has shaped vocal music through the centuries.
Following the fire of 2019, we've seen a renewed interest in understanding and conserving the cultural heritage of the cathedral. Much of this work has tracked the various stages of development and construction that the cathedral has been in over the years. Building on this, Sarabeth is experimenting with how the acoustical characteristics of the cathedral at different periods may have shaped how singers and composers adapted their music to the building and how music and building evolved together.
We hope you enjoy this special episode, recorded in November 2021 at the ASA Conference in Seattle!
Follow Sarabeth on Twitter: @SarabethMullins
Read more from Sarabeth: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9610851
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Twitter: @JustNoisePod