How worship space acoustics helped to shape western history

Abstract

Acoustical communication is a vital element in the co-evolution of worship space architecture and liturgy. Acoustical communication in worship spaces is bound by scientific verities. Information theory holds that for any communication channel there exists an optimum coding of transmitted information. Speech and music are alternative informational codings. Speech coding is efficient for small, dry indoor spaces and well suited to the spoken liturgies of synagogues, early Christian house churches, and other small pre-Constantinian churches. The historic and fateful change from a spoken to a musical liturgy beginning with Constantine (ca. 313) was likely driven by the highly reverberant acoustics of large basilicas that rendered speech unintelligible. Such highly reverberant spaces are well suited for specific types of musical communication. Gregorian chant is shown to be an ingenious coding for reverberant spaces and an early use of frequency diversity coding. The historic return to spoken liturgies beginning with the reformation and counter-reformation of the 15th century was accompanied by reductions in church reverberation. The Protestant acoustic also engendered a need for music suited to less reverberant spaces, e.g., simple melodies with rapidly changing chordal harmonies. Electronics is a new element driving the evolution of worship space architecture and liturgical form.