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Abstract
The organ and the clock were, up until the Industrial Revolution, the two most complex machines ever to have been created. Their ingenuity, cost, and ability to elicit reactions of wonder meant that they were readily adopte d as symbols of power and prestige, and over time were to become incorporated into the very fabric of both city and church. As elsewhere in Europe, the organ in the Hispanic world reached its zenith in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as a result of technological advances and a quest for new sounds, in keeping with the insatiable desire for novel experiences that was typical of the epoch. Unlike its counterparts, the unique central location of the liturgical nucleus within the interiors of Hispanic cathedrals privileged the organ as a visual, spatial, and sonic focus. Conditioned by the broad hall-like configuration of these interiors, Hispanic organs developed a lateral façade, evolving in the eighteenth century as monumental walls of sight and sound — a nexus of architecture and music. This paper uses a lens of spatial analysis to explore the quest for architectural and sonic symmetry, spatial novelty, and sensorial affect in the Hispanic world. Examples such as the cathedrals of Seville, Mexico City, Granada, and Malaga are used to assess the role that the double-façade mirror organ played in the configuration of the sonic-architectural experience of the Baroque.
The organ and the clock were, up until the Industrial Revolution, the two most complex machines ever to have been created. Their ingenuity, cost, and ability to elicit reactions of wonder meant that they were readily adopte d as symbols of power and prestige, and over time were to become incorporated into the very fabric of both city and church. As elsewhere in Europe, the organ in the Hispanic world reached its zenith in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as a result of technological advances and a quest for new sounds, in keeping with the insatiable desire for novel experiences that was typical of the epoch. Unlike its counterparts, the unique central location of the liturgical nucleus within the interiors of Hispanic cathedrals privileged the organ as a visual, spatial, and sonic focus. Conditioned by the broad hall-like configuration of these interiors, Hispanic organs developed a lateral façade, evolving in the eighteenth century as monumental walls of sight and sound — a nexus of architecture and music. This paper uses a lens of spatial analysis to explore the quest for architectural and sonic symmetry, spatial novelty, and sensorial affect in the Hispanic world. Examples such as the cathedrals of Seville, Mexico City, Granada, and Malaga are used to assess the role that the double-façade mirror organ played in the configuration of the sonic-architectural experience of the Baroque.
Hasta los tiempos de la Revolución Industrial el órgano, junto con el reloj, eran las máquinas más complejas jamás realizadas. Debido a lo ingenioso, el gran coste y la facilidad de asombrar a la gente con sus maravillas, el órgano y el reloj llegan a ser identificados como símbolos de poder y prestigio, y con el paso del tiempo acaban incorporándose tanto al tejido de la ciudad como de la iglesia. Como en otras zonas de Europa, el órgano en el mundo hispano llego a su cenit en los siglos XVII y XVIII a causa del avance de la tecnología y de la búsqued a de nuevos sonidos, de acuerdo con el afán insaciable de la época por experiencias novedosas. A diferencia del resto de las catedrales europeas, la ubicación central del núcleo litúrgico dentro de los interiores de las catedrales hispánicas significa que el órgano cobra privilegio como foco visual, espacial, y sonoro. La configuración espacial de las catedrales hispánicas con sus naves anchas, condicionaba el desarrollo de una fachada lateral del órgano ibérico, culminando en el siglo XVIII como pantallas gigantes visuales y sonoras — el nexo entre la arquitectura y la música. Esta investigación trata de usar el análisis espacial para explorar la búsqueda en el mundo hispánico por la simetría arquitectónica y sonora, la novedad en lo espacial, y la conmoción en lo sensorial. Importantes ejemplos de esto lo encontramos en las catedrales de Sevilla, México, Granada, y Málaga, donde se puede constatar el importante papel que el órgano gemelo de doble fachada desempeñó en la configuración de la experiencia sonoroarquitectónica del barroco.