The Magic of Notre Dame's Acoustics Has Been Restored

The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris reopened in December 2024. But how were its wonderful acoustics preserved or reconstructed? Fortuitously, six years before the 2019 fire, a 2013 team led by acoustics researcher Brian F.G. Katz from Sorbonne Université measured the cathedral’s acoustics. They discovered that Notre-Dame’s vaults and spaces produced a long reverberation time, up to 9 seconds, allowing sound waves to resonate. This was incorporated by composers Pérotin and Léonin into the polyphony of the Notre-Dame School of musical style.

This blog post explains that reverberation, often found in Gothic cathedrals, played a significant role in the development of polyphony. As composers began to explore the melodic potential of these reverberant spaces, they found that simultaneous notes (those sung or played together) sounded more consonant and unified due to the blending effect of the room acoustics. The long reverberation times allowed for melodic intervals to transform into harmonious, consonant sounds when sung together. This led to the creation of early harmonic structures and the exploration of more complex polyphonic forms.

Watch a video with more information here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJvvkl3qrXM&t=120s

An informative article:
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/notre-dame-reopening-acoustics-fire