“La Música en El Monasterio de El Escorial - Sonido y Forma Arquitetónica”
Author: William Mulvihill
Publisher: Polytechnic School of Madrid
Photography: William Mulvihill
The Monastery of El Escorial, owing to its magnitude, proportions, materiality andlinks with monasticism and royalty, has been an exceptional setting for the creation of music since the 16th century. From its origin under the religious Order of Saint Jerome (Los Jerónimos) to the current resident monastery boys’ choir (Escolania de El Escorial), music has been a very important, although still lesser known, factor in the history of the monastery, whose architecture has conditioned both the way in which sound is perceived and the type of music and repertoires that were made in it.
Starting from this premise, the work begins by studying, through historical examples, the links between architecture and architectural form, as a conceptual framework to understand the musical facets of the monastery. The investigation of music in El Escorial will continue with a survey of the historical and newly adapted musical spaces found throughout the building. Through the study of the official ceremonial register archived by the monastery, and a cataloguing of the musical spaces, it will also be possible to identify the specific spatial and acoustic configurations associated with each repertoire.
Finally, through the formulation of a virtual acoustic modelling, these historical configurations will be recreated in a sonoric sound and visual form that will allow us to approach, in an intuitive way, the musical legacy of the monastery through sound and architectural form.
