'The space is like an instrument': How Notre-Dame found its voice after fire muffled it

BBC.com ^ | March 6, 2025 | Richard Gray

[thecodont]

Performers and visitors to the famous gothic cathedral in the midst of the River Seine may find some subtle differences to the way sound bounces around its walls.

The Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris has borne witness to many turning points in history. The building's striking gothic stonework has stood sentry on an island in the midst of the River Seine since the late 12th Century as coronations, wars and revolutions have unfolded in its shadow. What you might not realise, however, is that the cathedral has played a key part in shaping the music you hear when you turn on the radio or stream a playlist.

Notre-Dame was, for a brief time, the beating heart of a musical revolution – one that changed music forever and laid the foundations for many of the songs we listen to today.

[...]

Katz has spent more than a decade studying the acoustics of Notre-Dame, painstakingly hanging microphones and taking measurements to reconstruct what it would have sounded like to play music, sing and preach inside the cathedral at different points in its evolution. Now, Katz hopes to return with his microphones and equipment as Notre-Dame enters a new phase. The cathedral recently reopened for the first time after the devastating fire that destroyed the roof, spire and much of the interior of the cathedral in April 2019. The reconstruction – which reportedly cost €700m (£582m, $758) – saw the building restored stone by stone to how it had been before the blaze.

But Katz believes something may have changed – the way it sounds.

[lee martell]

Sometimes, looks and circumstances can be deceiving.
The moment I heard that the Notre Dame was engulfed in unreachable flames, my very first thought was, this has got to be the work of radical Muslims. We will never know for certain, but no, I don’t think this was a case of Jihad.

There was no follow up destruction of any other French Icons, available to the general public. The reconstruction of that church was allowed to proceed smoothly, and without any mad protestors trying to burn it back down again.
I think it was a matter of old wood and old wiring creating their own deadly spark. C’est la vie.

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

Love the building and its reconstruction but the author said,

“at different points in its evolution.”

‘Development’ would be a much more accurate term. The word ‘evolution’ is constantly being misused and not just in this context.

The cathedral did not evolve, builders and concrete built it.

[nickcarraway]

The reality is the leftists are far more dangerous than Muslims ever were. At this point, Muslims are a distraction that leftists use to protect themselves.

[The Great RJ]

I have visited Notre Dame several times before the fire and even attended an organ concert there. The acoustics may have changed perhaps for the better, but what strikes me from the pictures and videos is the light. In my experience the interior was dark, somber with little color other than the stained glass. What I see now is a joyous light and an illuminating presence possibly not see in centuries. Notre Dame has been reborn.