Index
The whole register
Nineteen entries: rooms, surfaces and the crafts that make them work. Sorted by section, numbered in the order they were written.
One Wall
| № | Entry | Where | Enclosure |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | The wall at OrangeThe Théâtre Antique d'Orange keeps a 103-metre Roman stage wall, the only one in the western empire standing more or less intact, and it works as a reflector — which is why the Chorégies put voices in front of it. | OrangeVaucluse | One wall |
| 02 | What a scaenae frons doesA hard vertical surface behind the performer returns early reflections to the audience and gives an outdoor voice something to carry it. | — | One wall |
| 03 | Vaison and the othersThe other surviving Roman theatres in the Vaucluse and what is missing from each. | Vaison-la-RomaineVaucluse | One wall |
Four Walls
| № | Entry | Where | Enclosure |
|---|---|---|---|
| 04 | The Cour de l'ArchevêchéGabriel Dussurget's 1948 choice at Aix — a small hard courtyard that suits a chamber orchestra and punishes a large one. | Aix-en-ProvenceBouches-du-Rhône | Four walls |
| 05 | The Cour d'honneurJean Vilar put theatre in the Palais des Papes courtyard at Avignon in 1947; one flat facade, no roof, and a sound that became part of the work. | AvignonVaucluse | Four walls |
| 06 | Reverberation in a boxFour hard walls and open sky make a room with strong lateral reflections and no ceiling to hold them. | — | Four walls |
| 07 | The mistralWind is a programming constraint in Provence, not a weather note. | Rhône valley | Four walls |
Cut Limestone
| № | Entry | Where | Enclosure |
|---|---|---|---|
| 08 | The Carrière de BoulbonA worked stone quarry near Boulbon used as an auditorium, where the faces enclose an audience that has no built structure at all. | BoulbonBouches-du-Rhône | Quarry faces |
| 09 | Stone as a surfaceCut rock is hard, irregular and non-parallel, which scatters rather than echoes. | — | Quarry faces |
| 10 | Access and load-inA quarry has one road and no power, and everything else follows from that. | — | Quarry faces |
Cloister and Church
| № | Entry | Where | Enclosure |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | CloistersArcaded squares built for circulation, later used for chamber music, and the long reverberation that suits some repertoire and ruins the rest. | — | Roofed stone |
| 12 | Abbey and churchStone volumes designed for a single unamplified voice, and what happens when an ensemble arrives. | — | Roofed stone |
No Walls
| № | Entry | Where | Enclosure |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | The MalsaucyLes Eurockéennes on the presqu'île du Malsaucy at Belfort — a lake peninsula where nothing reflects and the whole sound field has to be built. | BelfortTerritoire de Belfort | None |
| 14 | CarhaixVieilles Charrues on farmland in Finistère, and the logistics of a field that is a field again in September. | Carhaix-PlouguerFinistère | None |
| 15 | Line arrays and delayDelay towers exist because sound travels roughly 343 metres a second and a large field is longer than that in useful terms. | — | None |
| 16 | MudGround conditions decide more festival outcomes than programming does. | — | None |
Crews and Craft
| № | Entry | Where | Enclosure |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | RiggersThe people who hang the weight, the loading calculations behind it, and why a rig is signed off before anyone sings. | — | Any of them |
| 18 | StonemasonsWorking a protected monument means conservation rules govern every fixing, and nothing may be drilled into Roman stone. | OrangeVaucluse | Any of them |
| 19 | The get-outStriking a site overnight, and why the calendar is built backwards from it. | — | Any of them |