Medieval church placement of sound vessels thwarted Vitruvius’s system

Evidence

One of the earliest known comments on Vitruvius’s scheme is found in the chronicle of Metz (1432): “He made and ordered the pots to be placed in the choir of the church thinking that they would make for better singing and would resound more loudly—I don’t know whether one sang better than one would have without having done this.” Note, however, that the vessels were placed in the choir, which is not the right idea; a relatively weak, passive system such as this would have to be in the audience to do any good. — Eric J. Heller, Why You Hear What You Hear- An…, 1256

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes how misapplication of acoustic principles recurs; parallels the reader’s prior interest in failed sonic constructions.