The Soundscape of Modernity: Architectural Acoustics and the Culture of Listening in America, 1900-1933

511 Pages·2002·32.73 MB·English

by  Emily Thompson

T HE S O U N D S C A PE OF M O D E R N I TY
ARCHITECTURAL ACOUSTICS AND THE CULTURE OF LISTENING IN AMERICA,
1900-1933
EMILY THOMPSON
The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England
© 2002 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or
mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) with-
out permission in writing from the publisher.
This book was set in Bembo by The MIT Press.
Printed and bound in the United States of America.
V-Room is a trademark of the Wenger Corporation, Owatonna, Minnesota.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Thompson, Emily Ann.
The soundscape of modernity : architectural acoustics and the culture of listening in America,
1900-1933 / Emily Thompson.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-262-20138-0 (hc. : alk. paper)
1. Architectural acoustics. 2. Music—Acoustics and physics. I. Title.
NA2800 T48 2002
690'.2—dc21 2001044533
TO FAMILY AND FRIENDS,
TEACHERS AND STUDENTS.
The production of this book has been generously supported by the
Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts.
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION: SOUND, MODERNITY, AND HISTORY 1
CHAPTER 2: THE ORIGINS OF MODERN ACOUSTICS 13
I INTRODUCTION: OPENING NIGHT AT SYMPHONY HALL 13
II ACOUSTICS AND ARCHITECTURE IN THE EIGHTEENTH
AND NINETEENTH CENTURIES 18
III WALLACE SABINE AND THE REVERBERATION FORMULA 33
IV MUSIC AND THE CULTURE OF LISTENING IN TURN-OF-
THE-CENTURY AMERICA 45
V CONCLUSION: THE CRITICS SPEAK 51
CHAPTER 3: THE NEW ACOUSTICS, 1900-1933 59
I INTRODUCTION 59
II SABINE AFTER SYMPHONY HALL 62
III THE REVERBERATIONS OF "REVERBERATION" 81
IV NEW TOOLS: THE ORIGINS OF MODERN ACOUSTICS 90
V THE NEW ACOUSTICIAN 99
VI CONCLUSION: SABINE RESOUNDED 107
CHAPTER 4: NOISE AND MODERN CULTURE, 1900-1933 115
I INTRODUCTION 115
II NOISE ABATEMENT AS ACOUSTICAL REFORM 120
III NOISE AND MODERN Music 130
IV ENGINEERING NOISE ABATEMENT 144
V CONCLUSION: THE FAILURE OF NOISE ABATEMENT 157
CHAPTER 5: ACOUSTICAL MATERIALS AND MODERN
ARCHITECTURE, 1900-1933 169
I INTRODUCTION 169
II ACOUSTICAL MATERIALS AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY 173
III ACOUSTICAL MATERIALS AND ACOUSTICAL MODERNITY:
ST. THOMAS'S CHURCH 180
IV ACOUSTICAL MATERIALS AND MODERN ACOUSTICS:
THE NEW YORK LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY BUILDING 190
V MODERN ARCHITECTURE AND MODERN ACOUSTICS:
THE PHILADELPHIA SAVING FUND SOCIETY BUILDING 207
VI CONCLUSION 227
CHAPTER 6: ELECTROACOUSTICS AND MODERN SOUND,
1900-1933 229
I INTRODUCTION: OPENING NIGHT AT RADIO CITY 229
II LISTENING TO LOUDSPEAKERS: THE ELECTROACOUSTIC
SOUNDSCAPE 235
III THE MODERN AUDITORIUM 248
IV ARCHITECTURAL ELECTROACOUSTICS: THEATER AND
STUDIO DESIGN 256
V ELECTROACOUSTIC ARCHITECTURE: SOUND ENGINEERS AND
THE ELECTRICAL CONSTRUCTION OF SPACE 272
VI CONCLUSION: REFORMULATING REVERBERATION 285
CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION: ROCKEFELLER CENTER AND THE
END OF AN ERA 295
CODA 317
NOTES 325
BIBLIOGRAPHY 425
INDEX 471
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This project could never have been accomplished without the financial, institu-
tional, and personal support that I have received over the years. The National
Science Foundation provided a Graduate Fellowship that first allowed me to
begin this intellectual journey as a graduate student in history of science at
Princeton University over fifteen years ago. More recently, the NSF provided a
Research Fellowship in Science and Technology Studies that enabled me to
draw that same journey to a close by supporting my work on the development
of sound motion pictures. Along the way, the Mellon Foundation sponsored a
year of postdoctoral study at Harvard University and the National Endowment
for the Humanities provided a summer stipend that enabled me to experience,
as well as to study, the noises of New York. A fellowship from the Department of
History at Princeton University subsidized a semester's leave from teaching
when I needed it most, and the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in
the Fine Arts underwrote my procurement of the visual illustrations that, per-
haps ironically, add so much to a book about sound.
The Sirens of the history of sound have beckoned from far and wide, leading
me places I never would have anticipated visiting when I began this project. In
each case, I was guided safely through the uncharted waters by librarians,
archivists, and historians who helped me to follow the elusive strains of that
always compelling song. Special thanks to Janet Parks at the Avery Architectural
and Fine Arts Library of Columbia University; Sheldon Hochheiser at the
AT&T Archives; Emily Novak and Karen Finkston at the New York Life
Insurance Company; James Reed at the Rockefeller Center Archive Center;
Charles Silver at the Celeste Bartos Film Study Center of the Museum of
Modern Art; Carol Merrill-Mirsky at the Edmund D. Edelman Museum of the
Hollywood Bowl; Steven Lacoste at the Los Angeles Philharmonic Archives;
Jane Ward and Bridget Carr at the Boston Symphony Orchestra Archives;
Nicholson Baker at the American Newspaper Repository; Alex Magoun at the
David Sarnoff Library; John Kopec and David Moyer at the Riverbank
Acoustical Laboratories; and Kathleen Dorman at the Joseph Henry Papers of
the Smithsonian Institution.
Thanks also to the staff at the Harvard University Archives and the Baker
Library of the Harvard Business School; the Marquand Library at Princeton
University; the Museum of the City of New York; The New York Municipal
Reference Library and Archives; the New-York Historical Society; the Hagley
Museum and Library; the Office of the Architect of the Capitol; the Neils Bohr
Library of the American Institute of Physics; the American Philosophical
Society; the Thomas A. Edison National Historic Site; the UCLA Film and
Television Archive; the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Archives; the
Case Western Reserve University Special Collections; the Society of Motion
Picture and Television Engineers; the Institute of Electrical and Electronic
Engineers; and the Acoustical Society of America.
Because my study is centered around the material culture of sound and lis-
tening, it is particularly gratifying to thank those who contributed to the mate-
rial construction of the physical artifact that you now hold in your hands. For
their efforts in photography, indexing, and proofreading, I thank John
Blazejewski, Dwight Primiano, Carol Thompson, Martin White, and Laraine
Lach. Amanda Sobel and Jason Rifkin also provided helpful research assistance.
The MIT Press makes publishing a pleasure and I particularly thank Larry
Cohen, Michael Sims, and Yasuyo Iguchi for their invaluable contributions to
the final product.
It is also a pleasure, as well as a privilege, to express my gratitude to those
acousticians who shared with me their technical expertise and personal memo-
ries. Sincere thanks to Dr. Leo Beranek, Professor Cyril Harris, Russell Johnson,
David W. Robb, Robert M. Lilkendey, Raymond Pepi, Gerald Marshall, and
Thomas Horrall. Special thanks to Carl Rosenberg, who has been a good friend
as well as a valuable technical consultant.
My colleagues in the Department of History and Sociology of Science at the
University of Pennsylvania—students, staff, and faculty alike—have always
encouraged me to do my best, and the book that follows is better for having
been written in such a collegial and stimulating environment. I also thank my
fellow-travelers in aural history and in the history of technology, Leigh Schmidt,
Douglas Kahn, Bill Leslie, and Susan Douglas, for helping me to hear the signal
of my story amid the noise of history, and for the friendship they have offered
along with their support.
viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
From my very first days as a graduate student, Charles Gillispie has educated
and encouraged me in ways that I can never begin to repay. Peter Galison has
generously presented me with valuable opportunities to push my work in new
directions and he has always provided invaluable guidance along the way. Charles
Rosenberg has a wonderful ability to identify what is most important about a
story; my own story has benefitted enormously from his scrutiny and counsel,
and I appreciate even more his conviction that it matters.
Finally, without the friendship of John Carson, Angela Creager, and Carolyn
Goldstein, as well as the love of my family, it would all be nothing but noise.
ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS