360 On the Construction of Buildings 
- But we need not go so far away for evidence and illustration 
in proof of our position. Who among those present at the late 
opening festival of the Boston Music Hall could fail to notice the 
peculiar mellow effect of Handel’s “ Hallelujah,” and “The 
Heavens are telling,” though rendered by a force of fifty instru- 
ments and five hundred voices? 
These effects, in the instances above mentioned, may be, in 
part, attributed to the associations of time and place, but in great- 
er part, we contend, are they owing to the architectural qualities 
of the building. And the explanation is to be found, doubtless, 
in the fact before alluded to, that distance aids in fusing together 
and harmonizing musical sounds. Let any one, who is skeptical 
of this truth, but listen to a band of indifferent performers in the 
open air, on a summer’s evening, first in close proximity to the 
players, and then at a distance, and he cannot fail to be con- 
vinced. It is the test of a good organ to throw out its sounds 
with fulness and opulence, into the body of a church, though on 
a near approach its tones may be meagre and thin. ‘Thus sound 
requires room for its perfect development ;—and as a rare paint- 
ing, which on near inspection appears crude and unfinished, will 
ripen into harmony and just proportions when allowed its requl- 
‘site distance, so, in the case of a musical performance, an ample 
space has, in itself, a mellowing influence upon the harshness that 
always exists in greater or less degree, seeming as it were to pu 
rify the sound in some measure of its inharmonious elements and 
suffer it to fall with richer effect upon the ear. 
Thus far, in this connection, we have spoken only of orches- 
tral and choral harmony ; but it is a mistake to suppose that cho- 
ral or orchestral floods of sound are required to fill such ample 
space, while the tones of a single voice therein would be em- 
ost. ‘There is a lustre likewise imparted to the inton@- 
tion of a single voice or instrument, in similar circumstances, 
when rightly managed, such as no narrow limits can give. '"° 
speak here of an apartment constructed in accordance with i" 
principles previously given, in which the sound is not unduly 
absorbed, overpowered, wasted or confused. 
reac the 
tion of about two-ninths farther in a direct line than laterally ; 
and that being distinetly audible on each side of the speaker at® 
