Invisible Music: Hearing and Listening in the Early Modern World

At Rosenborg Castle in Copenhagen, Christian IV used two of his favourite
artforms, music and architecture, to create his invisible music, a sonic
technology that left his visitors astonished. This surprising listening
experience gives historians and sensory and performance studies scholars the
perfect tool to study early modern hearing and listening practices. The
dissociation of sound from its source was experienced as a marvellous sound
technology. The diffusion of music through sonic vents in the castle created a
spatialization of music that required the perambulation of the listeners,
creating a full bodily experience. The staging and performativity of this
extraordinary listening experience also brings new insights into court and
privacy studies.