Public Research Seminar: Sonic Heritage at Seaton Delaval Hall

Reconstructing Eighteenth-Century Sonic Heritage at Seaton Delaval Hall

Joanna Bullivant, Aglaia Foteinou (Royal Birmingham Conservatoire), Carlo Harvey (Manchester Metropolitan University)

Seaton Delaval Hall is a lost archetype of 18th century life. Designed by Sir John Vanbrugh, architect of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard, it was built for the Delaval family, who became both celebrated and notorious for a series of military distinctions, brilliant theatrical feats, and moral scandals. Yet by 1822, the Delaval family were gone from the Hall and it was largely destroyed by fire, today a shell of its 18th century glory. This seminar presents the initial work of RBC’s Sonic Heritage and Environmental Change project in reconstructing the sounds of this fascinating and overlooked site, combining musicology, acoustic reconstruction, 3D scanning and VR modelling. In addition to discussing some of the technical processes and findings, the seminar considers what the case study of Seaton Delaval can reveal about 18th century modes of performance crossing science, warfare, music and theatre.

Joanna Bullivant is Associate Professor of Music History at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and UKRI Future Leaders Fellow leading the Sonic Heritage and Environmental Change on England’s East Coast project.

Carlo Harvey is Professor of Digital Arts at Manchester Metropolitan University, with a record of interdisciplinary work that blends games, computer graphics, machine learning, acoustics, virtual production and immersive media.

Aglaia Foteinou is Research Assistant on the Sonic Heritage project at RBC, and an acoustics expert whose most recent work includes historical reconstructions of the House of Commons and St Paul’s Cathedral.

Running time approx. 90 minutes