Johann Wetter. Untersuchungen über die wichtigsten Gegenstaende der Theaterbaukunst, die vortheilhaftesten Formen des Auditoriums, und die zweckmäßigste Anordnung der Bühne und des Prosceniums, in Optischer und Akustischer Hinsicht. …. Mit 6 Tafeln in Steindruck. Mainz: Joseph Stenz, 1829.

The project is dedicated to exploring the links between the history of European spoken word theatre and acoustics from 1750 to 1930. This period corresponds to the gradual establishment of acoustics as an academic discipline and its differentiation into different subdisciplines (the physiology of speaking and hearing, architectural acoustics, electroacoustics, sound engineering etc.). The project starts from the observation that spoken word theatre praxis simultaneously creates new educational aspirations, and thus seeks out new speaking techniques and ways of organizing space acoustically. Moreover, an upswing in experimentation with new sound media technologies can be observed in 19th-century theatre praxis. It shall be investigated whether theatre theory and practice also anticipate specific insights of acoustics, thus promoting the establishment of the discipline, and later implementing its findings. The interest is thus focused on the transfer of knowledge between theatre praxis and the acoustic disciplines. Thematically, the project is divided into three focus areas: 1) Speaking, Hearing and Auditory Memory, 2) Architectural Acoustics, 3) Sound Media and Sound Archives.