The Lay of the Last Minstrel
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1. The dimensions of the chapel, both choir section
and entire floor plan, appear to be tuned to
so-called Classical Tuning at A-422.25 at the room
temperature of 20C (68F). This is also the average
summer temperature in Scotland. This tuning was very
prominent through the classical and romantic periods,
used by Mozart, Handel as well as 1750 Berlin and
1810 Paris.
2. The choir region in the chapel is a giant
resonance chamber constructed to kill standing waves
in the vertical dimension and maximize resonance in
the horizontal length and width directions. The
horizontal resonance continues through the rest of
the lower chapel. The vertical standing waves are
suppressed by virtue of the choir height being at a
golden ratio to the chapel length and width.
3. If the temperature in the chapel is raised to
33.72C (92.7F), the correct tuning becomes 432 Hz to
resonate with the chapel dimension - however, another
benefit occurs. The waveforms geometrically fit with
the chapel dimensions.
3. As I've shown with the StarKey, there are
countless golden sections used to construct the
chapel. Some of these are shown on this illustration.
I think the overall strategy was to divide the chapel
vertically in golden means to prevent echos, but then
use dimensions compatible with a wavelength of
2.6666666 feet to maximize sound clarity and volume.
My overall impression is that the choir resonance
chamber, fed by the organ located midway up,
symbolized a kind of birth canal or womb. The music
would resonate the congregation as if gestating them
for a while, later giving birth as they exit the
front door. When the StarKey is superimposed, it
would appear as if the chapel were a woman giving
birth and the baptistry was the infant's head. That's
just my impression, though, and no way to prove this
was their intention.
**********
On further review, I remain convinced these numbers
are correct, but am now going to propose something
that may explain an old legend about Rosslyn.
At room temperature, Classical tuning at A-422.25 Hz
will resonate best with the chapel. But, if you want
the geometry of the chapel to reinforce or amplify
the music, you would need to heat up the air inside
to 33.72C and tune your instruments to A-432. In
reading The Lay of the Last Minstrel, I'm
wondering if this might explain why the night a Baron
of Rosslyn dies, the chapel would appear as if it's
on fire. That is, could the Sinclairs have lit fires
along the outside of the chapel, or more likely in
the large fireplace in the crypt, to heat it up the
inside as part of a sacred musical ceremony to help
the spirit reincarnate? Could this have been
the source of the smoke inside the chapel as
described in the tale and might it even create some
kind of atmospheric reaction in the chapel, such as
the lightning described? Read this and see what
you think.
The Lay of the Last Minstrel
Sir Walter Scott
"O'er Roslin all that dreary night,
A wondrous blaze was seen to gleam;
'Twas broader than the watch-fire's light,
And redder than the bright moon-beam.
It glared on Roslin's castled rock
It ruddied all the copse-wood glen;
'Twas seen from Dryden's groves of oak,
And seen from cavern'd Hawthornden.
Seem'd all on fire that chapel proud
Where Roslin's chiefs uncoffin'd lie,
Each Baron for a sable shroud,
Sheathed in his iron panoply.
Seem'd all on fire within, around,
Deep sacristy and altar's pale;
Shone every pillar ffoliage-bound,
And glimmer'd all the dead men's mail.
Blazed battlement and pinnet high,
Blazed every rose-carved buttress fair--
So still they blaze, when fate is night
The lordly line of high St. Clair.
There are twenty of Roslin's barons bold
Lie burried within that proud Chapelle;
Each one the holy vault doth hold--
But the sea holds lovely Rosabelle!
// Rosabell means "beautiful rose"...
is this the Venus pentacle orbit? //
And each St. Clair was buried there,
With candel, with book and with knell
But the sea-caves rung and the wild winds sung,
// First edition read: "But the Kelpie rung
(water horse) and the Mermaids sung. //
The dirge of lovely Rosabelle."
// Is
the dirge of Venus some kind of music tuned to 432 Hz
in a hot 33.72 C chapel? //
....
// Could the following occur when the right music is
played inside a heated resonant chamber? //
"Then sudden, through the darken'd air
A flash of lightning came;
So broad, so bright, so red the glare,
The castle seem'd on flame.
...
And fill'd the hall with smouldering smoke,,..."

