Article
Approaching Soundscapes of Baroque Theaters (en)
* Presenting author
Abstract:
In the Italian opera houses of the 17th and 18th centuries it was by no means normal for audiences to listen in silence; rather, it was common for the visitors to move around the theater, talk to each other, while vendors loudly advertised their refreshments. By describing the room acoustics of three different baroque theaters and illustrating their hypothetical soundscapes, this contribution aims to open discussions on historical design goals for theater acoustics. Room acoustical measurements have been carried out during a joint excursion with students of the Musicology Seminar Detmold/Paderborn and of the Tonmeister Institute (ETI) at the University of Paderborn and Detmold University of Music. In the towns of Bayreuth and Gotha, we had the opportunity to measure in an open-air theater (Ruinentheater), in a large opera house (Markgräfliches Opernhaus), and in a medium-sized baroque theater (Ekhof-Theater). The poster presents descriptions and comparisons of the venues in terms of room acoustic parameters (reverberation time, definition, center time, speech intelligibility index, and clarity). Preliminary auralizations based on the measured impulse responses gathered during our excursion help to imagine the former days’ soundscapes in baroque theaters. The auralization app can be tested at the poster.