scholarly journals The sound diffusion in Italian Opera Houses: Some examples

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 333-355
Author(s):  
Lamberto Tronchin ◽  
Francesca Merli ◽  
Massimiliano Manfren ◽  
Benedetto Nastasi
Keyword(s):  
Room Acoustics ◽  
Fundamental Aspect ◽  
Sound Perception ◽  
Italian Opera ◽  
Spatial Sound ◽  
Acoustic Quality ◽  
Architectural Constraints ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Opera Houses ◽  
Lateral Walls

Soundfield diffuseness in rooms is considered a fundamental aspect of a high-quality room acoustics. Since early studies by Hodgson up to more recent studies of Shtrepi and Embrechts, it was shown that high levels of sound diffuseness could guarantee blending of music, as well as spatial sound perception by listeners, and this could enhance the global indoor acoustic quality. Conversely, Italian-style Opera houses represent an important architectural place, in which the special features of the rich decorations, and the specific characteristics of the volume, give a unique atmosphere, including a peculiar psycho-acoustics impression. However, some geometric properties of the opera houses could influence the global acoustic perception. The shape of the marmorino wall on the stalls, as well as the parallelism of the lateral walls in the boxes, often causes a lack of spaciousness and sometimes in the worst cases provokes focalization. This phenomenon leads to design special devices that could be inserted in the theatres, to avoid focalization, even if they are rarely accepted. This article deals with the design of some acoustic diffusing panels and their functioning in three different theatres, combining both acoustics needs with architectural constraints. The article starts analysing and commenting on the issues that resulted from the measurements conducted in an Italian opera house. In the following step, three examples of the design of diffusing panels are proposed. Finally, the results of diffusion and scattering coefficient of panels realized in the last theatre considered here are reported.

Operatic Canons and Repertories in Italy c. 1900

2020 ◽  
pp. 225-241
Author(s):  
Jutta Toelle
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Italian Opera ◽  
Music Publishers ◽  
Opera Houses

This chapter outlines how a fundamental crisis arose in Italian opera houses by 1900, shaped by the focus on canonic repertory as it was defined by the leading theaters and music publishers. Planning of repertory became focused on specific kinds of operas—in effect a canonic typology—from which a work was chosen as appropriate to a specific season or social context. Eventually, this repertory came to be perceived as finite, establishing certain canonic types as standard choices for the organization of a theater’s repertory or a publisher’s list. The leading such framework took shape most significantly in Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, devised by publishers and glorified by key artists, most significantly the conductor Arturo Toscanini. This chapter is paired with Carlotta Sorba’s “Theaters, markets, and canonic implications in the Italian opera system, 1820–1880.”

scholarly journals Relationships between Subjective and Objective Acoustical Measures in Churches

1997 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
António P.O. Carvalho ◽  
António E.J. Morgado ◽  
Luís Henrique
Keyword(s):  
Correlation Coefficients ◽  
Field Measurements ◽  
Room Acoustics ◽  
Significant Relationships ◽  
Architectural Features ◽  
Live Music ◽  
Acoustic Quality ◽  
Catholic Churches ◽  
Made In

This study reports on subjective and objective acoustical field measurements made in a survey of 36 Catholic churches in Portugal built in the last 14 centuries. Monaural acoustical measurements (RT, EDT. C80, D50, TS and L) were taken at several source/receiver locations in each church and a group of college students was asked to judge the subjective quality of music. The listeners in each church evaluated live music performances at similar locations in each room. Evaluation sheets were used to record the listeners' overall impressions of room acoustic quality and also Loudness, Reverberance. Intimacy. Envelopment. Directionality, Balance, Clarity, Echoes and Background Noise. This paper concentrates on the relationships of the subjective parameters with the objective room acoustics measures and with the architectural features of the churches. Correlation analyses and statistical modeling identified significant relationships among the measures. For instance, linear correlation coefficients (| R|) of 0.8–0.9 were found for the relationships: Reverberance/RT and Clarity/C80; the maximum | R| found was 0.93 for Echoes/RT. Regarding architectural features the maximum | R | found was 0.87 between Intimacy and Total Volume.

Dancers at London's Italian Opera Houses as Recorded in the Libretti

2015 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-211
Author(s):  
Michael Burden
Keyword(s):  
English Translation ◽  
Italian Opera ◽  
History Of ◽  
Opera Houses

For the audience, the purchase of a libretto when attending the King's Theatre, London's elite house for foreign opera and dance, was a commonplace. It offered the text of the opera, and a parallel English translation; it could also contain an argument for the opera, and other material relevant to the performance. A dramatis personae was nearly always included, together with a cast list, and after the mid-century, the libretti often contained the names of the dancers and choreographers. This article sets out to document the mentions of these names, and to chart their inclusion in the context of the history of the libretto. It identifies the first inclusion of a choreographer's name (in Antigono, in May 1746), the first dancers (in Ipermestra, in November 1754), and the first leader of the dancers (in the libretti for the 1790–1791 season), and identifies the inexplicable tailing off, and then total omission, of dancer personnel from the London Italian opera libretti.

CIOP-PIB test stand for studies on spatial sound perception using ambisonics

2018 ◽  
Vol 565 (10) ◽  
pp. 24-27
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Szczepański ◽  
Leszek Morzyński ◽  
Dariusz Pleban ◽  
Rafał Młyński
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Aids ◽  
Spatial Orientation ◽  
Test Stand ◽  
Working Environment ◽  
Acoustic Properties ◽  
Directional Hearing ◽  
Sound Perception ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
Spatial Sound ◽  
The Impact

Acoustic signals can be a source of information affecting workers’ safety in the working environment. Sound perception, directional hearing and spatial orientation of people in the working environment depend on a number of factors, such as acoustic properties of the work room, noise and its parameters, the use of hearing protection, hearing loss or the use of hearing aids. Learning about the impact of these factors on perception, directional hearing and orientation requires using spatial sound and is essential for creating safe working conditions. This article presents basic information about ambisonics, a technique of spatial sound processing, and a test stand developed at the Central Institute for Labor Protection – National Research Institute for research on sound perception, directional hearing and spatial orientation of people using ambisonics.

scholarly journals Towards Italian Opera Houses: A Review of Acoustic Design in Pre-Sabine Scholars

Acoustics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 252-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dario D’Orazio ◽  
Sofia Nannini
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Structural Features ◽  
Theatre Design ◽  
Italian Opera ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
The Social ◽  
Strongly Connected ◽  
Opera House ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Opera Houses

The foundation of architectural acoustics as an independent science is generally referred to Sabine’s early studies and their application. Nevertheless, since the 16th Century, a great number of authors wrote essays and treatises on the design of acoustic spaces, with a growing attention to the newborn typology of the Opera house, whose evolution is strongly connected to the cultural background of the Italian peninsula. With roots in the Renaissance rediscovery of Vitruvius’s treatise and his acoustic theory, 16th- to 19th-Century Italian authors tackled several issues concerning the construction of theatres—among them, architectural and structural features, the choice of the materials, the social meanings of performances. Thanks to this literature, the consolidation of this body of knowledge led to a standardisation of the forms of the Italian Opera house throughout the 19th Century. Therefore, the scope of this review paper is to focus on the treatises, essays and publications regarding theatre design, written by pre-Sabinian Italian scholars. The analysis of such literature aims at highlighting the consistencies in some 19th-Century minor Italian Opera houses, in order to understand to what extent this scientific and experimental background was part of the building tradition during the golden age of the Italian Opera.

scholarly journals ARCHIPELAGO MUSICAL ELEMENTS IN ANANDA SUKARLAN'S WORK AS PART OF BUILDING INDONESIAN IDENTITY

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (26) ◽  
pp. 58-74
Author(s):  
Kartini Ruth Maduma Manalu ◽  
Hendrik Leonard Simanjuntak ◽  
Lono Lastoro Simatupang ◽  
Nyak Ina Raseuki ◽  
Viktor Ganap
Keyword(s):  
Fundamental Aspect ◽  
Compositional Techniques ◽  
History Of ◽  
Vocal Works ◽  
The Rich ◽  
High Level ◽  
Musical Elements ◽  
Rich History

This study aims to examine the contribution of Ananda Sukarlan as a composer who is serious about building an Indonesian identity through the use of various Indonesian musical elements as material in composing piano and vocal works. How composers arrange various musical aspects that can work in a composition is the focus of this research. The study of musicology is used as an approach to dissect various aspects of the musical used, such as; melody, harmony, texture, tonality, scale, rhythm, timbre. Archipelago musical elements are a fundamental aspect in composing works that have 'new values' and 'different tastes' because they have uniqueness or characteristics. The complexity of the compositional techniques used in the preparation of the work shows a high level of creativity in producing vistuosic works. His works have become a repertoire for recitals, competitions, and music concerts for Indonesian and foreign pianists and soloist singers. Studying the works of Ananda Sukarlan indirectly also understands the musical diversity, the beauty of the region and the rich history of Indonesian culture.

scholarly journals Sound energy distribution in Italian opera houses

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Massimo Garai ◽  
Simona De Cesaris ◽  
Federica Morandi ◽  
Dario D’Orazio
Keyword(s):  
Energy Distribution ◽  
Sound Energy ◽  
Italian Opera ◽  
Opera Houses

scholarly journals From Tangible to Intangible Heritage inside Italian Historical Opera Houses

Heritage ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 826-835 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Prodi
Keyword(s):  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Sound Field ◽  
The Public ◽  
Italian Opera ◽  
Musical Tradition ◽  
Intangible Heritage ◽  
Listening Experience ◽  
Opera Houses ◽  
Limited Change ◽  
Remarkable Manner

Historical opera houses in Italy have been the place for the development of a relevant part of the National musical tradition and their design is paired with a peculiar acoustical fingerprint. Due to its relevance this can be regarded as an intangible heritage embedded in the tangible heritage constituted by the theatre building itself. In particular the presence of fairly deep lateral enclosures opened to the main hall volume, called the “boxes,” is of paramount importance for the implications it had on the listening experience perceived by the public. For instance, the positions in the box recess had a much less favourable sound field compared to the frontal ones located at the box opening towards the hall. In this work the need for the box design is briefly recalled from an historical perspective and then the sound field in the boxes is described as the combination of several sound reflections from specific interior surfaces. It is seen how the related listening experience can vary in a remarkable manner while moving from boxes at different tiers. This characteristic greatly differentiates historical opera houses from modern ones, where one of the most valuable attribute is a limited change in acoustics over large audiences. The acoustical environment of historical halls and inside boxes in particular was important in building up the ear of the Italian opera goers, thus a close consideration of the peculiarities of the intangible heritage is necessary in case of restorations and cannot be overlooked.

scholarly journals On the Use of Perforated Sound Absorption Systems for Variable Acoustics Room Design

Buildings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 543
Author(s):  
Andreia Pereira ◽  
Anna Gaspar ◽  
Luís Godinho ◽  
Paulo Amado Mendes ◽  
Diogo Mateus ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sound Absorption ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Room Acoustics ◽  
Acoustic Behavior ◽  
Sound Perception ◽  
Surface Appearance ◽  
Acceptable Solution ◽  
Acoustic Performance ◽  
Performance Requirements ◽  
Important Challenge

An important challenge for acoustic engineers in room acoustics design is related to the acoustic performance of multi-purpose auditoriums, which are typically designed to suit several performance requirements. With this intent, the analysis of several scenarios is usually performed individually, and then an acceptable solution, that may be adapted to several situations, is selected. One way of providing a more appropriate acoustic performance for each function of the auditorium is using variable sound absorption techniques to control reverberation and other relevant acoustic phenomena associated to sound perception. In this paper, the acoustic behavior of a perforated system that may be suitable for achieving a variable acoustic solution for room acoustic design is addressed. In the design of a cost-effective solution, the surface appearance is kept unchanged, while variable acoustic behavior is achieved either by closing the holes in the back face of the perforated panel or by placing a porous material in varying positions inside the backing cavity, thus accomplishing different acoustic requirements within a multipurpose auditorium. An analytical approach, based on the transfer matrix method is employed for preliminary acoustic sound absorption assessment provided by the system and to develop optimized solutions. Diffuse sound absorption is then computed and used to simulate, by the ray-tracing method, the acoustic behavior of a multipurpose auditorium to demonstrate efficient acoustic performance for different types of use.

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