Abstract
The Eszterháza Opera House was a theatre built by the will of the Hungarian Prince Nikolaus Esterházy in the second half of the 18th century that had to compete in greatness and grandeur against Austrian Empire. The composer that inextricably linked his name to this theatre was Haydn that served the prince and composed pieces for him for many years. The Opera House disappeared from the palace complex maps around 1865 and was destroyed permanently during the Second World War. This study aims to reconstruct the original shape and materials of the theatre, thanks to the documents founded by researchers in the library of the Esterházy family at Forchtenstein, the Hungarian National Library, and analyze its acoustic behavior. With the 3D model of the theatre, acoustic simulations were performed using the architectural acoustic software Ramsete to understand its acoustical characteristics and if the architecture of the Eszterháza Opera House could favor the Prince’s listening. The obtained results show that the union between the large volume of the theatre and the reflective materials makes the Opera House a reverberant space. The acoustic parameters are considered acoustically favorable both for the music and for the speech transmission too. Moreover, the results confirm that the geometry and the shape of the Eszterháza Opera House favored the Prince’s view and listening, amplifying onstage voices and focusing the sound into his box.
Highlights
The research on the acoustic characteristic of historical buildings is becoming more and more frequently a theme on which researchers focus their attention, because acoustic is more often considered a cultural heritage and an important feature of several ancient important buildings such as Opera House [1,2,3,4,5].To analyze the sound field of Opera House, in situ measurements are performed, placing a lot of receivers in the hall and some sound sources on stage and orchestra pit [6,7] and recording monaural and binaural impulse responses (RIRs)
This study aims to reconstruct the original shape and materials of the theatre, thanks to the documents founded by researchers in the library of the Esterházy family at Forchtenstein, the Hungarian National Library, and analyze its acoustic behavior
Measured impulse responses are used for the calculation of the room acoustic parameters
Summary
The research on the acoustic characteristic of historical buildings is becoming more and more frequently a theme on which researchers focus their attention, because acoustic is more often considered a cultural heritage and an important feature of several ancient important buildings such as Opera House [1,2,3,4,5]. Measured impulse responses are used for the calculation of the room acoustic parameters. The creation of a virtual acoustic model of a theatre allows to generate a signal and process the impulse response, from which it is possible to analyze the acoustic features and acoustic parameters of the reconstructed historical building. The 3D model of the historical Eszterháza Opera House was realized to rediscover the acoustics of this theatre and to analyze the position occupied by Prince Nikolaus I Esterházy during performances. The 3D model of the historical Eszterháza Opera House was realized to rediscover the acoustics. Sci. 2020, 10, 8817 of this theatre and to analyze the position occupied by Prince Nikolaus I Esterházy during performances.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
