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THE ACOUSTICS OF THE BAYREUTH

FESTSPIELHAUS

Conference Paper · July 2015

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THE ACOUSTICS OF THE BAYREUTH FESTSPIELHAUS
Massimo Garai
DIN, University of Bologna, viale Risorgimento 2, 40136 Bologna, Italy
Ken Ito
University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
Dario D’Orazio, Simona De Cesaris, Federica Morandi
DIN, University of Bologna, viale Risorgimento 2, 40136 Bologna, Italy
email: massimo.garai@unibo.it

The role of the Bayreuth Festspielhaus in the development of the modern opera house is well
known. In spite of the prestige of the Festspielhaus, the values of its room acoustics criteria have
been analyzed and reported in few works. A measurement campaign has been recently made
in the theatre, placing directional and omnidirectional sources on the stage and in the orchestra
pit. Monaural and binaural impulse responses have been recorded on a dense mesh of receivers.
Normal factors have been extracted and subjective scale values have been estimated taking into
account the peculiarity of the Wagnerian opera.

1. Introduction
The Festspielhaus in Bayreuth is an example of a performance hall designed and built following
specific requirements in acoustics, lighting and social aspects. The theatre was designed by Richard
Wagner and Otto Brükwald coupling the stage (measuring about 30 m x 30 m x 40 m) with a graded
amphitheatre inserted in a rectangular box with lateral walls, columns and decorated ceiling. The
design mixed the Italian theatre form (the acoustic separation between stage and audience, the scenic
arch as a source of early reflections) and the European symphonic hall (the acoustic field and the ge-
ometric proportions of a shoe-box hall, the sound-scattering columns, the decorated ceiling). Further,
the Wagner drama needed the invention of a specific space for the orchestra, acoustically coupled but
separated for acoustic and visual reasons from the audience [1]: the “mystic gulf”.
It is worth analysing the acoustics of Festspielhaus from several points of view: listener’s percep-
tion of both vocal source on the stage and orchestral source in the mystic gulf; singer’s perception of
him/herself on the stage and of the orchestra in the pit; musician’s perception in the relatively small
volume of the pit coupled to the bigger volume of the audience. Due to this complexity, one of the the
aims of the present investigation was to enrich the findings of the previous researches [2, 3, 4] using
the latest approaches.
The listeners’ placement in the graded amphitheatre provides a different acoustic experience of
operas compared to the one in a typical Italian opera house. In an Italian theatre there are well
separated places (boxes, stalls, and gallery), in the past corresponding to different social classes,

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(a) Laptop and converters (b) Equipment on stage (c) Sound source in the orchestra pit

Figure 1: Pictures of the measuring equipment, September 2014

Figure 2: Source and receivers positions used during the measurements at Bayreuth Festspielhaus

providing also different acoustic and visual conditions. Instead, in the Bayreuth Festspielhaus almost
all the listeners stay in the audience with similar acoustic and visual conditions. This “democratization
of acoustics” (using the terms of [3]) requires the measurements be done using a carefully selected
set of source-receiver combinations.

2. Measurements
2.1 Equipment
Impulse responses have been measured 1 using three sound sources, placed on the stage an in the
orchestra pit: a subwoofer plus a dodecahedron with custom loudspeakers as omnidirectional source
and a two-way loudspeaker (Extreme PM500) as a directional one. They are powered with about 1
kW and are capable of pressure levels comparable to those of an orchestra plus a singer.
With reference to Fig. 2, the omnidirectional sound source has been placed in SS1, SS2 on
the stage, representing respectively the singer in the proscenium and in the center of the stage, and
in SS5, SS8 in the orchestra pit, representing respectively the violas in the uncovered area of the
orchestra pit and the percussions in the covered area.
Monaural and binaural microphones have been placed on a dense mesh of positions, shown in Fig.

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2. Exploiting the symmetry of the hall, only half of the audience was measured.
Impulse responses have been acquired using an exponential sine sweep (ESS) signal (256K at 48
kHz). Post processing has been done by using both the ITA-Toolbox for MATLAB [5] and a custom
software [6], [7]. Temporal (see section 2.2) and spatial (see section 2.3) room acoustics criteria have
been extracted from the impulse responses.

2.2 Temporal criteria

Reverberation time values are homogeneous in the audience: the standard deviations for different
source positions and octave bands are comparable to the JND [8] and thus only the mean values are
shown in Table 1.
The values measured during this investigation are comparable to the ones reported in the previous
literature [2, 3] (see Table 2).

Table 1: Mean values of reverberation time measured in the Bayreuth Festspielhaus

Source 125 250 500 1000 2000 4000 (Hz) Condition

SS1 2.4 2.7 2.6 2.4 2.2 1.9 (s) unoccupied
SS2 2.5 2.7 2.6 2.4 2.3 2.0 (s) unoccupied
SS5 2.3 2.6 2.5 2.4 2.2 1.9 (s) unoccupied
SS8 2.2 2.6 2.5 2.4 2.2 1.9 (s) unoccupied

Table 2: Reverberation time reported in the previous literature [2, 3]

125 250 500 1000 2000 4000 (Hz) Condition Author, Year
2.4 2.8 2.7 2.5 2.4 2.0 (s) unoccupied Müller, 2007 [3]
2.1 1.9 1.8 1.8 1.6 1.3 (s) occupied Müller, 2007 [3]
1.8 1.7 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.3 (s) occupied Beranek, 1962 [2]

A detailed examination of all measurements shows that the reverberation time at listener’s seats
doesn’t depend on the sound source position. The decay curve between -5 and -35 dB is smooth and
seems not affected by multiple slopes or other effects related to the coupling between the volumes
of stage, orchestra pit and audience. Thus placing the sound source on the stage or in the orchestra
pit has almost the same effect on the listener, due to the relevance of the late reverberation in the
audience.

(a) source on the stage, SS2 (b) source in the orchestra pit, SS8

Figure 3: Normalized impulse responses measured at row 16 seat 23 with the sound source on the
stage (a) and in the orchestra pit (b)

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(a) sound source in SS1 (b) sound source in SS2

(c) sound source in SS5 (d) sound source in SS8

Figure 4: Spatial distribution of measured values of centre time @ 1 kHz, in seconds

The visual analysis of the impulse response (see Fig. 3) may suggest some considerations. It is
difficult to clearly identify the Initial Time Delay Gap (ITDG), because the direct sound is not always
the strongest peak of the impulse response and the first reflection is not relevant. In some cases (e.g.
sound source in SS8) the direct sound is absent at listener seats.
The energy decay of the first reflections may be analysed using the centre time ts ; its spatial
distribution is shown in Fig. 4). When the singer is on the proscenium (SS1), the spatial distribution
of ts is quite uniform with an average value of about 120 ms (see Fig. 4(a)). When the singer is in the
center of the stage (SS2) the centre time increases with a non-uniform spatial distribution (see Fig.
4(b)). When the sound source is in orchestra pit (SS5 and SS8), see Figs. 4(c), 4(d), the values of
centre time are spatially uniform and comparable, in a large part of the audience, to the ones measured
with the sound source in SS2. These results (measured in unoccupied conditions, according to [8])
help to better highlight the dramatic role of the singer on the proscenium compared to role of choir in
the background at centre stage: the closer the singer is to the proscenium, the stronger the energy of
the early reflections at listener seats. The choir on the stage and the orchestra in the pit, due to their
positions, cannot have the same amount of energy in the early part of the impulse response.

2.3 Spatial Criteria

The balance between singer and orchestra may be measured using the procedures proposed in
[14]: placing the omnidirectional sound source (omni) in the orchestra pit and the directional sound
source (dir) on the stage, the balance B values have been evaluated (see Fig. 5).
Analysing the strength G values [8] measured for each sound source at the center of the audience
(see Table 3) some remarkable differences from a typical Italian opera house can be found. On one

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(a) dir in SS1 & omni in SS5 (b) dir in SS1 & omni in SS8

Figure 5: Spatial distribution of balance values @ 1 kHz

hand, the G values measured with the sound source in the Bayreuth orchestra pit are lower than the
values measured with the sound source in the pit of a typical Italian opera house. On the other hand,
the G values measured with the sound source on the proscenium are higher but still lower than usual
values found in a typical Italian opera house. Consequently the balance values in Bayreuth are quite
higher than the values found in the literature for a “typical” opera house.

Table 3: Measured value of strength G at the centre of the audience (row 16, seat 23)

Sound source 250 500 1000 2000 (Hz)

omni SS1 2 6 6 4 (dB)
dir SS1 1 6 5 6 (dB)
omni SS2 1 4 2 1 (dB)
dir SS2 -2 3 4 4 (dB)
omni SS5 0 5 3 2 (dB)
omni SS8 -5 -2 -3 -4 (dB)

The high values of IACCE for the singer (directional sound source in SS1, SS2) confirm the
small Apparent Source Width (ASW) that is known to be perceived by the listeners. This result agrees
with the visual considerations made in [9] on the reduced curvature of the seat rows. Placing the centre
of curvature at centre stage (near SS2) and not in the proscenium (as in the original Semper’s project)
Wagner and Brükwald concentrated the visual field in the deep region of the stage. The acoustical
perceived width has the same focal point; the design of the audience, the ceiling and the absence of
side walls close to the audience concur to reach this goal. The low values of IACCL (both for the
singer and orchestra sounds ources) corresponds to a high listener envelopment or, in other words,
a high perception of the “diffuseness of the sound” according to the Wagner design [1]. All the
listeners in the audience (thanks to the high IACCL uniformity) are enveloped by the music (low
value of IACCL ) and their attention is on the stage (high value of IACCE for the sound source on
the stage, thanks also to the use of lights) whereas the orchestra is not into focus (low value of IACCE
for the sound source in the orchestra pit).
The average values of IACC calculated from measurements are reported in Table 4.

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(a) omni source in SS1 (b) omni source in SS2

Figure 6: Spatial distribution of measured values of IACCE,3 .

(a) omni source in SS5 (b) omni source in SS8

Figure 7: Maps of measured values of IACCL,3

3. On the subjective preference

Sato and Prodi [12] studied the subjective preference for the singer on the stage and the orchestra
in the pit playing simultanously and found several relationships. In the present work the procedure
of investigation may be inverted: some of Wagnerian operas have been expressly written for the
Bayreuth Festspielhaus and so the values of some acoustic criteria in this hall may be assumed as the
preferred ones for this kind of opera.
In [12] an optimal value for singer reverberation time of about 0.9 s is found, assuming a τe value
of 8 ms (soprano) and using the Modena Theatre (now Pavarotti Theatre) as a reference. It is plausible
that the Wagnerian voice solo pieces require a higher optimal reverberation time, around 1.5 s as in
the occupied Festspielhaus. This assumption may found an indirect confirmation by Kato et al. [15],
who proposed a τe value of 25 ms for a tenor voice.
In the same paper [12] a ts ' 50 ms is found as preferred for an Italian aria sung in an Italian
opera house. The ts value of 120 ms measured (in unoccupied condition) in the present campaign
may be assumed, for the Wagnerian opera, as a reference value.
Concerning the spatial impression, a scale value SV is found as follows in [12]:

2 2
(1) SVbalance ' −1.38 IACCsinger − 0.49 IACCorchestra

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Table 4: Comparison between the averaged values of IACC with different sound sources

Sound source IACCA IACCE,3 IACCL,3

SS1 omni 0.32 0.53 0.16
SS1 dir 0.45 0.65 0.16
SS2 omni 0.34 0.61 0.19
SS2 dir 0.48 0.69 0.18
SS3 dir 0.38 0.62 0.15
SS5 omni 0.12 0.28 0.15
SS8 omni 0.11 0.29 0.15

where the IACCsinger is measured using a directional sound source placed on the stage and the
IACCorchestra is measured using an omnidirectional sound source in the orchestra pit. The scale
value of Eq. 1 highlights that the preference for the spatial impression due to the singer is more
relevant than the spatial impression due to the orchestra: this may be justified considering that in
general τe,singer < τe,orchestra even if in the definition of “subjective preference” [13] the scale value
of IACC is not related to τe . May be that in the case of Festspielhaus, i.e. of Wagnerian opera,
the formulation of IACC used in [13, 12] could be extended. As shown in the previous section,
the early/late windowing of IACC returns values useful to quantify the Wagner’s intention about the
acoustic environment to deliver to listeners, in terms of apparent source width and in terms of listener
envelopment.

4. Conclusions
In the Bayreuth Festspielhaus the acoustical intent behind the Wagner’s drama is preserved as
nowhere else. This work presents the first results of an international measurement campaign, done
in September 2014. The measurement results have been discussed from the point of view of the
temporal design theory, connecting acoustical criteria, lighting design and drama requirements. It
is hoped that these measurements results for the Bayreuth Festspielhaus may become the starting
point for the extension of the subjective preference theory to the very peculiar environment of the
Wagnerian opera house.

5. Aknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Andreas von Graffenried and Friederike Peissler for their kind
support before and during the measurements; Roberto Magalotti of B&C Speakers for providing the
custom loudspeakers for the dodecahedron and Alessandra Tovo who contributed to the measure-
ments.

References
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Bayreuth in R. Wagner, Selected from his Writings and Translated, New York, H. Holt and Com-
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2. Beranek, L.L., Music, Acoustics, and Architecture, New York, John Wiley & Sons, (1962).
3. Müller, K., Die Demokratisierung der Akustik (The democratization of acoustics), in Kiesel M.,
Das Richard Wagner Festspielhaus Bayreuth, Düsseldorf, Nettpress, 174–197, (2007).

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