Concert Halls and Opera Houses : Music, Acoustics, and Architecture

This illustrated guide to 100 of the world's most important concert halls and opera houses examines their architecture and engineering and discusses their acoustical quality as judged by conductors and music critics. The descriptions and photographs will serve as a valuable guide for today's peripatetic performers and music lovers. With technical discussions relegated to appendices, the book can be read with pleasure by anyone interested in musical performance.

The photographs (specially commissioned for this book) and architectural drawings (all to the same scale) together with modern acoustical data on each of the halls provide a rich and unmatched resource on the design of halls for presenting musical performances. Together with the technical appendices, the data and drawings will serve as an invaluable reference for architects and engineers involved in the design of spaces for the performance of music. Leo Beranek is an internationally recognized authority in acoustics who has consulted on the design of dozens of important auditoriums around the World.

He has received the highest honors of the Acoustical Society of America and of the Audio Engineering Society and has just been awarded the US National Medal of Science at the White House (Oct. 2003). Advance praise for Leo Beranek's "Concert Halls and Opera Houses: Music, Acoustics, and Architecture" 2nd edition.

CONTENIDO:

Preface

- Music and Acoustics
Wath Are Good Acoustics?
Acoustics and Performers
Acoustics and Musical Periods
Acoustics and Listeners

- The Language of Musical Acoustics
Definitions and Explanations of Selected Terms

- One Hundred Concert Halls and Opera Houses

- Acoustics of Concert Halls
Rank-Ordering of Acoustical Quality of 58 Concert Halls
Reverberation Time: Musicians' Preferences
Architectural Basics
Physical Measures of Acoustical Quality
Further Architectural Considerations
Architectural Design of Chamber Music Halls
Concluding Remarks

- Acoustics of Opera Houses
Questionnaire Rank-Orderings of Accoustical
Objective Measurements of the Acoustical
Orchestra Pits
Boxes and Balconies
Echo and Distortion
Concluding Remarks

Appendix 1: Terminology, Definitions, and Conversion Factor
Appendix 2: Acoustical Data for Concert Hal and Opera Houses
Appendix 3: Equations, Technical Data, and Sound Absortions
Bibliography
Name Index
Subject Index