Advance praise for Beranek's

Concert Halls and Opera Houses:

Music, Acoustics, and Architecture
Given the many controversies surrounding the acoustical properties of concerl halls
and opera houses, it is a relief to be guided by someone who is both a scientist and
a devoted listener. Here, the mysteries of acoustics seem less intimidating: we come
to understand why music sounds the way it does in various performance spaces, and
what we can do about it. It's a terrific book!

- PHILIP GOSSETT
Pro/essor 0/ Music, University 0/ Chicago

[This book] provides an invaluable reference for the understanding and design of
music facilities.

- I.M. PEl
Architect, New York

Dr. Beranek has created a comprehensive and fascinating study of 100 of the world's
halls for music. Visiting each of these venues would be a great delight and a mar-
velous adventure, but such being impractical, this great book is the next best thing.
All lovers of music, acoustics, architecture, and travel will enjoy this unique work.

- JOHN WILLIAMS
Composer and Conductor, Los Angeles

The rigor, clarity and comprehensiveness of Concert Halls and Opera Houses, balanced
brilliantly by Leo Beranek's personal and subjective sense of acoustics and music,
provides a powerful resource for architects and music lovers alike. Beranek's passion
for music helps to make this the most significant music acoustics book of our times.

- WILLIAM L. RAWN III

FAIA, Architect, Boston

Art and science are combined in Leo Beranek's new book. Presented are carefully
collected plans, data and pictures of halls for music, and assessments of their acous-
tical quality by arlists, critics and audiences, as well as measured scientific criteria.
It is an easJy readable, "must" handbook for anyone traveling to perform or attend
concerl or opera music.

- HELMUT A. MULLER
Miiller-BBM GmbH, Acoustical and Environmental Consultants,
Planegg, Germany
Concert Halls and Opera Houses sets forth the harvest of six decades of intensive
study of acoustics for music performance. It is a comprehensive {and indispensable}
aid to architects, musicians and design teams who tacl;tle the incredibly daunting
task of creating new performance spaces.

- RUSSELL JOHNSON
Acoustics and Theater Consultant, ARTEC Consultants, Inc.,
New York

This book assembles architectural and acoustical data on 100 spaces for music and
rank-orders over two-thirds according to their acoustical quality as judged by mu-
sicians and music critics. It gives comprehensive l;tnowledge of room acoustics and
offers a basic foundation for acoustical research long into the future.

- HIDEKI TACHIBANA
Professor of Acoustics, University of Tokyo, Japan

Beranek has created a new Rosetta Stone for the languages of music, acoustics,
and architecture. Lovers of music everywhere will welcome this extraordinary work
for its scope, depth, and ease of reading, and for heightening our understanding
and enjoyment of the musical experiences that so enrich our lives.

- R. LAWRENCE KIRKEGAARD
Acoustical Consultant, Chicago, Illinois

BeraneV s latest reference worl;t is an essential volume in every auditorium designer's

library. It will also bring information and pleasure to all with an interest in music,
acoustics and architecture. In our offices, a common response to a question in an
acoustical design session is "Let's check in Beranek."

- ROB HARRIS
Director, Arup Acoustics, Winchester, Hampshire, England

Concert Halls and Opera Houses is the definitive work on the architectural acoustic
design of classical music spaces. With presentation of 100 halls, it illustrates various
levels of acoustical quality. Written for the lay reader it deserves to be in every school
of music, architecture and science and with every musician and music lover.

- CHRISTOPHER JAFFE
Founding Principal, Jaffe Holden Acoustics, Norwalk, CT
CONCERT
HALLS AND
OPERA
HOUSES

t
Springer
New York
Berlin
Heidelberg
Hong Kong
London
Milan
Paris
Tokyo
*~ ~~~~~~~~~~
*~
~ ~
~
CONCERT ~
~ ~
~ HALLS AND ~
~ ~
~ OPERA ~
~ ~
~ HOUSES ~
~ ~
~ ~
Music, Acoustics, and Architecture
~ ~
~ Second Edition
~
~ L E O B ERANEK ~

,
~ ~
~ ~
~ '"
Springer ~
~ ~

* ~~~~~~~~~~
*
 LEO BERANEK
975 Memorial Drive
Suite 804
Cambridge, MA 02l38-5755
USA
[email protected]

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Beranek, Leo Leroy, 1914-
Concert halls and opera houses: music, acoustics, and architecture / Leo Beranek.-2nd ed.
p. cm.
Rev. ed. of: Concert and opera halls, 1996.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4419-3038-5
1. Architectural acoustics. 2. Music halls. 3. Theaters. 1. Beranek, Leo Leroy, 1914-
NA2800.B39 2002
725' .81-dc21 2002070734
ISBN 978-1-4419-3038-5 ISBN 978-0-387-21636-2 (eBook)
DOl 10.1007/978-0-387-21636-2
Printed on acid-free paper.
© 2004,1996 SPRINGER-VERLAG NEW YORK, INC.
SOFT COVER REPRINT OF THE HARDCOVER 2ND EDITION 2 0 0 4

All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the
written permission of the publisher (Springer-Verlag New York, Inc., 175 Fifth Avenue, New York,
NY 10010, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in
connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer
software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden.
The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if
they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or
not they are subject to proprietary rights.

An earlier edition of this book was published by the

Acoustical Society of America in 1996.

Text design by Steven Pisano.

9 8 7 6 543 2 1 SPIN 10882373

www.springer-ny.com

Springer-Verlag New York Berlin Heidelberg

A member 0/ BertelsmannSpringer Science + Business Media GmbH
 Preface

he first question any lover of classical music usually asb an acoustician

is, "Which are the best halls in the world?" The response-the three halls
rated highest by world-praised conductors and music critics of the largest newspapers
were built in 1870, 1888, and 1900-always prompts the next query: "Why are
those so good while many halls built after 1950 seem to be mediocre or failures?"
You will find answers to these questions in this book the result of a half-century's
research into the very complex field of acoustics of halls for music.
The dialog re-enacted above bears a close resemblance to another illustration
that typically troubles music lovers. They frequently asl<, "Why is a Stradivarius
violin so good and so many built since then not in the same league?" In this case,
we know that Antonio Stradivari, working at the turn of the eighteenth century,
employed the utmost skill, a good ear, and perhaps a little luck to capture the dozens
of details that mal<e up a great violin. Subsequent violinmal<ers have learned that
only by producing close copies of his masterpieces can they expect their instruments
to be highly acceptable.
Indisputably, the acoustics of halls for music are more diverse than those of
violins . .& this book will explain in depth, halls for music encompass a broader
range of different types with very different acoustics, and one should always remem-
ber that composers often wrote music for a particular concert hall or opera house.
Consequently, a given composition usually sounds best when performed in its in-
tended acoustics. For instance, Gregorian chants were written for performance in
large churches with high reverberance; a small, quiet church never comes close to
doing it justice ..& Chapter 1 discusses, compositions of different musical periods-
Baroque, Classical, or ROmantic, for example-sound best in halls whose rever-
beration times vary from medium low to relatively high. Can one hall serve all
purposes? Halls with variable acoustics are among those treated here.
V111 PREFACE

Since we can, today, identify the acoustical characteristics of the finest halls
in existence, we could create an unerring duplicate of anyone of the several best
and thus reproduce its acoustics exactly. Why not do so? Because building com-
mittees generally select architects not to make exact copies of a great hall but to do
something original and visually inspiring, with the hope that the ha!!s wi!! have exce!!ent
sound. Most architects will not argue with that approach. who would be awarded
an architectural prize for the construction of an exact copy? Consequently, the
acoustical consultant is faced with a dilemma. To have the best acoustics, the hall
should be close in design to one of the great halls-and should yield similar electro-
acoustic data when measured. So the consultant usually follows a subtle path, push-
ing for as many similarities as possible and making recommendations, where dif-
ferences occur, of features-often novel-that may salvage the new design.
For every new hall, with its untried acoustics, opening night may become a
trial by fire. of course, the local orchestra and conductor may do all in their power
to adapt their playing style to the new acoustics, as the history of the Philadelphia
Academy of Music in Chapter 1 illustrates. But well-traveled music critics, often
in attendance only this once, may judge the acoustics of the new venue against those
of the four or five top-ranked old halls, and opening night reviews may set the
reputation of the hall, negatively, for years to come. On occasion, these assessments
turn out to be unjust, failing to account for how a hall's acoustics may be adjusted
over time or the possible misuse of the hall that first night. Such bad fortune befell
one important hall that was designed for a standard-sized orchestra playing the bnds
of compositions that maIze up the bulk of the repertoire of today's symphonic con-
certs. For the opening night, however, the conductor chose a new composition, with
a double-sized orchestra and a chorus of several hundred. The stage had to be
extended to over twice its normal size, and the choristers in the baclz row stood on
bleachers so high that their heads threatened to touch the stage ceiling, thus am-
plifying their voices unevenly. In some parts of the composition, the musicians
created unusually loud sound effects, in one case by hitting a suspended three-meter
section of railroad traclz with a sledge hammer. Nearly everybody in the audience
went home with a headache. The music critic's response? The hall was at fault.
Following the first chapters, which establish a base for understanding the ef-
fects of acoustics on composers, performers, and listeners, and guiding the reader
to a common vocabulary, the bullz of this book, Chapter 3, contains the write-ups,
photographs, drawings, and architectural details on 100 existing halls in 31 coun-
tries. Thirty of the halls are completely new. Although the remainder appeared in
earlier boolzs by the author, the materials have been updated wherever necessary.
The later chapters present the relation of a hall's acoustics to its age, shape, type
Preface ;x

of seats, and the materials used for the walls and ceiling. The sequence of events
that led to Boston Symphony Hall's excellent acoustics, which opened in 1900, is
covered in detail-although it went through a troubled first few years because the
leading local music critic considered the predecessor hall as better. Detailed discus-
sions also appear for balcony, box, stage, and pit designs. All the known electro-
acoustical measurements on 100 existing halls are examined and compared with
the rank orders of 58 concert halls and 21 opera houses that were obtained from
interviews and questionnaires. Finally, the optimal electro-acoustical results are pre-
sented for concert halls and opera houses used for today's repertoires.
Three appendices supplement the chapters: the first gives definitions of all of
the major acoustical and architectural terms and symbols used in the book; the
second provides the electro-acoustical data available on the 100 halls; and the third
presents in tabular form much of the dimensional and electro-acoustical data for
the 100 halls.

~REDITS AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Hundreds of persons are responsible for the material presented in this book:
conductors, music critics, composers, musicians, orchestra and opera directors, hall
managers, architects, acousticians, and musical friends.
The largest contributors of new information were Takayuki Hidaka, N oriko
Nishihara, and Toshiyuki Okano, devoted members of the acoustical department
at the Takenaka Research and Development Institute in Chiba, Japan. They are
responsible for the electro-acoustical data in this book on twenty-two concert halls
and seven opera houses in nine nations of Europe, the Americas, and Japan. Other
major contributions came from experts at Mueller-BBM of Munich/Planegg, Ger-
many; the National Research Council of Canada; the Technical University of Den-
mark; ARTEC Consultants of New York; KirkegaardAssociates of Chicago; Jaffee
Holden Acoustics of Norwalk, Connecticut; Michael Barron of Bath University;
Jordan Acoustics of Denmark; Arup Acoustics of Winchester, Hampshire, U.K.;
Sandy Brown Associates of London; Nagata Acoustics of Tokyo; InterConsult
Group of Trondheim, Norway; Garcia-BBM of Valencia; ACENTECH {successor
to Bolt Beranek and Newman} of Cambridge, Massachusetts; Cyril Harris of New
York; and Albert Yaying Xu of Paris. Others too numerous to name here also
provided invaluable inform:ation for this volume.
x PREFACE

For the "biographies" of the 100 halls, the architectural drawings for 64 were
produced by Richard Shnider, 30 by the late wilfred Malmlund, and 6 by Daniel
Chadwick. Important editorial assistance on the first two chapters was rendered by
Ondine E. Le Blanc.
To all of the above, lowe my deepest thanks.

LEO BERANEK
October 2003

t
 Contents

Preface Vl1

CHAPTER ONE

~USIC AND dCOUSTICS 1

What Are Good Acoustics? 1

Acoustics and the Performers 3
Conductors 3
Performers 7

Acoustics and Musical Periods 8

Baroque Period 8
Classical Period 10
Romantic Period 12
Twentieth-Century Music 13
European Opera 14

Acoustics and Listeners 15

xii CONTENTS

CHAPTER Two

~E YANGUAGE OF

~USICAL cmCOUSTICS 19
Definitions and Explanations of Selected Terms 19
Reverberation and Fullness 0/ Tone 20
Direct Sound, Early Sound, Reverberant Sound 23

Early Decay Time (EDT) (Also Early Reverberation Time) 23

Speed 0/ Successive Tones 24

Definition (or Clarity) 24
Resonance 27
Intimacy or Presence and Initial-Time-Delay Gap 27
Liveness and Mid-Frequencies 29

Spaciousness 29
Warmth 30

Listener Envelopment 30
Strength of Sound and Loudness 30
Timbre and Tone Color 31

Acoustical Glare 31

Brilliance 32

Balance 32

Blend 32

Ensemble 32

Immediacy 0/ Response (Attack) 33

Texture 33

Echoes 33
Dynamic Range and Background Noise Level 33

Detriments to Tonal Quality 35

0/ Sound in Audience Areas 35

Uniformity

Summary 0/ the Musical Qualities Affected by Acoustics 35

Contents xiii

CHAPTER THREE

{)NE @UNDRED c&ONCERT

~LLS AND {)PERA @~USES 37

(See listing on p. xvii)

CHAPTER FOUR

~OUSTICS OF c&ONCERT ~LLS 491

Rank-Orderings of Acoustical Quality of 58 Concert Halls

Developed from Interviews and Questionnaires 494
Reverberation Time: Musicians' Preferences 495
Reverberation Time for Occupied Halls 497

Architectural Basics 498

Age 498
Shape 499
Music Power 500
Audience Absorption and Type of Chairs 501
Materials for Walls, Ceiling, and Stage 502

Physical Measures of Acoustical Quality 503

Reverberation Time (RT) 503
Early Decay Time (EDT) 505
Binaural Quality Index (BQ!) 506
Loudness, the Strength of the Sound (G) 509
Warmth, Bass Ratio (BR) and Bass Strength (Glow) 512
Intimacy, Initial-Time-Delay Gap (ITDG) 513
Lateral Fraction (LFE4 ) 519
Acoustical "Glare" and Sur/ace Di/lusivity Index (SD!) 521
Listener Envelopment 524
xiv CONTENTS

Clarity 525
Texture 527
Orthogonality 0/ Objective Acoustical Measures 528
Special Structures for Reducing Acoustical 'iolare" and for Diffusing Sound 528
BriRiance 533
Noise, Vibration and Echo 534

Further Architectural Considerations 535

Pre/erred Values for Acoustical Parameters 535
Preliminary Design Procedures 538
Stage Design 541
Balconies 545
Models 545
Multipurpose Halls 549

Architectural Design of Chamber Music Halls 550

Concluding Remarks 552

CHAPfERFIVE

@¢CaUSTICS OF {)PERA @oUSES 553

Questionnaire Rank-Orderings of Acoustical

Quality of 21 Opera Houses 554
Objective Measurements of the Acoustical
Properties of 23 Opera Houses 556
Measurement Procedure 556
Sound Quality Parameters 559

Orchestra Pits 564

Types 0/ Orchestra Pits 565

Boxes and Balconies 968

Echo and Distortion 570
Concluding Remarks 573
APPEND IX 1 Terminology, Definitions, and Conversion Factors 575

APPEND IX 2 Acoust ical Data for Concert Halls & Opera House s 583

APPEND IX 3 Equations, Technical Data, and Sound Absorption 615

Bibliography 641
Name Index 647
Subject Index 653
 Concert Halls and Opera Houses

UNITED STATES

1 Aspen, Colorado, Benedict Music Tent 39

2 Baltimore, Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall 43
3 Boston, Symphony Hall 47
4 Buffalo, Kleinhans Music Hall 51
5 Chicago, Orchestra Hall in Symphony Center 55
6 Cleveland, Severance Hall 61
7 Costa Mesa, California, Orange County Perfo=ing Arts Center, 67
Segerstrom Hall
8 Dallas, Eugene McDermott Concert Hall in Morton H. 75
Meyerson Symphony Center

9 Denver, Boettcher Concert Hall 81

10 Fort Worth, Texas, Bass Perfo=ance Hall 85
11 Lenox, Massachusetts, Seiji Ozawa Hall 89
12 Lenox, Massachusetts, Tanglewood, Serge Koussevitzky 93
Music Shed
13 Minneapolis, Minnesota Orchestra Association Orchestra Hall 99
14 New York Avery Fisher Hall 103
15 New York, Carnegie Hall 107
16 New York, Metropolitan Opera House 113
17 Philadelphia, Academy of Music 119
xviii CONCERT HALLS AND OPERA HOUSES

18 Philadelphia, Verizon Hall in the Kimm.el Center for the 123

Performing Arts
19 Rochester, New York, Eastman Theatre 129
20 Salt Lake City, Abravanel Symphony Hall 133
21 San Francisco, Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall 137
22 San Francisco, War Memorial Opera House 141
23 Seattle, Benaroya Hall 145
24 Washington, DC, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing 149
Arts, Concert Hall
25 Washington, DC, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing 153
Arts, Opera House
26 Worcester, Mechanics Hall 157

ARGENTINA

27 Buenos Aires, Teatro Co16n 161

AUSTRALIA

28 Sydney, Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House 165

AUSTRIA

29 Salzburg, Festspielhaus 169

30 Vienna, Grosser Musikvereinssaal 173
31 Vienna, Konzerthaus 177
32 Vienna, Staatsoper 181

BELGIUM

33 Brussels, Palais des Beaux-Arts 185

BRAZIL

34 Sao Paulo, Sala Sao Paulo 189

Concert Halls and Opera Houses

CANADA

35 Montreal, Salle wilfrid-Pelletier 193

36 Toronto, Roy Thompson Hall 197

CHINA

37 Hong Kong, Cultural Center, Concert Hall 201

38 Shanghai, Grand Theatre 207

DENMARK

39 Copenhagen, Radiohuset, Studio 1 211

40 Odense, Nielsen Hall in Odense Koncerthus 215

ENGLAND

41 Birmingham, Symphony Hall 219

42 Sussex, Glyndebourne Opera House 225
43 Liverpool, philharmonic Hall 229
44 London, Barbican, Concert Hall 233
45 London, Royal Albert Hall 237
46 London, Royal Festival Hall 245
47 London, Royal Opera House 249
48 Manchester, Bridgewater Hall 253

FINLAND

49 Lahti, Sibelius/talo 257

FRANCE

50 Paris, Opera Bastille, 263

51 Paris, Opera Garnier: 267
52 Paris, Salle Pleyel 271
xx CONCERT HALLS AND OPERA HOUSES

GERMANY

53 Baden-Baden, Festspielhaus 277

54 Bayreuth, Festspielhaus 283
55 Berlin, Kamme=usiksaal der philha=onie 289
56 Berlin, Konzerthaus Berlin (fo=erly, Schauspielhaus) 293
57 Berlin, Berlin philha=onie 297
58 Bonn, Beethovenhalle 301
59 Dresden, Semperoper 305
60 Leipzig, Gewandhaus 309
61 Munich, Herkulessalle 315
62 Munich, philharmonie am Gasteig 319
63 Stuttgart, Liederhalle, Beethovensaal 325

GREECE

64 Athens, Megaron, the Athens Concert Hall 331

HUNGARY

65 Budapest, Magyar Allami Operahaz 335

66 Budapest, Patria Hall, Budapest Convention Centre 339

IRELAND

67 Belfast, Waterfront Hall 343

IS RAE L

68 Jerusalem, Binyanei Ha'Oomah 347

69 Tel Aviv, Fredric R. Mann Auditorium 351

ITALY

70 Milan, Teatro Alia Scala 355

71 Naples, Teatro di San Carlo 359
Concert Halls and Opera Houses XXI

JAPAN

72 Kyoto, Concert Hall 363

73 Osaka, Symphony Hall 367
74 Sapporo, "Kitara" Concert Hall 371
75 Tokyo, Bunka Kaikan 375
76 Tokyo, Dai-ichi Seimei Hall 381
77 Tokyo, Hamarikyu Asahi Hall 385
78 Tokyo, Metropolitan Art Space Concert Hall 389
79 Tokyo, New National Theatre, Opera House 393
80 Tokyo, NHK Hall 399
81 Tokyo, Orchard Hall 403
82 Toho, Suntory Hall 407
83 Tokyo, Tol"yo Opera City, Concert Hall 411

MALAYSIA

84 Kuala Lumpur, Dewan Filharmonil" Petronas 417

MEXICO

85 Mexico City, Sala Nezahualcoyotl 421

NETHERLANDS

86 Amsterdam, Concertgebouw 425

87 Rotterdam, De Doelen, Concert Hall 429

NEW ZEALAND

88 Christchurch, Christchurch Town Hall 433

NORWAY

89 Trondheim, Olavshallen 437

xx;; CONCERT HALLS AND OPERA HOUSES

SCOTLAND

90 Edinburgh, Usher Hall 441

91 Glasgow, Royal Concert Hall 445

SPAIN

92 Madrid, Auditorio Nacional de Musica 449

93 Valencia, Palau de la Musica 453

SWEDEN

94 Gothenberg, Konserthus 457

SWITZERLAND

95 Basel, Stadt-Casino 461

96 Lucerne, Culture and Congress Center, Concert Hall 465
97 Zurich, Grosser Tonhallesaal 471

TAIWAN

98 Taipei, Cultural Centre, Concert Hall 475

VENEZUELA

99 Caracas, Aula Magna 479

WALES

100 Cardiff, St. David's Hall 485

CONCERT
HALLS AND
OPERA
HOUSES