Room acoustics for rehearsals and concerts- The new Festhalle in Landau, Germany

摘要

The acoustics of concert halls are still a secret. They must fulfill many desires and somehow contrary requirements. Nowadays, a concert hall must be a multipurpose hall, suitable for concerts and rehearsals with and without audience, for TV and radio broadcasting, for shows and theater with or without electro-acoustical amplification. Usually chairs can be removed to turn it into a dance floor or a sport arena. The Festhalle in Landau had to reach this goal and has fulfilled the expectations. But what is the history of this hall? In 1952 with an audience of 2000, Wilhelm Furtw?ngler conducted the Berliner Philharmoniker and was impressed by the excellent acoustics. 6 years later a total change from the former Jugendstil into a modern stil “of the 50’s” was carried out. Why? The reason was an another age of acoustical knowledge. Today, a reconsciousness takes place. No wonder that the original building of 1908 with its beautiful Jugenstil-Architecture should be rediscovered. For almost 100 years, many different events, architectural properties and tastes had to be considered including the protection of a historical monument. The knowledge on acoustics has grown tremendously over the past decades. For instance, the “Precise structure of sound” or the “Distance of privacy” require consequences in acoustical design for both musicians on the stage or in the pit and for the listener in the audience. The remodeling of the Festhalle started in 1997 and was finished with the opening ceremony on January 12, 2002 with an audience of 1041. During the concert however, the acoustical work had to be continued with a recording in order to measure the reverberation time with audience for final changes. The paper summarizes decisions, steps of working and results. Some comparisons with other halls and requirements will be made.