  The Margravial Opera House Bayreuth, built between 1745 and 1750, is a well
preserved Baroque court theatre designed by Giuseppe Galli Bibiena [1]. It
provides an opportunity to experience not only the visual but also the acoustic
design of opera theatres in the 18th century, as the bell-shaped auditorium
along with the decoratively painted canvas remains intact. Using balloons and
hand-claps as sound sources, we characterize the impulse response of this opera
house after its recent renovation. The reverberation time (RT), early decay
time (EDT) and clarity factor are characterized and discussed in comparison to
historical Italian theatres of a similar age.
