Anechoic recordings of Italian opera played by orchestra, choir, and soloistsa

Auralisation-based research needs anechoic recordings. Where opera is concerned, anechoic material is limited to a few recordings. Using the approaches of previous recordings, the present work shows methods and results of a recording set focused on the Italian melodrama period. The chosen motifs come from scores of Donizetti, Verdi, and Puccini in order to consider the most performed composers and the peculiarities of their styles, which span from the early 19th century to the 20th century. Excerpts from three operas have been played by professional musicians and soloists with an array of twelve microphones in a damped room, which can be considered anechoic. The multi-track files of the recorded materials are freely available for academic purposes.