Bass (voice type)

A bass is a male singer who sings in the deepest vocal range. According to Grove Music Online, a bass has a range extending from around the F below low C to the E above middle C (i.e., F2–E4), with a tessitura or comfortable range normally ranging between G2 (G below low C) and A3, which are the outermost lines of the standard bass clef. However, cultural influence and human uniqueness create a wide variation in range and quality, and parts for basses have included notes as low as the C two octaves below middle C (i.e. Measure 12 of Ne Imami Iniya Pomoshchi by Pavel Chesnokov), and the Rachmaninov Vespers call for the B-flat a tone below that. Many basses have trouble reaching those notes, and the use of them in works by Slavic composers has led to the colloquial term "Russian bass" for an exceptionally deep-ranged basso profundo that can easily sing these notes. They also have trouble reaching the notes above middle C, according to Grove Music Online, however many British composers such as Benjamin Britten have written parts for bass that center far higher than the bass tessitura (such as the first movement of his choral work Rejoice in the Lamb). The Harvard Dictionary of Music defines the range as being from the E below low C to middle C (i.e. E2–C4).

It is also common for men who are classified as "basses" (and have a full bass choral range) to have a speaking voice which may sound much higher than would be expected.

The bass voice is used differently in different choral traditions. For example, in the United States, no distinction is usually made between bass and baritone voices, which overlap at all but the extremes of their respective ranges. The exception is in arrangements for male choir (TTBB) and barbershop quartets (TLBB), which generally make separate mention of bass and baritone as the lowest two parts. In practice, however, basses have a darker vocal colouration. In the Russian choral tradition the bass is called upon to sing pitches well below the baritone range, as noted earlier with reference Chesnokov and Rachmaninoff.

Bass roles in opera

In classical music, and particularly in opera, the following distinctions are often made among different kinds of bass voices:

Basso Cantante/Lyric High Bass/Lyric Bass-baritone

• Basso Cantante means 'singing bass'. Basso cantante is a higher, more lyrical voice. A lyric bass-baritone.
  Main article: Bass-baritone
  for listings of baritone as well as bass roles.

• Roles:
  • Duke Bluebeard Bluebeard's Castle by Bela Bartok
  • Don Pizarro, Fidelio by Ludwig van Beethoven
  • Count Rodolfo, La Sonnambula by Bellini
  • Blitch, Susannah by Carlisle Floyd
  • Méphistophélès, Faust by Charles Gounod
  • Don Alfonso, Cosi fan tutte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Leporello,and Don Giovanni, Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Figaro, The Marriage of Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Don Basilio Il barbiere di Siviglia by Gioachino Rossini
  • Silva, Ernani by Giuseppe Verdi
  • Philip II, Don Carlos by Giuseppe Verdi
  • Count Walter, Luisa Miller by Giuseppe Verdi
  • Zaccaria, Nabucco by Giuseppe Verdi

Hoherbass/Dramatic High Bass/Dramatic Bass-baritone

• Hoherbass is a dramatic bass-baritone.
• Roles:
  • Igor, Prince Igor by Alexander Borodin
  • Boris, and Varlaam, Boris Godunov by Modest Mussorgsky
  • Klingsor, Parsifal by Richard Wagner
  • Wotan Der Ring des Nibelungen by Richard Wagner
  • Caspar, Der Freischütz by Carl Maria von Weber

Basso Buffo/Bel Canto/Lyric Buffo

• Buffo, literally "funny," basses are lyrical roles but demand a solid coloratura technique. They are usually the antagonist or the comic relief in Bel Canto operas.
• Roles:
  • Don Pasquale, Don Pasquale (Gaetano Donizetti)
  • Dottor Dulcamara, L'elisir d'amore by Gaetano Donizetti
  • Don Bartolo, The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini
  • Don Basilio, The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini
  • Don Magnifico, La Cenerentola by Gioachino Rossini
  • Méphistophélès, Faust by Charles Gounod
  • Don Alfonso, Cosi fan tutte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Leporello, Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Schwerer Spielbass/Dramatic Buffo

• English equivalent: Dramatic comic bass
• Roles:
  • Khan Konchak, Prince Igor by Alexander Borodin
  • Baculus, Der Wildschütz (Albert Lortzing)
  • Ferrando, Il trovatore by Giuseppe Verdi
  • Daland, Der fliegende Holländer by Richard Wagner
  • Pogner, Die Meistersinger by Richard Wagner
  • Hunding, Die Walküre by Richard Wagner

Jugendlicher Bass

• • Jugendlicher Bass is a character who is a young man (regardless of the age of the singer).
• Roles:
  • Leporello, Masetto, Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Figaro, The Marriage of Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Varlaam, Boris Godunov by Modest Mussorgsky
  • Colline, La bohème (Giacomo Puccini)

Dramatic Bass

• Dramatic Bass is a powerful bass voice. It is low or medium pitched as opposed to higher, as in Hoherbass (see above).
• Roles:
  • Khan Konchak, Prince Igor by Alexander Borodin
  • Vladimir Yaroslavich, Prince Igor by Alexander Borodin
  • Commendatore, Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Alvise, La Gioconda by Amilcare Ponchielli
  • Grand Inquisitor, Don Carlos by Giuseppe Verdi
  • Banquo, Macbeth by Giuseppe Verdi
  • Fiesco, Simon Boccanegra by Giuseppe Verdi
  • Ferrando, Il trovatore by Giuseppe Verdi
  • Daland, Der fliegende Holländer by Richard Wagner
  • Hagen, Götterdämmerung by Richard Wagner
  • Heinrich, Lohengrin by Richard Wagner
  • Pogner, Die Meistersinger by Richard Wagner
  • Gurnemanz,Parsifal by Richard Wagner
  • Fafner, Das Rheingold and Siegfried by Richard Wagner
  • Marke, Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner
  • Hunding, Die Walküre by Richard Wagner

Basso Profundo/Low Lyric Bass

• Basso profundo, is the lowest bass voice type.
• Roles:
  • Arkel, Pelléas et Mélisande by Claude Debussy
  • Brogni, La Juive by Jacques Halévy
  • Osmin, Die Entführung aus dem Serail by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Commendatore, Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Sarastro, Die Zauberflöte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Pimen, Boris Godunov(Modest Mussorgsky)
  • Colline, La bohème (Giacomo Puccini)
  • L'Arbre, L'enfant et les sortilèges by Maurice Ravel

Bass roles in Gilbert and Sullivan operettas

• The Mikado of Japan (The Mikado)
• Sergeant of Police (The Pirates of Penzance)
• Old Adam Goodheart, and Sir Roderick (Ruddigore)
• Private Willis (Iolanthe)
• Carpenter's mate (HMS Pinafore)

Some prominent operatic basses on disc

• Norman Allin
• Ivar Andresen
• Feodor Chaliapin
• Boris Christoff
• Boris Damianov
• Adam Didur
• Gottlob Frick

• Nicolai Ghiaurov
• Jerome Hines
• Marcel Journet
• Alexander Kipnis
• Robert Lloyd
• Kurt Moll

• René Pape
• Ezio Pinza
• Pol Plancon
• Samuel Ramey
• Mark Reizen
• Edouard de Reszke

• Paul Robeson
• Matti Salminen
• Cesare Siepi
• Martti Talvela
• John Tomlinson
• Franco Ventriglia
• Ludwig Weber

See also

• Category of operatic basses

External links

• Guide to the singing voice, BBC Wales
• Basses in Bach’s vocal works
• Typical ranges, Yale University Library Archive