The Classical Bass Description Page

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This article is related to a series of articles under the main article Voice type.

A bass is a male singer who sings in the lowest vocal range.

According to Grove Music Online, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the F below small C to the E above middle C (i.e., F2–E4), with a tessitura, or comfortable range, normally ranging between the outermost lines of the bass clef.

Variations in bass range

However, cultural influence and individual variation create a wide variation in range and quality of bass singers. Parts for basses have included notes as low as the B-flat two octaves and a tone below middle C, for example in the Rachmaninov Vespers, and the G below that (e.g. Measure 76 of Ne otverzhi mene by Pavel Chesnokov). 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 profondo who can easily sing these notes. Some traditional Russian religious music calls for A2 (110 Hz) drone singing, which is doubled by A1 (55 Hz) in the rare occasion that a choir includes exceptionally gifted singers who can produce this very lowest of human voice pitches.

Basses 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).^[1] The Harvard Dictionary of Music defines the range as being from the E below low C to middle C (i.e. E2–C4).^[2]

In choral music, voices are subdivided into first bass and second bass, no distinction being made between bass and baritone voices, in contrast to the three-fold (tenor-baritone-bass) categorization of solo voices. The exception is in arrangements for male choir (TTBB) and barbershop quartets (TLBB), which sometimes label the lowest two parts baritone and bass.

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.^{[citation needed]}

Bass roles in opera

Common vocal ranges represented on a musical keyboard

Soprano Alto Tenor Bass

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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'.^[3] Basso cantante is a higher, more lyrical voice. It is produced by a more Italianate vocal production with a faster vibrato. 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
  • Don Giovanni, Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Figaro, The Marriage of Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Boris, Boris Godunov by Modest Mussorgsky
  • Silva, Ernani by Giuseppe Verdi
  • Philip II, Don Carlos by Giuseppe Verdi
  • Count Walter, Luisa Miller by Giuseppe Verdi
  • Banquo, Macbeth by Giuseppe Verdi
  • Zaccaria, Nabucco by Giuseppe Verdi
  • Fiesco, Simon Boccanegra by Giuseppe Verdi
  • Ferrando, Il trovatore by Giuseppe Verdi
  • Daland, Der fliegende Holländer by Richard Wagner

Hoherbass/Dramatic High Bass/Dramatic Bass-baritone

• Hoherbass or "high bass" is a dramatic bass-baritone.

Main article: Bass-baritone

for listings of baritone as well as bass roles.

• 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

Jugendlicher Bass

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

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

Lyric Basso Profondo

• English equivalent: lyric low bass
• Basso profondo, is the lowest bass voice type. According to J. B. Steane in "Voices, Singers & Critics", the basso profondo voice «derives from a method of tone-production that eliminates the more Italian quick vibrato. In its place is a kind of tonal solidity, a wall-like front, which may nevertheless prove susceptible to the other kind of vibrato, the slow beat or dreaded wobble».
• Roles:
  • Rocco, Fidelio by Ludwig von Beethoven
  • Osmin, Die Entführung aus dem Serail by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Sarastro, Die Zauberflöte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  • Pimen, Boris Godunov by Modest Mussorgsky
  • Baron Ochs, Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss

Dramatic Basso Profondo

• English equivalent: Dramatic low bass. Dramatic Basso Profondo is a powerful basso profondo voice.
• Roles:
  • Vladimir Yaroslavich, Prince Igor by Alexander Borodin
  • Hagen, Götterdämmerung by Richard Wagner
  • Heinrich, Lohengrin 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
  • The Grand Inquisitor, Don Carlo by Giuseppe Verdi

Bass roles in Gilbert and Sullivan operettas

Some prominent operatic basses on disc

See also

• Category of operatic basses

References

External links

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