Bass (voice type) · Lablypedia

Italians favour subdividing basses into the basso cantante ("singing bass" warm, sonorous tone, a faster vibrato, and a well-developed upper range that shares qualities with a baritone), basso buffo ("comical bass" light, agile bass or bass-baritone range), or the dramatic basso profondo ("deep bass" going down to second C below middle C (65.41 Hz / C₂) or lower with a resonant tone comparable to a large church bell or double bass). The American system identifies the bass-baritone, comic bass, lyric bass, and dramatic bass.

The German Fach system offers further distinctions: Spielbass (Bassbuffo), Schwerer Spielbass (Schwerer Bassbuffo), Charakterbass (Bassbariton), and Seriöser Bass. These classifications tend to describe roles rather than singers: it is rare for a performer to stay within a single Fach.

History

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 (B♭₁), for example in Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 2 and Rachmaninov's All-Night Vigil, A below that in Frederik Magle's symphonic suite Cantabile, G below that (e.g. Measure 76 of Ne otverzhi mene by Pavel Chesnokov) or F below those in Kheruvimskaya pesn (Song of Cherubim) by Krzysztof Penderecki. Many basso profondos 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 singers who can produce this very low human voice pitch.

Many British composers such as Benjamin Britten have written parts for bass (such as the first movement of his choral work Rejoice in the Lamb) that center far higher than the bass tessitura as implied by the clef. The Harvard Dictionary of Music defines the range as being from the E below low C to middle C (i.e. E₂–C₄).

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In choral music

In SATB four-part mixed chorus, the bass is the lowest vocal range, below the tenor, alto, and soprano. Voices are subdivided into first bass and second bass with 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.

Range and subtypes

Bass has the lowest vocal range of all voice types, with the lowest tessitura. The low extreme for basses is generally C₂ (65.4 Hz, two Cs below middle C). Some extreme bass singers, referred to as basso profondos and oktavists, are able to reach much lower than this. Within opera, the lowest note in the standard bass repertoire is D₂, sung by the character Osmin in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail, but few roles fall below F₂.

Although Osmin's note is the lowest 'demanded' in the operatic repertoire, lower notes are heard, both written and unwritten: for example, it is traditional for basses to interpolate a low C in the duet "Ich gehe doch rathe ich dir" in the same opera; in Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier, Baron Ochs has an optional C₂ ("Mein lieber Hippolyte"). The high extreme: a few bass roles in the standard repertoire call for a high F♯ or G (F♯₄ and G₄, the one above middle C), but few roles go over F₄. In the operatic bass repertoire, the highest notes are a G♯₄ (The Barber in The Nose by Shostakovich) and, in the aria "Fra l'ombre e gl'orrori" in Handel's serenata Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, Polifemo reaches an A₄.

Within the bass voice type category are seven generally recognized subcategories: basso cantante (singing bass), hoher bass (high bass), jugendlicher bass (juvenile bass), basso buffo ("funny" bass), Schwerer Spielbass (dramatic bass), lyric bass, and dramatic basso profondo (low bass).

Basso cantante/lyric high bass/lyric bass-baritone

Basso cantante means "singing bass". Basso cantante is a higher, more lyrical voice. It is produced using a more Italianate vocal production, and possesses a faster vibrato, than its closest Germanic/Anglo-Saxon equivalent, the bass-baritone.

Max, Le chalet by Adolphe Adam
Duke Bluebeard, Bluebeard's Castle by Béla Bartók
Don Pizarro, Fidelio by Ludwig van Beethoven
Count Rodolfo, La sonnambula by Bellini
Blitch, Susannah by Carlisle Floyd
Méphistophélès, Faust by Charles Gounod
The King of Scotland, Ariodante by George Frideric Handel
Don Alfonso, Così fan tutte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Don Giovanni, Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Figaro, The Marriage of Figaro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
The Voice of the Oracle, Idomeneo by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Silva, Ernani by Giuseppe Verdi
Philip II, Don Carlos by Giuseppe Verdi
Count Walter, Luisa Miller by Giuseppe Verdi
Ferrando, Il trovatore by Giuseppe Verdi

Hoher Bass/dramatic high bass/dramatic bass-baritone

Hoher Bass or "high bass" or often a dramatic bass-baritone.

Igor, Prince Igor by Alexander Borodin
Boris, 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
Banquo, Macbeth by Giuseppe Verdi
Zaccaria, Nabucco by Giuseppe Verdi
Fiesco, Simon Boccanegra by Giuseppe Verdi

Jugendlicher Bass

Jugendlicher Bass (juvenile bass) denotes the role of a young man sung by a bass, regardless of the age of the singer.

Masetto, Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Colline, La bohème by Giacomo Puccini

Basso buffo/lyric buffo

Buffo, literally "funny", basses are lyrical roles that demand from their practitioners a solid coloratura technique, a capacity for patter singing and ripe tonal qualities if they are to be brought off to maximum effect. They are usually the blustering antagonist of the hero/heroine or the comic-relief fool in bel canto operas.

Don Pasquale, Don Pasquale by Gaetano Donizetti
Dottor Dulcamara, L'elisir d'amore by Gaetano Donizetti
Doctor Bartolo, The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini
Don Magnifico, La Cenerentola by Gioachino Rossini
Don Alfonso, Così fan tutte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Leporello, Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Papageno, Die Zauberflöte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
The Doctor, Wozzeck by Alban Berg

Schwerer Spielbass/dramatic buffo

English equivalent: dramatic bass

Khan Konchak, Prince Igor by Alexander Borodin
Baculus, Der Wildschütz by Albert Lortzing
Ferrando, Il trovatore by Giuseppe Verdi
Daland, Der fliegende Holländer by Richard Wagner
Varlaam, Boris Godunov by Modest Mussorgsky

Lyric basso profondo

Basso profondo (lyric low bass) 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."

Rocco, Fidelio by Ludwig van 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
Baldassarre, La favorite by Gaetano Donizetti

Dramatic basso profondo

English equivalent: dramatic low bass. Dramatic basso profondo is a powerful basso profondo voice.

Il Commendatore, Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
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 Varangian (Viking) Guest, Sadko by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
The Grand Inquisitor, Don Carlo by Giuseppe Verdi
Claggart, Billy Budd by Benjamin Britten

In Gilbert and Sullivan

All of the Gilbert and Sullivan Savoy operas, except Patience and The Yeomen of the Guard, have at least one lead bass. Notable roles include:

Adam Goodheart, Ruddigore
Arac, Princess Ida
Bob Becket (Carpenter's mate), H.M.S. Pinafore
Don Alhambra del Bolero, The Gondoliers
The Mikado of Japan, The Mikado
The Notary, The Sorcerer
Private Willis, Iolanthe
Sergeant of Police, The Pirates of Penzance