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Everything about Bass Vocal Range totally explained

» 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 has a range extending from around the F below small C to the E above middle C (for example, F2–E4), with a tessitura or comfortable range normally ranging between the outermost lines of the 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 (for example 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 (for example 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.
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.

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. It is produced by a more Italianate vocal production with a faster vibrato. A lyric bass-baritone. for listings of baritone as well as bass roles.
  • Roles: Bass Bass

    Hoherbass/Dramatic High Bass/Dramatic Bass-baritone

  • Hoherbass or "high bass" is a dramatic bass-baritone. for listings of baritone as well as bass roles.
  • Roles:

    Jugendlicher Bass

  • Jugendlicher Bass a young man (regardless of the age of the singer).
  • Roles:

    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:

    Schwerer Spielbass/Dramatic Buffo

  • English equivalent: Dramatic comic bass
  • Roles::

    Lyric Basso Profundo

  • English equivalent: lyric low bass
  • Basso profundo, is the lowest bass voice type. According to J. B. Steane in "voices Singers & Citics, the basso profundo voice "derives from a method of tone-production that elimintes 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:

    Dramatic Basso Profundo

  • English equivalent: Dramatic low bass. Dramatic Basso Profundo is a powerful basso profundo voice.
  • Roles:

    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)
  • Notary (The Sorcerer)

    • 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 Further Information

    Get more info on 'Bass Vocal Range'.


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