BASS-BARITONE

A 'bass-baritone' is a singing voice that shares certain qualities of both the baritone and the bass. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three Wagnerian roles: Dutchman (in Der fliegende Holländer), Wotan (in the Ring Cycle) and Hans Sachs (in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg). Wagner wrote those roles for what he called ''Hoher Bass'' ("high bass," this is explained in more detail at fach).
The bass-baritone voice is distinguished by two attributes. First, it must be capable of singing comfortably in a baritonal tessitura. It must also, however, have the resonant lower range typically associated with the bass. For example, the role of Wotan in Die Walküre covers the range from the F# above middle C to the F below the bass clef but only infrequently descends beyond the C below middle C.

Contents

Bass-baritone roles

Operas

Operettas and musicals

Famous bass-baritones

Classical music

Popular music

Bass-baritone roles

Operas

★ Don Basilio ''Il barbiere di Siviglia'' by Gioachino Rossini

★ Zaccaria, ''Nabucco'' by Giuseppe Verdi

★ Boris ''Boris Godunov'' by Modest Mussorgsky

★ Vodnik ''Rusalka'' by Antonín Dvořák

★ Golaud ''Pelléas et Mélisande'' by Claude Debussy

★ Francis ''Saint-François d'Assise'' by Olivier Messiaen

Operettas and musicals

All of the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas have at least one bass-baritone character, and they are not listed in this list. Bass-baritones famous for singing these roles included Richard Temple, Darrell Fancourt and Donald Adams.

★ Albin (''La Cage Aux Folles'') (Must be very well developed up to E4 since he is a lounge singer)

★ Allan Swan (''My Favorite Year'') (Range goes from low G to Eb above middle C.)

★ Scar (''The Lion King'')

★ Bill Sykes (Oliver!)

★ Chandler Marlowe (''The Butler Did It, Singing'')

★ Benjamin Franklin (1776)

★ Javert (Les Miserables) (Should be able to go up to an F sharp)

★ Shannon Wilson Bell (Cannibal! The Musical)

★ Sweeney Todd (''Sweeney Todd'') - a rangy role from Eb2 to the F sharp above middle C.

★ Jud Fry (Oklahoma!)

★ Julian Marsh (42nd Street)

★ Judas/John (Godspell)

Famous bass-baritones

Classical music

★ Theo Adam

★ Walter Berry

★ Justino Diaz

★ Stefan Dimitrov

★ Simon Estes

★ Sir Geraint Evans

★ Andrew Foster-Williams

★ Hans Hotter

★ George London

★ James Morris

★ Thomas Quasthoff

★ Ruggero Raimondi

★ Samuel Ramey

★ John Relyea

★ Paul Robeson

★ Laurentiu Rotaru

★ Friedrich Schorr

★ Bryn Terfel

★ Norman Treigle

★ José Van Dam

Popular music

★ Bill Medley of The Righteous Brothers

★ Jimi Hendrix

★ Ian Curtis of Joy Division

★ Brad Roberts of Crash Test Dummies

★ Paul Banks of Interpol (band)

★ Peter Steele of Type O Negative

★ Ville Valo of HIM

★ Tom Smith of Editors

★ Calvin Harris