Baritone
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Baritone (French: baryton; German: Bariton; Italian: baritono) is most commonly the type of male voice that lies between bass and tenor. Originally from the Greek βαρυτονος, meaning 'deep sounding', music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second G below middle C to the E above middle C (i.e. G2-E4),[1] though it can be extended at either end.
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[edit] Classification
| Common vocal ranges represented on a musical keyboard |
While baritone refers to a type of male voice, there are varying subtypes within the range of the baritone.
[edit] Lyric baritone
- Common Range: From the B below low C to the G above middle C (B to g').
- Description: A sweeter, milder sounding baritone voice, lacking in harshness; lighter and perhaps mellower than the dramatic baritone. It is probably the most common of the baritone voice types and is typically assigned to comic roles.
- Roles:
- Conte Almaviva, The Marriage of Figaro (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
- Guglielmo, Cosi Fan Tutte (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
- Don Giovanni, Don Giovanni (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
- Papageno, The Magic Flute (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
- Marcello, La bohème (Giacomo Puccini)
[edit] Bel Canto (coloratura) baritone
- Common Range: From the B below low C to the G above middle C (B to g')
- Description: The sound is more or less the same as the lyric baritone voice, but must be considerably agile to sing fioratura and coloratura passages. They are usually the comic relief in Bel Canto operas.
- Roles:
- Figaro, The Barber of Seville (Gioachino Rossini)
- Dandini, La Cenerentola (Gioachino Rossini)
- Belcore, L'elisir d'amore (Gaetano Donizetti)
- Singers: Baritones who sing Bel Canto roles usually can play lyric and/or dramatic characters. For example, Ruggero Raimondi, who is famous for his portrayal of Figaro, also sings lyric (Mozart) and dramatic (Verdi) roles. Hermann Prey, who is listed above as a lyric baritone, also is known for his interpretation of Bel Canto roles.
[edit] The kavalierbariton
- Common Range: From the A below low C to the G# above middle C (A to g#' ).
- Description: A metallic voice, that can sing both lyric and dramatic phrases, a manly noble baritonal color, with good looks. Not quite as powerful as the Verdi baritone who is expected to have a powerful appearance on stage, perhaps muscular or physically large.
- Roles:
- Don Giovanni, Don Giovanni (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
- Justin Labelle, Wakonda's Dream (Anthony Davis)
- Tonio, Pagliacci (Ruggiero Leoncavallo)
- Di Luna, Il trovatore (Giuseppe Verdi)
- Iago, Otello (Giuseppe Verdi)
- Count, Capriccio (Richard Strauss)
[edit] Dramatic baritone
- Common Range: From the E half an octave below low C to the F above middle C (E to f').
- Description: A voice with a somewhat heavier, darker quality. This category corresponds roughly to the Heldenbariton in the German fach system except the Verdi baritones have been separated. Roles for this voice are also called bass-baritone and are typically dramatic in their tone. Roles such as these tend not to rise above an F so as not to extend past the accepted top of the baritone range.
- Roles:
- Rigoletto, Rigoletto (Giuseppe Verdi)
- Scarpia, Tosca (Giacomo Puccini)
- Nabucco, Nabucco (Giuseppe Verdi)
- Mephistofeles, Faust (Charles Gounod)
- Singers:
[edit] Verdi baritone
- Common Range: From the A below low C to the G# above middle C (A to g#').
- Description: A more specialized voice category, Verdi baritone refers to a voice capable of singing consistently and with ease in the highest part of the baritone range, sometimes even up to the A natural above middle C.
- Roles:
- Germont in La Traviata
- Singers:
[edit] The baryton-noble
- Description: French for noble baritone and describes a part that requires a noble bearing, smooth vocalisation and forceful declamation, all in perfect balance. This category originated in the Paris Opéra, but it greatly influenced Verdi (Don Carlo in Ernani and La forza del destino; Count Luna in Il trovatore; Simon Boccanegra) and Wagner as well (Wotan; Amfortas).
[edit] Bariton/Baryton-Martin
- Common Range: From the low C to the Ab above middle C (C to ab')[2]
- Description: The Bariton-Martin lacks the lower G2-B2 range a heavier baritone is capable of. Generally seen only in French repertoire, this fach was named after the French singer Jean-Blaise Martin. Associated with the rise of the baritone in the 19th century, Martin was well known for his fondness for falsetto singing, and the designation 'Baryton Martin' has been used (Faurre, 1866) to separate his voice from the 'Verdi Baritone', which carried the chest register further into the upper range.[3]
- Roles:
- Pelléas, Pelléas et Mélisande (Claude Debussy)
- Singers:
[edit] History
The first use of the term "baritone" emerged as baritonans late in the 15th century,[4] usually in French sacred polyphonic music. At this early stage it was frequently used as the lowest of the voices (including the bass), but in 17th century Italy the term was all-encompassing and used to describe the average male choral voice.
The baritone took the range we know today in the beginning of the 18th century but was still referred to as bass until the 19th century; many works of the 18th century have roles marked as bass that in reality are baritone roles, such as Figaro and Count Almaviva from Le nozze di Figaro or many of Handel's works.
[edit] 19th century
The bel canto style of singing that had been so popular in the early 19th century gave rise to the acceptance of the baritone as a separate voice part from the bass. Traditionally, bass roles tended towards father figures like the king or the high priest, but with the more fluid baritone voice the roles expanded toward traditionally tenor roles of romantic leads or trusted companions as well as villains.
The early 19th century development of the baritone in opera was primarily due to the bel canto style, with Donizetti, Bellini and of course Verdi opening up new avenues of performance for male voice. There are occasional references to additional baritone subtypes such as the high baritone (French: baryton Martin, after Jean-Blaise Martin[5]), the Heldenbaritone of Wagner's operas and the Verdi baritone. A slightly higher voice type of period was the Hoher Bass, but the term is applied more often to the bass-baritone instead of the baritone proper. Lyric baritones made strides in art song and oratorio during this period as well, with Schubert favoring several baritones for his music, in particular Johann Michael Vogl.[6]
Use of the baritone in operetta became the domain of lighter voices and were typically comic parts in the tradition of the buffo bass, a typical characterization by Gilbert and Sullivan in many of their productions, but French composers such as Massenet and Offenbach used them to great effect as villains in Manon and Les contes d'Hoffmann, respectively.[7]
[edit] 20th century
The 20th century led to even more opportunities for baritones than before. New operas such as Pelleas et Melisande featured two baritones, Jean Périer and Hector Dufranne, who had differing vocal qualities. Singers such as Giuseppe De Luca, Mario Sammarco and Titta Ruffo also made great strides in originating many 20th century baritone roles; Leo Schützendorf premiered the title role in Wozzeck[8] in addition to his performances of Boris Godunov, Beckmesser, Faninal, and Mefistofele.
Characteristic of the Wagnerian baritones of the mid-20th century was a general progression of a single singer from higher lyrical bass to lower bass-baritone and bass roles, such as Hans Hotter; over 60 years, he created the Comandant in Strauss's Friedenstag and Olivier in Capriccio and was widely hailed in the 1950s as the top Wagner bass-baritone in the world.
One of the foremost Verdi baritones, Mariano Stabile sang Falstaff at La Scala in the 1920s and performed Iago, Rigoletto and Scarpia. He was followed by Tito Gobbi, who was regarded as an actor capable of both powerfully comic and tragic performances. He learned over 100 roles in his lifetime and was mostly known for his roles in Verdi and Puccini operas, including performances as Scarpia opposite Maria Callas as Tosca at Covent Garden.
Gobbi's frequent collaborator Geraint Evans, a Welsh baritone, first sang the role of Falstaff at Glyndebourne and created the roles of Mr. Flint and Mountjoy. In addition to work in several pieces of Benjamin Britten's, many consider his best work to be Wozzeck. The next significant Welsh baritone was Bryn Terfel, who made his premiere at Glyndebourne in 1990.[9]
Despite the European dominance of classical singing, American baritones Lawrence Tibbett, Leonard Warren and Robert Merrill became renowned singers in their own right. Continuing the success of these singers was Sherrill Milnes, who in addition to becoming famed for his Verdi performances was as just as successful in French opera including Hamlet.
The leading Italian Verdi baritone of the 1970s and 1980s was Piero Cappuccilli, while Britain's Thomas Allen was considered the most versatile baritone of his generation in regards to repretoire, spanning the literature from Mozart to Verdi, French, Russian and modern English music. Many other 20th century baritones became widely noted for their interpretations of Verdi's works, including one of the first singers from the former USSR, Vladimir Chernov.
In the realm of French literature, few surpassed the interpretation of Gérard Souzay, whose range spanned from the Baroque works of Lully to modern composers like Poulenc. Pierre Bernac, Souzay's teacher, was a primary interpreter of Poulenc's songs. Others excelling in the style include Australian John Brownlee and Russia's Sergey Leiferkus.
Prior to World War II, Germans Heinrich Schlusnus, Gerhard Hüsch and Herbert Janssen, became celebrated for their lieder work. In addition, each one was noted for their onstage contributions to Verdi, Mozart and Wagner, respectively. After the end of the war, Hermann Prey and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau emerged as the most renowned. In addition to his interpretations of lieder and the works of Mozart, Prey displayed talent in pieces by Verdi, Strauss and Wagner as well. Fischer-Dieskau created several new roles as well as performing in the classical repertory. Younger German and Austrian lieder singers include Olaf Bär, Matthias Goerne, Wolfgang Holzman and Stephan Genz. and Bel Canto.
[edit] Barbershop baritone
In barbershop music, the baritone part sings in a similar but somewhat lower range to the lead (singing the melody), but has a specific and specialised role in the formation of the four-part harmony that characterises the style. Because barbershop singers can also be female, there is consequently such a singer (at least in barbershop singing) as a female baritone. The baritone singer is often the one required to support or 'fill' the bass sound (typically by singing the fifth above the bass root). On the other hand, the baritone will occasionally find himself harmonising above the melody, which calls for a tenor-like quality. Because of the nature of barbershop arrangements the baritone part is invariably the most challenging to learn and the hardest to improvise.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ Vocal ranges, Yale University Music Library, accessed June 3, 2006
- ^ The OXFORD DICTIONARY OF OPERA. JOHN WARRACK AND EWAN WEST, ISBN 0-19-869164-5
- ^ THE NEW GROVE Dictionary of MUSIC & MUSICIANS. Edited by Stanley Sadie, Volume 2. Back to Bolivia. ISBN 1-56159-174-2, Copyright Macmillan Publishers Limited 1980.
- ^ Franchino Gaffurio, Practica musicae, liber tertius, 1496
- ^ Dolmetsch Online, Music Dictionary Vm-Vz, accessed May 28, 2006
- ^ Charles K. Moss, Franz Peter Schubert: Master of Song, accessed May 28, 2006
- ^ OPERA-L, Tenor buffo - Offenbach, accessed May 29, 2006
- ^ Lebrecht Music and Art Library, Outside theatre before premiere of Wozzeck, accessed May 29, 2006
- ^ Deutsche Grammophon, Bryn Terfel's Biographical Timeline, accessed May 28, 2006
[edit] References
- Owen Jander, J.B. Steane, Elizabeth Forbes/Ellen T. Harris (with Gerald Waldman): 'Baritone', Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 24 Jan 2006), http://www.grovemusic.com
