The lowest male voice, normally written for within the range F to e', which may be extended at either end, particularly in solo writing. Over time the bass voice has been subdivided into a number of distinct categories: the Basso profondo or Basse noble refers to a particularly low bass, the Basse chantante (or basso cantate) a higher, lyrical voice, and the basso buffo a comic bass. By the 19th century the baritone split off from the bass, to be regarded as a separate category, although some overlap (and confusion) remains in the terminological distinction, especially between bass and bass-baritone (see Baritone (i) and Bass-baritone).
OWEN JANDER, LIONEL SAWKINS, J.B. STEANE, ELIZABETH FORBES/ELLEN T. HARRIS (with GERALD WALDMAN)
Although the bass voice has no doubt existed since time immemorial, Western art music made no specific use of it for centuries, and early writers had therefore little to say about it. Isidore of Seville (c559–636) commented that ‘in fat voices, as those of men, much breath is emitted at once’, and he asserted that ‘the perfect voice is high, sweet and loud’ (Etymologiarum sive originum libri xx). In 9th-century parallel organum, as described in the Scolica enchiriadis, several dispositions of the parts called for the addition of apparently quite low voices an octave or 5th below the vox principalis ‘for the sake of the symphony’ (i.e. the sonority; GS, i, 186). Resonant bass voices must have created an imposing sound in such a ‘symphony’.
Until the second half of the 14th century, upper voice parts in polyphony were composed above a bottom line which, if not always a tenor in function (i.e. holding a cantus firmus), was at any rate written in the tenor range. In the early 15th century Tenor and Contratenor, overlapping in the same range, shared the function of providing a harmonic foundation. After about 1450, however, the role of supporting the harmony was assigned to a single line by the creation of the contratenor bassus. Some theorists showed their understanding of the essential function of this line by referring to it not as bassus (the medieval Latin word for ‘low’) but by the Greek word basis (‘foundation’). The unprecedented sonority created by these low-pitched contratenor bassus lines became in itself a source of fascination, as is evident in descriptive terminology of the age that played with the Greek prefix bari- (‘low’; see Baritone (i)). In the works of such composers as Busnoys, Ockeghem and La Rue there are not only bass lines ranging between D and d but also two or even three parts in what would now be described as the bass or baritone range. Tinctoris (De inventione et usu musicae, 1481–3) singled out Ockeghem as the finest bass he had ever heard. Polyphonic sonorities emphasizing the bass voice, although originating in the chapels of the Burgundian and French courts, soon spread elsewhere.
During the 16th century composers became increasingly sensitive to the bass's function of defining the harmony. Nicola Vicentino (L'antica musica ridotta alla moderna prattica; 1555, f.55v) remarked that ‘it is the bass which governs, and gives the grace of beautiful progressions and variety of harmony to all the parts’. In this period there developed a tendency for bass lines to use wide intervals more than other voices did, to be more angular, and to span a wider range in general. Despite the relative angularity of bass lines, bass singers, like those with high voices, became increasingly preoccupied with the art of improvised ornamentation during the 16th century. Giovanni Bassano (Ricercate, passaggi et cadentie, 1585) illustrated how the bass part of a Palestrina motet might be sumptuously ornamented (ex.1), but such elaborate ornamentation of bass parts was attacked by Pietro Cerone (El melopeo y maestro, 1613), who complained that through such practice the whole fabric of polyphony ‘falls to the ground’.
In spite of such resistance, virtuoso basses attracted much attention in the period 1575–1625 and were in great demand. The Neapolitan bass Giulio Cesare Brancaccio was the highest paid singer in the élite corps of virtuosos assembled in Ferrara by Alfonso d'Este, and the availability of such skilled basses was essential to the development of the luxuriant style of madrigal composition cultivated at Ferrara by Giaches de Wert and others, in whose works the bass line is often as florid as any of the upper voices (ex.2).
The Italian fashion for highly ornate bass music was extended into the monodies of the first decades of the 17th century, as can be seen in ex.3 from Stefano Landi’s madrigal Superbe colli (Aria a una voce, 1620). Giulio Caccini, similarly, wrote virtuoso bass arias for Melchior Palontrotti and published one aria, ‘Muove si dolce’, in his Le nuove musiche (1601–2) with the divisions Palontrotti sang. In Italian opera during the 17th century, ornate writing for the bass voice was, in contrast, quite rare. In the surviving operas of Monteverdi the bass already appears in some of its most important historical role types: as a god (particularly the god of the underworld: Pluto in Orfeo, Neptune in Il ritorno d'Ulisse) or as a sepulchral figure (Charon in Orfeo). His most impressive use of the bass was in the tragic role of Seneca in L'incoronazione di Poppea (1643).
The comic potential of the bass voice was best realized in the tradition of the basso buffo, whose spiritual ancestor was the commedia dell'arte character Pantalone. Already in late Renaissance madrigal comedies (e.g. Orazzio Vecchi's L'Amfiparnaso, 1597, and Banchieri's La pazzia senile, 1598), the blustering, the stammering and the bathetic self-pitying of the classic old fool were given eloquent musical depiction. In the early history of opera similar comic male characters, usually basses, appeared occasionally on the fringe of plots (e.g. Penelope's wooer, Antinous, in Monteverdi's Il ritorno d'Ulisse, 1640) and were called upon to perform exaggeratedly wide-spanning phrases that plummet to the depths of the singer's range. In 17th-century Italian opera, the basso buffo was frequently aligned with the comic contralto role (see Contralto). As a central figure, the comic bass began to appear only in the last quarter of the century (e.g. in Stradella's Il Trespolo tutore, 1679).
The diminishing importance of the bass voice in opera seria is reflected in the cantata: of Alessandro Scarlatti's solo cantatas, more than 600 are for soprano and five are for bass. However, the earlier tradition of the virtuoso bass continued to find expression in serenatas which include numerous representations of such characters as Belisarius, Nero and Seneca, usually in a mood of defiance or rage. These vehement emotions are expressed in angular, wide-leaping lines that show the influence of instrumental styles in the developing concerto. Handel inherited this tradition through such predecessors as Stradella and Scarlatti and during his Italian years wrote remarkable parts for bass in his Italian oratorios, serenatas and cantatas, such as Lucifer (La resurrezione), Polyphemus (Aci, Galatea e Polifemo), and in the cantata Nell'africane selve. Vivaldi's vocal music for the Venetian ospedali is normally written so that the bass parts can be performed an octave higher by the girls when bass singers were unavailable (Talbot, 1994); as a result the bass is rarely highlighted.
Most Handel operas include a role for bass who, though usually a secondary character, is of sufficient importance to be assigned an aria in each of the three acts. These roles are most often kings or generals, whose noble arias declare pride in rank; sometimes a villain (Achillas in Giulio Cesare, 1724, or Garibaldo in Rodelinda, 1725, for example) may be cast as a bass. A favourite type of aria is that of rage or defiance, often with huge leaps; James Miller wrote of Handel's Royal Academy bass G.M. Boschi, ‘And Boschi-like, be always in a rage’. Boschi's parts are high-lying, in what would now be called a baritone range; some of Handel's finest bass parts were for Montagnana, who sang down to F in the remarkable role of the magician Zoroastro in Orlando (1733). The ‘rage aria’ was cultivated even in the oratorio; the most famous of all is ‘Why do the nations so furiously rage together?’ in Messiah.
In French opera, with no castratos for male roles, the bass retained more importance than it did in opera seria. Cavalli's only opera for Paris, Ercole amante (1662), has a bass title role. The importance of the bass in French opera was remarked on in François Raguenet's Paralèle des italiens et des françois (1702; Eng. trans., 1709): ‘When the Persons of Gods or Kings, a Jupiter, Neptune, Priam, or Agamemnon, are brought on the Stage, our Actors, with their deep Voices, give ’em an air of Majesty, quite different from that of the feign'd Bases among the Italians, which have neither Depth nor Strength’. Lully's bass roles are often gods (Jupiter in Cadmus et Hermione, 1673, and Isis, 1677), especially those of the underworld (Pluto in Alceste, 1674, and Proserpine, 1680; Neptune in Isis and Acis et Galatée, 1686), but also include roles with comic elements (Charon in Alceste, Polyphemus in Acis). Only in Roland (1685) did he use the bass voice in a title role. Some of the most imposing roles for the bass voice in French Baroque opera are by Rameau, for example Theseus in Hippolyte et Aricie (1733) and Pollux in Castor et Pollux (1737), both were first sung by C.L.D. de Chassé (1699–1786). This French tradition is further evident in the late operas that Gluck wrote for Paris, which include such roles as Calchas in Iphigénie en Aulide (1774), Hercules in Alceste (1776) and Thoas in Iphigénie en Tauride (1779).
In Germany, the bass was prized for depicting seriousness and wisdom, both in opera and sacred music. In Buxtehude's cantata Jesu, meine Freude, for example, the bass sings ‘Trotz dem alten Drachen’ in which the lowest range of the bass (down to D) is explored for the word ‘abyss’. J.S. Bach's works are full of remarkable solo parts for bass. In Jesu, der du meine Seele (bwv78, 1724), the bass (G–d') represents the dying soul expressing trust in the Lord in an elaborate concerto aria (‘Nun, du wirst mein Gewissen stillen’). In the St Matthew Passion, the bass arias towards the end are among the most beautiful and affecting in the entire work (especially ‘Mache dich, mein Herze, rein’). In his secular music, Bach used the bass for Aeolus, god of the wind, in Der Streit zwischen Phoebus und Pan and the old, conservative father in the Coffee Cantata. Extensive passage-work in the music written for bass in Germany demanded a virtuoso technique, but J.F. Agricola (Anleitung zur Singekunst, 1757) complained that many German basses, by inserting a ‘ga, ga, ga’ before each note and gulping for breath every half-bar, created an unpleasing effect.
In England, following the Italian tradition of virtuoso basses, Purcell wrote remarkable arias for John Gostling (‘They that go down to the sea in ships’) and Richard Leveridge (‘Ye twice ten hundred deities’), who had deep and agile bass voices with very wide ranges. Leveridge went on to perform in opera but made his name in such parts as Charon, Merlin and Pluto in the English theatrical pantomime, notably the witch Hecate in Macbeth.
In 1781 Mozart expressed a wish to recast Idomeneo ‘in the French style’ and change the title role from tenor to bass: ‘I would have altered Idomeneus's role completely and made it a bass part for [Ludwig] Fischer’. Mozart's typical bass roles are more characteristic: Osmin, the comically savage overseer in Die Entführung (1782, written for Fischer) and Sarastro, a high priest, in Die Zauberflöte (1791, sung by Franz Gerl). Most of his roles nominally for bass in his mature Italian operas are now regarded equally as baritone roles. Figaro and Leporello are often sung by basses and are essentially basso buffo roles, the former designed for (and both sung by) the outstanding Viennese exponent Francesco Benucci; another such role is Bartolo in Figaro. The tradition to which these and many other roles belong is in fact the hallmark of opera buffa; it goes back to the 17th century, appears in numerous intermezzo-type works, such as Pergolesi's La serva padrona (1733), is central to the entire repertory of operas to Goldoni's librettos and the principal works of Paisiello and Cimarosa, and continues in the operas of Rossini and Donizetti.
Rossini expected his basses to have voices as flexible as the tenors, or indeed the sopranos and mezzos. Nicola de Grecis, a comic bass who had sung in operas by Guglielmi and others, was the first to inspire Rossini's basso buffo roles; he created roles in La scala di seta (1812) and Signor Bruschino (1813). Rossini wrote eight roles, serious and comic, for Filippo Galli, among them Mustafa in L'italiana in Algeri (1813), the title role of Maometto II (1820) and Assur in Semiramide (1823); Galli's noble, flexible voice later inspired Donizetti to write the part of Henry VIII in Anna Bolena (1830). Michele Benedetti, a more dramatic singer, created bass roles in seven of Rossini's serious operas for Naples, including Elmiro in Otello (1816) and the title role of Mosè in Egitto (1818).
The illustrious Neapolitan bass Luigi Lablache, who made his début as Dandini (Rossini's La Cenerentola), created roles in seven Donizetti operas in Naples (1826–32) and later sang the title roles in two Donizetti premières in Paris, Marino Faliero (1835) and Don Pasquale (1843). Also in Paris, he created Giorgio in Bellini's I puritani, and in London his performance of the title role in Balfe's Falstaff (1838) drew the remark that he was ‘such a protagonist as would have made Shakespeare's heart leap for joy’ (H.F. Chorley). At the Paris Opéra, Henri-Etienne Dérivis, a singer in the classical French tradition with an excellent coloratura technique, created roles in three Spontini operas; he also created Mahomet II in Rossini's Le siège de Corinthe (1826). His successor at the Opéra, Nicholas Levasseur, who had a voice of enormous range, sang Don Alvaro in Rossini's Il viaggio a Reims at the Théâtre-Italien (1825) and created many roles at the Opéra, including Walter Furst in Guillaume Tell (1829) and Zacharie in Meyerbeer's Le prophète (1849).
With the rise of the ‘Verdi baritone’, the bass voice played a smaller role in Italian opera of the second half of the century. Among the singers of Verdi's early bass roles, Lablache created Massimiliano (I masnadieri, 1847). Both Jean Procida (Les vêpres siciliennes, 1855) and Philip II (Don Carlos, 1867) were created by the French bass Louis-Henri Obin. With the role of Jacopo Fiesco (Simon Boccanegra, 1857), Verdi largely turned to a style of writing that allowed for a marked distinction between his baritone and bass roles. Based on the talents of the Italian bass Giuseppe Etcheverria, this style, found in practically all his main bass roles after 1860, generally avoided lyrical phrases (Philip II is an exception here), emphasized declamation and made full use of the lowest register (Budden, 1994–5). Verdi's bass roles, adhering to tradition, are chiefly old men, including priests, counts, squires and the like, villains and servants; he also contributed to the tradition of ghosts as basses, with Banquo (Macbeth, 1847), like Nino's ghost in Rossini's Semiramide and the Commendatore in Don Giovanni.
Among Wagnerian basses, Carl Risse created Daland (Der fliegende Holländer, 1843) and Wilhelm Dettmer sang the Landgrave (Tannhäuser, 1845). Ludwig Zottmayr, the first King Mark in Tristan und Isolde (1865), was probably a bass-baritone: his roles in Munich included Count di Luna and Hans Heiling. Kaspar Bausewein – Pogner in Die Meistersinger (1868), Fafner in Das Rheingold (1869) and Hunding in Die Walküre (1870) – was a true bass who also sang Leporello, Caspar and Rossini's Don Basilio. Hagen (Götterdämmerung) was created at Bayreuth (1876) by Gustav Siehr, who later alternated as Gurnemanz in Parsifal with Emil Scaria, the bass who created the role (1882); Scaria, Escamillo at Vienna in the first performance of Carmen outside France, sang Wotan in the first complete Vienna, Berlin and London Ring cycles.
Some of the finest basses in German opera were French. Léon Gresse, who created Phanuel in Hérodiade (1881) at the Théâtre de la Monnaie, Brussels, was the first Hunding in Die Walküre at the Paris Opéra. Pol Plançon, an effective actor as well as a most stylish singer, created Massenet's Count of Gormas in Le Cid at the Opéra (1885) and Garrido in La Navarraise at Covent Garden (1894). One of the greatest 19th-century basses, he made numerous recordings. Don Diègue in Le Cid was created by the Polish-born Edouard de Reszke, an equally fine interpreter of Italian, French and German opera. His prowess as a Wagner singer was legendary: at Covent Garden and the Metropolitan he excelled as King Henry, King Mark, Pogner, the Wanderer and Hunding.
From its beginnings in works by Verstovsky and Glinka, 19th-century Russian opera included important bass roles. The title role in Glinka's A Life for the Tsar (1836) was entrusted to Osip Petrov, who went on to create bass roles in many operas by Glinka, Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky. Fyodor Stravinsky, father of the composer, who created many bass roles in Tchaikovsky's operas, was equally gifted in comic and dramatic roles. Ivan Mel'nikov created several bass roles in operas by Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Musorgsky (including the title role in Boris Godunov, 1874) and others. Later, Fyodor Chaliapin virtually took over the role of Boris and transformed the role of the bass voice in opera by making it the equal in dramatic power (and market value) of the higher voices. His interpretations are as legendary for their vital characterization as for the beauty of his tone and the clarity of his declamation. His roles included Ivan the Terrible (Rimsky-Korsakov's The Maid of Pskov), Dosifey (Musorgsky's Khovanshchina), and both Prince Galitsky and Khan Konchak in Prince Igor, as well as Boito's Mefistopheles, Philip II and Don Basilio.
Outside opera, basses found significant parts in sacred music and oratorio. From Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (1824) to many requiems, including the collaborative mass for Rossini (1869) and works by Brahms (1868), Verdi (1874) and Dvořák (1890), most concerted choral music included important bass or bass-baritone solos, often sung by opera singers. Ormondo Maini, the bass in the première of Verdi's Requiem, was esteemed not only for his Mephistopheles (both Boito and Gounod, in Faust) and Ramfis (Aida) but also for his Leporello and Don Basilio.
In operetta, the bass rarely played as important a role as the leading tenor or baritone. August Zschiesche, however, engaged for 50 years at the Berlin Hofoper, created Falstaff in Nicolai's Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor (1849); a genuine bass, he also sang Rocco (Fidelio), Osmin and Bertram (Robert le diable, 1831). Karl Formes, Plunkett in the première of Flotow's Martha (1847), also sang for many years at Covent Garden, notably as Tsar Peter. In Gilbert and Sullivan opera, the leading bass was Richard Temple, who had made his début as Rodolfo (La sonnambula); he was particularly praised for his Mikado.
The bass best known for his performance of song at the turn of the century was Chaliapin, who not only performed works by Glinka, Dargomïzhsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and Rubinstein but was highly esteemed as a singer of Schubert and Schumann lieder. He was renowned for his performances of Musorgsky's Song of the Flea and Russian folksongs. Songs written specifically for low voice include Rubinstein's op.72 (1864, for alto or bass and piano) and Wolf's Michelangelo settings (1898, for bass).
The bass roles in Puccini's operas are mainly character parts. Adam Didur, the Polish-born bass who sang for 25 seasons at the Metropolitan, created Ashby (La fanciulla del West, 1910) and sang several central roles in Russian operas. French opera, however, continued to contain important roles for bass. Félix Vieuille was the original Arkel in Pelléas et Mélisande (1902) and also created roles in Charpentier's Louise (1900) and Dukas' Ariane et Barbe-bleue (1907). In Strauss's operas, the role of Baron Ochs (Der Rosenkavalier, 1911), with its sustained low E at the end of Act 2, has always been cherished by basses although its first exponent was a baritone, Karl Perron. A famous early exponent of the role was Richard Mayr, who sang the role at the Viennese première; he also sang Figaro, Leporello and Sarastro at Salzburg and Hagen and Gurnemanz at Bayreuth. In Strauss he was unrivalled: he created Barak in Die Frau ohne Schatten (1919) and sang Count Waldner in the Viennese première of Arabella.
Strong basses have flourished in Wagner roles. Alexander Kipnis sang Gurnemanz, King Mark and Pogner at Bayreuth, as well as Sarastro at Salzburg and Glyndebourne. After World War II, Ludwig Weber, the finest Gurnemanz of his generation, was also admired as Rocco, Ochs and Barak. Gottlob Frick, a superb Hagen, was another notable Gurnemanz. Kurt Böhme, who sang Pogner, Fafner and Titurel at Bayreuth, was best known as Ochs. Martti Talvela brought a large, resonant voice to such roles as Fasolt, King Mark and Daland, and was an impressive Sarastro. At the end of the century Wagner's bass roles were sung by the British bass John Tomlinson (an admired Wotan at Bayreuth), the Americans James Morris (notable as Wotan and the Dutchman), and Paul Plishka (also renowned for his interpretations of Mozart and Verdi and of Boris Godunov) and the German Hans Sotin, voluminous of voice not only in Wagner but also Beethoven (Ninth Symphony) and Mozart (Sarastro).
Outside Wagner roles, Boris Godunov and Philip II (Don Carlos) provide particular challenges, realized in different ways by several distinguished basses: the Bulgarian Boris Christoff, a voluminous, intensely dramatic artist; Nicolai Ghiaurov, also Bulgarian, with a voice of great depth; Cesare Siepi, a noted Don Giovanni, a more introspective Philip; and Ruggero Raimondi, also an admired Don Giovanni, whose Philip belongs among a gallery of powerful Verdi characterizations.
Britten's operas contain many rewarding bass roles. Owen Brannigan, who created Swallow in Peter Grimes (1945), Collatinus in The Rape of Lucretia (1946), Noye in Noye's Fludde (1958) and Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1960), was a comic actor of great charm. Frederick Dalberg, creator of the evil Claggart in Billy Budd (1951) and Raleigh in Gloriana (1953), was darker in voice and a more forbidding personality. Michael Langdon, who took lesser roles but created the He-Ancient in Tippett's The Midsummer Marriage (1955), was also a stylish Ochs and a sound Wagnerian. Forbes Robinson, who created the title role of Tippett's King Priam (1962) and was a powerfully evil Claggart, sang Moses in the British stage première of Schoenberg's Moses und Aron.
The Rossini revival has called for basses with agile voices and a good coloratura technique; Justino Díaz, who created Antony in Barber's Antony and Cleopatra (which inaugurated the new Metropolitan opera in 1966), sang Mahomet in Le siège de Corinthe. Samuel Ramey has also sung Mahomet, as well as Moses, Mustafà, the Podestà (La gazza ladra) and Douglas (La donna del lago); his flexible but powerful voice can encompass a repertory that runs from Handel roles such as Garibaldo in Rodelinda and the Rossini roles written for Galli or Beneditti to Gounod's and Boito's Mephistopheles, Attila and the four villains in Les contes d'Hoffmann.
The early music revival has required voices that are not only flexible but light in tone. The English bass David Thomas has sung with distinction a 17th- and 18th-century repertory ranging from Monteverdi to Mozart; he has specialized in Handel (notably Polyphemus) and recorded arias written for Montagnana. The American Simon Estes has also made early music repertory a speciality, singing for example Jupiter in Cavalli's Calisto at Glyndebourne, but has also sung the title roles in Verdi's Oberto and Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer as well as presenting much contemporary music (such as the American première of Shostakovich's Symphony no.14).
Relatively few basses have excelled in the song repertory. Kipnis's unusually wide repertory included Mozart and Wagner operas, as well as Russian songs and lieder; he was a particularly fine interpreter of Brahms and Schubert. Christoff was a fine interpretator of Musorgsky's songs. The Belgian bass-baritone José Van Dam is a notable lieder singer with an operatic and concert repertory covering a broad range both chronologically and vocally, from Mozart to Wagner and Stravinsky, with an emphasis on French music.
Classical basses who have crossed over into the popular repertory include Ezio Pinza, whose enormous repertory was chiefly in Italian (including such Wagner roles as Pogner, King Mark and Gurnemanz); he created roles in Pizzetti's Debora e Jaele (1922) and Boito's Nerone (1924). At the Metropolitan this velvet-toned bass dominated the stage dramatically and vocally for 22 seasons; late in his career he made a stunning success in musical theatre, creating Emile de Becque in Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific (1949). No discussion of the bass voice would be complete without mention of Paul Robeson, the great black actor and singer who gave up the legal profession for the stage, where he was particularly esteemed for his performance of Shakespeare's Othello. In musical theatre he created the role of Crown in Porgy and Bess and Joe in Show Boat, whose song ‘Ol' man river’ became Robeson's signature piece.
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