A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice. It is the most common male voice. The term comes from the Greek word βαρύτονος (barýtonos), which means "low sounding." In choral music, composers usually write music for baritones in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C (F2–F4). In operatic music, the range is typically from the second G below middle C to the G above middle C (G2–G4). However, a baritone's range can sometimes be higher or lower. Subtypes of baritone include the baryton-Martin baritone (light baritone), lyric baritone, Kavalierbariton, Verdi baritone, dramatic baritone, baryton-noble baritone, and the bass-baritone.
History
The term "baritone" first appeared as "baritonans" in the late 15th century. It was often used in French sacred music with many voices singing together. At this time, it usually described the lowest voice, including the bass. However, by the 17th century in Italy, the term described the typical male choral voice.
Baritones had a vocal range similar to what is known today by the early 1800s. However, they were grouped with bass singers until the 19th century. Many 18th-century operas labeled roles as bass, but these were actually low baritone or bass-baritone parts. For example, the operas and oratorios of George Frideric Handel included such roles. The most famous baritone roles in 18th-century operas were written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. These include Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, Papageno in The Magic Flute, and Don Giovanni.
From the early 1800s to the mid-1820s, terms like "primo basso," "basse chantante," and "basse-taille" were used for men who later became known as baritones. These singers included Filippo Galli, Giovanni Inchindi, and Henri-Bernard Dabadie. The "basse-taille" and "basse" were often confused because singers from either voice type performed their roles.
The bel canto style of singing, which developed in Italy in the early 1800s, replaced the opera style dominated by castrati from the previous century. This change helped people see baritones as a separate voice type from basses. Traditionally, basses played authority figures like kings or priests. However, the more flexible baritone voice allowed composers to assign roles to lower male voices, such as trusted companions or romantic leads, which were usually tenor roles. Baritones often played villains in operas.
Important composers of bel canto opera include:
• Gioachino Rossini (The Barber of Seville, William Tell);
• Gaetano Donizetti (Don Pasquale, L'elisir d'amore, Lucia di Lammermoor, Lucrezia Borgia, La favorite);
• Vincenzo Bellini (I puritani, Norma);
• Giacomo Meyerbeer (Les Huguenots); and
• Giuseppe Verdi (Nabucco, Ernani, Macbeth, Rigoletto, La traviata, Il trovatore).
The many operas by these composers, along with Verdi's later works like Un ballo in maschera, La forza del destino, Don Carlos, Simon Boccanegra, Aida, Otello, and Falstaff, created new opportunities for baritones. The role of Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia is often considered the first true baritone role. Donizetti and Verdi later focused on the higher range of the baritone voice, creating a more brilliant sound. New opportunities arose with the complex operas of Richard Wagner, which became popular in opera houses in the late 1800s.
The most important baritone of the early 1800s was Antonio Tamburini (1800–1876). He sang the role of Don Giovanni in Mozart's opera and specialized in works by Bellini and Donizetti. His voice was praised for its beauty and smooth tone, typical of bel canto singing. His range was closer to a bass-baritone than a modern "Verdi baritone." His French counterpart was Henri-Bernard Dabadie, who performed at the Paris Opera and created roles in Rossini's operas, including Guillaume Tell. Dabadie also sang in Italy, where he originated the role of Belcore in L'elisir d'amore in 1832.
Important successors to Tamburini included:
• Giorgio Ronconi, who first performed the title role in Verdi's Nabucco;
• Felice Varesi, who created the roles of Macbeth, Rigoletto, and Germont in La traviata;
• Antonio Superchi, who originated Don Carlo in Ernani;
• Francesco Graziani, who first performed Don Carlo di Vargas in La forza del destino;
• Leone Giraldoni, who created Renato in Un ballo in maschera and the first Simon Boccanegra;
• Enrico Delle Sedie, who was the first Renato in London;
• Francesco Pandolfini, whose singing at La Scala in the 1870s was praised by Verdi;
• Antonio Cotogni, who sang in Milan, London, and Saint Petersburg and was the first Italian Posa in Don Carlos;
• Filippo Coletti, who created roles in Verdi's Alzira, I masnadieri, and La traviata; and
• Giuseppe Del Puente, who performed Verdi in the United States.
Non-Italian baritones who were active in the late 1800s included Camille Everardi, a Belgian singer who performed Mozart and Donizetti works and later taught in Russia. In France, Paul Barroilhet succeeded Dabadie as the Paris Opera's leading baritone. He created the role of Alphonse in Donizetti's La favorite in 1840.
The gramophone, invented in the late 1800s, captured the voices of top Italian baritones like Mattia Battistini ("King of Baritones"), Giuseppe Kaschmann, Giuseppe Campanari, Antonio Magini-Coletti, Mario Ancona, and Antonio Scotti. Antonio Pini-Corsi was a notable Italian buffo baritone who performed comic roles by Rossini and others. In 1893, he created the role of Ford in Verdi's Falstaff.
Other important baritones included French singers Jean Lassalle, Victor Maurel, Paul Lh
Subtypes
In the 1800s, musical writings described different types of baritone voices. One was the light and tenor-like baryton-Martin, named after a French singer named Jean-Blaise Martin. Another was the deeper Heldenbariton, also called bass-baritone, which was used in operas by the composer Richard Wagner.
Some of the most skilled Heldenbaritons during Wagner’s time were August Kindermann, Franz Betz, and Theodor Reichmann. Franz Betz sang the role of Hans Sachs in the opera Die Meistersinger and performed as Wotan in the first Der Ring des Nibelungen production at Bayreuth. Theodor Reichmann sang the role of Amfortas in Parsifal, also at Bayreuth. Lighter German baritones performed roles like Wolfram in Tannhäuser, Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde, and Telramund in Lohengrin. These singers also performed art songs and oratorios, with composer Franz Schubert favoring baritones like Johann Michael Vogl for his music.
In the 1800s, operettas often used lighter baritone voices for comic roles, similar to the comic basses of earlier years. However, French composer Jacques Offenbach assigned a powerful baritone to play the villain in The Tales of Hoffmann for dramatic effect. Other French composers, including Meyerbeer, Hector Berlioz, Camille Saint-Saëns, Georges Bizet, and Jules Massenet, wrote roles for baritones in their operas. These included characters like Nelusko in L'Africaine, Mephistopheles in La Damnation de Faust, the Priest of Dagon in Samson and Delilah, Escamillo in Carmen, Zurga in Les pêcheurs de perles, Lescaut in Manon, Athanael in Thaïs, and Herod in Hérodiade. Russian composers also included important baritone roles in their operas, such as the title roles in Eugene Onegin by Peter Tchaikovsky and Prince Igor by Alexander Borodin.
Mozart’s operas were performed throughout the 1800s, though they were not as highly praised by critics and audiences as they are today. In Mozart’s operas, baritones often sang the role of Don Giovanni, rather than high basses. Famous baritones who performed this role in the late 1800s and early 1900s included Scotti, Maurel, Francisco D’Andrade, and John Forsell.
Other types of baritones, such as verismo baritones and Verdi baritones, were also recognized, though not always in the context of the 1800s.
The start of the 1900s brought more opportunities for baritones as audiences in Italy and other countries became interested in operas with intense singing and dramatic stories. Prominent verismo baritones included Giuseppe De Luca, Mario Sammarco, Eugenio Giraldoni, Pasquale Amato, Riccardo Stracciari, and Domenico Viglione Borghese. Titta Ruffo, known for his powerful voice, was considered the greatest Italian baritone of his time. He performed in Italy, England, and America from the early 1900s to the early 1920s.
The main composers of verismo operas were Giacomo Puccini, Ruggero Leoncavallo, Pietro Mascagni, Alberto Franchetti, Umberto Giordano, and Francesco Cilea. Verdi’s operas remained popular in Italy, Spanish-speaking countries, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, where there was a major revival of Verdi’s works in Berlin during the 1920s and 1930s.
Outside of Italian opera, an important addition to the Austro-German repertoire was the 1905 premiere of Richard Strauss’s Salome, where a baritone played the role of John the Baptist. Anton van Rooy, a Wagner specialist, sang this role when the opera reached the Metropolitan Opera in 1907. In 1925, Leo Schützendorf created the title role in Alban Berg’s Wozzeck. In 1902, the French opera Pelléas et Mélisande by Claude Debussy featured two lead baritones, Jean Périer and Hector Dufranne, who had different vocal styles.
In the 20th century, Wagnerian baritones often shifted from singing higher-pitched roles to lower ones. Hans Hotter, who debuted in 1929, began with Verdi roles and later became a top Wagnerian bass-baritone by the 1950s. Other notable Wagnerian baritones included Leopold Demuth, Anton van Rooy, Hermann Weil, Clarence Whitehill, Friedrich Schorr, Rudolf Bockelmann, and Hans-Hermann Nissen.
During the years between World War I (1914) and World War II (1945), many baritones with lyrical voices were active in Germany and Austria. These included Joseph Schwarz, Heinrich Schlusnus, Herbert Janssen, Willi Domgraf-Fassbaender, Karl Schmitt-Walter, and Gerhard Hüsch. In Italy, notable baritones included Carlo Galeffi, Giuseppe Danise, Enrico Molinari, Umberto Urbano, Cesare Formichi, Luigi Montesanto, Apollo Granforte, Benvenuto Franci, Renato Zanelli, Mario Basiola, Giovanni Inghilleri, Carlo Morelli, and Carlo Tagliabue.
Mariano Stabile was a well-known Italian Verdi baritone in the 1920s and 1930s. He performed roles like Iago, Rigoletto, and Falstaff at La Scala under Arturo Toscanini. He was known more for his acting than his voice. Tito Gobbi, a versatile singer, performed in Verdi and Puccini operas and was known for his roles as Scarpia in Tosca alongside soprano Maria Callas.
Other notable baritones included Gino Bechi, Giuseppe Valdengo, Paolo Silveri, Giuseppe Taddei, Ettore Bastianini, Cesare Bardelli, and Giangiacomo Guelfi. Geraint Evans, a Welsh baritone, sang Falstaff and created roles in Benjamin Britten’s operas. Bryn Terfel, another Welsh baritone, began his career in 1990 and became famous for his performances as Falstaff and in operas by Mozart and Wagner.
One of the first famous American baritones was Charles W. Clark, who performed in operas by Italian, French, and German composers.
Vocal range
The baritone voice is between the bass and tenor voice types. The typical range for a baritone is from the second G below middle C (G2) to the G above middle C (G4). Composers usually write music for baritones in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C (F2–F4) in choral music, and from the second A below middle C to the A above middle C (A2–A4) in operatic music.
Subtypes and roles in opera
Within the baritone voice type, there are seven generally recognized subcategories: baryton-Martin baritone (light baritone); lyric baritone; Kavalierbariton; Verdi baritone; dramatic baritone; baryton-noble baritone; and bass-baritone.
The baryton-Martin baritone (sometimes called light baritone) does not have the lower G2–B2 range that heavier baritones can reach. It has a lighter, almost tenor-like sound. Its common range is from C3 to the B above middle C (C3 to B4). This category is often found in French operas and was named after the French singer Jean-Blaise Martin. Martin was known for his use of falsetto singing, and the term "baryton-Martin" was used to distinguish this voice from the "Verdi baritone," which has a stronger chest voice in the upper range. This voice type shares the same first and second passaggi (C4 and F4) as the dramatic tenor and heldentenor, meaning it could be trained as a tenor.
Baryton-Martin baritone roles in opera include:
• Aeneas, Dido and Aeneas (Purcell)
• Dancaïre, Carmen (Bizet)
• L'horloge comtoise, L'enfant et les sortilèges (Ravel)
• Orfeo, L'Orfeo (Monteverdi)
• Pelléas, Pelléas et Mélisande (Debussy)
• Ramiro, L'heure espagnole (Ravel)
The lyric baritone has a sweeter, milder sound than the dramatic baritone. It is lighter and has a higher tessitura (range). Its common range is from A2 to A♭4. This voice type is often assigned to comic roles.
Lyric baritone roles in opera include:
The Kavalierbariton baritone has a metallic sound and can sing both lyric and dramatic phrases. It has a strong, noble tone. Its common range is from A2 to G4. It is not as powerful as the Verdi baritone, which is expected to have a strong stage presence.
Kavalierbariton baritone roles in opera include:
• Don Giovanni, Don Giovanni (Mozart)
• Count, Capriccio (R. Strauss)
• Giorgio Germont, La traviata (Verdi)
• Zurga, Les pêcheurs de perles (Bizet)
The Verdi baritone is a specialized voice within the dramatic baritone category. Its common range is from G2 to B♭4. This voice type can sing consistently in the highest part of the baritone range and has a strong squillo (bright, ringing quality).
Verdi baritone roles in opera include:
The dramatic baritone has a richer, fuller sound than the lyric baritone and often has a darker tone. Its common range is from G2 to G4. This category is similar to the Heldenbariton in the German Fach system, but some Verdi baritone roles are not included. The first and second passaggi (B♭ and E♭) are the same for both Verdi and dramatic baritones, so the difference is based on timbre and tessitura. Roles in this category usually have a slightly lower tessitura than Verdi baritone roles, rising above F only during intense moments. Many Puccini roles fall into this category. A Verdi baritone is a dramatic baritone with greater ease in the upper range. Some singers perform roles from both categories.
Dramatic baritone roles in opera include:
• Jack Rance, La fanciulla del West (Puccini)
• Scarpia, Tosca (Puccini)
• Iago, Otello (Verdi)
• Escamillo, Carmen (Bizet)
The baryton-noble baritone is French for "noble baritone." It requires a noble appearance, smooth singing, and strong vocal delivery. This category originated in the Paris Opera and influenced composers like Verdi and Wagner. It is similar to the Kavalierbariton.
Baryton-noble baritone roles in opera include:
The bass-baritone range extends from F2 to F4 or F♯4. Bass-baritones are divided into two categories: lyric bass-baritone and dramatic bass-baritone.
Lyric bass-baritone roles in opera include:
• Don Pizarro, Fidelio (Beethoven)
• Golaud, Pelléas et Mélisande (Debussy)
• Méphistophélès, Faust (Gounod)
• Don Alfonso, Così fan tutte (Mozart)
• Figaro, The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart)
• Leporello, Don Giovanni (Mozart)
Dramatic bass-baritone roles in opera include:
• Aleko, Aleko (Rachmaninoff)
• Igor, Prince Igor (Borodin)
• Dutchman, The Flying Dutchman (Wagner)
• Hans Sachs, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Wagner)
• Wotan, Der Ring des Nibelungen (Wagner)
• Amfortas, Parsifal (Wagner)
All of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Savoy operas include at least one lead baritone character (often the comic lead). Notable operetta roles include:
In barbershop music, the baritone sings in a range similar to the lead (who sings the melody), but usually sings lower. The baritone supports the bass sound by singing the fifth above the bass root and helps complete chords. Occasionally, the baritone sings above the melody, requiring a tenor-like quality. Because the baritone fills chords, the part is often not very melodic.
In bluegrass music, the melody line is called the lead. Tenors sing a third above the lead, and baritones sing the fifth of the scale with the lead as the tonic. Baritones may sing below or above the lead (and even above the tenor), in which case it is called "high baritone." Some baritones with a traditional sound sing in a range closer to tenors. These singers include David Ruffin, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Tom Jones, Michael McDonald, and Levi Stubbs of the Four Tops.