Bass
| Voices for choir singers | |
|---|---|
| Female voices | Male voices |
 Soprano (S) |
 Tenor (T) |
 Mezzo-soprano |
 baritone |
 Alt (A) |
 Bass (B) |
The lowest vocal range is referred to as bass (from Latin bassus 'strong' , 'plentiful'; Pl. The bass ) . A singer in this voice range is simply called a bass or basso . Only a few of the basses have a large volume with very low notes and a range that extends downwards, often also a dark color. Such basses are called Dramatic Basso Profondo or, colloquially, black bass .
The name developed with the beginning of polyphony when the voice holding the cantus firmus was called tenor . The second man's voice was as musical opponent of the tenor first name contra tenor , but was initially in approximately the same location and tessitura as the tenor. Later, the tonal range of the compositions was expanded to about two octaves and the voices were layered on top of each other, the opposing voices dodged upwards or downwards and a distinction was made between a high opposing voice contratenor altus and a deep opposing voice contratenor bassus . From these names the names Altus and Bassus developed , which was partly also called Basis .
The pitch range of the bass voice extends roughly from F to f ' . Some games also require E or D , e.g. B. Osmin from Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Baron Ochs from Der Rosenkavalier . A strong F is expected in Haydn's oratorio The Creation in the Aria Nun seems to be expected in full splendor , with the voice supposed to prevail over the orchestra and the contrabassoon . Gustav Mahler noted a vocal range from 'B to f1' for the bass part of the choir in the final movement of his 2nd symphony .
Some basses of the Russian choirs, the so-called octavists (from the octave, in the narrower sense “an octave lower”), sing an octave lower than the other basses and do not change to the upper register. This vocal range is also (quite rarely) used as a soloist, and some composers have written solo pieces for this particular vocal range (including solo part in the Sacred Choral Concerto no. 21 by Dmitri Stepanowitsch Bortnjanski ).
Statistically, 5% of male voices are bass. Profound basses are rare. There was already a lack of good bass in school choirs of the 17th and 18th centuries. Michael Praetorius recommended in 1619 in the Syntagma musicum to compensate for the weakness of the bass with a string bass. Even with the St. Thomas Choir in Bach's time, a string instrument always played the bass when performing a cappella works .
- Specialized bass vocal fans
- High bass , also called basso cantante
- Character bass
- serious bass
- Bass buffo , for cheerful opera roles
- Bass- baritone is a subject between bass and baritone. He can sing both lower baritone roles (such as Scarpia in Tosca or four villains from Hoffmann's stories ) and higher bass roles (e.g. Bartolo, van Bett or Kaspar).
- Famous bass roles in operas and oratorios
- Osmin, The Abduction from the Seraglio by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Don Alfonso, Così fan tutte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Leporello, Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Sarastro, The Magic Flute by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- The Baron Ochs auf Lerchenau, Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss
- Don Basilio, Il barbiere di Siviglia by Gioachino Rossini
- van Bett, Mayor, Tsar and Carpenter by Albert Lortzing
- Rocco, Fidelio by Ludwig van Beethoven
- Kaspar, Der Freischütz from Carl Maria von Weber
- Boris Godunow, title role in the opera of the same name by Modest Mussorgsky
- Don Quixote, title role in the opera of the same name by Jules Massenet
- Fiesco, Simon Boccanegra by Giuseppe Verdi
- Philip II, Don Carlos by Giuseppe Verdi
- Gurnemanz, Parsifal by Richard Wagner
- Hagen, Götterdämmerung from the tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen by Richard Wagner
- Elias, Elias by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (oratorio)
A number of great bass singers are featured on the list of famous classical music singers .
See also
Notes and individual references
- ↑ Peter-Michael Fischer : The voice of the singer . P. 129
- ↑ "That's why I admonished a number of cantores / and were very praised / if they take a lot in front of them / that they want to play on a bass violin / the bass in the choir / (which is then an easy art) / which / because you can't always have good bass players in all schools / adorns and stretches the foundation perfectly. "Michael Praetorius, Syntagma Musicum III p. 145
- ^ Arnold Schering : Johann Sebastian Bach's Leipzig Church Music. Studies and ways to find them. VEB Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig 1954, also 1956.