Male Voice Types

If anyone is looking for an introduction to opera, then look no further then this posting. I want to start with the five different male voice types, which are counter-tenor tenor, baritone, bass-baritone and bass in order from highest to lowest. Most people have heard of tenor, baritone and bass, but perhaps they have not heard of bass-baritone or counter-tenor. I will explain more about that later. But, those are the voice types in a nutshell from the highest range to the lowest range. Range is the amount of notes that a person is capable of singing as comfortably as possible. These voice types have general ranges which are approximate. For example, some baritones can singer higher or lower than a typical baritone. Another important thing about these voice types, is that different voice types play certain types of roles in opera. An opera by the way is a play set to music. However, the actors sing instead of speak. Singing is an exaggerated form of speaking, but not quite the same. Let me explain more about each voice type.
I will start with the tenor voice. Tenors are the lovers and/or heros in most operas, and they wow audiences with their high notes. Audiences love tenors because they are exciting to listen to. Do the three tenors ring a bell? They were a popular phenomenon pretty recently. The tenor voice has been around for several hundreds of years. Enrico Caruso was one of the first great tenors, and he was very famous early in the twentieth century. Recordings of Caruso survive which were recorded over one hundred years a go. These recordings were done by the gramophone. Caruso had to nail his recordings down in one take. Can you imagine that? One take? The tenor range is on average from a low C to a high C. By that I mean the third C on the piano to the 5th C on the piano which is two octaves. This is an approximation. Some tenors can sing higher than a high C, other tenors can sing lower than a low C, or some tenors can do both. I hope this is clear. It is hard to explain without an audio example. Most people come to see operas because they want to hear a certain tenor. Pavarotti was a huge hit at the Metropolitan Opera in New York for years. This is because his voice was exciting and recognizable.
The middle male voice type is the baritone. Counter-tenors are the highest voice, but they are unusual, so I will talk about that later. Most males are baritones whether they sing or not, because it is the average voice of a male. The baritone voice is the most common voice amongst opera singers. However, most of the leading roles are for tenors. Not fair is it? There are two different types of baritones in opera. They are the lyric baritone and the Verdi baritone. There are actually more than two, but these are the main two I will refer to. Lyric baritones almost sound like tenors, but they sing a few notes lower on the scale. I used to mistake lyric baritones for tenors before my ear was trained. Baritones have a richer and darker sound than tenors. The baritone voice has been an actual voice part for about two hundred years. Before two hundred years a go, singers who were baritones, but not called baritones sang higher bass parts. Baritones are popular these days, and baritones have the most competition in auditions and in schools. However, they do not hold a candle to the tenor in popularity at the opera house. Baritones usually play fathers, villains, romantic leads, comic characters, and aristocrats. Before I end my speech on the baritone here, I want to talk about the Verdi baritone. Please refer to my blog posting on the Verdi baritone for a detailed description. A Verdi baritone is a baritone with a big voice. A Verdi baritone has a darker sound then a lyric baritone. Lyric means light, whereas, a Verdi baritone is dramatic. A Verdi baritone specializes in operas by Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi, who lived from 1813-1901. If you want to get to know Verdi, listen to La Traviata, Aida, or Rigoletto, which are his most famous operas. Verdi baritones are rivals to the tenor, and often causing trouble in the stories.
The Verdi baritone has a cousin called the bass-baritone. A bass-baritone is a voice type that can sing in the bass range, and in a baritone range as well. Typically they cannot sing quite as high as a baritone, and not quite as low as a true bass. The term bass-baritone came into prominence during Richard Wagner's time during the 19th century. Most roles that bass-baritones sing are high and pretty dramatic, but they are not as high as roles Verdi wrote for baritones. The term bass-baritone does not exist in Italy. However, it is used in America, Germany and France as a voice category. The baritone role in "Carmen" is a prime example of a bass-baritone role. A baritone may sing it, but will lack a little bit of depth on the lower notes. There are many baritones who have sung the roles very effectively, but I would still call it a core bass-baritone role. There are several roles in Mozart's operas which are often done by bass-baritones, because the term baritone did not exist when Mozart lived. Mozart never wrote as high as what we know as the baritone range today. Bass-baritones often sing many of the roles in Mozart's operas. A bass-baritone has a darker sound than a baritone, and a stronger lower range. Bass-baritone roles often end at the forth F sharp on the piano. Baritones quite often have to sing above the forth G on the piano, and they have to sing high for longer periods of time then the bass-baritone.
The bass voice is the lowest of all the male voice parts. True basses are rare indeed. If a singer is a true bass, there are pretty good odds that he will get work. There are two types of basses, which are the basso-cantante, the singing bass and the basso-profondo, the deep bass. The basso-cantante, is a true bass, and not a bass-baritone, but it is a higher bass than the basso-profondo, which is the deep bass. Deep basses are very rare. The basso-cantante is the more common type of bass, and they tend to have a good upper range. Basso-cantante singers specialize in bel-canto opera, and some of Verdi's operas as well. They tend to play the lead bass roles in various operas. Also, they can play supporting or small roles if their voice is a little smaller. The term basso-cantante, literally means singing bass. By singing, I mean lyric, which means a light sounding type of singer. The term lyric does not mean small in size, but it means pleasant. Lyric basses tend to have a higher sound, and faster vibrato than the next category I am going to talk about, the deep bass. A basso-profondo, meaning deep bass can reach the lowest human notes. They are a bit stronger on the low notes than a basso cantante would be. A basso-profondo is a big and impressive bass voice. The statue in Don Giovanni should be sung by the most impressive bass voice in an opera company. That is the basso-profondo of the opera house. Basso-profondo singers are also very important in choral music. Especially, Russian Orthodox choral music. Some of that music goes down to a low B flat 2 on the piano. If you go to the piano and play the second b flat, then you will know how low this actually is. Singers like myself can growl on it, but no one wants to hear that. A true basso-profondo, which I am not, has a good sound on this note. Search "A basso-profondo am I" on youtube, and you will find Glenn Miller singing the song. He is a perfect example of a basso-profondo.
A counter-tenor is an amazing voice type, which took me a long time to get used to sound wise. Now I think it is a very effective voice type. The role of Oberon in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by Benjamin Britten is sung by a counter-tenor. This opera is based on Shakespeare's play, and Oberon sounds great as a counter-tenor. A long time a go, men had their family jewels cut off so they could sing roles which were written for castratos. Castrato and castrate go together here if you get my drift. These roles were often written in Baroque operas. That is why some of Handel's phrases are so long. When men had their family jewels cut off, they could sing for longer periods of time without breathing. These days men sing in their falsetto voice, and that is how the counter-tenor sound is produced. The last recording of a real castrato was done at the beginning of the 20th century. Do not bother listening to that one. You will not be the same, trust me. I have not heard of any castratos since then. Some counter-tenors sound more natural than others, in that their falsetto sounds like it is not being manufactured, and therefore, it is a very beautiful type of sound. The ones who sound natural sound the most authentic to my ears. Each voice type is unique and fascinating, and every male is one of these voice types whether they sing or not.