The Buffo (Comic) Bass

There are several types of operatic basses including basso-buffo, basso-cantante, and basso-profondo. In addition, there is a term called an octavist, which is a term for very low bassi-profondi who can sing an octave below the bass line in choral music when called for. The art of the buffo bass is a fascinating art form, which requires a lot of skill from the singers in the respective roles. Each one of these categories I mentioned are called vocal fachs or classifications. The term fach is a German term, and it is a classification system which distinguishes which particular roles singers should be singing. For example the basso-buffo singers are given roles such as Don Bartolo in "Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville), and Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), Dr. Dulcamara in "L'elisir d'amore", Don Pasquale in "Don Pasquale", Uberto in "La Serva Padrona", Don Magnifico in "La Cenerentola." There are many more, but those are a few solid examples of roles these types of singers are assigned. The characters in the buffo roles are often older men once well respected in society, or complete quacks like Dr. Dulcamara. They also tend to get pushed around a lot, and boast constantly about how important they are. A singer classified as a basso-buffo often sounds more like a baritone than singers of the other two types of basses. Buffo roles sit very high for basses, sometimes going above the normal bass range of approximately the second E on the piano to the forth E on the piano above middle C. Buffo singers do not necessarily possess the greatest voices, but have great pattering skills, and acting skills. Pattering is singing syllables very fast. Often patters are tongue twisters which makes it even more difficult to pull off. The secret is practicing in slowly, speaking it, and on the breath. One of the top buffo basses of today, who is actually a baritone, Alessandro Corbelli said, practice the patter always on the breath. Another important skill for a buffo bass is the ability to be funny on stage. Buffo singers such as Fernando Corena almost always played funny roles on stage, and rarely went into serious roles. Fernando Corena had a great voice compared to most basso-buffo singers, so he did take on some serious roles in his career. Corena was perhaps the greatest buffo bass of the twentieth century because he had the skills of a buffo bass, but was a great singer as well. Most buffo singers who are just considered comic basses do not take on serious roles like Corena did. Fernando Corena's predecessor Salvatore Baccaloni never took on any serious roles to my knowledge. Some singers who took on buffo roles later in their career such as Renato Capecchi, were star operatic baritones before moving into buffo territory. Capeccchi was a Verdi baritone early in his career before moving into comic roles. Capecchi was famous for Melitone in "La Forza del Destino", Bartolo in "Il Barbiere di Siviglia", and Uberto in "La Serva Padrona" later in his career. All of these singers had the ability to be funny actors on stage. Corena was a ham on stage according to sources, whereas, Baccaloni's actions were always planned. Another singer who could be very funny on stage was Enzo Dara. His acting ability, and pattering ability where unreal, but his voice was not suited to serious roles in my opinion. The basso-buffo is a separate vocal classification because singers usually exclusively sing those types of roles, as Dara did. There are two types of buffo roles in Italian comic operas. Stefan Zucker mentions the character buffo, and noble buffo in his article about Fernando Corena. The difference between character and noble buffo roles is that a larger variety of bass singers take on the noble buffo roles. Mustafa is one of them in "L'Italiana in Algeri." One of the most famous basso-cantante singers of all time Samuel Ramey was famous for Mustafa. The quality of the voice in more noble buffo roles is more important, than in character buffo roles, because the music is more noble. Samuel Ramey, Cesare Siepi, Ezio Pinza, and other basso-cantante singers sound more noble than Corena, Dara, and Baccaloni. The most clear distinction between the two types of buffo roles in is "The Barber of Seville', and in "La Cenerentola", with the roles of Bartolo versus Basilio, and Don Magnifico versus Alidoro. Don Magnifico and Bartolo are almost exclusively sung by character buffos. They require great acting skills, and awesome pattering ability. Don Basilio, and Alidoro are comic characters, but the singers need powerful and beautiful voices, and they need to anchor the bottom of the ensembles. Samuel Ramey was very famous for Basilio, and he was not a comic bass, but a lyric and noble bass singing a noble buffo role. I am fascinated by the art of the comic bass. There have been a lot of great comic bass singers, but I pick Fernando Corena as my favorite because he sang so many comic bass roles, and did it for so long. Unlike most comic basses Corena recorded several serious roles such as Rodolfo in "La Sonambula", Schaunard in "La Boheme", and Monterone in "Rigoletto." His portrayals of these roles are not as good as leading singers, but still they certainly work. He also recorded acme Mozart concert arias. This posting is not intended to be about Corena per say. I am using him as the quintessential example of the art of the buffo bass. He had the ability to patter, act well, be funny, and he had the upper extension that went beyond the bass range in order to sing the buffo roles with ease. I hope this is an informative account of the art of the comic bass.