Boomin Bass and Bari one BEST LOVED OPERA ARIAS Best loved opera arias for Bass and Baritone 1 Gioachino ROSSINI (1792–1868) 6 Jacques OFFENBACH (1819–1880) 11 Gioachino ROSSINI 15 George Frideric HANDEL (1685–1759) Il barbiere di Siviglia 4:57 Les Contes d’Hoffmann 4:09 Guillaume Tell (‘William Tell’) (1829) 2:41 Acis and Galatea (1718) 3:26 (‘The Barber of Seville’) (1816) (‘The Tales of Hoffmann’) (1881) Act III, Finale – Aria: Sois immobile (Guillaume) Act II – Aria: O ruddier than the cherry Act I – Cavatina: Largo al factotum Act II – Scintille, diamant! (Dappertutto) Andrew Foster-Williams, Bass-baritone (Polyphemus) della città (Figaro) Samuel Ramey, Bass • Munich Radio Orchestra Virtuosi Brunensis • Antonino Fogliani Jan Opalach, Bass • Seattle Symphony Orchestra Lado Ataneli, Baritone Julius Rudel (8.555355) (8.660363-66) Gerard Schwarz (8.572745-46) Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra 7 Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1756–1791) 12 Giuseppe VERDI (1813–1901) 16 Gioachino ROSSINI Lodovico Zocche Le nozze di Figaro 4:01 Nabucco (1842) 4:14 Mosè in Egitto 4:55 (8.572438) (‘The Marriage of Figaro’) (1786) Act II, Scene 2 – Recitative: (‘Moses in Egypt’) (1818, Naples version 1819) 2 Georges BIZET (1838–1875) Act I, No. 10 – Aria: Non più andrai (Figaro) Vieni, o Levita! (Zaccaria) Act II – Dal Re de’ Regi (Mosè) Carmen (1875) 4:53 Renato Girolami, Baritone Michele Pertusi, Bass-baritone Lorenzo Regazzo, Bass-baritone Act II – Couplets: Votre toast, je peux Nicolaus Esterházy Sinfonia • Michael Halász Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra vous les rendre (Toreador Song) (Escamillo) (8.660102-04) Orchestra Giovanile della Via Emilia Antonino Fogliani (8.660220-21) Lado Ataneli, Baritone Francesco Ivan Ciampa (Dynamic CDS7867) 8 Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART 17 Giacomo MEYERBEER (1791–1864) Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra Die Zauberflöte 2:59 13 Giuseppe VERDI Les Huguenots (‘The Huguenots’) (1836) 3:01 Lodovico Zocche (‘The Magic Flute’) (1791) Rigoletto (1851) 4:16 Act I – Piff, paff, piff, cernons-les! (Marcel) (8.572438) Act II, No. 10 – Aria and Chorus: Act II – Cortigiani, vil razza dannata Soon-Won Kang, Bass • Bratislava Chamber Choir Charles GOUNOD (1818–1893) O Isis und Osiris (Sarastro, Chorus) (Rigoletto) Orchestra Internationale d’Italia Faust (1859, revised version 1864) Kurt Rydl, Bass • Hungarian Festival Chorus Eduard Tumagian, Bass-baritone Renato Palumbo (Dynamic CDS422) 3 Act II, Scene 3 – Ronde du Veau d’or: 1:56 Budapest Failoni Chamber Orchestra Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra 18 Giacomo PUCCINI Le Veau d’or est toujours debout! Michael Halász (8.660030-31) (Bratislava) • Alexander Rahbari (8.660013-14) Tosca (1900) 4:18 (Méphistophélès) 9 Richard WAGNER (1813–1883) 14 Giacomo PUCCINI (1858–1924) Act I – Tre sbirri, una carrozza 4 Act III, Scene 10 – Il était temps! 1:48 Der fliegende Holländer 4:59 La Bohème (1896) 1:40 (Te Deum) (Scarpia, Chorus) (Méphistophélès) (‘The Flying Dutchman’) (1843) Act IV – Vecchia zimarra, senti (Colline) Silvano Carroli, Baritone Carlo Colombara, Bass Act I, No. 2 – Aria: Die Frist ist um (Daland) Ivan Urbas, Bass Slovak Philharmonic Chorus Croatian National Theatre Erich Knodt, Bass Czecho-Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra in Rijeka Opera Orchestra ORF Vienna Symphony Orchestra (Bratislava) • Will Humburg (8.660003-04) Alexander Rahbari (8.660001-02) Ville Matvejeff (8.660456-58) Pinchas Steinberg (8.660025-26) 5 Arrigo BOITO (1842–1918) 10 Richard WAGNER Mefistofele (1868, revised version 1875) 2:51 Die Walküre (‘The Valkyrie’) (1870) 3:19 Act II, Scene 2 – Ecco il mondo Act III, Scene 3 – Leb’ wohl, du kühnes, Total Timing: 65:12 (Mefistofele) herrliches Kind! (Wotan’s Farewell) (Wotan) Samuel Ramey, Bass Matthias Goerne, Baritone Munich Radio Orchestra Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra Julius Rudel (8.555355) Jaap van Zweden (8.660394-97) 8.578191 2 3 8.578191 Best loved opera arias for and this opened the way for more experimental The Baritone and Bass Voice Bass and Baritone works, such as Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro The highest operatic male voice produced 7 , with its innovative use of ensembles and without falsetto is the tenor. One step lower is the Introduction great music combined with powerful stories… emotional variety. baritone and the lowest is the bass. Somewhere In 1755, the great English lexicographer From its birth, opera has been about real In the early 19th century, this in turn between the two latter lies the bass-baritone. As Dr Johnson defined opera asexotic and irrational. emotions, and real situations, but heightened to developed into a new style called bel canto with so many other musical categories, these He wasn’t wrong. It’s full of people who a point of sublimity. (literally ‘beautiful singing’) which emphasised terms are often very loosely applied and – as if say things like ‘Farewell, my child, farewell’, As with all art forms, conventions soon singers’ virtuosity in long-held phrases and to add to the confusion – there are further sub- 10 but who don’t leave the stage, or who sing arose. Songs for individual characters became brilliantly sparkling fast passages 1 11 16 . categories as well. marvellous tunes while slowly dying of stab- known as arias. Quick-paced dialogue, in a Verdi then pushed this style to encompass ever- The terms bass and baritone first came into wounds, and all usually in a language audiences less melodic style, was called recitative. An greater emotional intensity, and sometimes use in the 17th century, but it was not until the don’t understand. But here’s the thing. Although opera might have some duets, or trios, or a also employed the bigger crowd-scenes and 19th century that they were widely applied: in opera is not realistic, it is real. Opera takes the chorus. The accompanying orchestra began epic backdrops of grand opera 12 13 . Opera the Baroque period, any lower-sounding male great moments of life – death, love, vengeance, to grow too. had another flowering in the late 19th-century voice was usually simply called bass. In the sex, parting – and stretches them out for us so Certain musical forms began to dominate verismo style, which exploited sexually bel canto era, composers like Rossini began that we may feel them more fully. the art form. In the Baroque period (early 18th heightened conflicts 14 18 , before it headed to exploit the upper-reaches of the low male Opera offers truths which are otherwise century) operas mostly fell into the category into several different modern pathways, some voice, with florid passages and longer-breathed inexpressible. of opera seria. The distinguishing feature of more successful than others, in the 20th and melodies, and it was to this type of sound an opera seria is a type of aria which always 21st centuries. that the term baritone (as we now understand A History of Opera repeats its opening section after a contrasting If you’re wondering why this history has it) came to be attached. Later in the century For an art form which has had such a interlude. Although Handel’s Acis and Galatea only covered Italian opera – partly it’s because Wagner began to demand more stamina and profound impact on global culture, opera has is defined as apastoral rather than an opera the Italians were first on the scene and so power in the lower register from his baritones, a surprisingly short history. It was invented in (it’s a moot point), the aria ‘O ruddier than the controlled the field. But it is also because the and the term bass-baritone arose. about 1600 in Italy. A group of academics, cherry’ 15 is a good example of a da capo aria. Italian language, with its open vowels and easy There are several common features in the hoping to recreate the chanted speech of At this stage, it was the singers – not consonants, is a wonderfully straightforward repertoire for these voices. In a typical bel canto ancient Greek theatre, developed a method composers, not librettists, not producers – language to sing. All other national schools opera, the central conflict revolves around a of giving sung notes to the words of dramatic who were the most important people of the of opera – including French 2 3 4 6 17 , love-triangle of heroine-lover-villain, in which characters. Hey presto! – they’d stumbled upon opera world, and sometimes they demanded German 9 10 , Russian, and English – have the baritone almost always takes the latter opera: drama told through music. ridiculous changes in storytelling merely to suit thus defined themselves in apro or contra adversarial role, with soprano and tenor taking It quickly took off. The wrenching pathos, their egos. In 1762 Gluck tried to reform opera relationship with the globally dominant the other two. In comic works, basses are often the opportunities for comedy, the grandeur of back to purer principles in Orfeo ed Euridice, Italian product. seen as pompous pratfall figures (giving rise 8.578191 4 5 8.578191 to the ‘buffo-bass’ or ‘comic-bass’ category), between the thrills of bull-fighting and the excesses of the Second French Empire in 6 Scintille, diamant! (‘Sparkle, diamond!’) but in more serious works they also frequently excitements of love. this aria. from Les Contes d’Hoffmann (1881) appear as wise priests and noble kings Escamillo’s aria has one of the Hoffmann has fallen in love with the 8 12 16 . Lastly, whenever a whiff of sulphur is catchiest tunes ever written (it also appears 4 Il était temps! (‘It was time!’) fascinating Venetian courtesan, Giulietta. desired – perhaps with a hint of comedy too in the orchestral prelude to the opera) from Faust (1859, revised 1864) The malevolent Captain Dappertutto – a composer often turns to basses and bass- which has been used in countless films and Méphistophélès watches as Faust climbs promises Giulietta a diamond if she is able baritones for operatic devils and demons adverts.