Baritenor

Baritenor (also rendered in English-language sources as bari-tenor ^[1] or baritenore ^[2] ) is a portmanteau (blend) of the words "baritone" and "tenor". ^[3] It is used to describe both baritone and tenor voices. In Webster's Third New International Dictionary it is defined as "a baritone singing voice with virtually a tenor range". ^[4] However, the term was defined in several late 19th century and early 20th century music dictionaries, such as The American History and Encyclopedia of Music, as "a low tenor voice, almost baritone [ sic ]." ^[5]

Contents

• In opera
• In vocal pedagogy
• In musical theatre
• Notes
• References
• External links

In opera

Baritenor (or its Italian form, baritenore) is still used today to describe a type of tenor voice which came to particular prominence in Rossini's operas. ^[6] It is characterized by a dark, weighty lower octave and a ringing upper one but with sufficient agility for coloratura singing. ^[7] Rossini used this type of voice to portray noble (and usually older), leading characters, often in contrast to the higher, lighter voices of the tenore di grazia or the tenore contraltino who portrayed the young, impetuous lovers. ^[8] An example of this contrast can be found in his Otello (1816), where the role of Otello was written for a baritenore (Andrea Nozzari), while the role of Rodrigo, his young rival for the affections of Desdemona, was written for a tenore di grazia (Giovanni David). Nozzari and David were paired again in Rossini's Ricciardo e Zoraide (1818), with a similar contrast in characters – Nozzari sang the role of Agorante, King of Nubia, while David portrayed the Christian knight, Ricciardo. Other notable baritenors of this period beside Nozzari were Gaetano Crivelli, Nicola Tacchinardi, Manuel García Sr. and Domenico Donzelli. ^[9]

Italian musicologist Rodolfo Celletti proposed that the Rossinian baritenor was nothing new to opera. According to Celletti, the tenor voices used for leading roles in early baroque operas such as Jacopo Peri's Euridice (1600) and Claudio Monteverdi's Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (1640) were essentially "baritenor" ones with a range common to both the baritone and tenor voices of today. ^[10] Much the same position was also adopted in 2000 by Fabrizio Dorsi in his history of Italian opera. ^[11] In his 2009 book, Tenor: History of a voice, John Potter refers to this type of voice as "tenor-bass" and notes that several virtuoso singers of the 17th century who were described as "tenors" by their contemporaries could also sing in the bass register: Giulio Caccini, Giuseppino Cenci, Giovanni Domenico Puliaschi and Francesco Rasi. ^[12] Rasi created the title role in Monteverdi's first opera, L'Orfeo (1607), ^[13] which in modern times has been sung by tenors such as Anthony Rolfe Johnson ^[14] as well as by lyric baritones, such as Simon Keenlyside. ^[15] Based on their descriptions in Vincenzo Giustiniani's Discorso sopra la musica (1628), Potter has suggested that singers such as Caccini, Cenci, Puliaschi, and Rasi, employed an "open speech-like sound" which facilitated the agility and clarity of expression for which their voices were renowned. ^[16]

With the rise of the castrato singer in Italian opera, the baritenor voice came to be perceived as "ordinary" or even "vulgar" and was relegated to portraying character roles – villains, grotesques, old men, and even women. ^[17] Although there were exceptions, such as Dario in Vivaldi's L'incoronazione di Dario (created by the tenor Annibale Pio Fabri), ^[18] the leading male roles (and especially that of the romantic lover) in Italian operas of the middle and late baroque era were largely written for the high, exotic voices of the castrati. ^[19] In French opera of the same period, the baritenor voice, called the taille (or haute-taille) before the term ténor came into general use, was little used for important solo parts, although possibly more often than in Italian opera. Because of the general dislike for the castrato voice in France, young lover roles were assigned to the high male voices of hautes-contre. ^[20] Today the taille roles are most often performed by baritones.^{[ citation needed ]}

In vocal pedagogy

Vocal pedagogues such as Richard Miller use the term to refer to a common voice category in young male singers whose tessitura (most comfortable vocal range) lies between that of a baritone and that of a tenor and whose passage zone lies between C₄ and F₄. ^[21] Such singers can evolve, either naturally or through training, into high baritones, suitable for operatic roles such as Pelléas in Pelléas et Mélisande . Alternatively, they may evolve into spieltenors, suitable for character roles such as Pedrillo in The Abduction from the Seraglio or into heldentenors who sing leading roles such as Siegmund in Die Walküre or Florestan in Fidelio . ^[22] In both these types of tenor roles the highest notes of the tenor range are rarely required, and the voice usually has a baritonal weight in the lower notes. Several famous tenors who have sung the dramatic tenor and heldentenor repertory originally began their careers as baritones, including Jean de Reszke, ^[23] Giovanni Zenatello, ^[24] Renato Zanelli, ^[25] Lauritz Melchior, ^[26] Erik Schmedes, ^[27] and Plácido Domingo. ^[28] Towards the end of his career, Domingo returned to the baritone repertoire when he sang the title role in Simon Boccanegra . ^[29] Self-described as "a bastard bari-tenor", ^[30] Walter Slezak (the son of operatic tenor Leo Slezak) was primarily a stage and film actor, but he also sang tenor roles in musicals and operettas, and appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in 1959 as Zsupán in The Gypsy Baron . In popular music, singer Josh Groban is generally recognized as a baritenor, ^[31] and he describes himself as "a baritone with some high notes up [his] sleeve". ^{[32] [33]}

In musical theatre

Despite being described in Acting the Song: Performance Skills for the Musical Theatre as a term "coined" by "musical theatre vernacular", ^[35] the use of baritenor in relation to the operatic voice can be seen in English sources since at least 1835, and French ones since 1829. ^[36] Nevertheless, the term is widely used in musical theatre to describe a baritone voice capable of singing notes in the tenor range, and was used as early as 1950 to describe the voice of Eddie Fisher in a variety show at New York's Paramount Theatre. ^[37] Deer and Dal Vera have noted that by 2008, the majority of leading roles in rock musicals were being written for baritenors. ^[38] Amongst the roles specifying baritenor voices in casting calls between 2008 and 2010 were: Tom Collins ( Rent ), ^[39] Bob and Tommy ( Jersey Boys ); ^[40] Wizard, Cowardly Lion, Scarecrow, and Tinman ( The Wiz ); ^[41] Max Bialystock and Leopold Bloom ( The Producers ); ^[42] and Thomas Weaver and Alvin Kelby ( The Story of My Life ). ^[43]

Saltzman and Dési ascribe the rise of the baritenor voice in musical theatre to the introduction of amplification in the second half of the 20th century. Prior to that, the leading roles were predominantly sung by tenors and sopranos with even the baritone characters tending to sing in the upper part of their range. This was due not only to the popular taste of the times, but also to the fact that higher voices were more capable of riding over the orchestra and reaching the furthest seats. The introduction of amplification allowed male leading roles to be assigned to baritones, albeit ones who often had an extension into the tenor range. ^[44] David Young also notes that the baritenor voice can be particularly useful for roles such as Marius in Fanny where the character ages significantly during the course of the musical. ^[45]

Notes

Related Research Articles

Francesco Tamagno was an Italian operatic dramatic tenor who sang with enormous success throughout Europe and America. On 5 February 1887, he sang Otello in the first performance of Giuseppe Verdi's opera. He is also the earliest Italian tenor of note to have left a sizeable body of recordings of his voice. He was one of the first international male public figures to admit that he was the single parent and caregiver of a daughter from her birth.

Travesti is a theatrical character in an opera, play, or ballet performed by a performer of the opposite sex.

The tenore contraltino is a specialized form of the tenor voice found in Italian opera around the beginning of the 19th century, mainly in the Rossini repertoire, which rapidly evolved into the modern "romantic" tenor. It is sometimes referred to as tenor altino in English books.

Bel canto —with several similar constructions —is a term with several meanings that relate to Italian singing.

Domenico Donzelli was an Italian tenor with a robust voice who enjoyed an important career in Paris, London and his native country during the 1808-1841 period.

Tenore di grazia, also called leggero tenor, is a lightweight, flexible tenor voice type. The tenor roles written in the early 19th-century Italian operas are invariably leggero tenor roles, especially those by Rossini such as Lindoro in L'italiana in Algeri, Don Ramiro in La Cenerentola, and Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia; and those by Bellini such as Gualtiero in Il pirata, Elvino in La sonnambula and Arturo in I puritani. Many Donizetti roles, such as Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore and Ernesto in Don Pasquale, Tonio in La fille du régiment, are also tenore di grazia roles. One of the most famous leggero tenors of that period was Giovanni Battista Rubini, for whom Bellini wrote nearly all his operas.

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work, which combines a text and a musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. While the scale of opera can be larger or smaller—there are many different genres of opera—performance typically involves different types of artist and technical staff. Usually an orchestra led by a conductor accompanies the singers. In contrast to spoken theatre, the opera world is international. Italian, German, French, English, and Russian works are performed worldwide in their original languages, and artists travel from country to country performing.

Giovanni David was an Italian tenor particularly known for his roles in Rossini operas.

Erik Anton Julius Schmedes was an operatic tenor, particularly known for his roles in operas by Richard Wagner. He was a brother-in-law by marriage of Vaslav Nijinsky.

Andrea Nozzari was an Italian tenor.

The Italian term musico has a number of meanings:

Enrico Tamberlik was an Italian tenor who sang to great acclaim at Europe and America's leading opera venues. He excelled in the heroic roles of the Italian and French repertories and was renowned for his powerful declamation and clarion high notes.

L'école de la jeunesse ou Le Barnevelt françois is an opéra comique in three acts by the composer Egidio Duni. The libretto, by Louis Anseaume, is based on George Lillo's play The London Merchant or The History of George Barnwell (1731). The opera was first performed at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on 24 January 1765.

Giacomo David, was a leading Italian tenor of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Brigida Banti, best known by her husband's surname and her stage-name, as Brigida Banti, was an Italian soprano.

Francesco Graziani was an Italian baritone and voice teacher. Graziani has been called the first modern baritone because his vocal attributes were well suited to the high-lying operatic parts composed by Giuseppe Verdi, with whom he worked.

Falsettone is a term used in modern Italian musicology to describe a vocal technique used by male opera singers in the past, in which the fluty sounds typical of falsetto singing are amplified by using the same singing technique used in the modal voice register. The result is a bright, powerful tone, often very high-pitched, although the sound is still different from and more feminine than what is produced by the modal voice. The term falsettone is also used for the mixed vocal register that can be achieved using this technique.

Italo Gardoni was a leading operatic tenore di grazia singer from Italy who enjoyed a major international career during the middle decades of the 19th century. Along with Giovanni Mario, Gaetano Fraschini, Enrico Tamberlik and Antonio Giuglini, he was one of the most celebrated Italian tenors of his era.

Gaetano Fraschini was an Italian tenor. He created many roles in 19th century operas, including five composed by Giuseppe Verdi. His voice was "heroic ... with a baritonal quality, ... yet Verdi and Donizetti appreciated his ability to sing softly and with subtlety." An Italian biographer has pointed out Fraschini's role in extending the longevity of Donizetti's operas, while at the same time accelerating the ascent of Verdi's repertory. He was indeed the most prominent singer who facilitated the transition from Donizetti to Verdi. Fraschini sang over one hundred roles and Verdi placed him at the top of his favorite tenors' list and described him as a "natural Manrico" for his Il trovatore. Fraschini also played a pivotal role in the success of many operas by Pacini and Mercadante.

Manuel del Pópulo Vicente Rodriguez García was a Spanish opera singer, composer, impresario, and singing teacher.

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External links

• "David Daniels" (Andante, 2002), an interview by Jason Serinus with the American countertenor, David Daniels, who describes his early vocal training and the transition from a baritenor voice to that of a countertenor.
• "Dr. Bennati's Researches on the Mechanism of the Human Voice" (The Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, Vol. 40, 1833) presents an early 19th-century view of the baritenor operatic voice and the vocal problems experienced by two famous baritenors of the day, Domenico Donzelli and Gaetano Crivelli. (Francesco Bennati (1798–1834) was an Italian baritone who later became an eminent physician. Primarily a laryngologist, he was the house physician to the Opéra-Italien in Paris.)