The baritone is opera’s “heavyman”. The “-tone” part speaks for itself – while “bari-” comes from Greek, meaning weighty or heavy (as in barometer, an instrument that measures the weight of the air). Baritone simply means heavy-toned. There are two types of baritone: the lyric - or light, and the dramatic - or dark. What distinguishes them is simply the difference in timbre (colour) of the voice.
The lyric baritone possesses a more elegant, beautiful sounding voice, with a more pleasing tone in the upper register. The dramatic baritone will have more of a “snarl” in the voice, with a heavier sounding lower register (thus giving him the attribute of “dark”), and possibly with a more steely upper register; it is this voice that we call the “Verdi” baritone.
Thomas Allen is the epitome of a lyric baritone, whilst Tito Gobbi fits firmly in the dramatic category. Neither has particularly a greater or lesser voice in terms of range, power and volume; merely the “colour” of each voice is different. Indeed, both have sung the role I consider to be a baritone’s dream role: Figaro in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia.
This role requires full bel canto singing, the sustaining of an elegant line, whilst demonstrating the fullness of voice and a challenging tessitura. It also has one of the best-loved arias in the entire operatic repertoire, "Largo al factotum" (Make way for the factotum).
The role is extremely demanding, with Figaro’s first entrance for "Largo al factotum". No sooner has he recovered from this, than he must engage in a duet with the Count, "All’idea di quel metallo" (At the idea of this metal), a fiendish duet that sees the tessitura rarely descending below A on the stave. At one point, Figaro sings a third below the Count and matches him for virtuosity.
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During the Allegro, we see him maintain the high D for 30 bars. With only Rosina’s and Basilio’s arias to recover, he then launches into a duet with Rosina: "Dunque io son" (Then it is I). This too maintains a high tessitura, around the tonic of D major, and the coloratura is extremely taxing. Then, after a brief respite, we enter the Act I Finale, 20 minutes long and full of hard singing for all the main characters.
In Act II, Figaro sings in the Quintet "Don Basilio". This is perhaps the most physically demanding scene, as it requires a lot of interaction between all five of the main characters onstage. The tessitura is more comfortable, but there are still a lot of high Ds and Es, and the pacing is furious, especially as it moves into the quartet when Basilio has departed. After the storm scene, the trio between Rosina, the Count and Figaro sees even more vocal demands being placed on him, with top Fs and top As regularly asked of the singer. In the Allegro section ("Zitti zitti" – Softly, softly) Figaro rarely goes below G or F below middle C, and in fact sings much in unison with the Count. The Act II Finale is a stroll in the park by comparison.
However, despite the physical, vocal and musical demands of the role, a singer who can meet the challenges of this role can indeed make a career out of performing it worldwide. Whether one prefers a “light” or “dark” baritone in the role is perhaps down to personal taste more than anything else, but few roles offer such possibilities to either type of baritone as this role.
Ian Wilson-Pope
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