# The Greatest Bass Roles in Opera



## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

There doesn't seem to be a shortage of tenor or baritone roles. Basses don't seem to get such interesting parts in my (extremely) limited experience of opera.
Please, show me how wrong I am.


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## Posie (Aug 18, 2013)

The Commendatore is a big pair of shoes to fill, not just literally.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

Sarastro in the Flute.


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## Becca (Feb 5, 2015)

Don Magnifico in Rossini's _Cenerentola_ :lol:


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## graziesignore (Mar 13, 2015)

How about Osmin? (Abduction from the Seraglio)


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

hey! my thread was started first! 

anyway, imo 
1) Attila (Verdi). Attila is probably the most underrated of all of Verdi's works
2) Assur (Rossini's Semiramide)
3) Wotan (The Ring Cycle)
4) Bluebeard (Bluebeard's Castle)
5) Maometto (Rossini's Maometto Secondo). like Attila, it is hugely underrated, but more understandably because finding someone who can actually sing it is so difficult
6) Fiesco (Verdi's Simon Boccanegra)


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Hagen (evil guy) in _Gotterdammerung_ and Gurnemanz (good guy) in _Parsifal._ Crucial and interesting roles, showing different facets of the bass voice.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> hey! my thread was started first!
> 
> anyway, imo
> 1) Attila (Verdi). Attila is probably the most underrated of all of Verdi's works
> ...


Good choices except for Wotan, who really can't be managed by a true bass.


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## silentio (Nov 10, 2014)

Boris Godunov.
The Grand Inquisitor in _Don Carlo_ makes a brief appearance, but quite theatrically effective.

And speaking of theatrically effective and "interesting", I would add Arkel from _Pelléas et Mélisande_, who serves as cryptic observer and commentator.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

_Boris Godunov_ has not only Boris but Pimen and Varlaam. On his first recording of the opera, Boris Christoff sang all three!

Is Borodin's Prince Igor a bass or a baritone role?


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## MoonlightSonata (Mar 29, 2014)

BalalaikaBoy said:


> hey! my thread was started first!
> 
> anyway, imo
> 1) Attila (Verdi). Attila is probably the most underrated of all of Verdi's works
> ...


Sorry, I didn't see that until after I started this thread.
This one is specifically for bass, and not bass-baritone, roles.


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> Good choices except for Wotan, who really can't be managed by a true bass.


I know. this is originally from my thread on "Greatest Bass/Bass-Baritone Roles in Opera"


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Has no one mentioned the greatest Verdi bass character of them all -- King Philippo from _Don Carlo_ who sings the incredibly moving "Ella giamma m'mo"?
And what of the role of the Devil in _Mefistofele_?
Archibaldo the King in_ L'amore dei tre re._


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## graziesignore (Mar 13, 2015)

"Ella giamma m'amo" by Cesare Siepi


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## Retired (Feb 15, 2015)

IMO...true basses are rare. Neri comes to mind. I think Hines was a true bass and had no problem with Boris or the Wagner roles. What about Kipnis? Having experienced Talvela in rehearsal and in performance, I would put him in the true bass category. Siepi remains my favorite lower male voice...not only for the natural beauty of the voice but also for the lush legato. His manner of singing set him apart as much as anything else. Van Halem (before his accident) was another bass capable of singing the Wagner roles. 

Somewhere there is a Youtube clip of Hans Franzen (more a character bass) singing Senacas low C from Poppea (I believe)....you had to be present to believe how well that low C carried!!


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## perempe (Feb 27, 2014)

Mefistofele title role (Boito), but I'm biased because of our opera company.

but I like Commendatore, Sarastro and Ozmis as well.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Massenet's _Don Quichotte_ is a wonderful role for a bass. Tender and heartbreaking.

This is his serenade to La belle Dulcinée, interrupted by the callow and unfeeling Juan.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Have never understood why Odabella would choose that wuss Foresto when Attila offered her his hand (and more)??!


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Elvira's uncle, Sir Giorgio Valton, in _I Puritani_ is a kind and sympathetic character which is quite rare for a bass role.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Siepi is my favorite too.
Followed by Talvela and Pinza.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Leporello in _Don Giovanni_ is a fabulous role

Grigory Soloviov, one of my favourites of the new generation


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Polyphemus in _Acis and Galatea_


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## Barelytenor (Nov 19, 2011)

Here is a link to one Franzen performance from Ii Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria but the low C doesn't really even speak ...

Best Regards, 

George


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Here is Gremin's aria from _Eugene Onegin_ in the most expressive performance you will ever hear, by Boris Shtokolov (1930-2005):


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

How about Bertram in 'Robert le Diable':






Or Marcel in 'Les Huguenots':


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Figleaf said:


> How about Bertram in 'Robert le Diable':
> 
> 
> 
> ...


A couple of great French basses. But God, what corny music! No wonder Wagner despised Meyerbeer's success!
And did you read the description on YT of what "Nonnes qui reposez" is about?

_"You know this scene, right? Where Bertram goes down into a cave at an abandoned cloister and invokes the nuns entombed there to rise up and seduce his son? And then their ghosty zombie asses get up and do a Nasti Nun dance in shrouds barely covering sexy saintly sous-vêtements? It was scandalous when it premiered; kinda still gives me chills."_

Chills indeed.

Let's give Plancon a chance with Verdi:


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## Figleaf (Jun 10, 2014)

Woodduck said:


> A couple of great French basses. But God, what corny music! No wonder Wagner despised Meyerbeer's success!
> And did you read the description on YT of what "Nonnes qui reposez" is about?
> 
> _"You know this scene, right? Where Bertram goes down into a cave at an abandoned cloister and invokes the nuns entombed there to rise up and seduce his son? And then their ghosty zombie asses get up and do a Nasti Nun dance in shrouds barely covering sexy saintly sous-vêtements? It was scandalous when it premiered; kinda still gives me chills."_
> ...


What's wrong with sexy zombie nuns, for goodness' sake? :lol: All good fun- and Meyerbeer wrote beautiful, singable tunes, as did Wagner of course- but Wagner was parsimonious with them.

That record of 'Je dormirai dans mon manteau royal' is a benchmark of bass singing, Verdi singing and just singing full stop: gorgeous sounding and moving too. Plancon is worth more than all the growly Russian basses that ever lived. But what's he wearing in the picture accompanying that video?- the costume of St. Bris in 'Les Huguenots', if I'm not mistaken! He wasn't too proud to give the public what it wanted: drama, spectacle and beautiful tunes! Here's another one from 'Les Huguenots'- Paul Payan again- I wish I were a bass so I could sing this! (I could probably play the dustbin lid that seems to feature in the accompaniment to the last verse, along with a penny whistle- the joys of early recordings. ) I don't care if the Wagnerite intelligentsia find this music corny- leave them to their shouty sixteen hour bore-athons and I'll take Meyerbeer, nuns and all


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

Woodduck said:


> A couple of great French basses. *But God, what corny music! *No wonder Wagner despised Meyerbeer's success!
> And did you read the description on YT of what "Nonnes qui reposez" is about?
> 
> _"You know this scene, right? Where Bertram goes down into a cave at an abandoned cloister and invokes the nuns entombed there to rise up and seduce his son? And then their ghosty zombie asses get up and do a Nasti Nun dance in shrouds barely covering sexy saintly sous-vêtements? It was scandalous when it premiered; kinda still gives me chills."_
> ...


Hey, it's French.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Figleaf said:


> What's wrong with sexy zombie nuns, for goodness' sake? :lol: All good fun- and Meyerbeer wrote beautiful, singable tunes, as did Wagner of course- but Wagner was parsimonious with them.
> 
> That record of 'Je dormirai dans mon manteau royal' is a benchmark of bass singing, Verdi singing and just singing full stop: gorgeous sounding and moving too. Plancon is worth more than all the growly Russian basses that ever lived. But what's he wearing in the picture accompanying that video?- the costume of St. Bris in 'Les Huguenots', if I'm not mistaken! He wasn't too proud to give the public what it wanted: drama, spectacle and beautiful tunes! Here's another one from 'Les Huguenots'- Paul Payan again-* I wish I were a bass so I could sing this! (I could probably play the dustbin lid that seems to feature in the accompaniment to the last verse, along with a penny whistle- the joys of early recordings. *) I don't care if the Wagnerite intelligentsia find this music corny- leave them to their shouty sixteen hour bore-athons and I'll take Meyerbeer, nuns and all


:lol:

Superb! Thank you for posting this!


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Figleaf said:


> What's wrong with sexy zombie nuns, for goodness' sake? :lol: All good fun- and Meyerbeer wrote beautiful, singable tunes, as did Wagner of course- but Wagner was parsimonious with them.
> 
> The next time I listen to parsimonious _Parsifal_ I shall be thinking of sexy zombie nuns singing beautiful tunes.
> 
> But now that I think of it, Kundry and the flower maidens are close enough. Perhaps Wagner absorbed more of Meyerbeer than he realized.


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

I remember a TV programme presented by the bass Robert Lloyd called "Six Foot Cinderellas" in which he talked about the role of basses in opera. At the end he sang (and acted by trick photography) all three roles in the Commendatore scene in Don Giovanni. That to my mind is one of the greatest and most dramatic scenes in all opera, if not THE greatest. Lloyd made the point that Mozart gave it to his low voices.


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## aussiebushman (Apr 21, 2018)

Woodduck said:


> Here is Gremin's aria from _Eugene Onegin_ in the most expressive performance you will ever hear, by Boris Shtokolov (1930-2005):


Thanks - You have done it again Woodduck. I'm no stranger to opera or opera singers, but I had never heard Shtokolov and it is a revelation.

However, it comes as a surprise that no one on this thread has mentioned Ivar Andresen one of the largest yet musical basses ever recorded 



.
And:


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Claggart, from Britten's _Billy Budd_.
Tkachenko, from Prokofiev's _Semyon Kotko_.
Schigolch, from Berg's _Lulu_.
Bartolo, from Rossini's _The Barber of Seville_.

Perhaps not the greatest, but they are among my favourites.


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## Sieglinde (Oct 25, 2009)

Claggart is one of my favourites - he's like a fusion of Hagen, the Grand Inquisitor, and Frollo. Sadly, Youtube doesn't seem to have his aria with Tomlinson.

A one-aria role in the Varangian/Viking Guest in Sadko, but what a great aria is it:






And my favourite Osmin, Mihály Székely (sung in Hungarian). He was quite legendary here (and even performed in the Met).


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## Annied (Apr 27, 2017)

sospiro said:


> Have never understood why Odabella would choose that wuss Foresto when Attila offered her his hand (and more)??!


"Attila" is a favourite of mine and that's exactly what I commented when I saw the wonderful Opera North production with John Tomlinson many years ago. What a stage presence! It still lives in my memory as one of the most complete pieces of theatre of any genre that I've ever seen.


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## SalieriIsInnocent (Feb 28, 2008)

The great late Kurt Moll singing as Osmin in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail:









Kurt will always be Osmin in my eyes. His performances in the role were so entertaining and wonderfully sung.


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