# Why didn't Mozart write any concert arias for baritones?



## russetvelvet (Oct 14, 2016)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_concert_arias,_songs_and_canons_by_Wolfgang_Amadeus_Mozart

The wikipedia page seems to be a fairly exhaustive compilation, and I'm baffled...perhaps at his time baritones didn't need such showcasing pieces?


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Perhaps he just didn't like the voice that much.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Men do not have the technical agility for coloratura that women have. Different biologies. Mozart obviously recognized this.


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

hpowders said:


> Men do not have the technical agility for coloratura that women have. Different biologies. Mozart obviously recognized this.


I don't know...Samuel Ramey, for instance, had amazing agility. And then there's Don Ottavio's coloratura in "Il mio tesoro" (DON GIOVANNI), which to me sounds as intricate as most of Mozart's writing for soprano.

As to why Mozart didn't write any concert arias for baritone -- I don't think it was until Rossini's time that the lower male voices (which I believe in Mozart's time were all called "bass"?) were seen as "showy" in the same way women's voices were.

Did Mozart write any concert arias for tenor?
Edited to add: I just looked at the link -- I guess he did write a few.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

^

Gösta Winbergh made a wonderful tenor arias recording.


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

russetvelvet said:


> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_concert_arias,_songs_and_canons_by_Wolfgang_Amadeus_Mozart
> 
> The wikipedia page seems to be a fairly exhaustive compilation, and I'm baffled...perhaps at his time baritones didn't need such showcasing pieces?


Answer is provided here...a common lumping of bass/baritone. :tiphat:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baritone


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