# Greatest Bass/Bass-Baritone Roles



## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

stole the idea from another thread :tongue:
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


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

Certainly Figaro in LE NOZZE DI FIGARO. (And yes, I do think that should be sung by a _bass_-baritone, rather than a baritone.) Also, Fiesco in SIMON BOCCANEGRA. I'd love to be a bass for an evening just so I could sing "Piango, perche me parla."


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## BalalaikaBoy (Sep 25, 2014)

Bellinilover said:


> Certainly Figaro in LE NOZZE DI FIGARO. (And yes, I do think that should be sung by a _bass_-baritone, rather than a baritone.) Also, *Fiesco in SIMON BOCCANEGRA*. I'd love to be a bass for an evening just so I could sing "Piango, perche me parla."


that's the one I was trying to remember!


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## Posie (Aug 18, 2013)

My favorites are Figaro, Don Giovanni, Wotan, and Scarpia.


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## Bellinilover (Jul 24, 2013)

For bass-baritone, John the Baptist in SALOME. Not the longest role, but a great one.


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## Sieglinde (Oct 25, 2009)

For bass, King Philip is one of the best. It's such a treat. And then he has the duet with the Grand Inquisitor. It's a heaven for bass lovers.

Boris? Sarastro? Osmin? Gurnemanz? Hagen?

All versions of Satan?


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Gurnemanz in _Parsifal_ may be the longest of all bass roles, on stage for all of act 1 (almost 2 hours in itself) and most of act 3. He does almost nothing in the opera except talk, but a fine singing actor, one who knows how to act with the voice, can reveal him to be a lovable and commanding character. I would love to have seen Hans Hotter in the part, but fortunately we have recordings of his noble interpretation at Bayreuth in the '60s.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Posie said:


> My favorites are Figaro, Don Giovanni, Wotan, and Scarpia.


Sounds like the law firm that handled my divorce.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

hpowders said:


> Sounds like the law firm that handled my divorce.


 

...................


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Except that:

the bloke who handled my case insisted I call him Wotan as in Wonderful.

"Don" was a separate bloke from Giovanni.

Figaro, Dohn, Giovanni, Wotan and Scarpia*.

Anyhow, for the amount of eventual bliss consulting with them eventually provided me, the cost was more than reasonable.

* The names may have been changed to protect the innocent.


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## QuietGuy (Mar 1, 2014)

I know I'm not as advanced in opera as some of you are, but the Baritone roles I like are Porgy [Porgy & Bess] and Sweeney Todd. (I consider it an opera, and I love every single note of it.)


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## Azol (Jan 25, 2015)

Of course Assur, Philip II, Maometto II, Figaro (Nozze) and I'll add Boris Godunov, Don Pasquale, Bertram, Mose.


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