Basso profondo
{{Short description|Vocal range}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2019}}
{{Voice type}}
Basso profondo ({{IPA|it|ˈbasso proˈfondo|lang}}, "deep bass"), sometimes basso profundo or contrabass, is the lowest bass voice type.
While The New Grove Dictionary of Opera defines a typical bass as having a range that extends downward to the second E below middle C (E2),{{cite web|url=http://www.grovemusic.com|title=Bass|access-date=14 June 2006|author1=Owen Jander|author2=Lionel Sawkins|author3=J. B. Steane|author3-link=J. B. Steane|author4=Elizabeth Forbes|author4-link=Elizabeth Forbes (musicologist)|editor=L. Macy|publisher=Grove Music Online|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516041031/http://www.grovemusic.com/ |archive-date=May 16, 2008 |url-status= live}}; The Oxford Dictionary of Music gives E2 to E4 or F4 operatic bassi profondi can be called on to sing low C (C2), as in the role of Baron Ochs in Der Rosenkavalier. Often choral composers make use of lower notes, such as G1 or even F1; in such rare cases the choir relies on exceptionally deep-ranged bassi profondi termed oktavists or octavists, who sometimes sing an octave below the bass part.
Bass singer Tim Storms holds the Guinness World Record for the "lowest note produced by a human".{{Cite web |title=Lowest vocal note by a male |url=https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/lowest-vocal-note-by-a-male |access-date=2022-04-07 |website=Guinness World Records |language=en-gb}}
Definition
File:Basso profondo voice range on keyboard.svg
According to Rousseau (1775): "Basse-contres – the most profound of all voices, singing lower than the bass like a double bass, and should not be confused with contrabasses, which are instruments."{{cite book |author=Rousseau, Jean-Jacques |author-link=Jean-Jacques Rousseau |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionmusic177501rousuoft/page/n87 |title=Dictionnaire de musique |language=fr |location=Paris |year=1775 |page=66|quote=... des Basse-Contres les plus graves de toutes les Voix, qui chantent la Basse sous la Basse même, & qu'il ne faut pas confondre avec les Contre-basses, qui sont des Instrumens.}}
Oktavist
An oktavist is an exceptionally deep-ranged basso profondo, especially typical of Russian Orthodox choral music. This voice type has a vocal range which extends down to A{{sub|1}} (an octave below the baritone range) and sometimes to F{{sub|1}} (an octave below the bass staff) with the extreme lows for oktavists, such as Mikhail Zlatopolsky or Alexander Ort, reaching C{{sub|1}}.{{cite web |title=Russian Basses |date=28 March 2018 |last=Galbraith |first=R. |url=https://russiansacredmusic.com/russian-basses/ |publisher=Russian Sacred Music |access-date=11 July 2019 |archive-date=25 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625041348/https://russiansacredmusic.com/russian-basses/ |url-status=dead }}
Slavic choral composers sometimes make use of lower notes such as B{{music|♭}}1 as in Rachmaninoff's All-Night Vigil, G{{music|♯}}{{sub|1}} in "The Twelve Brigands", G{{sub|1}} in "Ne otverzhi mene" by Pavel Chesnokov, or F1 in "Kheruvimskaya pesn" ("Song of Cherubim") by Krzysztof Penderecki, although such notes sometimes also appear in repertoire by non-Slavic composers (e.g. B{{music|♭}}1 appears in Gustav Mahler's Second and Eighth Symphonies).
In popular culture, several a capella groups have bass singers with an oktavist range, such as Home Free's Tim Foust, VoicePlay's Geoff Castellucci, and Avi Kaplan formerly of Pentatonix, as well as Tony-nominated Broadway performer Patrick Page, each of these being able to reach down to a G{{sub|1}} or in some cases even lower, with Castellucci able to hit a B{{sub|0}} using subharmonic singing and Foust able to hit a G{{sub|0}} using growl.
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- {{Cite thesis|last=Camp |first=Philip Reuel |title=A Historical and Contextual Examination of Alexandre Gretchaninoff's Second Liturgy of St. John Chrysotom, Opus 29 |type=PhD. Thesis |url=http://etd.lib.ttu.edu/theses/available/etd-07312008-31295018541861/unrestricted/31295018541861.pdf |year=2002 |publisher=Texas Tech University |access-date=8 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720060940/http://etd.lib.ttu.edu/theses/available/etd-07312008-31295018541861/unrestricted/31295018541861.pdf |archive-date=20 July 2011|ref=none}}
- {{cite news |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10280/1093129-388.stm |title=The basses of 'the Barber' |last=Croan |first=Robert |date=7 October 2010 |newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |access-date=17 October 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101115123951/http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10280/1093129-388.stm |archive-date=15 November 2010|ref=none}}
- Morosan, Vladimir Choral Performance in Pre-revolutionary Russia, UMI Research Press, 1986. {{ISBN|0-8357-1713-5}}
- {{cite book |last=Ritzarev |first=Marina |year=2006 |title=Eighteenth-century Russian Music |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FNxosVOlSRoC&q=Octavist&pg=PA255 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing|page=255 |isbn=0-7546-3466-3 |access-date=8 April 2015|ref=none}}
- {{cite journal|last=Rommereim|first=J. C.|title=The Choir and How to Direct It: Pavel Chesnokov's magnum opus|journal=Choral Journal|publisher=American Choral Directors Association|volume=XXXVIII|number=7|year=1998|ref=none}}
- {{Cite AV media notes |title=Basso Profondo from Old Russia |others=The Orthodox Singers male choir |year=1999 |url=http://www.mymusicbase.ru/PPS4/sd_4897.htm |access-date=8 April 2015 |first=Georgy |last=Smirnov |type=CD Liner notes |publisher=Russian Season |id=RUS 288 158 |location=Moscow Conservatory|ref=none}}
External links
{{Wiktionary|basso profondo}}
- [https://www.oktavism.com/ oktavism.com]—Website dedicated to the oktavist voice
{{Range (music)}}