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(Fr. basse; Ger. Bass; It. basso)

The lowest male voice, normally written for within the range F to e′, which may be extended at either end.

Italian composers in the late 16th century often wrote highly ornate parts for the bass voice, and this continued into the first three decades of the 17th. In opera, however, where bass roles were few and generally unimportant, ornate writing was relatively rare; the emphasis lay rather on dramatic portrayal. In the surviving operas of Monteverdi the bass already appears in some of what were to be its most important historical role types: as a god (particularly a god of the underworld: Pluto in Orfeo, 1607, Neptune in Il ritorno d’Ulisse, 1640), or as a sepulchral figure (Charon in Orfeo). In Orfeo Monteverdi called for special instrumentation (the regal, a trombone choir) which was itself to become a tradition in much operatic scoring associated with the bass voice. A further impressive use of the voice is for the role of Seneca in ...

Member of Gerl family

(b Andorf, Upper Austria, Nov 30, 1764; d Mannheim, March 9, 1827). Austrian bass and composer. The son of a village schoolmaster and organist, Gerl by 1777 was an alto chorister at Salzburg, where he must have been a pupil of Leopold Mozart. He was at the Salzburg Gymnasium from 1778 until 1782 and he then went on to study logic and physics at the university. In the autumn of 1785 he went to Erlangen as a bass, joining the theatrical company of Ludwig Schmidt, who had been at Salzburg earlier that year. In the autumn of 1786 he joined G.F.W. Grossmann’s company, performing in the Rhineland, and specialized in ‘comic roles in comedies and Singspiele’. By 1787 he was a member of Schikaneder’s company at Regensburg, making his début in Sarti’s Wenn zwei sich streiten (Fra i due litiganti) and appearing as Osmin in ...

Member of Gerl family

(b Andorf, Upper Austria, Oct 28, 1774; d ?Bayreuth, April 13, 1844). Austrian bass, brother of Franz Xaver Gerl. From 1785 until 1792 he was a chorister at Salzburg Cathedral and then studied logic and physics at Salzburg University until 1795. He sang bass with the choirs of the university church and St Peter’s as a student, and from November 1796 until 1805 he was second bass in the court music establishment, from 1801 also appearing at the municipal theatre. He was granted two years’ leave of absence from 1 February 1804 in the interest of ‘perfecting his knowledge of singing and the theatre’; he was a member of the Lemberg (L′viv) company during his leave of absence (which was extended), but on his return to Salzburg he found that the court music establishment had been dismissed. The remainder of his life (after the birth in Salzburg of a son, Johannes Thaddäus, on ...

(b New York, NY, March 30, 1858; d Kansas City, MO, Sept 23, 1935). American bass and comedian. He was expected to follow his family tradition and become a lawyer, but after his father’s death he abandoned his studies and used his inheritance to form his own acting company. The company failed, partly because, being exceptionally tall, Hopper towered comically above the rest of his troupe. He then studied singing (he had a fine bass voice), and struck huge success in 1884 when John McCaull cast him in John Philip Sousa’s Désirée. He solidified his reputation in The Begum (1887) and The Lady or the Tiger? (1888). He then played leading roles in several shows opposite the diminutive Della Fox, where the disparity in their height was deliberately exploited for its comic effect; productions included Castles in the Air (1890), Wang (...

(b Detroit, March 18, 1929; d Stamford, CT, May 7, 2020). American bass. He served in the US Air Force before studying with Avery Crew and Boris Goldovsky. After appearances in New Orleans and Santa Fe, he joined the New York City Opera in 1959 and moved to the Metropolitan Opera in ...

Member of De Reszke family

(b Warsaw, Dec 22, 1853; d Garnek, Poland, May 25, 1917). Polish bass, brother of Jean de Reszke. He studied with Steller and Coletti, and made his début as the King in the first Paris performance of Aida at the Opéra in 1876. He was then engaged for two seasons at the Théâtre Italien. He sang Indra in Massenet’s Le roi de Lahore at Milan (1879) and made his London début at Covent Garden in the same role (1880). He also sang Saint-Bris (Les Huguenots), Rodolfo (La sonnambula) and Don Basilio (Il barbiere di Siviglia). In 1881 he sang Fiesco in the first performance of the revised version of Simon Boccanegra at La Scala, Milan, where he also appeared as Silva (Ernani). He sang Alvise in the first London performance of ...

(Filippovich)

(b Mokino, nr Kirov, Dec 23, 1927; d Moscow, Jan 9, 2018). Soviet bass. After study in Moscow and Milan he made his début at the Bol’shoy in 1957, as Ivan Susanin in Glinka’s A Life for the Tsar. He sang in Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev, and Tbilisi, most notably as Dosifey (...

Member of Weber family

(b Zell im Wiesental, 1733; d Vienna, Oct 23, 1779). German vocalist. He was a bass singer at the Mannheim court chapel from 1767 to 1778, and also copied music for Mozart there in 1777–8. In 1756 he married Marie Cecilia Stamm (1727–93...