A term used to characterize a particular type of Baritone voice. It owes its origin to (Nicolas-)Jean-Blaise Martin (1768–1837), a baritone with a remarkably extensive upper range, sufficiently famous and distinctive for his name to continue in use long after his death to denote a high, lyric baritone, almost a tenor, usually bright of timbre and light of weight, but with a free, unthroaty production characteristic of the French school. Jean Périer, the first Pelléas, was probably typical, with Gabriel Soulacroix a distinguished predecessor and Camille Maurane (...
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Elizabeth Forbes
(b Sydney, Feb 8, 1943; d Oct 10, 2021). Australian baritone. He studied in Sydney, where he made his début in 1966, and then in London before joining Scottish Opera (1972), with which he sang Count Almaviva, Malatesta, the Music-Master (Ariadne auf Naxos), James Stewart (Musgrave’s ...
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Elizabeth Forbes
(b Kiel, March 7, 1929; d La Palma, Canada, May 11, 2020). German baritone. After studying in Vienna, he was engaged in 1954 at the Theater am Gärtnerplatz, Munich, first as a tenor, then as a baritone. In 1964 he moved to Cologne, where he remained for over 25 years; he took part in the première of Die Soldaten (1965) and with the company sang the Secretary in the first London performance of Der junge Lord at Sadler’s Wells (1969). His huge and varied repertory included Almaviva, Guglielmo and Don Alfonso, Rossini’s Figaro, Billy Budd, Monteverdi’s Ulysses, and many operetta roles. In 1979 he sang Count Robinson (Il matrimonio segreto) at Cologne, repeating the part at Edinburgh (1980), Sadler’s Wells (1983), Schwetzingen, and Washington, DC (1986). A superb character actor, he had a light but serviceable voice....
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Roger C. Anderson
(b Brooklyn, NY, Aug 7, 1883; d Plattsburg, NY, Sept 13, 1953). American concert and radio baritone. His father, who emigrated from Denmark, and his mother were professional singers. He became the most popular and best known American-born baritone during the years immediately preceding World War I to the mid-1920s. He attended New York University, where he was a member of the Glee Club, and established a friendship with the future music critic Deems Taylor, graduating in 1905. He later studied with Percy Rector Stevens and French baritone Victor Maurel.
The concert stage and recital hall were the venues where he established and maintained his reputation and public acclaim, making numerous appearances at Carnegie Hall, and sometimes traveling to Europe. His repertoire included a wide range of popular songs and ballads, both American and European, opera arias, and sacred hymns. He was described as having excellent diction along with a voice pure in tone. He made a brief excursion into opera, debuting as Silvio in ...
