thomas mark montgomery <thomas8@t...> wrote:
> Having studied with one and been friends with the other, both of
these
> artists considered themselves baritones.
That is very interesting to know. You're right - it's tricky how low
voiced men are billed, especially with early music singers, because
the composers did not distinguish voice types as precisely as modern
composers do today. These self-identified baritones end up singing a
lot of so-called "bass" repertoire, and start being perceived as some
kind of a hybrid by music directors and the public.
> Someone earlier mentioned Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau as a bass-
baritone: I
> have never seen him billed as such either.
He recorded the Michelangelo songs by Shostakovich, which are for
bass voice, and Russian composers know what they mean when they call
for a bass! :-) In a way, he can't complain about being mis-billed if
he routinely chooses rep that explicitly calls for voice types other
than baritone. Not that I think there's anything wrong with that
practice! Didn't he sing the evangelist (lyric tenor) in the St.
John's Passion once? (just noticing that piece is getting a lot of
mention these days...)
Tako
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