Deep bass – Wikipedia

The deep bass He is an lyrical singer who belongs to the low family.

The deep bass is characterized by a voice with a very dark stamp, together with a remarkable sound volume, whose vocality, as suggested by the name itself, extends into the most serious region of the pentagram.
If the vocal extension of the tag traditionally embraces two octaves (from mi grave a Makes an acute ), the deep bass, which maintains the same value towards the acute ^[first] , must be able to go down even until Do ultragrave .
A more articulated definition of this type of voice, comes from John B. Steane, in his book Voices, Singers & Critics , who claims that the voice of deep bass ..

( IN ) ‘ …derives from a method of tone-production that eliminates the more Italian quick vibrato. In its place is a kind of tonal solidity, a wall-like front, which may nevertheless prove susceptible to the other kind of vibrato, the slow beat or dreaded wobble »	( IT ) ‘ … derives from a method of emission of the sound that almost completely eliminates the fast vibrate to the Italian. In its place we have as a sort of solidity of the tone, comparable to a massive wall, which, however, must prove to have other type of vibrated, to “slow oscillation” or “disturbing tremble” »
( J. B. Keane, “Voices, Singers & Critics” , 1992 )

This description contributes to frame the concept, not always easy to classify, to deep bass .
It is interesting to emphasize that this vocal type is not outlined by limiting it to the only showing off of serious notes, but rather emphasizing its power, timbre solidity, therefore the sense of restlessness and poignant solemnity that must distinguish those who sing in this register.
In fact, consider deep bass Only and exclusively a singer with effective serious notes is a limit and a historical error.
If it is true that being able to go down comfortably under the line of the pentagram is an indispensable quality, it is equally true that there are deeply deep scores without particularly serious notes. Just think of Daland, in Flying Dutchman by Wagner, whose weaving, all in all, is quite favorable for any bass ^[2] , but that – as the author’s requested – must characterize himself above all for a truly dark color and a overwhelming power: both peculiar characteristics of the deep bass.
Wanting to make an instrumental parallel, it is useful to remember how a composer can write, for example, a solo By double bass, without compulsory inserting the most serious notes of this curbophone, preferring to exploit the color – however dark – of the medium or acute registers.
Having made this premise, there is no doubt that where the deep bass reaches its most fascinating stylistic figure, it is precisely in the ability to offer serious, sound, visceral notes and, citing steane, solid as a massive wall .

The term deep bass It is relatively recent. Its use stabilizes in a widespread way only towards the end of the nineteenth century; This is initially to indicate a certain type of Russian bass, or very endowed choristers in the register of the serious extreme ^[3] . However, in the previous era, texts existed which, in some way, all or less explicitly alluded to this vocal type.
We find a first reference in Music dictionary (1703), of the French composer and the theorist Sébastien de Brossard , who writes that this type of voice so deep is called “bassist”, or bass (“counter-low”). A potentially ambiguous definition, at least in the eyes of Jean Jacques Rousseau, who, on page 66 of his Music dictionary (1768), needs:

( FR ) ‘ Basse-Contres ~ The most serious of all voices, which sing the bass under the bass itself, & which should not be confused with the counter-bases, which are instruments »	( IT ) “Basse-contes ~ The most serious of all the voices, which sing the bass under the bass itself, and which must not be confused with the double bass, which are tools »
( Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Music dictionary [4] )

In 1702, again thanks to the work of a French literate, François Ragunet, one broke out one fight between Italy and France. Ragunet publishes in that year Parallel of Italians and French with regard to music and operas ^[5] . His analysis is merciless to Italians, and even reaches hostile tones when he describes the difference between the serious voices of the Belpaese and those of the Alps.
In summary, Raguenet says that the French work is far better than the Italian one, for the quality of the voices in general, and for the voice of Basso in particular. The author enhances the beauty of the serious notes, the prerogative of austere, noble or divine figures, whose sounds refers to intense abyssal suggestions, of which the French abound and that – according to him – are missing from Italians, since these singers would not be endowed neither depth nor power. That parallel He inevitably sparked the controversies, to the point that, three years later, François Ragunet was forced to publish Defense of the parallel of Italians and the French with regard to music and operas (1705) ^[6] .
In any case, those critical were buried in the 19th century, the century marked by the music of Verdi and Wagner, who gave the voice of Basso, including the deep bass, a complexity and a beauty that reached the State of art , helping to make those French works that inflamed the musical patriotism of Ragunet’s almost completely in the oblivion.

Italian -French disputes aside, the fact is that almost all composers – of every era and place – when they spread the music sheet And the related technical-artistic notes, almost never use the explicit “deep low” expression, but, simply, “low”. The only distinction we find is related to the “funny”.

In any case, this lack of specificity does not invest exclusively the deep bass, since the composers generally indicate all the singers (tenor, soprano, mezzosoprano, etc.), without ever giving – for any type of voice – further adjective ( … of grace , …dramatic , … of coloring , … lyric , … Lyric pushed , etc.).

Starting from the nineteenth century, the choice of the specific interpreter, with the vocal peculiarities that the composer believed most appropriate for his work, was carried out during the preparation of the “absolute first” ^[7] . Assisted by the conductor, the composer chose – based on the human material available at that moment – the voices he reputed were the most suitable to interpret the new score. These singers thus had the task of create the part , setting the historian previous one who, from that moment on, will constitute the repertoire For all future executions. This practice invests all types of voice, including deep bass.
In order to read a score in which the author expressly requires a deep bass, we will have to wait for 1915. After three years of gestation, Hans Pfitzner finishes composing his work Gym . For the characters of Pope Pius IV and Cardinal Christoph Madruscht, Pfitzner writes that these two roles must be covered, respectively, by a Deep serious bass and from a Serious bass . In both cases the adjective “serious” (which literally means serious , in the sense of severe , grim , heavy ) indicates, unequivocally, the deep bass ^[8] , while “Tiefer” (literally: Deeper , lower ) informs us that, between the two, the first character has an even more serious voice than the second.

The voice of Basso was born deep. If we consider Orpheus by Claudio Monteverdi (1607), the character of Caronte requires a rumor that he can touch the Re grave . I am Always monteveres, ne The return of Ulysses at home (1640), assigns to the character of Neptune the Do grave , mentor Poppea’s coronation (1642) The character of Seneca – in the death scene – touches the Re grave ^[9] . The small dimensions of the rooms where these works were performed (mostly in the buildings and shorts of the nobility of the time) and the limited orchestral organic, favored the acoustic yield of such low notes which, necessarily, force the singer to a Reduced sound volume compared to higher notes.

Later, however, with the birth of opera theaters and with increasing the volume of the orchestras, it became necessary to assign serious but more sound notes to the voice of bass. Except for rare exceptions, at least for soloists these incursions in the very deep register were therefore abandoned.

In the first half of the eighteenth century the canonical extension of the bass is defined: from Makes serious a Makes an acute . Once the boundaries have been established, the exceptions arrive. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, at the beginning of his career, met a singer with an exceptional vocal extension: Johann Ignaz Ludwig Fischer, capable of covering from Do grave al Acute . For him he wrote “tailor -made” roles, such as that of Osmin, in the work The abduction from the Seraglio (1782), where the singer often lingers under the line of the pentagram, until a long time Re grave . In this regard, listen to the air “Oh, Wie Will Ich Triumpienn!”, Perhaps in the interpretation of the bass Josef Greindl, who left us a valid execution of this part, affecting it, in 1954, with the master Ferenc Fricsay.
In the The Magic Flute (1791), Mozart created what is perhaps considered the role favored by the deep bass: Sarastro. While never going down under the traditional Makes serious , Sarastro fully deserves the name of deep . It is the weaving, that is, the region of the pentagram in which the voice insists more frequently, to establish the noble gravity of this important part. We recommend listening to songs such as O Isis and Osiris It is in this holy halls ^[ten] , especially in the interpretation of the bass Talvela, Insuced Sarastro, as evidenced by the incision made in 1969 with the master Sir Georg Solti.

In 1867 Giuseppe Verdi made up the Don Carlo , work in which we find three important bass: the mysterious friar (Charles V), King Filippo II and the disturbing great inquisitor, which appears in a famous duet with the king and, fleetingly, in the workplace. Despite his brevity, that of the great inquisitor is a very demanding role. In the duet with Philip II, it must be more assetive, dismal and hieratic than the cruel king: in other words, an authentic deep bass. Verdi provides that, during this duet, the old friar can touch – the note is optional – a round Me . In reality, in lyrical discography this part has been the subject of somewhat different interpretations, not always faithful to its vocal typology: this is the case of that of the basso-baritono Ruggero Raimondi, a singer with a voice too clear for this specific role. Among the best interpreters we must report at least the bass Giulio Neri, Jerome Hines, Martti Talvela and Ivo Vinco; The latter – according to the musical critic Davide Annachini – although it is not a “pure” deep bass, knows how to combine the necessary caverniness of the inquisitor better than others with the right cantability. Vinco recorded this duet together with the lower Boris Christoff (Filippo II), in the valuable edition of the Don Carlo directed by Maestro Gabriele Santini in 1961.
At the end of this excursus , it is worth mentioning Richard Strauss: in 1911 composes The Rosenkavalier , a work that includes that of the Insconic Baron Ochs among the various parts. Three centuries later Orpheus of Monteverdi, the bass returns to explore the extreme region of the pentagram. The composer assigns him an optional Do grave (alternatively replaceable with one Me ), inserting it, fully, in the bed of the deep bass.

The serious notes: between mystical and demonic [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

What is the meaning, not only dramaturgical, of the serious notes?

The two roads of Monteverdi [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

Up from the beginning , that is, with Monteverdi, the serious notes were intended for literally burial characters, inhabitants of the underworld, such as Caronte ( Orpheus , 1607), as if to mean that the more a character belongs to the sphere of winter, the more his voice must underline this state deep , even if his substance is not necessarily evil ^[11] .
Monteverdi himself, however, neither The return of Ulysses at home (1640), will transfer the same vocal characteristics to a character no longer overall, but divine (Neptune), transporting the serious From the shade to light. With even more precision, ne Poppea’s coronation (1642), the composer completes this new intuition: the philosopher Seneca , a character no longer mythological or demonic, but tangible and enlightened, who expresses his magnanimous nature – which will push him up to the extreme sacrifice – thanks to a voice and really profound notes, up to the aforementioned Re grave .
Seneca and Caronte, from there onwards, therefore become the two guidelines of the deep bass voice: mystical and demonic.

Mozart e l’esoterismo del The Magic Flute [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

Over time, despite the changing of the dramaturgical subjects to whom the works were inspired, the serious They perfected and defined their austere, authoritative, solemn connotation, without ever giving up a mysterious or sinister prelude to a looming threat.
If they have noble accents the numerous Makes serious Of Sarastro ( The Magic Flute , 1791), there is no doubt that there is also a further meaning, perhaps more occult, but certainly not marginal. The Magic Flute of Mozart is a work imbued with esoteric symbolism, especially of Masonic inspiration, with particular reference to Egyptian deities such as Isis and Osiris; Starting from this objective data, one can understand a certain music criticism that he wanted to identify, precisely in those serious notes of the priest Sarastro, a sort of “probe thrown in the unknown”, a sound that sublimates himself to achieve spheres of the soul otherwise human closed to the gaze and knowledge. Mozart, perhaps mindful of Neptune and Seneca Monteverdiani, confers A Sarastro – priest of wisdom , positive character and, literally, solar – A deep -low voice, while his enemy, the dark and cruel Sternflamende, known as Königin Der Nacht ( Queen of the night ), is, diametrically opposed, a coloring soprano.

Green’s moral meter [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

With Verdi, the concept of item of bass It was much more demarcated than the era of Mozart, so the Roncolese composer enjoyed a more defined freedom of action. The serious They sanction the moral stature – and character – of its characters. For example, in the aforementioned Don Carlo (1867), with an interval of only three semitons, green seems to suggest how it is possible to distinguish – as part of the same vocal register – good from evil.
Of the three main bass of the work, the most disturbing and ruthless is undoubtedly the great inquisitor , which touches an inexorable Me . At the intermediate level there is King Philip II , a cruel and despotic monarch but, at the same time, the victim of the almost boundless power that is in his hands ^[twelfth] , whose vocal limit rises of a semitone, that is to the Makes serious (also intoned in the disconsolate awareness of the king, at the end of the duet with the great inquisitor: “So the folded throne will always have to at the altar …” ). Finally, the old and mysterious friar ( Carlo v ), who, closed in a convent, is expanding the faults of his past, and that Verdi – to some extent – absolves, stopping his descent to the deep al FA DIESIS serious , and does it precisely at the end of a solemn prayer in which the friar/Charles V states the omnipotence of the Creator ^[13] .
This wanting to identify in the serious Now a spiritual component, now an evil component, has always been a quality – only apparently ambiguous – which has provided composers with large expressive possibilities. If it is true that priests, old fathers, monarchs or popes have – in principle – a profound voice, it is equally true that even the reprobe Mephistopheles – at least in the most famous works dedicated to the myth of Dr. Faust – has a “dark” voice; maybe not true deep , but still from below. We find the same intention in a character like Sparafucile ( Rigoletto , 1851), whose cavernous timbre does not underlie any infernal supernaturality – although Rigoletto, twice, defines it “devil!” – but rather paints the tragic profession with which the picked assassin is gained to live. In addition to the well -known Makes serious who closes the duet of the act I, Sparafucile, towards the ending of the work, still goes down deeply, this time with a Sol Bemolle Grave , giving Rigoletto the “Good night” , a wish that we know to be tragically sarcastic, harbinger of that gloomy curse that looms inexorable on the wretched jester.

Wagnerian mysticism [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

Contemporary of Verdi, Richard Wagner will also gladly use the darker stamp of the male voice. Unlike the first – and, perhaps, unlike anyone else – it is not through the pure extension with which Wagner enhances the voice of the deep bass.
Scrolling through his scores, we note that he rarely inserts exceptionally low notes. Even the Makes serious It is used with relative thrift: we find it, for example, for King Heinrich In the Lohengrin , per Fafner In the Siegfried or by Hagen In the Goddom . However, the undermine of his scores oscillates on average between the SolOL and the Si¹ . Despite this, Wagner left us written how many of those roles of bass should be sung by deep bass. It is to the very dark color that he yearns, or, to better say, to dramatic epicity proper to the deep bass and its oceanic ieraticity ^[14] .
The music of the German composer is marked by a deep spiritual research, which often leads to pure mysticism. Song also must make the instrument of this sublime vocation, to achieve which, according to Wagner, it is not necessary to turn the voice towards the extreme deep, but to use it – especially in the more sound central tones – to deeply deep, arcana and mythological tint , to the imposing musical story.
In addition to this, we must not neglect a purely technical consideration. With Wagner, the orchestra does not have the role of subdued and discreet accompanying singers – as could happen for composers such as Bellini or Donizetti – but participates vigorously, as a protagonist, in the dramaturgical evolution of the work. The need not to abuse very deep notes is therefore also an acoustic need: such notes – as already mentioned – inevitably have less volume compared to higher notes, and the singers would find themselves in serious difficulty in having to hear a very serious sound While perhaps in the mystical gulf an staff of ninety or more instrumentalists is intent on celebrating Wagnerian power.

The “third way” eighteenth -century [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

Finally, making a leap back in time, it is advisable to remember how, in the eighteenth century, the serious notes discovered an original and surprising nature.
The first to guess the new one was Alessandro Scarlatti. He did it when he sketched, The Heracles (1700), the part of the old guardian Alphey , a libidinous and clumsy individual, whose forays into the deep register tell us of a nature that would like to be that of a casanova , but instead they are only the resonance – ridiculous as well as pathetic – of his mutinies.
It is The servant owner (1733), Giovan Battista Pergolesi faces this innovative setting with even more completeness: the protagonist, Uberto – which is certainly not a deep bass, but rather a funny low – must, however, touch notes that are proper to deep : The Me and the Me serious me . This happens during the air “I am cheated already”. Uberto reflects between himself and himself on the opportunity to surrender to the impertinent flattery of his young serpine waitress, and therefore marry her; But, as he himself tells us, someone else takes over ( “You hear that then tells me …” ), a mysterious voice – from his under – who tries to dissuade him and warns him: “Uberto, think about you!” .
We are not able to know if this voice is the instigation of a malicious spirit or, less prosaically, the emergence of the selfishness of the old bachelor. Nonetheless, the funny Uberto, precisely in that phrase that flows of his conscience, must descend to the two notes indicated above. These, as well as the deep incursions of the SCARLATTIAN ALPHO, light a new light – in a broader and general sense – on such serious sounds, which can offer to Recite singing , not only the effects described above, but also comic, caricatured and grotesque suggestions.
This vision is developed by Mozart himself, for example, for the character of Osmin ( The abduction from the Seraglio , 1782), where the serious They pompously underline the jerk of the character, as well as the barber Abul , protagonist of Barber from Baghdad (1858) by Cornelius, authentic funny : in the air “O Wusstest du, Verehrter”, the score goes down to King Diesis serious . The new concept arrives permanently even in the twentieth century; For example, with the Straussian Barone ands ( The Rosenkavalier , 1911), a noble good life Which uses the deepest register to confer – not without some emphatic arrogance – amendment and baroque to its character. Without finally forgetting Re pomádé , protagonist of the work for children New dress of King Pomadé (The new dress of King Pomádé), composed of György Ránki in 1953 – and revisited by the author in 1972 – in which the protagonist must touch the King Bemolle Grave .

Some parts from deep bass [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

• Caronte , is Orpheus by Monteverdi (1607)
• Neptune , is The return of Ulysses at home by Monteverdi (1640)
• Seneca , is Poppea’s coronation by Monteverdi (1642)
• Alphey , is The Heracles by A. Scarlatti (1700) ^[15]
• Claudius , in the’ Farmhouse Di Handel (1709)
• Pluton , in the’ Hippolyte and Aricie Of Rameau (1733)
• Lord von Bär , In the The chimney sweeper by Salieri (1781)
• Osmin , In the The abduction from the Seraglio The arort becomes (178)
• The commendatore , In the Don Giovanni The arort becomes (178) ^[16]
• Sarastro , In the The Magic Flute The arort becomes (179)
• Rocco , In the Fidelio by Beethoven (1803-1805)
• BRGNI cardinal , is The Jew of Halévy (1835)
• Marcel , is The Huguenots di meyerbeer (1836)
• Farlaf , In the Ruslan e ljudmila of Glinka (1837-1842)
• Balthazar , is The favourite by Donizetti (1840)
• Daland , In the The Flying Dutchman at Wagner (1840-1841)
• Papa Leone I , in the’ Attila of Verdi (1846)
• Fafner , Hunding It is Hagen , In the The Ring of the Nibelung at Wagner (1848-1874)
• Sparafucile , In the Rigoletto of Verdi (1851)
• JACOP FEESDO , In the Simon Boccanegra of Verdi (1857)
• Re brand , In the Tristan and Isolde at Wagner (1857-1859)
• Abul , In the Baghdad’s barber Cornelius (1858)
• Guardian father , is The force of Destiny of Verdi (1862)
• The great inquisitor , In the Don Carlo of Verdi (1867)
• Dosifei , in the Coin by Musorgsky (1872-1880, unfinished)
• Titurel It is Gurnemanz , In the Parsifal at Wagner (1877-1882)
• Vladimir yaroslavich it is Prince Igor by Borodin (1890, posthumous)
• The baron ochs of lerchenau , In the The Rosenkavalier di Strauss (1911)
• Pope Pius IV It is Cardina Christoph Madruscht , In the Gym di Pfitzner (1912-1915)
• John Claggart , In the Billy Budd Di Britten (1951)
• Re pomádé , In the New dress of King Pomadé ( The new dress of King Pomádé ), of Ránki (composed in 1953, modified in 1972)
• The fourth tempter , in the’ Assassination in the cathedral by Pizzetti (1958)
• The doctor , In the Punch and Judy di birtwistle (1968)

Famous deep bass ^[17] [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

True and presumed deep bass [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

It is likely that some melomaniacs remain banned, perhaps with some reason, in seeing the name of the lower hedges causing Caesar counted in the above list of deep bass. That of hedges was certainly an authentic career bass singer , Verdian in style, and capable of facing bright roles with commendable effectiveness. Just remember his Don Giovanni , interpreted, among other things, to Festival house of Salzburg under the direction of Wilhelm Furtwängler, or the Figaro Mozartiano sung with Erich Kleiber. Nonetheless, it would be a mistake to ignore the qualities of hedges as a deep bass. Much of the criticism considered him one of the best interpreters of Sarastro nor The magic Flute in Italian language. In addition, the discography gives us, from the work The Huguenots di Meyerbeer, the aria “lord, rampart and soul support” e, dall’opera The Jew of Halévy, the air “yes the rigueur”, in which hedges ventured into two descents towards the abyss, until it touches, in both a cavernous Do grave (listen to the audio example shown above).
On the other hand, Giulio Neri has always been an authentic deep bass; Perhaps the deep bass par excellence.
His torrential voice, one of the most powerful ever, has never had difficulty in “filling” even the largest lyrical spaces. It is useful to remember a tasty anecdote that occurred during an Aida at the Verona Opera Festival; After Neri had finished singing, an ironic, but not too much, exclaimed, raised among the applause of the public: it exclaimed: “Neri, the arena is too small for you!” .
His stamp, black like darkness, could easily move where other bass fled. In addition, it was one of the not many Italian bass capable of trying roles from low Wagnerian (in Italian language). Collectors retain a rare incision of the Eyes E Galatea by Georg Friedrich Händel, in which Neri plays the role of Polyphemus who in the air Between the shadows and the horror – from the complex and bold texture which provides for the use of the falsetto – must also perform notes of abysmal depth. Neri was also a monumental MephistoFele Boitiano, a score that, here and there, the Sienese singer loved “retouching” downwards, adding, for example, a Me grave to me in the scene of Prologue in heaven . Finally, equally unmissable, its version of the air “Splendon most beautiful in heaven the stars”, from the work The favourite by Gaetano Donizetti, in which Neri performs the Makes serious – foreseen by the score – and adds a Do grave , both from the “telluric” effect ^[18] .
Remembering some habit of other deep bass, both Kurt Moll and Matti Salminen, interpreting the commander in the Don Giovanni of Mozart, sometimes insert a Re grave , lowering the note provided by the composer who concludes the dramatic dialogue between the “Pietra Conviva” and Don Giovanni in the Opera Finale. Moll was also an appreciated Baron Ochs ( The Rosenkavalier ), capable of effectively honoring the serious notes in the score.

Often, music criticism willingly is satisfied with evaluating and criticizing those singers who, defeating from the repertoire that would be pertinent to their type of voice, try their hand at facing roles that are not in their ropes. These reprimands especially affect tenors, put – wrongly or rightly – like the least disciplined stars of the lyric. It must also be said that the deprecated habit of “singing everything” is not an exclusive vice of acute voices, but it also occurs among the bass. By way of example, we remember the famous U.S. basso-baritone Samuel Ramey. Ramey is an appreciated brilliant interpreter, with an excellent technique with which he also faces with ease the colorature More impervious, in addition to possessing – rare case among the North American lyrical singers – an almost perfect diction of the Italian language. Although his vocation is typically Mozartian and Rossinian, Ramey, especially in the second part of his career, he also ventured as a bass Verdian and, even, as a deep bass, but with often uncertain outcomes. Like Neri, he too adds the Me grave to me In the Prologue in heaven of the Mephistopheles – as evidenced by the famous edition of San Francisco from 1989, directed by Maestro Maurizio Arena, of which the video also exists – but with decidedly less sound of the Sienese bass. Always in the same Mephistopheles , Ramey “forces” the director to detach a very slow time for the air “I am the spirt that denies”, in order to allow their own item to “support” in such a way as to preserve the necessary scarce and caverniness requested. Finally, Ramey performs a Me grave to me in the critical edition of the air “there of the sky, in the deep arch”, from Cinderella of Rossini.

In the context of choral music – regardless of whether it is symphonic, opera or sacred music – the section of the bass is sometimes required to descend to depths that are proper to the deep bass, if not, even of the eighth .
For example, nor The force of Destiny (1862) by Giuseppe Verdi, during the air “The Virgin of the Angels”, the bass of the choir must touch a Me .

In the Second symphony (1895-1896) by Gustav Mahler, the ending provides that the bass even touch a Yes bemolle ultragrave . Where one or more choristers are unable to issue this note, the composer has foreseen that they remain in silence, rather than performing the same Yes bemolle an eighth above.

Finally, in Candide (1956) by Leonard Bernstein, the composer assigns to the bass a It is ultragrave .
In the western classic repertoire, these descents are deeply not very frequent; However, they almost become the rule in other musical contexts.
The art of the deep bass is famous thanks, for example, to the singers Xöömej of Tuva, to the Tibetan Buddhist monks and the South African Xhosa ^[19] . But above all thanks to the religious choirs of the Orthodox Christian Church, Russian in a particular way.

The eighths

Christian-Orthodox religious choirs are almost always formed by male voices, divided into tenors and low. The latter have inside the Ottavisti (in Russian Octavists, Oktavisty , also known in the Germanic world as Straw bass ), real “human double bass” which, as the name suggests, are able to sing in the eighth less than the normal register of bass, reaching, in a full and sound voice, notes of an impressive depth, such as the The or the Sol ultragravi . Of course, specializing in singing in such a profound register involves having to partially sacrifice the medium-acute and acute tones, which are significantly lower than the bass ^[20] .
This type of vocality has an ancient origin as much as the same Russian Orthodox Church . Defined as such in the seventeenth century, the octavists originate from the most remote polyphonic song (XII century). In fact, they are the natural evolution of the practice – consolidated in centuries of celebrations of the rites of this church – according to which, both the main singer and the deacon traditionally had a very deep voice.
To have a complete perception of such serious notes, we recommend listening to the audio examples reported below, relating to the singers Višn’Akov and Pas’ukov, Solist octaveists of Orthodox Singers Male Choir .

Some choral songs with deep bass/octave parts [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

• Canto della Penance for Russia , di pëtr il’ic tchaekovsky;
• Nyne Sily Nebesnye (Now he rejects divine power), by Aleksandr Šeremetev.
• Liturgy of San Giovanni Chrysostom , OP. 31, di Sergei Rachmaninov;
• Watch all night , OP. 37, di Sergei Rachmaninov;
• Ne Otverži mne vo vremja Starosti (Do not reject me in my old age), op. 40/5, by Pavel Grigor’evič Česnokov;
• Requiem, for soprano, mezzosoprano, 2 choirs and orchestra , Di György Ligeti.

Some famous octavists [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

Having such a serious voice is undoubtedly a natural gift. Among the necessary physiological characteristics there are at least two fundamentals: vocal cords of larger dimensions of the average (especially in the length), and a thoracic volume so imposing as to have, at the same time, is a considerable resonance capacity (the serious notes are known head on ), both a considerable reserve of air to cope with the “seal” of these notes which, to be sound, require the movement of an important mass of air. It is no coincidence that in fact, the bass – especially the deep ones – are almost always of rather high stature.
There are, however, singing techniques that allow the voice to go significantly even lower than the natural physiological limit, easily conquering the ultragrave region of the pentagram.
These techniques are mainly two: the so -called vocal fry and the larynx .

The vocal Fry [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

In the vocal fry – also known by the name of glottal fry – The oscillation of the vocal cords is changed. This happens through the two Arrilagini Arrineoids in the larynx that are united together; Consequently, the emission of the air is compressed and the resulting sound is formed by a single large vibrant mass. The frequency of the vibration is very low (20-50 Hertz) and the air flow that crosses the glottis is very slow. In this way you can extend your voice of at least one octave downwards, that is, up to the 1st sub -Maronic, even if some exceptionally gifted singers manage to control this technique at a level of perfection such as to allow it to even touch the 5th sub -airmanship .
This type of singing is mainly used by Ottavisti in religious and sacred music or in any case of classic imprint.

The song of larynx [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

Thanks to this technique, the vocal cords and the larynx vibrate in unison and the air flow is raised, according to a particular technique, within the oral cavity, in order to break it down. From an acoustic point of view, the effect obtained and that of a “multiple” item: the harmonics that make up the sound wave are partially separate and distinguishable from each other; In other words, it is as if two or more sounds were at the same time ( diplophony , trifonie O quadrifonias ). This type of singing allows remarkable extensive possibilities, not only in the serious direction of the pentagram, where, however, the voice can go down to the 1st Subarmation.
A typical Italian example comes from Sardinia: in the quartet of the traditional tenor cantu, the bass ( on low ) Sing using this technique.
In Tuva, the singing of Laringe is known as Kargyraa, as well as in the Buddhist monks of Tibet and nearby Mongolia (with the name of Charchiraa), while in South Africa, near the Xhosa, it takes on the name of Umngqokolo.
Beyond the mantric meditation of the Buddhist monks, this setting finds its main application in contexts of folk music and traditional, with the illustrious exception of the singer Demetrio Stratos, who pushed the larynx At the limits of the human possibilities (especially towards the acute and overcute), in the context of contemporary and experimental music.

The German singer Ivan Rebroff, with his 4 and a half octaves, was, for long years, the man with greater vocal extension to the world: his record It was published in the Guinness Book of Records until 2005; Since 2006 he has been supplanted by Tim Storms. Rebroff was able to touch an impressive and sound Makes ultragrave , exactly an eighth under the already considerable one Makes serious Used, for example, from Sparafucile in the final of the duet with Rigoletto.
As mentioned, it is the American singer and composer Tim Storms that the golden palm for the most serious note is due today. According to reports from the 2006 primati Guinness, Storms has obtained two record : the one for the greater male vocal extension (6 octave) and the one for the lowest note. This young interpreter (born in 1972) can come to issue the amazing frequency of 8 Hertz, which corresponds to a Si-³ ( minus 3 , that becomes less 2 In the US number), two octave placed under the lowest si on the piano. Such an infrastono is not audible from the human ear (whose boundaries of perception are included, between 20 and 20,000 Hertz), therefore this figure has been verified with the instrumental measurement, precisely by the Guinness technicians, in January 2002 . The extraordinary record Storms have been made official starting from the publication of the 2006 edition. Tim Storms is not an lyrical singer; his report on the sidelines of this page dedicated to deep bass It is justified only by the singularity of its vocal instrument.
Storms is the epigone of a long tradition that concerns gospel, country and folk music of the United States of America, often characterized by singers capable of achieving “impossible” depths, such as the But or the Do Ultragravi . Among the most famous, we remember: Frank Stamps, Dan Britton, Isaac Freeman, J. D. Sumner, George YouTce, Tim Riley, Richard Sterban, MacDonald Gene, Mike Holcomb and Paul David Kenamer. It should be noted that all these interpreters, not being set to lyrical singing, are audible only through acoustic amplification. Thus low notes, if performed in an opera theater, without the help of the microphone, would not be almost perceived by the public.

Alberto Sordi, before embarking on his career of an actor, studied lyrical singing and performed on the opera scene, as low, for a certain period of his youth. Once he entered the world of celluloid, he did not however neglect these origins, so much so that, in 1956, he made a comedy that tells the turbulent events of a singing student, very spoiled, presumptuous and maintained by the esasperate father -in -law (Aldo Fabrizi), What limestone limestone the scenes of the lyric. The film is entitled It allows me Santa! and is directed by Mario Bonnard; Lyrical singers also appear to you who, at the time, were authentic celebrities, including the powerful low Sienese Giulio Neri. When, finally, he manages to have the small part of the doctor The Traviata , Deaf, in general disapproval, performs the sentence “The tisi does not agree that a few hours” lowering it to an eighth, reaching the Do grave ; Also sings, immediately after Violetta’s death, the sentence “It’s turned off!” (which was traditionally omitted in the executions of the work) advancing the proscenium, while the curtain closes behind it.
Even the actor Christopher Lee, appreciated for his deep voice, always had a great passion for lyrical singing. His voice was classifiable as that of a basso-baritone. In 2006 he published a CD entitled Revelation in which, among other things, the famous Toreador Couplets from the work Carmen . Also, during an interview with an Italian television, on the occasion of the launch of the Kolossal The Lord of the Rings – The Compagnia dello ring , had fun singing some jokes of the great inquisitor, from the work Don Carlo of Verdi.

The deep “voice” of the universe [ change | Modifica Wikitesto ]

Thanks to the Chandra orbital Observatory, in 2003, some English astronomers and astrophysics have discovered and measured what we could call “The voice of the universe” . It is a sound wave originating from a black hole in the Perseus inspection, 250 million light years from the earth. The measurement of scientists highlighted that the sound corresponds to a Yes bemolle , 57 lower octaves of Centrale of the piano. Vibrates with a period of oscillation 10 million years, generating a frequency, in Hertz, placed about one million billions of times below the acoustic perception limit of the human ear.
Professor Andrew Fabian of the Institute of Astronomy of Cambridge – Chief of team who made the discovery – defined it “The lowest note known in the universe” ^[22] .

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