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Baritenor (also rendered in
English-language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...
sources as bari-tenor or baritenore) is a
portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.
(blend) of the words "
baritone A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...
" and "
tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...
". It is used to describe both baritone and tenor voices. In ''
Webster's Third New International Dictionary ''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (commonly known as ''Webster's Third'', or ''W3'') is an American English-language dictionary published in September 1961. It was edited by Philip Babcock Gove a ...
'' it is defined as "a baritone singing voice with virtually a tenor
range Range may refer to: Geography * Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra) ** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands * Range, a term used to i ...
". However, the term was defined in several late 19th century and early 20th century music dictionaries, such as ''The American History and Encyclopedia of Music'', as "a low tenor voice, almost baritone 'sic''">sic.html" ;"title="'sic">'sic''"


In opera

Baritenor (or its Italian language">Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
form, ''baritenore'') is still used today to describe a type of
tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...
voice which came to particular prominence in Rossini's operas. It is characterized by a dark, weighty lower octave and a ringing upper one but with sufficient agility for coloratura singing. Rossini used this type of voice to portray noble (and usually older), leading characters, often in contrast to the higher, lighter voices of the tenore di grazia or the
tenore contraltino The ''tenore contraltino'' is a specialized form of the tenor voice found in Italian opera around the beginning of the 19th century, mainly in the Rossini repertoire, which rapidly evolved into the modern "romantic" tenor. It is sometimes referred ...
who portrayed the young, impetuous lovers. An example of this contrast can be found in his ''
Otello ''Otello'' () is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on William Shakespeare, Shakespeare's play ''Othello''. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, first performed at the La Scala, Teatro alla Scala, M ...
'' (1816), where the role of Otello was written for a baritenore ( Andrea Nozzari), while the role of Rodrigo, his young rival for the affections of Desdemona, was written for a tenore di grazia ( Giovanni David). Nozzari and David were paired again in Rossini's '' Ricciardo e Zoraide'' (1818), with a similar contrast in characters – Nozzari sang the role of Agorante, King of Nubia, while David portrayed the Christian knight, Ricciardo. Other notable baritenors of this period beside Nozzari were Gaetano Crivelli, Nicola Tacchinardi, Manuel García Sr. and Domenico Donzelli. Italian musicologist Rodolfo Celletti proposed that the Rossinian baritenor was nothing new to opera. According to Celletti, the tenor voices used for leading roles in early
baroque opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...
s such as
Jacopo Peri Jacopo Peri (20 August 156112 August 1633) was an Italian composer, singer and instrumentalist of the late Renaissance music, Renaissance and early Baroque music, Baroque periods. He wrote what is considered the first opera, the mostly lost ''D ...
's '' Euridice'' (1600) and
Claudio Monteverdi Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (baptized 15 May 1567 – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, choirmaster and string instrument, string player. A composer of both Secular music, secular and Church music, sacred music, and a pioneer ...
's ''
Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria ''Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria'' ( SV 325, ''The Return of Ulysses to his Homeland'') is an opera consisting of a prologue and five acts (later revised to three), set by Claudio Monteverdi to a libretto by Giacomo Badoaro. The opera was first p ...
'' (1640) were essentially "baritenor" ones with a range common to both the baritone and tenor voices of today. Much the same position was also adopted in 2000 by Fabrizio Dorsi in his history of Italian opera. In his 2009 book, ''Tenor: History of a voice'', John Potter refers to this type of voice as "tenor-bass" and notes that several virtuoso singers of the 17th century who were described as "tenors" by their contemporaries could also sing in the
bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...
register: Giulio Caccini, Giuseppino Cenci, Giovanni Domenico Puliaschi and Francesco Rasi. Rasi created the title role in Monteverdi's first opera, ''
L'Orfeo ''L'Orfeo'' (Stattkus-Verzeichnis, SV 318) (), or ''La favola d'Orfeo'' , is a late Renaissance music, Renaissance/early Baroque music, Baroque ''favola in musica'', or List of operas by Claudio Monteverdi, opera, by Claudio Monteverdi, with a li ...
'' (1607), which in modern times has been sung by tenors such as Anthony Rolfe Johnson as well as by lyric baritones, such as Simon Keenlyside. Based on their descriptions in Vincenzo Giustiniani's ''Discorso sopra la musica'' (1628), Potter has suggested that singers such as Caccini, Cenci, Puliaschi, and Rasi, employed an "open speech-like sound" which facilitated the agility and clarity of expression for which their voices were renowned. With the rise of the
castrato A castrato (Italian; : castrati) is a male singer who underwent castration before puberty in order to retain a singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto. The voice can also occur in one who, due to an endocrino ...
singer in Italian opera, the baritenor voice came to be perceived as "ordinary" or even "vulgar" and was relegated to portraying character roles – villains, grotesques, old men, and even women. Although there were exceptions, such as Dario in Vivaldi's ''
L'incoronazione di Dario ''L'incoronazione di Dario'' () ( RV 719) is a dramma per musica by Antonio Vivaldi with an Italian libretto by Adriano Morselli. The opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundame ...
'' (created by the tenor Annibale Pio Fabri), the leading male roles (and especially that of the romantic lover) in Italian operas of the middle and late baroque era were largely written for the high, exotic voices of the castrati. In French opera of the same period, the baritenor voice, called the ''taille'' (or ''haute-taille'') before the term ''ténor'' came into general use, was little used for important solo parts, although possibly more often than in Italian opera. Because of the general dislike for the castrato voice in France, young lover roles were assigned to the high male voices of hautes-contre. Today the ''taille'' roles are most often performed by baritones.


In vocal pedagogy

Vocal pedagogues such as Richard Miller use the term to refer to a common voice category in young male singers whose
tessitura In music, tessitura ( , , ; ; ) is the most acceptable and comfortable vocal range for a given singer (or, less frequently, musical instrument). It is the range in which a given type of voice presents its best-sounding (or characteristic) tim ...
(most comfortable vocal range) lies between that of a baritone and that of a tenor and whose passage zone lies between C4 and F4. Such singers can evolve, either naturally or through training, into high baritones, suitable for operatic roles such as Pelléas in '' Pelléas et Mélisande''. Alternatively, they may evolve into spieltenors, suitable for character roles such as Pedrillo in '' The Abduction from the Seraglio'' or into '' heldentenors'' who sing leading roles such as Siegmund in ''
Die Walküre (; ''The Valkyrie''), Wagner-Werk-Verzeichnis, WWV 86B, is the second of the four epic poetry, epic music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's Literary cycle, cycle ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (English: ''The Ring of the Nibelung''). It was ...
'' or Florestan in ''
Fidelio ''Fidelio'' (; ), originally titled ' (''Leonore, or The Triumph of Marital Love''), Opus number, Op. 72, is the sole opera by German composer Ludwig van Beethoven. The libretto was originally prepared by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of ...
''. In both these types of tenor roles the highest notes of the tenor range are rarely required, and the voice usually has a baritonal weight in the lower notes. Several famous tenors who have sung the dramatic tenor and ''heldentenor'' repertory originally began their careers as baritones, including Jean de Reszke, Giovanni Zenatello, Renato Zanelli, Lauritz Melchior, Erik Schmedes, and
Plácido Domingo José Plácido Domingo Embil (born 21 January 1941) is a Spanish opera singer, conductor, and arts administrator. He has recorded over a hundred complete operas and is well known for his versatility, regularly performing in Italian, French, ...
. Towards the end of his career, Domingo returned to the baritone repertoire when he sang the title role in '' Simon Boccanegra''. Self-described as "a bastard bari-tenor", Walter Slezak (the son of operatic tenor Leo Slezak) was primarily a stage and film actor, but he also sang tenor roles in musicals and
operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs and including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...
s, and appeared at the
Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...
in 1959 as Zsupán in ''
The Gypsy Baron ''The Gypsy Baron'' () is an operetta in three acts by Johann Strauss II which premiered at the Theater an der Wien on 24 October 1885. Its German libretto by Ignaz Schnitzer is based on the unpublished 1883 story ''Saffi'' by Mór Jókai. Jokai ...
''. In popular music, singer
Josh Groban Joshua Winslow Groban (born February 27, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. His first four solo albums have been certified multi-platinum, and he was charted in 2007 as the number-one best selling artist in the United States, ...
is generally recognized as a baritenor, and he describes himself as "a baritone with some high notes up issleeve".


In musical theatre

Despite being described in ''Acting the Song: Performance Skills for the Musical Theatre'' as a term "coined" by "musical theatre
vernacular Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...
", the use of ''baritenor'' in relation to the operatic voice can be seen in English sources since at least 1835, and French ones since 1829. Nevertheless, the term is widely used in
musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatre, theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, ...
to describe a
baritone A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...
voice capable of singing notes in the
tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...
range, and was used as early as 1950 to describe the voice of Eddie Fisher in a
variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a comp� ...
at New York's Paramount Theatre. Deer and Dal Vera have noted that by 2008, the majority of leading roles in
rock musical A rock musical is a musical theatre work with rock music. The genre of rock musical may overlap somewhat with album musicals, concept albums and song cycles, as they sometimes tell a story through the rock music, and some album musicals and concep ...
s were being written for baritenors. Amongst the roles specifying baritenor voices in casting calls between 2008 and 2010 were: Tom Collins ('' Rent''), Bob and Tommy (''
Jersey Boys ''Jersey Boys'' is a jukebox musical with a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice. It is presented in a documentary-style format that dramatizes the formation, success and breakup of the 1960s rock 'n' roll group The Four Seasons. The mus ...
''); Wizard, Cowardly Lion, Scarecrow, and Tinman (''
The Wiz ''The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz"'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls (and others) and book by William F. Brown. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's children's novel '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' ...
''); Max Bialystock and Leopold Bloom ('' The Producers''); and Thomas Weaver and Alvin Kelby ('' The Story of My Life''). Saltzman and Dési ascribe the rise of the baritenor voice in musical theatre to the introduction of amplification in the second half of the 20th century. Prior to that, the leading roles were predominantly sung by tenors and
soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...
s with even the baritone characters tending to sing in the upper part of their range. This was due not only to the popular taste of the times, but also to the fact that higher voices were more capable of riding over the orchestra and reaching the furthest seats. The introduction of amplification allowed male leading roles to be assigned to baritones, albeit ones who often had an extension into the tenor range. David Young also notes that the baritenor voice can be particularly useful for roles such as Marius in '' Fanny'' where the character ages significantly during the course of the musical.Young (1995) p. 6


Notes


References

*actorsingers.org
Character Analysis - ''The Producers''
January 2009. Accessed 4 March 2009. *Badenes, Gonzalo
Voces: (Ritmo, 1987-2000)
Universitat de València, 2005. *''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
''
Vaudeville Reviews
Vol. 62, No. 34. 26 August 1950. *Blier, Steven

'' Opera News'', August 2003. Accessed 3 March 2009. *Boytim, Joan Frey
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(translated from the Italian by Frederick Fuller), Oxford University Press, 1996. *Deer, Joe and Dal Vera, Rocco
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originally published in 1910, republished in
facsimile A facsimile (from Latin ''fac simile'', "to make alike") is a copy or reproduction of an old book, manuscript, map, art print, or other item of historical value that is as true to the original source as possible. It differs from other forms of r ...
by Kessinger Publishing, 2005. *Kaufman, Tom
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Marston Records, 1998. Accessed 3 March 2009. *Ludden, William, ''Pronouncing Musical Dictionary of Technical Words, Phrases and Abbreviations'', O. Ditson, 1875. *Maupin, Elizabeth

''
Orlando Sentinel The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is the primary newspaper of Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida region, in the United States. It was founded in 1876 and is currently owned by Tribune Publishing Company. The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is owned by pare ...
'', 3 March 2009. Accessed 4 March 2009. * Miller, Richard
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Oxford University Press US, 2008. * Milnes, Rodney (ed.), ''
Opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...
'', Vol. 43:7-12, July 1992. *Minter, Drew
"Vivaldi: Farnace"
''Opera News'', October 2002. Accessed 4 March 2009. *The ''
New Grove Dictionary of Opera ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volumes. The dictionary was first published in 1992 by Macmillan Reference, L ...
'', edited by Stanley Sadie (1992). and *New York Theatre Guide
''The Story of My Life'', new musical by Bartram & Hill, aims to bow on Broadway in Jan 2009
, 8 April 2008. Accessed 4 March 2009. *
Playbill ''Playbill'' is an American monthly magazine for Audience, theatergoers. Although there is a subscription issue available for home delivery, most copies of ''Playbill'' are printed for particular productions and distributed at the door as the ...

"The Wiz - Equity Principal Auditions"
March 2009. Accessed 4 March 2009. * Potter, J., ''Tenor, History of a voice'',
Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...
, New Haven, CT/London, * Rosenthal, H. and Warrack, J., ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera'', second edition, Oxford University Press, 1979. *Moore, Tracey and Bergman, Allison
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Oxford University Press US, 2008. *Schuberth, Julius
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originally published in 1880, republished in facsimile by Elimont Classics, 2001. *Scott, Bruce
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''The World of Opera'',
National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
, 13 August 2010. Accessed 27 August 2010. *Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge
''The Penny Cyclopædia''
Charles Knight, 1835. *
Teatro La Fenice Teatro La Fenice (; "The Phoenix (mythology), Phoenix Theatre") is a historic opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of "the most famous and renowned landmarks in the history of Italian theatre" and in the history of opera as a whole. Especial ...

Programma di sala: ''Maometto II''
2005. Accessed 4 March 2009. *''
Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
''
"Goulash Without Paprika"
7 December 1959. Accessed 27 August 2010. * Tommasini, Anthony
"A Tenor Who Knows No Bounds"
''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', 27 September 1998. Accessed 3 March 2009. *Turp, Richard
The Evolution of the Voice
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Coward: Songbook
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Cambridge University Press, 1986. *Wistrich, Richard
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External links


"David Daniels"
(''Andante'', 2002), an interview by Jason Serinus with the American
countertenor A countertenor (also contra tenor) is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of the female contralto or mezzo-soprano voice types, generally extending from around G3 to D5 or E5, although a sopranist (a ...
, David Daniels, who describes his early vocal training and the transition from a baritenor voice to that of a countertenor.
"Dr. Bennati's Researches on the Mechanism of the Human Voice"
(''The Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal'', Vol. 40, 1833) presents an early 19th-century view of the baritenor operatic voice and the vocal problems experienced by two famous baritenors of the day, Domenico Donzelli and Gaetano Crivelli. (Francesco Bennati (1798–1834) was an Italian baritone who later became an eminent physician. Primarily a laryngologist, he was the house physician to the Opéra-Italien in Paris.) {{Range (music) Voice types Opera terminology Pitch (music)