Good Opera songs for a true Bass?

Question

I've always loved singing and am now a Vocal performance major at my university, and have been told I have a lot of potential and natural talent. Unfortunately, I am lacking a lot of opera experience seeing how I thought all through high school I would be an instrumentalist. In addition, there aren't many Bass Arias (yes, they exist) and so if anyone knows of a [few] good Bass Aria[s], please let me know about it!! Thank you

Answer 1

I am no opera buff, but a few bass arias that come to my mind:



Beethoven - 'Hat Man nicht auch Gold beineben' (Fidelio)

Bellini - 'Ah! del tebro' (Norma)

Gounod - Mephistopheles' Serenade ('Vous qui faîtes l'endormie') (Faust)

Mozart - 'Madamina! il catalago è questo' (Don Giovanni)

Mozart - 'In diesen heil'gen Hallen' (The Magic Flute)

Mozart - Non più andrai (The Marriage of Figaro)

Musorgsky - Pimen's Aria; Clock Scene; Varlaam's Song (Boris Godunov)

Puccini - 'Vecchia Zimarra' (La bohème)

Tchaikovsky - Gremin's Aria (Eugene Onegin)

Verdi - Quand'ero paggio (Falstaff)

Wagner - 'Mögst du, mein Kind, den fremden Mann willkommen heissen' (The Flying Dutchman)



There are plenty more, but they won't come to mind at the moment.

Answer 2

The Russian repertoire is a good place to look. Try the Death of Boris, from Mussorgsky's Boris Godunoff, for example. A good way of tracking additional basso profundo material would probably to look through the repertoires of exceptional basses like Nicolai Ghiaurov, Boris Christof or Fyodor Shalyapin. (Bear in mind that transliterations of Cyrillic names will vary.)



Doing that myself brings up such possibilities as



Gremin's aria from Tachikovskiy's Evgenyi Onyegin

Ella gaimmai m'amo from Verdi's Don Carlo

Come dal ciel precipita from Verdi's Macbeth

La Calunnia from Rossini's Barbiere di Seviglia





However, all of these are at least arguably bass-baritone rather than basso profundo, so you might want to stick to the Mussorgsky, for a start. And don't attempt the Rossini unless your Italian is pretty good - it is a real tongue-twister (and has certainly defeated me). Personally, I love the Don Carlo and Onyegin arias, and have sung the former at every opportunity...

Answer 3

Famous Bass Arias

Answer 4

If you are still lacking some experience (i.e. training), you might want to ask your voice instructors for some arias that would be suitable for you current abilities and voice. Something too easy might not challenge you and something too hard would only frustrate you and maybe cause some vocal strain.



Now that I've posted my "disclaimer"--Del gave you several great arias. Mozart wrote a lot of big opera roles for bass and bass-baritones--more than he did for tenors. However, nothing beats Russians when it comes to music written for basses. Beside the Eugene Onegin, try these--see if your music department might have this collection handy. (Look in the library---plus if this gives you any ideas, you can track down the sheet music by individual arias or by operas). The lyrics are in Russian, transliterated Russian, and English lyric version.



http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/Russian-Operatic-Arias-for-Bass/7431277



And I like this Handel aria for bass because it's fun. It gives basses a chance to show off some flexibility usually thought limited to only sopranos and tenors.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTjksYe2KvI

http://artsongcentral.com/2008/handel-i-rage-i-melt-i-burn-o-ruddier-than-the-cherry/



There are quite a few Handel arias (both from operas and oratorios) that you may want to try, but they aren't necessarily always sung by basses. Sometimes they are sung by baritones, bass-baritones, and even countertenors and female singers (an octave up or more).



For example--"Or La Tromba" from Handel's "Rinaldo"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaNR30akiUs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUcfWx7uh9k&feature=related



Also from "Rinaldo"

Sibillar gli angui d'Aletto

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMDPM5NzNYk



Both "Why Do the Nations?" and "The People That Walked in Darkness" from "Messiah" are other good bass arias that you might try. Don't ignore other classical vocal works like oratorios and art songs. Art songs are a good way to expand your performance and singing skills, and have an added advantage that you can pick your own key while you are usually expected to sing arias in whatever key they are written (there are exceptions--some arias will be transposed for recital material or for use in voice training).

Answer 5

All the aria's of Sarastro from Mozarts Zauberflöte. Goes to a low D in one aria. Really beautiful!



Or this one! Io che nell'otio nacqui e d'otio vissi from Book 8 of Madrigals by Monteverdi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beaAYhtsZdg