Fascinating! Thank you for commenting and sharing!

Thank you for the great comment!

The thing that many baritones struggle with are the notes above the high Eb. Why? Because most teachers don't address the fact that the MALE voice is a duel instrument. We must learn how to sing with an internal HUM at all times. Not a hum on an M, but the internal hum of the NG. NG is actually the HEAD VOICE in a male voice. This doesn't mean FALSETTO. Head voice is the strong, supportive connection of the voice to the body. If you take the word SING for example, say the word and SUSTAIN the NG sound. Not with a vowel, but with your mouth open but the back of the mouth closed with the NG. Play with doing this until you can hold the NG strongly. Don't let a vowel come out....just the buzzing sound of the NG. You can do this on every pitch of your voice. Don't let it have any vibrato. Strong, and buzzing and straight. This is the secret of the support of the voice. Without that NG there will never be a secure high range. The thing to understand is that the NG IS THE HEAD VOICE. It is also THE SUPPORT of the voice. There is only one way to do the NG. The NG is the secret to having power and range and ease. Although the NG is all those things, it is not difficult to do. When you feel you have a good NG going, then open to an AW vowel. There is NO vowel AH. If you sing AH you break your connection to the internal buzzing power of the NG immediately. AH is the spoken A...but doesn't work for singing because it breaks the connection to the NG. Go back and forth from NG to AW.....never allowing the NG to go away. You will discover that the NG is the power and strength of AW, as well as every vowel. Just don't widen your mouth. Open it vertically, not horizontally. Every pitch, every vowel....the NG is the secret power within those notes and vowels. When you sing above the Eb, you will feel a kind of adjustment happening in the palate and throat. I think of it as a "gear shift" in the voice. It is an automatic transmission in the voice....a shift into the high notes. It is somewhat subtle, but certainly noticeable. The vowels become less distinct, more neutral....however they are certainly recognizable to the listener. There is the sense of AW becoming OU as in the word COULD. EE becomes more like IH as in the word WITH. OH becomes more like OU as well. EH is more like IH as well. The high notes you are singing now are starting to be in a female singer's range. There is less clarity of the vowel, but the clarity and power of the voice actually increases. Master the NG, and you are well on your way to discovering your full voice. Check me out on You Tube. Jason Stearns, baritone. You will hear what I am talking about. I also made a series of vocal lessons for You Tube. They might clarify even further what I have written here.

@@jasonstearns2666 I'm looking forward to your KZfaq lessons, I remember you from the Met. Heard your Barone Douphol a few times but unfortunately not the Barnaba.

@@kennethwayne6857 I would be happy to share with you what I believe is the right thing to do to achieve an operatic voice Let me know if you are interested.

@@kennethwayne6857 When will I hear from you?

Not exactly, baritones are just a lighter vocal type. Basses usually only sing up to an e4/f4. I'm a tenor, my full range is f#2 to e5 but I wouldn't say my comfortable range are in those highest or lowest ranges. Anyway, voice types are awesome and show vocal uniqueness. Have a good day, from a tenor

You'll not many of the Italian baritones have more squillo in their voices..the general lineage of teaching imo. Btw I met Sang with many decades ago a former student of Hines. A big polish American baritone. I guess he was very prodigious...but had bad vocal trouble and sued Hines. This guy had a chest size of a gorilla and even with his vocal problems his voice rolled out onto the hall like lava. A huge voice.

Indeed. His is my favourite baritone voice.

AMEN!

*Titta Ruffo **Tito Gobbi But what you said is interesting, thanks for your comment.

You get that sounds because that's what sells, and we want to work. Orchestras are incredibly louder than they were 100 years ago as well, with fuller, richer sounds, and the signer is confronted by a literal sound wall that he has to pierce, hence the push to sing always darker and louder. The P we have to sing on today's stages was easily a MP, or even MF 100 ago.

@@captainharlock3998 I agree with you that it's the sound that sells, and it's extremely valid to learn how to do what will make you a living. However, orchestras are not louder now - Puccini was writing Turandot a century ago, and the ensemble was gigantic then as it is now, not to mention Wagner (there is just no way to make 85 players not be a tidal wave of sound). The change is in how singers are taught - asking for the larynx to be depressed and always, ALWAYS sing darker and louder actually ends up creating problems with size and power and gets the "swallowed" sound (I would call it ingolata because I'm just a touch pretentious) mentioned by the OP. Over the last century, there has been a dramatic shift in technique, and I would argue not for the better - the big voices have all but vanished, despite the global population skyrocketing with far more singers studying Classical voice now than there were 80 years ago.

@@martynasmatutis8284 You're right concerning the lacks of vocal technique, but sorry, Captain Harlock is absolutely right when he speaks about the increasing power of the orchestras. It's not specifically a question of number but of instrumental making. The violins family has adopted the steel strings, the brass are incredibly more powerful (the bore is different, the bells are larger...). When you hear the romantic orchestras playing with originals instruments or copies, the sounds is much softer (and, other example, the ophicleide's sound is totally different of the modern tuba (which can produce an earthquake effect 😆), the timpani were smaller, with animal skin.

My voice teacher doesn't let me see the piano (I don't have absolute pitch) and takes me up gradually after working the middle voice. When I was an undergrad, the G was just for warm ups...I could always see the piano and knew that was the top and nothing more existed. I would tense up and squeeze or blast out the G and it was rarely comfortable. Now I'll go up to a B flat/B natural or even touch a high C in warm ups. I'm no where close to where I can see the piano and looking in the mirror making sure I'm keeping the jaw and tongue relaxed. The key for me is working the middle voice. Now I am happy to sing Gs and G#s and on good days the A (there is one optional A in Largo....otherwise not much need for a baritone to have to sing them). Find a good teacher and the Gs will come.

Agree with baritonebynight. Find a good teacher and go gently and slowly and the g will come. Every voice is different and getting to know your own is very important. For me working up to the higher register as quietly as possible is what works.

Tibbett is the best

When I was twelve, my father took me to see Pagliacci at Northrop Auditorium in Minneapolis. At that time, Cornell MacNeil was part of the Met touring company. His voice was so rich and full that I can still hear it now, more than fifty years later.

Zancanaro: the best.

3333³3333333³333³³3³³³3³³³³³3³33333³3 se 93333333³31

Of course Gobbi was great but tonal beauty?? Maybe when he was younger but on the majority of his recordings that I've heard, tonal beauty is hardly something I'd attribute to him. Perhaps you've heard Merrill on the 'Tabarro' recording, there's tonal beauty!

@@kennethwayne6857 Gobbi had great panache, but not a ‘gorgeous’ timbre. Since the top was short and lacked a soaring quality, he fell short of the best of the best.

Ciao amico mio, come stai tu e la tua bella voce? Tutto a posto?? 🍀

@@AfroPoli sei troppo gentile mitico Afro ma credo ci sia un equivoco...purtroppo x me che debbo rinunciare ad un Tuo gentile complimento circa la mia voce... che ahimè non possiedo....

Cappuccili ????

Fabio Sampaolo I peggiori… 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Apologies, but could you explain to me exactly what about size limits your projection? It doesn't make sense to me logically because the vocal tract is well above anything that would make you tall. Like, the size of your femurs aren't changing the resonant space in your pharynx, which is what causes large voices. Furthermore, if that's how it works, why are there short wagnerian singers? I don't mean to sound aggressive or anything here, I just don't understand how height would matter.

​@@DubiousDubs larger men are going to have larger vocal apparatuses.Larger larynx, vocal cords, cavity space etc. I remember being a freshman voice student over 40 years ago at University of Illinois and my teacher calmly explaining Sherill milnes has a large voice due to his Large size..his face and neck he may have specified. In general this relationship is true. Warren, and Macneil and London, siepi etc. But the Italian baritones of the past were taught properly and had great squillo..no woofy sound. They got the most carrying power out of their voices(talented also of course).

Most of the ones here do, even Forsell (from 1907).

Interestingly Mattia Battistini can be heard on recording singing the Ab (he died in 1928) kzfaq.info/get/bejne/nslpds6XuMDMZ5s.html. Battistini also sang Pagliacci during the composer’s lifetime and was the only baritone Leoncavallo allowed to sing the prologue (normally sung by Tonio) despite the fact Battistini was in the cast as Silvio. Battistini remains one of the single greatest baritones of all time, bar none. You can read more on the topic here, page 67: books.google.be/books?id=F5sUdc_816sC&pg=PA67&lpg=PA67&dq=battistini+silvio&source=bl&ots=VMhj9abpTl&sig=ACfU3U0vFiqa1PSOHorQAh1-eNpTyx2qww&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjEscWqrL7tAhUB-6QKHY4KAcoQ6AEwCHoECAcQAg#v=onepage&q=battistini%20silvio&f=false

@@simonschmidt1960 this is an amazing detailed answer, thank you so much (edit): also my god that recording of the prologue is so good vocally and also artistically.

It's lighter because the singers then had to move further from the horn in order not to blast the thing to pieces. They all sang in chest voice though.

@@baoanhnguyen9186 Isn't a slight lightening of the fundamental/a shift of energy into the overtones also consistent with the shift into closed/covered timbre while staying in chest (what many would call "full voice in head" or "tenor head voice")? Do we have any evidence that they all reliably moved away from the horn when singing in their top, or is it just a story?

@@thomasgareaubaritone627 There's a clip of Lauritz Melchior doing just that somewhere on KZfaq. It's a movie, sure, but it does show the action. And covering is the exact opposite of "lightening." It's going darker (while trying to maintaining the clarity of the sound.) It's still chest voice, not head voice. To make it easier to understand: covered chest voice is like Beniamino Gigli in the final B of "Pazzo son". Head voice is like Beniamini Gigli in "O dolce incante." You can hear quite a difference. Tl;dr: Yes, old singers (pre-electronic) did step back when they sing a high note. No, covering does not involve lightening.

@@thomasgareaubaritone627 Watch this: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bM13gqWdtrDFgGQ.html

@@baoanhnguyen9186 we even opera singers today don’t use all chest voice. It might feel and sound like it but it’s a blend. I like to use the term full voice which means the head head voice and chest voice are connected. Head voice is used to hit a high note and the chest voice is used to support it and fill it out.

A documentary on the music life in Berlin, made by German television. They have lots of interesting material in their archives apparently. The Schlusnus footage is from 1944.

Leonard Warren

@@AfroPoli Thanks very much. I think he's magnificent!

Hence his actual honorific, the Lion of Pisa.

can you tell me the time stamp? I wanna hear that lion too hahag

Bud powell

ok ce l'ho fatta! l'ho trovato!!! lo scrivo subito nel caso qualcuno/a lo cerchi come me: Il Tabarro opera di Puccini

Thank you very much for clarifying and correcting!

you are right: there should be an extended second edition also including josef schwarz, josef metternich, nicola herlea...

"Torna" by Valente

You are quite right - the baritones of the Caruso era sound very similar because they have the correct technique - and their timbre is very similar to that of the middle of Caruso's voice when he was singing "baritonally" - then a certain windiness and forcing element starts to intrude, with some notable exceptions such as Lisitsian, Merrill and MacNeil - until we arrive at Cappuccilli, who was a fine and intelligent singer but whose top notes are really quite poorly produced.

SuperMagren the problem is what Kaufman does is encouraged by the industry. Those in power are the ones who enabled him. Like very sensitive muffled singing, almost like falsetto most of the time with very little projection. No emphasis on big sound even in Wagner. Just everything is all quiet sensitive “artistic” like lieder singing to a very small room of ppl. That’s what they want, so that’s what they get. If the industry rewarded the type of singing we like there would be a whole different set of stars, who are right now just ppl working regular jobs and singing as a hobby, because they cannot get success.

Please look at the description, all the names are there! Thanks!

Elvira was wonderful! He had a Warren like voice but much smaller in scope. Sang so well and with a gorgeous timbre.

YES Pablo Elvira fantastic!!!

I remember him well. He had a great top, and very low extension too. I would have liked to hear his G...and Matteo Manuguerra's as well.

One of my absolute favorite baritone voices. I could not agree more!

@@joshuamcpherson007 kzfaq.info/get/bejne/rpedgNCYnODKl2Q.htmlsi=IWzWo-bjzAhwMz-k

Danise.

@@AfroPoli Thanks for answering!!!

Orchestras used to be softer before the 1920's so that is not really an excuse. These days they often actually make orchestras play softer on purpose. They call it a balanced sound. Of course it is very easy to manipulate the loudness of a sound on a recording, even live broadcasted performances are enhanced.

I don't mean this as shade! But Zancanaro strikes me as perhaps not having the "best voice" naturally, but you can hear that his technique was GOLDEN. One of my favorites, a very easy voice to listen to.

@@thomasgareaubaritone627 Heard Zancanaro in Ballo in the 80’s. Reminded one of older great vocalists. Others were doing most of the recordings and people like lightweight Hampson were ruling at the Met. Zancanaro is just a joy to listen to.

Zancanaro had one of the most beautiful natural voices and productions. He may not have had the largest voice But large enough.

Without wishing to compare, I'm really happy you mentioned Zancanaro. I've always admired him highly and feel he's been greatly and unjustly underappreciated.

Which recording would you suggest...?

@@AfroPoli I was waiting Basiola also

@@AfroPoli kzfaq.info/get/bejne/iMeEqrSUqc_TiHU.html Giangiacomo Guelfi - O monumento from Ponchielli’s „La Gioconda” If I hear correctly, there is high G at the and of the aria

@@davidroy6371 That's true. Thanks!

You're quite right. I have him in the aria from La Favorita. It is nice, but not as spectacular as many others here.

@@AfroPoli Ok. Thank you.

@@AfroPoli He has a spectacular high G# in the Arlesiana recording that you posted several years ago though. :D

@@michelez3710 Definitely. I am saving that for the G# / Ab episode...! :)

There is a great description of Viglione Borghese singing in Aida in Rome in Vocal Truth by Edgar Herbert-Caesari.

Actually, C#6 is more harder to hit

It doesn't really make sense but ok

Senza dubbio !!!!

What a voice!!!! At 14:50

Knodel? I don’t think so.

@@xxsaruman82xx87 some bro. Some.

Which voice/s have knödel's according to you?

@@celibidache1000 well, I didn’t have time to go listen to every singer. But for example Forsell and obviously warren but there were a few others. No singer in the video has a bad voice. But some are better produced than others. Everything is a matter of degrees. One can have a very Kermit like sound or only slightly towards it. And you can have vocal faults and still have an overall fine voice. Which is where most inevitably fall as very few were near perfect Obvious standout of greatly produced voice is Ruffo. Probably the best baritone no questions asked.

2:20 bass ruffo is worser

13:50 he is already on a screams, voice is unstable. In some audios we can be tricked in that trap, studios, enchanced sounds can produce unrealistic "clear" sounds, but here we can here the real baritones screams, which can be called a "high notes" but its just a screams

Good for you. When I was younger, they told me I was a tenor. I believed them...

@@AfroPoli thats a bit more rare I think to be wrongly told your a tenor. You definitely had a high range though, I heard some tenor clips of you

@@Xerxes89 ugh… those are awful!

@@AfroPoli who cares when you sing like a lion as a baritone right! Anyway I wouldnt say awful ✌️

@@Xerxes89 It was really bad. Those teachers made me sing like that because of my slightly higher pitched speaking voice… I am lucky my voice survived all this abuse.

Very nice indeed. Free, spinning, gorgeous sound.

Most of these voices had more than just high notes, you just can't grasp it.

@@labienus9968some of my very favorite singers are showcased here, and they DEFINITELY showed great artistry in their singing. What I said is that it’s not on display in this video. As a baritone and musician myself I detest these kinds of compilations that have the effect of reducing great singing to an act of gymnastics centered around one note. If that were true, Bergonzi and Callas would be failures. But thanks for enriching the musical dialog by posting a personal attack.

@@danielakerman8241 Suggest you re-read your original comment before you construe my remark as an "attack"-(how could it be personal anyway?) If you had begun with much of what you say now I probably would have said,sure notes aren't everything etc. and not even commented. YOu remember what you said-"how BAD some of this singing is" not only was it not true, but we never know what the some is. So you wrote a shallow, inflammatory comment-not at all what you say now-probably knowing someone would react-so you could then react on a high horse no less, please. And then you "detest" these compilation-but why am I left with the feeling you listen to all of them! A guilty pleasure?

@@labienus9968 telling someone “you just can’t grasp it,” is indeed a personal attack calling into question someone’s cognitive or intellectual abilities. Some of the singing on this compilation IS bad!! And not just a little! Even my favorite baritones were guilty of some awful moments. The point is that anyone looking to learn what truly great singing is all about isn’t going to find it in this compilation. The only example here that really stands out for its quality is Zancanaro singing “Il balen” with utter ease and musical taste. Listen to one of the previous examples (don’t remember who right now) and you’ll hear him absolutely butcher the musical phrase. I don’t know you or your background. I don’t know if you’re a musician or not - not that it’s that important either way. But if you want to have an intelligent conversation on the merits and demerits in these musical examples, I’ll happily take part.

@@danielakerman8241 Calm down. The first time you didn't express yourself well. You could try it over? You're probably not a musician, or deeply knowledgeable about baritones, or else why would you make a blanket statement about how bad the singing is, when you rightfully say the measure of a great baritone is not simply having a high note? (more aspiring singers who know it all?-but are on internet comment sections?) But of course some sing quite well and have a lousy high note. You do say-given that most of the great baritones are on display here-there is "precious little" etc. and my response -again- was from that statement you don't seem to grasp much, My god-in this world that is a "personal attack"-it's a comment board-if you can't take different opinions, reactions-maybe it's not a place for you? Interestingly, you don't respond-but you declare disdain for these compilations-but not only listen to them-but comment on them!-mostly I skip them, but I was on a Warren reappraisal so I took the bait. There are others left out-but most of the big guns are here-but I do find that the remarkable Herlea is absent.

Like A Teenage Like A Young Like A Youth Like A Teen Like A Cool Like A Boy Like A Son Like A Guy Like A Gay

And also to the like a pop singer and a pop star ☺