What’s the difference between “lyric baritone” and “bass-baritone”?
Friday, July 18th, 2008I’ve been identified by various people both ways. I’m 19.
Answer: An appropriate question! There are several components to the answer, and these are directly related to the area of voice classification. A couple of generalities can be made instantly. Lyric baritones generally have a higher range than bass-baritones. Lyric baritones have a higher tessitura than bass-baritones. The timbre of lyric baritones also tends to be lighter and brighter than bass-baritones.
A developed lyric baritone is comfortable between the A above middle C and down two octaves. This would be his normal, usual and useful solo-singing range. He may be able to vocalize to a B-flat or B-natural (on the high side), or descend to A-flat or G (below his lowest useful note) but sounds weak down there. He may perhaps access even lower notes with the use of the fry register [I know the baritone who posed this question]. However, for all normal solo singing, one considers full-cord action as the only proper means of phonation. A lyric baritone often finds himself singing around middle C – on both sides with complete comfort and ease. It is not unusual for a lyric baritone to be called on to sing Tenor 2 in choral situations. This happens, in part, because, beside the range capabilty, the timbre of his voice is similar to that of tenor choral singers.
A bass-baritone’s comfortable solo-singing range is somewhat lower than the lyric baritone, F to F, about a third lower than the lyric baritone. Bass-baritone is also a more general designation of voice classification than “lyric” baritone because it does not indicate the “quality” or “timbre” of the voice. Again, the bass-baritone may be able to vocalize higher than the useful F, and vocalize a third or fourth lower than his useful low F, but without much power on the low end. The bass-baritone’s tessitura – the area of the range in which he is most comfortable – will often be well below middle C – approximately the A-to-A octave that marks the lower half of the lyric baritone’s useful range.
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