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Who sits on the throne? The baritone! If you ask a random guy to sing, you'll probably hear a baritone. That's because most men are (including your dad). They can be lovers, villains, barbers, wigmakers, surgeons, gardeners, herbalists, veterinarians, or... country singers.
Howdy, howdy, howdy! I’m Solomon Reynolds, and this is: Saturday Morning Car Tunes! Today… Baritones rule in country music and classic crooning, with voices like Johnny Cash and Elvis Presly. Who else comes to mind? That guy in the car next to you is probably a baritone! Most men are, because they’re right in the middle between high tenors and low basses. Baritones are considered the “normal” male voice. Papageno, from Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute, is a baritone who represents the everyman. Here he is singing “A Girl or a Wife.”
In Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, Figaro is a baritone who’s also a barber, wigmaker, surgeon, gardener, herbalist, veterinarian, and jack-of-all-trades.
You know that little jingle your washing machine plays at the end of its cycle? It’s actually a lied (which is German for song). This is The Trout by Schubert.
Another great composer of lieder (German for songs) is Robert Schumann. The baritone voice is perfect for lieder.
In Italian operas, the tenor is usually the main character; but Verdi would write leading roles for baritones. On top of singing difficult music, Verdi wanted his baritones to act really well, like from Falstaff.
Gounod gave one of his best melodies in the opera to the baritone. Bizet gave one of the best melodies in all of opera to the baritone. This is the Toreador Song from Carmen.
Sometimes, the baritone plays the villain, like in Puccini’s Tosca.
Or they can play the lover, like in Korngold’s The Dead City.
Mahler took this baritone melody and later made it into his Symphony No. 1.
And Copland used this Shaker hymn from his ballet Appalachian Spring and rewrote it for baritone and orchestra.
Rich or poor, the baritone breathes life into any musical, like Fiddler on the Roof. And nothing can beat the belt of a baritone, like from The Bridges of Madison County. Who sits on the throne? The baritone.
I’m Solomon Reynolds. I write and produce Saturday Morning Car Tunes with research assistant Carolina Correa and audio engineer Stephen Page, only on Classical California. Tune in—or out of your car—next Saturday morning!
