Basso profondo (Italian: "deep bass"), sometimes basso profundo, contrabass or oktavist, is the lowest bass voice type. Basso profondo voice range on keyboard

While ''

The New Grove Dictionary of Opera ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera, considered to be one of the best general reference sources on the subject. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volu ...

'' defines a typical bass as having a range that is limited to the second E below middle C ( E₂),; ''The Oxford Dictionary of Music'' gives E₂ to E₄ or F₄ operatic bassi profondi can be called on to sing low C ( C₂), as in the role of Baron Ochs in ''

Der Rosenkavalier (''The Knight of the Rose'' or ''The Rose-Bearer''), Op. 59, is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel ''Les amours du chevalier de Faublas'' ...

''. Often choral composers make use of lower notes, such as G₁ or even F₁; in such rare cases the choir relies on exceptionally deep-ranged bassi profondi termed oktavists or octavists, who sometimes sing an octave below the bass part. Bass singer

Tim Storms Tim Storms (born August 28, 1972) is an American singer and composer. He holds the Guinness World Record for both the "lowest note produced by a human" and the "widest vocal range". Musical career Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Storms was raised in W ...

holds the Guinness World Record for the "lowest note produced by a human".

Definition

According to

Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...

(1775): "Basse-contres – the most profound of all voices, singing lower than the bass like a double bass, and should not be confused with contrabasses, which are instruments."

Oktavist

An oktavist is an exceptionally deep-ranged basso profondo, especially typical of Russian Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodox Choir, choral music. This voice type has a vocal range which extends down to A (an octave below the baritone range) and sometimes to F (an octave below the bass staff) with the extreme lows for oktavists, such as Mikhail Zlatopolsky or Alexander Ort, reaching C. Slavic choral composers sometimes make use of lower notes such as B₁ as in Sergei Rachmaninoff, Rachmaninoff's ''All-Night Vigil (Rachmaninoff), All-Night Vigil'', G in "Ne otverzhi mene" by Pavel Chesnokov, or F₁ in "Kheruvimskaya pesn" (Song of Cherubim) by Krzysztof Penderecki, although such notes sometimes also appear in repertoire by non-Slavic composers (e.g. B₁ appears in Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 2 (Mahler), Second and Symphony No. 8 (Mahler), Eighth Symphonies).

References

External links

*
oktavism.com
website dedicated to the oktavist voice {{Range (music) Voice types Italian opera terminology Bass (sound)

Definition

Oktavist

See also

References

Further reading

External links