Low male voice repertoire in contemporary musical theatre: a studio and performance guide of selected songs 1996-2020 by

List of Appendices 
Appendix A: LMV Roles in Musical Theatre 1927-2019. ....................................................................... 100 
Appendix B: Selected LMV Songs in Musical Theatre 1996-2020. ........................................................ 106 
Appendix C: LMV Songs Found in Musical Theatre Published Collections. .......................................... 110 

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1 
Chapter 1:
 
BASS
 
VOICE 
The bass voice is a rare instrument in classical music, an anomaly featured prevalently within the 
operatic canon in secondary characters of authority (fathers, monarchs, priests), villains, devils, and comic 
relief.
1
There is distinct importance and need in both educational and professional situations for voices of 
subclassifications below baritone to be available and with sufficient technical prowess to portray these 
roles accurately; I myself have reaped the benefits of presenting as a serviceable bass or bass-baritone in 
both an educational (Indiana University, ten comprimario roles during graduate studies between 2013-
2018) and professional setting (nine contracted comprimario roles since May 2017). In an analysis of role 
classifications from operas listed in The New Milton Cross’s Complete Stories of the Great Operas, 
Matthew Henry finds that 123 roles have been marked for bass-baritone or bass, while total female roles 
number 170. Out of total listed roles (487 roles in 50 operas), the two lowest voice classifications make 
up 25 percent.
2
In both my education and professional young artist experiences the number of bass-
baritone and basses within total singers in a company (or students in a voice department) per a given year 
never came close to matching that final percentage, despite season programming which reflected industry 
standards and role representation.
The indication that there may be a plethora of opportunities (or production requirements) each 
audition season for a small available group of well-trained low voices serves to justify action steps for 
educators and students alike to seek instructors and materials/repertoire through which vocal proficiency 
can be reached. A present-day example can be found in the hiring by Indiana University of Associate 
Professor and bass, Peter Volpe in 2017. Professor Volpe also performed the role of the Commendatore 
for IU Opera Theatre that fall. Prior to his hiring, the Jacobs School of Music had been without a bass 
1
Matthew Henry James, “Differences and ambiguities in the subclassification of the low male voice: A 
study of role assignments for basses, bass-baritones and baritones in productions by selected American opera 
companies active during 1986” (DMA diss., University of Missouri-Kansas City, 1989), 52-53, ProQuest 
Dissertations & Theses Global
. 
2
Ibid., 16-20. 

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2 
voice instructor since Georgio Tozzi’s retirement in 2006.
3
In the years I was an active participant in IU 
Opera Theatre prior to Volpe’s hiring (2012-2017), baritones were frequently cast in bass or bass-baritone 
roles such as Bartolo, Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro), Basilio and Bartolo (Barbiere), Taddeo (L'Italiana in 
Algeri), Dick Deadeye (H.M.S. Pinafore) Emile de Becque (South Pacific), and Jud Fry (Oklahoma).
Doctoral conducting students were cast in the roles of Colline and Dottore Grenvil, despite the university 
having a graduate voice major enrollment of around ninety singers each year.
4
Having also been in 
Bloomington after Professor Volpe’s hiring, I observed many bass and bass-baritone singers from his 
studio gracing the opera stage (at times double-cast) in the following years, and markedly less casting of 
higher fachs in low roles.