Baritono

As Printed on a Score

Labels the baritone voice (Baritono; Bar. later; Bariton in German scores), written in bass clef — some older editions used the baritone F clef on the middle line. Bar. can also abbreviate an instrument such as the baritone saxophone or baritone horn, so read the full label first.

Abbreviations: Bar.

Also spelled: Baritone, Baritoni, Bariton

How Composers Use It

Between tenor and bass, roughly A2 to F4 for a choral or song singer and higher in opera, the baritone covers the most natural male speaking range and is the usual voice for Lieder. In opera it plays fathers, villains and friends — Verdi wrote many of his greatest roles for it — and in Beethoven’s Ninth the baritone soloist is the first voice to sing, with “O Freunde, nicht diese Töne!”. Mixed choirs usually have no separate part: baritones sing second tenor or first bass, though men’s choirs often label one part Baritone.

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