basso profondo
Basso profondo ("deep bass") is the lowest bass voice type. It is often misspelled as basso profundo. While The New Grove Dictionary of Opera defines a typical bass as having a range that extends downward to the second E below middle C (E 2), operatic bassi profondi can be called on to sing low C (C 2), as in the role of Baron Ochs in Der Rosenkavalier.
Also recorded as basso profundo · low bass · deep bass
basso profondo
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Basso profondo ("deep bass") is the lowest bass voice type. It is often misspelled as basso profundo. While The New Grove Dictionary of Opera defines a typical bass as having a range that extends downward to the second E below middle C (E 2), operatic bassi profondi can be called on to sing low C (C 2), as in the role of Baron Ochs in Der Rosenkavalier.
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Definition
Definition
Often choral composers make use of lower notes, such as G 1 or even F 1; in such rare cases the choir relies on exceptionally deep-ranged bassi profondi termed octavists, who may sing an octave below the bass part. Bass singer Tim Storms holds the Guinness World Record for the "lowest note produced by a human".
• Illustration — Basso profondo voice range (C 2 –C 4) indicated on piano keyboard in green with dot marking middle C • Illustration — Range of a basso profondo according to the Italian definition ranging from C to F According to Rousseau (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."
Octavist
Octavist
An octavist (German: Oktavist) is an exceptionally deep-ranged basso profondo, especially typical of Russian Orthodox 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 octavists, such as Mikhail Zlatopolsky or Alexander Ort, reaching C. Slavic choral composers sometimes make use of lower notes such as B 1 as in Rachmaninoff's All-Night Vigil, G in "The Twelve Brigands", G in "Ne otverzhi mene" by Pavel Chesnokov, or F 1 in "Kheruvimskaya pesn" ("Song of Cherubim") by Krzysztof Penderecki, although such notes sometimes also appear in repertoire by non-Slavic composers (e.g. B 1 appears in Gustav Mahler's Second and Eighth Symphonies). In popular culture several a capella groups have bass singers with an octavist range, such as Home Free's Tim Foust, VoicePlay's Geoff Castellucci, and Avi Kaplan formerly of Pentatonix, as well as Tony-nominated Broadway performer Patrick Page, each of these being able to reach down to a G or in some cases even lower, with Castellucci able to hit a B using subharmonic singing and Foust able to hit a G using growl.
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- “Basso profondo”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
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- Wikidata, structured authority record Q2532487: basso profondo
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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