Celebrating Friedrich von Flotow's 199th Birthday

Friedrich von Flotow and Titta Ruffo

Today is the 199th birthday of German Composer Friedrich von Flotow. Other than his famous "Ach! so fromm, ach! so traut" ("M'appari),"from Martha he is rarely heard in English speaking countries. Perhaps with his 200th birthday celebration we'll hear more of his music next season. Flotow wrote 30 operas and four ballets, many of which have echoes of Rossini, Auber and Offenbach.

Perhaps his best known aria for baritone is "Lasst mich euch Fragen" ("Chi mi dira") from his most famous opera Martha. Here is a classic version from the great Italian baritone Titta Ruffo.

Folke Jonsson

Just for fun, here is the famous "Spinning Quartet" sung in Swedish by Elisabeth Söderström, Siw Ericsdotter, Nicolai Gedda and Folke Jonsson, which is also from Martha.



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Titta Ruffo & Beniamino Gigli Sing "O Mimi, tu più non torni"

Titta Ruffo & Beniamino Gigli

The great Italian tenor Beniamino Gigli was born on March 20, 1890, so we're celebrating his birthday the only way that we know how - by pairing him with a barihunk. Here is Gigli with Titta Ruffo singing Puccini's glorious"O Mimi, tu più non torni" from La Boheme.



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Celebrating Iago on Otello's Anniversary

Titta Ruffo

One of the unfortunate things about this site is that we don't find as many Verdi barihunks as we'd like. Some roles scream barihunk casting, particularly Attila and we've featured it regularly. Most of the roles range from the G below low C to the A♭ above middle C (G2 to A♭4), which includes singers like Ettore Bastianini and Dmitri Hvorostovsky. However, most barihunks seems to have a sweeter, lighter and slightly higher placed voice, so we tend to post a disproportionate amount of Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, Handel and baroque opera.

So on the occasion of the debut of Verdi's Otello on this date in 1887, we decided to celebrate the role of Iago, who we think should be regularly cast as a barihunk, as it adds such a wonderful dimension to the storyline.

Here are two of our favorite barihunks, Tito Ruffo singing the opera's famed duet with Enrico Caruso and Dmitri Hvorostovsky singing Iago's Credo.

Dmitri Hvorostovsky

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CONTEST: Hamlet's Drinking Song

If there is an opera that seems to be experiencing a major revival, it's Ambroise Thomas' "Hamlet,' Of course this is great news for lovers of the baritone voice, as it is an absolute showcase for baritones. Here are five very different renditions spanning 100 years of singing. Use the poll at the right and let us know which is your favorite version. 

Here is Bo Skovhus:



Here is Dmitri Hvorostovsky:



Here is Simon Keenlyside:



Here is Nelson Eddy:



Here is Titta Ruffo:



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