At 2:10 when Pape says, "First of all it's natural," he is absolutely right. That is why it is more common to hear stories about baritones who do fach changes into a tenor than baritones who change to the bass fach. You either have the genes to either start out as a bass or train to become one, or you don't. I would hesitate to say it never happens, but it's very, very rare that a baritone becomes a bass and the best chance of becoming an operatic bass comes when you are already a true bass to start. 5% of how good your low notes are comes from what you practice with to get better low notes, but 95% of the quality of the lower notes comes from your DNA. That is why a true bass voice is very rare because it's hard to find someone who has the right vocal construction to sing low notes correctly. Some people think that subharmonics, vocal fry, growl, throat singing, or even inhale singing sounds the same as a true bass, but it doesn't. Even if someone like a baritone hits an E2 or below, even with chest voice, it won't sound the same. Even comparing a baritone or a tenor singing low notes to the those same notes being sung by a basso cantante it won't sound the same. René Pape was lucky to have been born with the voice that he has.
Wow, Rene Pape is an interesting and fascinating artist. I enjoyed this interview very much.
At 2:10 when Pape says, "First of all it's natural," he is absolutely right. That is why it is more common to hear stories about baritones who do fach changes into a tenor than baritones who change to the bass fach. You either have the genes to either start out as a bass or train to become one, or you don't. I would hesitate to say it never happens, but it's very, very rare that a baritone becomes a bass and the best chance of becoming an operatic bass comes when you are already a true bass to start. 5% of how good your low notes are comes from what you practice with to get better low notes, but 95% of the quality of the lower notes comes from your DNA. That is why a true bass voice is very rare because it's hard to find someone who has the right vocal construction to sing low notes correctly. Some people think that subharmonics, vocal fry, growl, throat singing, or even inhale singing sounds the same as a true bass, but it doesn't. Even if someone like a baritone hits an E2 or below, even with chest voice, it won't sound the same. Even comparing a baritone or a tenor singing low notes to the those same notes being sung by a basso cantante it won't sound the same. René Pape was lucky to have been born with the voice that he has.
Very handsome.
Agreed.