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Range and subtypes[edit]

{ \new Staff \with { \remove "Time_signature_engraver" } \clef bass c,4 e'4 }
Bass vocal range (C2–E4) notated on the bass staff (left) and on piano keyboard in green with dot marking middle C (C4)

Bass has the lowest vocal range of all voice types, with the lowest tessitura. The low extreme for basses is generally C2 (two Cs below middle C). Some extreme bass singers, referred to as basso profondos and oktavists, are able to reach much lower than this. Within opera, the lowest note in the standard bass repertoire is D2, sung by the character Osmin in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail, but few roles fall below F2.

Although Osmin's note is the lowest 'demanded' in the operatic repertoire, lower notes are heard, both written and unwritten: for example, it is traditional for basses to interpolate a low C in the duet "Ich gehe doch rathe ich dir" in the same opera; in Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier, Baron Ochs has an optional C2 ("Mein lieber Hippolyte"). The high extreme: a few bass roles in the standard repertoire call for a high F or G (F4 and G4, the one above middle C), but few roles go over F4. In the operatic bass repertoire, the highest notes are a G4 (The Barber in The Nose by Shostakovich) and, in the aria "Fra l'ombre e gl'orrori" in Handel's serenata Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, Polifemo reaches an A4.