Do you dream of becoming a professional opera singer? Before the dream comes true, however, there's a long way to go, and the path is often more zigzag than straight. If you really want to build your professional career on your voice, your body, your ­memory, then you need a genuine calling and maybe a bit of madness, too. But what you need above all is a dependable guide.
I was lucky in that the calling had already soon been laid in my crib. Though I initially saw myself rather sitting in the orchestra pit as a musician before I finally started to realize my wish to be a singer "standing on the boards" that had already meant the world to my parents. But I only scarely knew what a great deal of patience, steadfastness and stamia would be necessary to control my voice and learn the repertoire I needed. I owe it to my teachers who guided me on this path with a steady hand.
Many do not have this chance. It's when I began to teach that
I truly became aware of how important a consistent and sys­tematic approach to the repertoire is for a singer: it's an indispensable precondition to be able to exercise this profession successfully.
I thus take great pleasure in assuming the patronage of this Oper­Aria project and of the present repertoire collection with opera arias for baritone. This is definitely a brilliant idea: the most up-to-date and comprehensive know-how – just what the singer needs for his dream job.

Berlin, Spring 2015
Roman Trekel

Everyone knows them as faithful companions on one's path to vocal mastery; the traditional aria album. Sometimes these albums were simply hastily compiled loose sheets, and their musical texts hard to read or play, and were not always authoritative. They were part of the singer's training. They were serviceable and saved the singer a great deal of research in libraries, even if many of the arias printed in such anthologies did not suit the singer's voice. The repertoire often presented a potpourri of vastly contrasting pieces and only took into account the distinction in vocal registers. Other times, ambitious editors compiled into one volume parts which, from a singer's point of view, were so distant from one another that they could not be mastered by one and the same person. Even the multifarious resources of the Internet have yet to offer any compelling alternatives.
The goal of the present repertoire collection of opera arias is to give the user a modern-day, systematically structured companion – or, to stay in character, a knowledgeable, well-informed and up-to-date vocal coach who satisfies the demands of present-day theater practice. Although developed mainly for use in college- or university-level studies and theatrical auditions, the collection does not solely target students, but also singers who are already professionally active and wish to expand their specialized repertoire or prepare for a change of voice range. Moreover, a well-ordered conflation of the audition repertoire, as presented here, might also be interesting to anyone involved in vocal pedagogy and to all who wish to be knowledgeable about specific vocal profiles for casting-related matters, including those responsible for the casting of theatrical roles.
The present volumes contains a representative cross-section of the lyric/lyric-dramatic/dramatic repertoire for baritone and forms part of a comprehensive repertoire anthology of opera arias for all vocal genres. The subdivision into the lyrical, lyrical-dramatic and dramatic categories is conceived as a means of orientation; it suggests the basic direction, but leaves enough room to showcase the individuality of the various types of voices and roles. This is why it is increasingly seen as a valuable supplement to the traditional "Fach" specification used by teachers and theatrical casting professionals, without seeking to compete against this traditional vocal division. Obviously, an overlapping of the categories and repertoire contained in the individual volumes cannot always be precluded on account of the very supple division that we have made here.
The selection of arias from three centuries of classical opera repertoire was made according to vocal criteria (range, tessitura, level of difficulty, type of aria), while taking into account practical aspects of a musical and theatrical nature (style, era, role type, national provenance). Arias from Baroque operas which are commonly found in today's repertoire but sometimes call for very different qualities and additional knowledge, were as a rule not included in this selection.
Generally, but not always, the basic character of the aria in question reflects that of the entire part. In cases where the vocal demands of the individual aria diverge considerably from those of the overall role, this will be pointed out specifically in order to banish the danger of overtaxing the voice. We have chosen well-known audition arias as well as rarities that are otherwise inaccessible, or accessible only in unsatisfactory editions, along with arias from the 20th-century's "classical modernity" that are missing in traditional aria albums, usually for copyright reasons, but which have since found their way into the operatic repertoire. Thus next to the indispensable classical arias for stage auditions, this anthology contains a vast selection of arias for recitals, concerts and opera soirées with which students and professionals can let their vocal and interpretative talents shine.
The musical text of the arias is based on editions that are considered as standard in stage practice and offer the most authoritative texts. The piano parts were either newly written or revised on the basis of proven piano-vocal scores with the aim to achieve a transposition of the original sound that is as faithful to the score as possible, while remaining easy to play (also in consideration of voice teachers). To this end, we have had to occasionally abridge some arias (e. g. orchestral preludes or interludes and cuts in vocal parts that have become customary practice today) or supplement them with practicable endings (e. g. in open arias and scenes that lead immediately into another musical section without a break).
The individual comments on the arias provide information on the composer, the librettist, the work, the range and, if deemed necessary, on peculiarities such as matters of versions or casting. Also included is a short synopsis of the contents which illuminates the basic dramatic constellation in which the respective aria is embedded in the context of the opera's plot. In addition, there is an evaluation of the aria from the singer's point of view as a recommendation from a practitioner of the musical stage and of musicology; in addition to my own experience, valuable advice from many singer colleagues has also been incorporated here. Finally, the volumes also feature a CD as "text and phonetics assistant" with the aria texts in German and English translations as a text file (pdf), as well as the aria texts in the original language spoken by native speakers as an audio file (mp3).
We wish to extend our most cordial thanks to the Bund Deutscher Gesangspädagogen and several teachers at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien in Hanover for rewarding professional exchanges and collegial advice. I would also like to thank the sound engineer Dirk Austen and the students who took part in the CD recording, as well as to all who helped with the translations and proofreading: Roger Clement (English), Jutta Eckes (Italian), Sabine Wehr-Zeller (French), Reinhard Schmiedel (Russian), Diane Ackermann for her dramaturgical collaboration, Christian Rudolf Riedel for the production and revision of the piano-vocal scores, his precise and expert editing, and his tireless commitment as coordinator of all who contributed to the success of the edition. We are also grateful to the publisher, Breitkopf & Härtel, without whom there would be no such collection at all.

Hanover, Spring 2014 Peter Anton Ling