David, I wonder if there is a bit of comparing apples to oranges here. What is a bass line? I have sung a number of three part motets (admittedly not exactly Renaissance lute music), and recently my harp ensemble has been playing them. There is a "bottom line (or staff)" but it often crosses in pitch with the "upper lines". Then there is four part choral music where there is a definite separation of the ranges of the parts. I have sung in mixed chorales with Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass and in men's chorales with 1st Tenor, 2nd Tenor, Baritone and Bass. There the lines are clear in the arrangement, and occassionally the bass gets the melody briefly.
I think in this case, that of the lute and singer, we are speaking of keeping the lute in its range and making the singer adapt. A healthy young singer of middle range should be able to handle 2 1/2 octaves, and possibly 3 - as long as he is using the lighter ballad voice rather than screaming like a Rock star, or bellowing like some operatic singers. That should allow the singer, in most cases, to choose an octave below if he can't reach the top note of the piece. The singer should be the more flexible as his range should be wider (in the sense of being able to project) than the lute, where there is a distinctive sound and resonance that is limited by size and string guage and length. So I don't think this is a case of singing the bass line of the lute part, but a matter of letting a baritone sing the melody line in his own range. It works, I've done it with other instruments. Best, Jon > You mean sing the bass line in the lute part? It may have been the age > of polyphony, but a lot of those bass lines are not exactly tuneful > ayres! For the most part, they're so obviously bass lines. It seems > to me that even where the music is purely polyphonic, there's a > difference between a good song and a good bass line. Certainly, I can > remember singing some bass lines that were very beautiful, but I don't > know that every bass line I've ever sung (or played in lute-song > accompaniments) is worth singing as a solo song.
