The bass voice type may not be as rare as the contralto, but it is equally cool, which accounts for its being chosen for many of opera's most evil and most complicated characters. I will be so bold as to mention Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov here as my favorite of all, and I'll say that the best basses demonstrate the fact that the lowest notes can be just as exciting as the very highest in opera. As there are not so few stunning basses that one list can contain them all, I've set this feature as the first in a series of two installments. I'm sure you'll agree that the artists included here are among the finest that ever recorded a note. I'm dead certain, in fact.

Ezio Pinza

Mention his name in a room full of opera fans and watch them go nuts. The Met Opera dedicated the fountains at its new house to him, and the reason isn't just that he forged one of the most illustrious careers any bass ever had without ever learning how to read notes. By the time he retired from the Met, his unusual dramatic versatility had landed him more than ninety-five operatic roles. He took the male lead in Rodgers' and Hammerstein's "South Pacific" soon after, the richness of his tone capturing the imaginations of the legendary Broadway composers, who wrote some of the famous musical's songs for his voice specifically. Bass students of Italian opera often quote him as an inspiration, and his recordings with artists such as Rosa Ponselle are legendary.

Pol Plancon

Herbert von Karajan would have loved this guy. Pol Plancon was one of the very last opera stars who adhered to a tradition that championed exceptional grace, refinement, and clarity in a vocalist's style, sometimes at the expense of drama. He hopped into the recording era with Nellie Melba and friends out of the 1800s, immortalizing a voice that, because of a more passionate and "human" trend among vocalists that Enrico Caruso, Feodor Chaliapin, and the like paraded through the first quarter of the Twentieth Century, was hailed as an elegant rarity. His recordings are some of the very few glimpses into opera's most significant and prestigious time. His retirement was a somewhat gloomy event in the opera world, as his voice was still in great shape when he made his final exit from the stage.

Rene Pape

Rene Pape, dubbed "The Black Diamond Bass," has been performing since he was old enough to be cast as one of the three boys in Mozart's "The Magic Flute," and is considered one of the most talented operatic basses active today. He has received two Grammys and an ECHO (Germany's Grammy) award, and he was named "Vocalist of the Year" by Musical America in 2002, then "Artist of the Year" in 2006 by critics in Germany. He was also honored by the Metropolitan Opera in its "Met Mastersingers" series. His voice being dark, large, and well- controlled, he has been selected by great conductors (including the legendary Georg Solti) and film makers (i.e. Kenneth Branagh) for roles in famous productions and recordings. A man with an ear open to the new, he is also known for his interpretations of songs by the German metal band, Rammstein. He is set to next month perform a recital in Paris and, then, the complete role of King Philipp II in a production of Verdi's "Don Carlo."

Boris Christoff

Boris Christoff's name is very familiar to opera- adoring folk, though it doesn't take an aficionado to recognize the gifts he
possessed. His sound wasn't extremely large, but he achieved lasting international fame for his matching dramatic stylings and timbre, both of them intense and penetrating. His portrayal of Boris Godunov is still one of the most admired on disc, and he is also widely known today for his interpretation of Russian art song. He recorded over two hundred Russian classical songs, including all sixty-three of Mussorgsky's, which are available in a box set. He was known to be a difficult artist to work with at times; his falling out with Maria Callas became meat for the press, "La Divina" being scrutinized constantly, herself, for a temperament similar to his own. He made his permanent exit from the stage at the age of seventy-two.

Cesare Siepi

Siepi is considered the ultimate Don Giovanni. He performed the role forty-three times at the Vienna State Opera alone, more than any other guest or mainstay of that company, and made a legendary recording of it in 1953, conducted by the great Wilhelm Furtwangler. His stylings in the role of King Philipp II in "Don Carlo" are also very famous. He replaced Boris Christoff in the role at the Met at the start of the 1950 season and shortly after that became the principal (and most internationally acclaimed) bass there, performing and recording into his sixties to the delight of his very large audiences. He passed away in 2010 at the age of eighty-seven.

Martti Talvela

Talvela was one of a small handful of legendary Finnish basses in the Twentieth Century (the first, according to some). His voice was described as having "immense size and wide range," earning him a stellar reputation as an interpreter of many widely varied roles and musical styles. He is almost as well-remembered for his Mozart and Wagner as for his Mussorgsky. His lowest notes were well-recorded and still astonish listeners because of the ease with which he could descend to them from his highest, but in his lifetime his size and acting contributed in equal amount to his fame. He stood six feet, eight inches tall, taller than any opera singer in the world, and he had a demeanor to match his unmissable and grand vocal sound. Though he was stricken with health problems that thinned his voice considerably before his passing, he made a late recording (his last) of Schubert's "Winterreise" that is widely acclaimed for its warmth and emotion. He also famously recorded Mussorgsky's "Songs and Dances of Death" twice, once with orchestral accompaniment and once with piano.

Ivar F. Andresen

Andresen had the distinction of being the first Norwegian to perform at the Met, and he is one of two opera singers to be honored quite memorably in his native country, the other being Kirsten Flagstad, whose face is painted on the tails of Norwegian Air Shuttle passenger jets. His flexible voice earned him success with the music of Verdi, Wagner, and Mozart. He was most famous in his lifetime in England, America, and Germany, but has become known all over the world because of his many recordings and the widely circulated fact of his face being put on the boxes of IFA cough drops, which are advertised as purposed for "singers, public speakers, smokers, and athletes." He passed away rather young, at the age of forty-four, after a battle with a series of health issues.

Nicolai Ghiaurov

Nicolai Ghiaurov's full, fluid, and powerful voice made him, according to many more than only the writer of his obituary in The Telegraph, "one of the two or three leading bass singers over a quarter of a century from 1960." Even now he is universally acclaimed as being among the most exceptional interpreters of the roles of Boris Godunov, Timur in "Turandot," Massenet's Don Quichotte (of which the first complete performance recorded in stereo sound is his), and Don Giovanni. His focus on smooth transition between notes (legato) made him a favorite of Herbert von Karajan, whose ideal soprano, Mirella Freni, he married in 1978. His gifts got a peak on one of Antarctica's islands named after him, and he now regularly makes lists of the best operatic basses in history.

Anton van Rooy

Van Rooy was one of the most acclaimed Wagnerian basses ever, his voice being considered universally as beautiful and affecting. His recordings, much like Rosa Ponselle's, don't quite capture its immense size and power, but they showcase all of its other impressive qualities, including its solid high notes and abyssal chest tones. Though he cut his prime short by taking up a few too many roles that pushed his range, he wasn't left without an enormous fan base in his later years. The first truly legendary Wotan of the Twentieth Century, his legacy inspired basses and bass-baritones for decades after his passing in 1932.

I hope you've enjoyed this, Part I of II in Everyone's Opera's "The Opera Crazy's Guide to the Greatest Opera Singers of Time: The Basses." If there's a name you'd like to see in Part II, leave it in a comment below and I'll be sure to include it! Thanks for all of your help with the editing of the list of great contraltos, which will be completed before the week is out! Ciao, my fellow opera crazies, and happy operatic insanity!

Having previously released an article entitled "The Top Fifteen Opera Singers of Then and Now" and received feedback from opera fans worldwide, I've decided to take another step toward achieving my purpose for Everyone's Opera, which is to make it a solid reference for opera newbies and aficionados, in effect placing it at the base of a throne from which I may preside over the activities of opera-loving critics, journalists, and bloggers everywhere (Hey, each of us has a dream that drives him forward...). I present "The Opera Crazy's Guide to the Great Opera Singers of Time," an article series that will showcase the greatest operatic talents of the last few centuries, including those who, once upon a gigabyte-free Age, influenced classical singers of the world and changed the way their art was taught without ever being recorded, paving the trail for every one of the legends whose sounds now make iTunes playlists every day. Each list in this series will be organized under a specified voice type. Popularity, unique contributions to the genre, lasting impact, and influence will be considered, and, as in "The Top Fifteen Opera Singers of Then and Now," all vocalists who have built their careers on a crossover style will be excluded. I now present to you the lordly femmes behind the first of Bartok's doors, the contraltos!

Marian Anderson

There were Sojourner Truth and W.E.B Du Bois; then there was Marian Anderson. Marian Anderson was living proof that music can open many doors and shatter barriers that stand between one and equality. As in Sojourner Truth's case, she often calmed the seeming giants that are prejudice and animosity with her voice alone, a dark and glittering voice that had an almost baritonal chest register. Generations of African Americans after her continue to shout her praises since she became the first African American to perform a concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., a concert arranged by the President and First Lady, themselves. Her musical interpretations of African American spirituals made her a unique quantity among fame-baiting artists in Europe, making her one of the most important artistic American icons of any race or gender. She only once performed a complete operatic role, as she never took an acting class and, therefore, figured she could best represent her art on the concert stage. Her performance as Ulrica in Verdi's "Un Ballo in Maschera" has become legendary, as it was the first performance that any person of African descent in the world ever gave at the Metropolitan Opera. She won the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996, at the age of 94.

Dame Clara Butt

This British belle was, like Marian Anderson, devoted to the concert stage, performing in a complete opera production only twice in her life, twice as the same character. In his review of her first performance in Gluck's Orfeo's sandals, Bernard Shaw wrote that she "far surpassed the utmost expectations that could reasonably be entertained." Her voice had a rather wide range, one that won the admiration of every English monarch that reigned during her lifetime. Edward Elgar wrote a song cycle, "Sea Pictures," for voice and orchestra with her stylings in mind, and she sang its world premiere with Elgar conducting, sweeping the score with vocal colors that are still admired by video sharing site users all over the world. She continued to perform and to record into her late years, mourning with music the loss of her eldest son to meningitis and her younger to suicide. She died in 1936 at the age of 63.

Kathleen Ferrier

Marian Anderson said of this deep-voiced talent, "What a voice, and what a face!" The exquisite Kathleen Ferrier's name sits in company with several that owe their legendary status in part to Benjamin Britten, who wrote music specifically for them. Britten composed the lead role of a now widely admired chamber opera, "The Rape of Lucretia," just for her, and he wanted none but Ferrier to premiere his "Spring Symphony." Both works are examples of the relatively rare contralto-oriented writing in classical music. Ferrier's voice was of such a smooth and rich quality that she was lauded even when she sang several mezzo soprano parts in masses and oratorios a tone lower. Like Marian Anderson, she brought some less familiar material to the attention of audiences all over the world, most famously the Northumbrian folk tune, "Blow the Wind Southerly," which she sang without instrumental accompaniment. She succumbed to breast cancer in 1953 to the world's shock, having concealed her condition for years.

Ernestine Schumann-Heink

Ernestine Schumann-Heink's very wide range enabled her to sing both low contralto music and dramatic mezzo soprano Wagner and Richard Strauss roles. One of her few public detractors was Richard Strauss, himself, for whom she first sang the role of Klytaemnestra in his hard-edged one-Act opera, "Elektra." She apparently didn't like the music, and he showed his distaste for her style (Strauss liked sopranos in his operas, and lots of them) in rehearsal by telling the enormous orchestra he'd assembled, during one of Klytaemnestra's scenes, "Louder! I can still hear Madame Schumann-Heink!" Most of us opera fans are a little more open-minded, even a little disappointed at the fact that the artists who train in contralto have become rarer than ever, and we still celebrate Shumann-Heink for her incredible vocal control, full sound, and emotional involvement. She was acclaimed as much in her late years as in her prime. Forced to use her talents for support after the Wall Street Crash of 1929, she got herself a radio show and retired with a boom, singing her last complete opera performance in 1932 at age 71. Lukemia finally claimed her life and career in 1936.

Ewa Podles

Ewa Podles is one of the few world-famous contraltos active today. Like Ernestine Schumann-Heink, she can easily clear the hurdle between the contralto and dramatic-mezzo octaves, prompting critics to applaud while standing on their toes. Just as impressive is her ability to bounce between the elegant and note-heavy music of the great Baroque Era composers, the overpowering, almost modernist monster ballads of Modest Mussorgsky, the actual modernist sounds of Shostakovich, and the lyrical fun stuff of Bizet. She started her international career with Rosina in Rossini's "The Barber of Seville." I know. My right cheek is stinging after a quick consciousness-check. If there's an artist who shows that the contralto voice deserves more respect than it gets in the opera world today, it's her.

Maureen Forrester

Forrester was a singer who knew where to go. She famously said, "You're never out of work as an alto." The haunting beauty of her work in oratorios, masses, folk music, and song cycles made her one of the world's most beloved contraltos in her time. She was championed by the great conductor, Bruno Walter, who was taught by Gustav Mahler, himself, and thought her even, smooth sound to be the perfect fit for the celebrated composer's symphony, "Resurrection," which he taught her to interpret Mahler's way. She took character parts in operas and found a niche on the concert stage, never giving in to the frustration of others with her range, who envied the attention-hog E's and F's of sopranos. She sang in the famous 1966 "Cleopatra" opposite Beverly Sills and didn't brood for a minute over the subsequent stardom of the legendary coloratura soprano.

Nathalie Stutzmann

Yet another one of the classical stars who continue to show that the contralto voice is happenin' and sweet, Nathalie Stutzmann has been showered with accolades for her performances of Shubert and Mahler lieder, Baroque opera, and French songs. Her voice tightly controlled and Debussy dreamy, she impresses her audiences with her seeming effortlessness of delivery, which to her is important to the career of any great singer of classical music. Nellie Melba would approve. Like any true contralto, she has refused to budge when given the suggestion of training in mezzo repertoire, instead working to perfect her already spellbinding messa di voce. Her frequent collaboration with countertenor Philippe Jaroussky has given her name a set of shoe lifts in recent seasons, but she's quite fine on her own.
I hope you've enjoyed this list of great contraltos, buds! Feel free to leave a comment below telling me whether you think there are quite enough names on it! I thank you all for your feedback, and I hope you'll come back next week for a list of the greatest bass singers in operatic history! I've also begun work on a series of operatic humor articles, each of which I hope you'll be happy to spend five or ten minutes on, the first of which will be released next Wednesday. Happy opera loving, everyone!

Let's face it. No blogger of the opera world has the last word on the best of the best when it comes to singers, conductors, designers, and composers. One's perception of someone as "the best" in any field is usually colored by personal taste. Still, there are certain artists that consistently make it onto "Top Tens" and the like because of their extraordinary and even game-changing abilities, gifts, and fame. This list features all of these, artists from every generation of the Age of sound recording, counting down from fifteen to one. I won't go so far as to say that the list is definitive, as there are many singers, brilliant and well-loved, whose names haven't made it (aficionados, be gentle), but I'm sure there will be no disagreement among readers concerning the aristocratic status of the artists I've included. You won't find Sarah Brightman, Andrea Bocelli, and Jackie Evancho, as their genuinely operatic performances (concert or theatrical) are too rare, their careers being propelled and dominated by the "crossover" style. My research of the topic has extended to the opinions and analyses of other opera singers, opera critics, fan polls, and album sales, so number one might surprise those of you who know me well.

#15: Dame Nellie Melba

Australian bonny belter Nellie Melba was born Helen Porter Mitchell in 1861 at the height of Queen Victoria's power, when opera was the "thing" in Europe. Fame came to her during the 1880's, when she first took her place as leading lyric soprano at Covent Garden, and it continued to grow as invitations to the Metropolitan Opera and the Paris Opera started travelling her way, until she became one of the most celebrated singers of any kind in the world. Even after a teensy scandal with the Duke of Orleans, the only people who were prepared to throw stones or sew a red "A" into her gowns were critics who said her concert tour programmes were hammer-to-head predictable. One of the few sopranos ever said to have been blessed with perfect pitch, her name became ever greater with a number of recordings that studios in America and England made in an effort to immortalize her pure and warm sound, a sound which BBC Masterpiece chose Dame Kiri Te Kanawa to represent in the worldwide phenomenon, "Downton Abbey." Funnily  enough, it wasn't her voice that earned her the "Dame" style that she carried until she died in 1931, but her charity work. She never really retired from opera, though she repeatedly threatened to in Australia, performing a series of "farewell" concerts for a few years; hence the Australian expression, "More farewells than Dame Nellie Melba."

#14: Beniamino Gigli

Almost every tenor of the 1920s-90s wanted to be Beniamino Gigli. Heck, there are singers now who wish he was around to teach his vocal technique. He was known as "Gigli Primo," the first of his kind, which is to say that the only similarity critics have said his voice shared with other operatic tenors of his generation was the simple fact that he was one. No tenor of his time is reported to have possessed quite the combination he had of vocal richness, emotional performance style, and incredible vocal control. He performed more benefit concerts than any operatic tenor ever, and is hailed by opera crazies new and seasoned as one of the greatest operatic tenors in all of recorded musical history, with many audio recordings around to prove it. Even Pavarotti envied Gigli's ability with the role of Edgardo in Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor." If that doesn't say something...

#13: Feodor Chaliapin

The bass voice doesn't get as much attention as it used to, but that might be the fault of genetics. Certainly, in opera, it hasn't been so well represented in the Twenty-First Century as it was once upon the 1920s, when some of the best Feodor Chaliapin recordings were produced. Chaliapin was a Russian with deep feelings for Russian and French operatic music and Russian art song. His incredibly even voice enabled him to popularize Russian operas that weren't regularly sung in his day, but it wasn't all that made him a legend even while he lived. He also gained fame for acting onstage in a manner that was more natural, more like the way actors did their thing in plays, than what was normal for opera singers, who often were minimal or grand in their movement so as to avoid vocal mistakes (Hey, singing opera is friggin' hard!). Chaliapin presented new possibilities and paved the way for the great singing actors and actresses we now know and love. He was also known for his love of travelling. In Japan, a steak dish was named after him when a chef had to devise a way to make his meat more tender than the rest that the chef was to serve because the great singer had a toothache. You can find a recipe for Chaliapin Steak anywhere on the Web.

#12: Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf

Nobody was as famous in Elisabeth Schwarzkopf's day in the operatic field of German "art song," or "lieder" than Dame Schwarzkopf, herself, and she brought a lot of lieder to the world's attention that wasn't performed very often in her day. Moreover, fans of operetta, Strauss's "Der Rosenkavalier," and Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro" can often be heard shouting her name during modern performances of those ever-enduring masterpieces. Her career had a shadowed start in 1940, when getting a contract with a major opera company in Germany meant joining the Nazi Party. Fortunately, it's not proven that she did anything more to support Hitler than take a few roles in films of Reich Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, and sing in theatres supported by devotees of the German Chancellery. By the time she retired she had become the most acclaimed interpreter of Hugo Wolf's songs and had been established as one of the most notable sopranos of the postwar Era. She was an International voice teacher when she passed away in 2006.

#11: Samuel Ramey

Samuel Ramey still rocks the operatic concert stage and an opera house or two in his seventies. He is mentioned in some classical music news articles and essays as "the most recorded operatic bass in history." He's sung a little bit of everything in live performance, and has recorded even more, from Broadway show tunes, American folk  songs, and his very, very famous interpretations of Bluebeard in Bartok's "Duke Bluebeard's Castle" and Mephistopheles in Gounod's "Faust." In his prime, he sported vocal bite and menace, but he has enough control over his instrument to maintain his place at the top of the pyramid of today's great basses in the digital world. Many new possibilities have opened up to basses over the years because of his work in multiple genres, and for that the world of music is thankful.

#10: Dawn Upshaw

You know you're good when composers write music with your name in every note. Dawn Upshaw has premiered more than twenty-five new works, being a muse to many a music maker in the modern century, her voice of a quality that suits almost all styles of classical vocal music. She has crossed quite a few boundaries and succeeded at her craft in ways nobody wholeheartedly expected. I'm referring to the legendary "Symphony of Sorrowful Songs," (my favorite symphony by coincidence) written by the great minimalist, Henryk Gorecki. Upshaw was instrumental in bringing the work, written in the 1970s, to International attention in the 1990s, since when it has sold over a million audio recording copies worldwide, a record for a late Twentieth Century work. This and many more of the works that Upshaw has sung are near the top of the list of classical creations that should come with a "Do Not Listen While Operating Heavy Machinery or Sitting with the Boy's Club" warning. They WILL make you cry if you dare to let them play on your speakers.

#9: Joyce DiDonato

The beauty of Joyce DiDonato's mezzo soprano voice, which extends into the soprano range, isn't the only thing that makes her one of the most important singers of the now. Rossini would thank her if he were around for the work she's done on his long neglected or rarely performed operas. Like Dawn Upshaw, she has been gifted by several notable composers of today with pages and pages of music written just for her. Her most notable world premieres include last year's "Great Scott" by Jake Heggie, with Terrence McNally (Masterclass) as librettist, and "Dead Man Walking," also by Heggie and McNally. She seems to sing effortlessly, as Nellie Melba said all the great opera singers should, and she teaches dozens of amateur singers how to do the same in her famous master classes around the world. An incredibly busy belle, she has also developed a program to bring opera to a younger audience called "Opera Rocks." She ranks with Placido Domingo among the most influential opera singers in the world at present.

#8: Renata Tebaldi

Known everywhere in the opera world as "Voce d'Angelo," (Voice of an Angel) Renata Tebaldi is often called "one of the world's most beloved sopranos." The reason is simple: her very lovably ravishing vocals. She had a very large voice that served her well in her legendary interpretations of the title characters in Verdi's "Aida" and Puccini's "Tosca," with high notes so big that she was asked to turn away from her microphone whenever she prepared to let them fly in the studio. In her best years, she sang with such force and beauty that she sold every seat at the Metropolitan Opera every time she appeared there. Decca's top classical star in the fifties, she wound up in a famous rivalry with EMI's, Maria Callas, one which primarily involved casual listeners and critics. Even now groups of opera fans are often divided over their opinions concerning which one was the greater artist. On its own, however, Renata Tebaldi's name still stands as one of the most notable in all of opera.

#7: Jessye Norman

Jessye Norman makes the list partly because of her very rare voice type ("Falcon Soprano") that enables her to cover roles traditionally sung by contraltos, mezzo sopranos, and dramatic sopranos. The ease with which she has navigated her smooth, dark, and round tone, guided by the music of Wagner, Richard Strauss, and her African American ancestors, has made her one of the great living legends in the performing arts. Moreover, her experience with overcoming prejudice and forging an international career during socially difficult times, not to mention the aid she has given to the cause of creating a prominent place in Europe for the spiritual and folk music of the American South, has made her an American icon. Countless awards have come her way, awards she continues to earn in her seventies for her concert work and her efforts to advance the progress of her school, the Jessye Norman School of the Arts.

#6: Montserrat Caballe

Caballe remains the queen of soft notes (pianissimi), particularly because of how long she can hold them, or could before her retirement from singing. Nowadays, if you want a singer to teach you all about breath control, she's definitely the one you should talk to. She famously held a high note at the end of Verdi's "Don Carlo" for about eighteen seconds, longer than any soprano of the last century. She redefined the definition of "power" in operatic performance, using her relatively gentle stylings to add color and emotional significance to roles that most singers merely howl out at full volume (Tosca and Elisabetta from "Roberto Devereux," for instance). Many of Gaetano Donizetti's (Lucia di Lammermoor) operas were revived because of how much the world loved her breakthrough performance of "Lucrezia Borgia" in 1965, which earned her the title, "Queen of Bel Canto." In addition to opera, she has performed zarzuela and pop music (i.e. "Barcelona" with Freddie Mercury), selling well over a million recordings worldwide.

#5: Anna Netrebko

Anna Netrebko has the distinction of being the most famous true operatic soprano alive today. Her talents were discovered while she was working as a janitor at Russia's Mariinsky Theatre. Since then, she has made her name by testing her abilities in musical material of all kinds, including the Bel Canto roles written by Bellini, Donizetti, and Glinka, the early Verdi heroines (and the villainess, Lady Macbeth), the lieder of Richard Strauss, Tchaikovsky roles, and Russian art song. She champions modern production design and has been acclaimed as the soprano who "redefines what it means to be an opera star." Her looks and acting ability have earned her the nickname, "Audrey Hepburn with a Voice." She is the first opera singer to have ranked on the "Time 100" and made Playboy's list of "Sexiest Babes of Classical Music." N-E-T-R-E-B-K-O spells "superstar."

#4: Placido Domingo

Placido Domingo is the single best-known and most influential living tenor in the world of classical music at present. He has rebuilt or fortified the reputations of opera companies all over the United States, covering artistic ground as a singer, conductor, and art director over the years. I can rightly say "of course" before mentioning that he first came to International attention when he, Luciano Pavarotti, and Jose Carreras started their "Three Tenors" concert run in 1990, the first performance of which, in Italy, was recorded and became the bestselling classical album of all time. He is his generation's most acclaimed interpreter of Verdi's "Otello," and has recorded over a hundred roles, not all of them tenor, and has also recorded a few pop and crossover albums, making a name for himself as one of the most versatile classical vocalists on the planet. One of his most notable contributions to the opera world is the greatly prestigious singing competition for young opera singers, "Operalia," which he started in 1993 and has presided over every year since. Teenagers and college students who don't even like classical music know him by name. I know because my alien soul resides among them.

#3 Maria Callas

No true operatic soprano has influenced more singers of Italian opera or sold more complete opera recordings than "La Divina," ("The Divine One") Maria Callas. Her vocal sound was categorized under one of the rarest voice types known, soprano assoluta. She was naturally able to sing middle contralto and mezzo soprano music, but also trained her voice to reach some of the highest coloratura soprano notes. Her voice was naturally expressive, standing her in good stead as she revolutionized acting in opera, both vocally and physically. She made a lot of legendary recordings, something that is not said about very many opera singers, and she holds the distinction of singing the lead role in what is often said to be the single greatest recording of a complete opera ever made (still available everywhere, fortunately), the 1953 "Tosca" conducted by Victor de Sabata. This wasn't the performance that earned her the nickname mentioned above, though. La Teatro alla Scala, Milan, still one of the world's most prestigious opera houses, was to thank for that. Many operas were revived officially and/or made incredibly popular because of her acting and musical abilities, which were and are very frequently described as "electrifying." Her three most famous roles were Bellini's Norma, Cherubini's Medea, and Puccini's Tosca, all three of whom murder or threaten to murder one person or another with a knife.

#2: Rosa Ponselle

Rosa Ponselle was and is considered by opera singers and critics all over the world to have been the single greatest operatic soprano in 115 years. Maria Callas harbored a not so subtle envy of Ponselle's voice, with very, very few opera singers throughout history having been said to have possessed one like it. It was unusually large, so large that microphones had to be moved some meters away from her during recording sessions, but was as full in the highest notes as in the lowest. It was also extraordinarily rich, inspiring several of her listeners with a descriptive phrase anyone can love, "dark chocolate." She is partly famous for bringing Bellini's opera, "Norma," to wider attention, and for being the first American soprano to have forged a great International career. In the twenties and thirties, she was the most famous and one of the best paid sopranos on the planet, and her recordings tell a very interesting story about just why that was. She was discovered by the greatest opera singer of all time, the final artist on this list.

#1: Enrico Caruso

Meet the first platinum-selling vocalist in history, Enrico Caruso. His very large vocal cords enabled him to sing baritone (which he did in his very early days, and when one of his baritone colleagues lost his voice before his big aria during "La Boheme," with the baritone mouthing the words), lyric tenor, and dramatic tenor music. His ability to control his huge sound earned him fame as the most versatile and the most beautiful tenor of his day. A regular on lists of the greatest opera singers in history, he is very frequently described by critics and casual listeners as the single most talented opera singer in more than a hundred years, and the most important opera singer of all time. He recorded extensively between 1900 and 1920. All of his recordings are still available today and rack up millions of views on video sharing sites all over the web. Many of the most famous tenors in history made their own names imitating his all-purpose and pyrotechnical style, which was entirely new to the opera scene in his time, but some today say that they don't try very hard to sound like him, simply because nobody can.

I hope you've enjoyed this list, buds! Who do you think is the greatest opera singer ever? Leave your comments below or on my Facebook pages, Callaven Skaya and Everyone's Opera, and we'll chat all about it! Until next time, happy musical insanity!