Baritenor

[12] Rasi created the title role in Monteverdi's first opera, L'Orfeo (1607),[13] which in modern times has been sung by tenors such as Anthony Rolfe Johnson[14] as well as by lyric baritones, such as Simon Keenlyside.

[15] Based on their descriptions in Vincenzo Giustiniani's Discorso sopra la musica (1628), Potter has suggested that singers such as Caccini, Cenci, Puliaschi, and Rasi, employed an "open speech-like sound" which facilitated the agility and clarity of expression for which their voices were renowned.

[16] With the rise of the castrato singer in Italian opera, the baritenor voice came to be perceived as "ordinary" or even "vulgar" and was relegated to portraying character roles – villains, grotesques, old men, and even women.

In popular music, singer Josh Groban is generally recognized as a baritenor,[31] and he describes himself as "a baritone with some high notes up [his] sleeve".

[38] Amongst the roles specifying baritenor voices in casting calls between 2008 and 2010 were: Tom Collins (Rent),[39] Bob and Tommy (Jersey Boys);[40] Wizard, Cowardly Lion, Scarecrow, and Tinman (The Wiz);[41] Max Bialystock and Leopold Bloom (The Producers);[42] and Thomas Weaver and Alvin Kelby (The Story of My Life).

Prior to that, the leading roles were predominantly sung by tenors and sopranos with even the baritone characters tending to sing in the upper part of their range.

This was due not only to the popular taste of the times, but also to the fact that higher voices were more capable of riding over the orchestra and reaching the furthest seats.