This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography
This article is within the scope of WikiProject African diaspora, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of African diaspora on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.African diasporaWikipedia:WikiProject African diasporaTemplate:WikiProject African diasporaAfrican diaspora
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Classical music, which aims to improve, expand, copy edit, and maintain all articles related to classical music, that are not covered by other classical music related projects. Please read the guidelines for writing and maintaining articles. To participate, you can edit this article or visit the project page for more details.Classical musicWikipedia:WikiProject Classical musicTemplate:WikiProject Classical musicClassical music
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Socialism, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of socialism on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.SocialismWikipedia:WikiProject SocialismTemplate:WikiProject Socialismsocialism
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Soviet Union, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Soviet UnionWikipedia:WikiProject Soviet UnionTemplate:WikiProject Soviet UnionSoviet Union
This article is part of WikiProject Theatre, a WikiProject dedicated to coverage of theatre on Wikipedia. To participate: Feel free to edit the article attached to this page, join up at the project page, or contribute to the project discussion.TheatreWikipedia:WikiProject TheatreTemplate:WikiProject TheatreTheatre
This article is within the scope of WikiProject College football, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of college football on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.College footballWikipedia:WikiProject College footballTemplate:WikiProject College footballcollege football
This article is within the scope of WikiProject College basketball, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of college basketball on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.College basketballWikipedia:WikiProject College basketballTemplate:WikiProject College basketballcollege basketball
This article is within the scope of WikiProject National Football League, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the NFL on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.National Football LeagueWikipedia:WikiProject National Football LeagueTemplate:WikiProject National Football LeagueNational Football League
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Philadelphia, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Philadelphia on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.PhiladelphiaWikipedia:WikiProject PhiladelphiaTemplate:WikiProject PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Pennsylvania, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Pennsylvania on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.PennsylvaniaWikipedia:WikiProject PennsylvaniaTemplate:WikiProject PennsylvaniaPennsylvania
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Basketball, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Basketball on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.BasketballWikipedia:WikiProject BasketballTemplate:WikiProject BasketballBasketball
This article is within the scope of WikiProject United States, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of topics relating to the United States of America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the ongoing discussions.
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Civil Rights Movement, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Civil Rights Movement on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Civil Rights MovementWikipedia:WikiProject Civil Rights MovementTemplate:WikiProject Civil Rights MovementCivil Rights Movement
This article is part of WikiProject New Jersey, an effort to create, expand, and improve New Jersey–related articles to Wikipedia feature-quality standard. Please join in the discussion.New JerseyWikipedia:WikiProject New JerseyTemplate:WikiProject New JerseyNew Jersey
I believe I brought this up some time back but there was no satisfactory response. This article does not cite any sources for the claim that Robeson is a bass-baritone. He described himself as a bass, and sounds perfectly like a bass. In his hearing with HUAC he says "I am a bass singer, so for me it was Chaliapin, the great Russian bass, not Caruso the tenor."
A "bass-baritone" is supposed to possess qualities of both a bass and a baritone, His voice is completely lacking any baritonal quality. He is dark and thick sounding all the way up to his highest notes. e.g in his Carnegie performance of Old Man River his highest note is d4 (2 minutes in), and he still clearly has the timbre of a bass even at the top of his range. He doesn't sound like a baritone at all. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7oAn4Pydpo
I notice, now, that I'm taking up this topic after a four year gap. Recently Pincrete corrected me when I changed the description of Robeson's singing voice in the first sentence of the lead from "bass-baritone" to "bass". Pincrete was technically correct by Wikipedia standards because Robeson's voice is described as bass-baritone in the body of the article according to reliable sources (something I should have noticed in the first place). No doubt, one could also find reliable sources that describe him as a bass rather than as a bass-baritone. As a practical matter, though, one would be hard pressed to find any voice teacher circa 2023 that would describe his voice as ay kind of baritone. He was definitely a bass. Howard Keel was a bass-baritone, Paul Robeson was a bass. He was also, of course, a "concert singer", and that is what I suggest we now call him in the lead. Otherwise we're misleading the reader. We can worry about the voice description in the body of the article later. Goodtablemanners (talk) 23:44, 4 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]
I'd prefer "concert singer" to "concert artist", both may be dated, but I don't think there's anything wrong with using the terms that were common at the time. Actually, his description as a bass-baritone may have something to do with the conventions of his day. Basses in opera tended to have unheroic roles so the description of Robeson as a bass-baritone might have been partly to soften this image. As I said, however, he was definitely a true bass. None of this is worth getting into a heated argument about. Cheers. Goodtablemanners (talk) 01:26, 5 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Can a more authoritative figure be sourced as a reference for those present for the Miners' Eisteddfod at the Grand Pavilion, Porthcawl, on 5 October 1957? The Jeff Sparrow article states only that it was "filled with perhaps 5,000 people". As the current capacity of the Main Hall is stated to be 643, the figure of 5,000 seems inflated, and inherently implausible, even if the broadcast was simultaneously broadcast to those assembled in the lesser hall in the basement.Ntmr (talk) 11:22, 3 April 2024 (UTC)[reply]