Sounding the depths. (Viewpoint).

Baritones are a vital cog in the workings of most opera plots; their role may require them to play a cad, a codger or a cuckold. For me, the sound of a well-nourished baritone voice promising vengeance or repining over a love lost to the tenor in a Verdi opera affords a particular satisfaction.

America has provided a string of such voices, but the one I heard most often was that of Cornell MacNeil, whom I first encountered in a performance of Ernani at the Met in the early 1960s. His nuanced portrayals of Simon Boccanegra and Iago--even Scarpia--showed that MacNeil understood complexity just fine, but when he was deployed in a piece of music such as Count di Luna's "Il balen," from Il Trovatore, or Carlo's "O de' verd'anni miei," from Ernani, there was a blending of technique, God-given endowment and conviction that summed matters up with the same concision as the timeless photograph of Joe DiMaggio hitting a home run. It was exactly right.

Readers of this issue will encounter a generous handful of great baritones, many of them picked as standouts by someone who ought to know: American baritone Thomas Hampson, who has conquered nearly all the world's great opera stages and concert halls. Hampson is a famously analytical fellow with an argument marshaled and launch-ready to support nearly all his opinions. London correspondent George Hall spent an afternoon with Hampson, listening to recordings of the baritone's top picks, pressing him to explain why he admires their work. Hall's report, ...