who do you rate as the best of all time,for me the greatest tenor of all time is Andrea Bocelli the greatest baritone Paul Robeson.

The trouble with this is that you could take the greatest English tenor, Heddle Nash IMHO, as being less great than an Italian "belle canto" tenor like Luciano Pavarotti [for one great example] and in the right repertoire, you would be right, but no one has come close to Nash on his territory, such as Gerontius.

Then consider the great Austrian tenor, Anton Dermota, who it seems to me that he was simply the greatest Evangelist in the Saint Matthew Passion, whilst being a peerless Mozart Opera tenor and so on, would not compete with Pavaroti in many ways, but was one of the greatest tenors of all time in spite of this...

In the bass/baritone issue, it is reasonable to suppose that Fischer Dieskaw still has no peer in Schubert song, but has there been an Operatic bass to match say Tito Gobi in Mozart? Or a greater Oratorio bass than Harold Williams, the great Australian bass, whose performances of Elijah by Mendelssohn still remains exemplary? Let alone say Hans Hotter in German Operatic bass roles of a suitable sort?

Really if you close this down too narrowly, it becomes a question of deciding what genre one likes the best.

A more valid question might in my view be, one such as, "Who is or has been the greatest singer of the name part in Mozart's Don Giovanni?"

ATB from George

thats heavy george.

But allowed me to get a few great names in rather than just two!

ATB from George