Soprano

:This article is about singers. For the popular HBO television drama series about the Mafia, see The Sopranos.

Types of soprano

In opera, the character and timbre of soprano voices are often categorized according to the German Fach system. However, several roles are regularly sung by sopranos who are considered to belong to another "Fach". For example, Lyric Coloratura Sopranos and Full Lyrics often sing Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor). Sopranos usually play the heroine in opera. The soprano Fächer, with examples of respective roles, are:

Related Topics:
Opera - Timbre - Heroine

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• Leggero (or soubrette): A sweet, lightweight voice whose range is mostly in middle voice. Plays comedic, saucy, but likable characters.
• Adele (Die Fledermaus)
• Ännchen (Der Freischütz)
• Despina (Così fan tutte)
• Marzellina (Fidelio)
• Musetta (La bohème)
• Nannetta (Falstaff)
• Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro)
• Zerlina (Don Giovanni)
• Lyric Coloratura: A light, acrobatic voice, with a range into the 6th octave.
• Blondchen (Die Entführung aus dem Serail)
• Gilda (Rigoletto)
• Norina (Don Pasquale)
• Olympia (Les contes d'Hoffmann)
• Rosina (Il Barbiere de Sevilla)
• Sofie (Der Rosenkavalier)
• Zerbinette (Ariadne auf Naxos)
• Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi)
• Oskar (Un Ballo in Maschera)
• Adina (L'Elisir d'Amore)
• Lakmé (Lakmé)
• Amina (La Sonnambula)
• Ophèlie (Hamlet)
• Elvira (I Puritani)
• Dramatic Coloratura: An acrobatic voice with powerful dramatic qualities, with a range up to F6.
• Konstanza (Die Entführung aus dem Serail)
• Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte)
• Königin (Die Zauberflöte)
• Rosalinda (Die Fledermaus)
• Violetta (La Traviata)
• Donna Anna (Don Giovanni)
• Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor)
• Marguerite (Faust)
• Lady Macbeth (Macbeth)
• Anne (The Rake's Progress)
• Lucrezia (Lucrezia Borgia)
• Norma (Norma)
• Full Lyric Soprano: A sweet, graceful voice, with range similar to that of the soubrette but with a stronger quality, and stronger upper register. Reserved for ingenues and other sympathetic characters.
• Contessa (Figaro)
• Mimi (La bohème)
• Pamina (Die Zauberflöte)
• Micaëla (Carmen)
• Liù (Turandot)
• Nedda (Pagliacci)
• Manon (Manon)
• Spinto Soprano: A full lyric voice that can be pushed to dramatic climaxes.
• Agathe (Der Freischütz)
• Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni)
• Elsa (Lohengrin)
• Alice Ford (Falstaff)
• Desdemona (Othello)
• Leonora (Il Trovatore)
• Tatajana (Eugene Onegin)
• Rezia (Oberon)
• Elizabeth (Tannhäuser)
• The Marschellin (Der Rosenkavalier)
• Elisabetta (Don Carlos)
• Manon (Manon Lescaut)
• Dramatic soprano: A powerful, rich, emotive voice. Used for the heroic, tragic, and/or victimized women of opera. Range from Bb3 or A3 to C6.
• Aida (Aida)
• Gioconda (La Gioconda)
• Leonore (Fidelio)
• Leonora (La Forza del Destino)
• Tosca (Tosca)
• Sieglinde (Die Walküre)
• Ariadne (Ariadne auf Naxos)
• Santuzza (Cavalleria Rusticana)
• Butterfly (Madama Butterfly)
• Amelia (Un Ballo in Maschera)
• Kundry (Parsifal)
• Abgaille (Nabucco)
• Wagnerian soprano: A dramatic voice that can assert itself as an instrument over a full orchestra. Usually a mythic heroine.
• Senta (Der fliegende Holländer)
• Elektra (Elektra)
• Brünnhilde (Die Walküre, Götterdämmerung, Siegfried)
• Isolde (Tristan und Isolde)
• Salome (Salome)
• Turandot (Turandot)

Two types of soprano especially dear to the French are the Dugazon and the Falcon, which are intermediate voice types between the soprano and the mezzo soprano: a Dugazon is a darker-colored soubrette, a Falcon a darker-colored soprano drammatico.

Related Topics:
Dugazon - Falcon - Soprano - Mezzo soprano

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