A coloratura soprano is a type of operatic soprano who specializes in music characterized by agile races and jumps. The term coloratura refers to the elaborate decoration of a melody that is a typical part of the music written for this voice. In the coloratura category, there are roles written specifically for brighter voices known as lyrical coloraturas, and others for larger voices known as dramatic coloraturas. Some roles can be sung by both voices. For example, Donizetti`s Lucia di Lammermoor at the Metropolitan Opera was performed for many years by the lyrical coloratura Lily Pons, whose voice was quite small and light, but more recently the same role was sung by Ruth Ann Swenson, whose voice is larger and poorer, and finally with even more effect by Maria Callas, whose dramatic interpretation still casts a long shadow. In this way, some dramatic coloraturas have been extremely successful in singing the lightest roles. Categories in a given vocal range are determined by the size, weight, and color of the voice. a lyric soprano specializing in coloratura vocal music Soprano acuto sfogato is sometimes confused with soprano sfogato, a singer (often mezzo-soprano) who, thanks to pure industry or natural talent, is able to expand her upper range to include part of the coloratura soprano tessitura, but not the highest range above the high f. Although lyrical and dramatic coloraturas can be acuto-sfogato sopranos, the main attribute of acuto-sfogato soprano is a superior extension above F6. [6] Some educators call these extremely high marks whistle registers. In rare cases, some coloratura sopranos are able to sing above the high F (F6) in Altissimo. This type of singer is sometimes called soprano acuto fogato. [5] A very agile lightweight voice with a high upper extension capable of fast vocal coloratura.

Lyrical coloraturas have a range from about medium C (C4) to “high F” (F6). Such a soprano is sometimes called sopranoleggero when her vocal timbre has a slightly warmer quality. The soprano leggero usually does not go as high as other coloraturas and reaches its peak at a “high E” (E6). [2] Bel canto roles were usually written for this voice, and a variety of other composers also wrote coloratura voices. Baroque music, early music and baroque opera also have many roles for this voice. [3] In classical music, the term coloratura[1] (from the Latin “colorare” which means “to adorn”)[2] Describes a virtuoso voice capable of performing complex vocalizations within a richly decorated repertoire: trills, arpeggios, stitched notes, etc. It is also frequently used in the Frenchized forms colorature or coloratoure. A coloratura soprano is a type of operatic soprano voice that specializes in music characterized by agile runs, jumps, and trills. Theoretically, the word could be applied to any type of singing, male and female, capable of approaching this type of repertoire. Since the disappearance of the castratos, however, this term is usually associated only with light female voices (mainly soprano and mezzo-soprano).

In a broader sense, coloring refers to a female voice, particularly flexible and extensive, specializing in artistic lyrical singing. The term is often misused to refer to the highest category of sopranos, of which the French singer Mado Robin (called “the French stratospheric colorature” by Americans) was the symbol in the 1940s and 1950s. This kind of vocal specialization appeared in the seventeenth century at the same time as opera and developed in the following centuries, propagated by the castratos of the eighteenth century, and the most important given of the nineteenth century in the famous “allures of bravery”. Even if subsequently, the word coloratura may have been more or less generalized to the whole of classical singing, secular as well as sacred, it designates above all one of the characteristics of italian bel canto. A coloratura soprano with great flexibility in high-speed passages, but with great conservation power, comparable to that of a full spinto or a dramatic soprano. Dramatic coloraturas have a range of about “low B” (B3) to “high F” (F6). Different dramatic coloratura roles have different vocal requirements for the singer – for example, the voice Abigail can sing (Nabucco, Verdi) probably won`t sing Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor, Donizetti), but a common factor is that the voice must be able to convey both dramatic intensity and flexibility. Roles written specifically for this type of voice include the more dramatic female roles of Mozart and bel canto and the early Verdis. [4] This is a rare vocal subject because thick vocal cords are required to produce the large dramatic notes, which usually reduces the flexibility and acrobatic abilities of the voice. Very few composers have ever written opera roles for this type of voice with actual notes above the F-high, so these singers usually show these extremely high notes using interpolation in some of the opera roles already mentioned above or in concert works. Examples of works to which G6 belongs are mozart`s concert aria “Popoli di Tessaglia!” and Massenet`s Esclarmonde and Dominick Argento`s Postcard from Morocco. Thomas Adès composed a high A (A6) for the character of Leticia Meynar in The Devastating Angel.

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