“It’s not over ‘til the fat lady sings”. When people consider stereotypes in opera, this is a well-worn phrase that comes to mind. As does the idea of the overweight heroine that audiences are supposed to translate in their minds into a fifteen year old Ethiopian slave girl, or a consumptive courtesan. The operatic soprano is much more than this, with contemporary singers now defying the older idea of the operatic leading lady.
What is the Soprano Voice
The soprano is the female voice with the highest pitch. While it is possible that a soprano and a mezzo soprano may have similar range, it is the tessitura – or average comfortable pitch – that sets them apart. The tessitura of the soprano is higher, enabling the singer to carry a musical line that floats on a higher pitch line than that of the mezzo.
Falsetto is a singing technique that can be employed by some singers to reach the high notes of the soprano register – by both male and female singers. While there are some singers with very fine falsettos, they cannot be referred to as sopranos unless they can easily sing that range with their natural voices.
Treble or Soprano
There is sometimes confusion between the terms treble and soprano. The former refers mostly to the high voice type of a young boy. The confusion arises through these singers being known as ‘boy sopranos’. In this case, the term is a reference to the pitch of the voice, which is similar to that of a female soprano.
Within the soprano type are some characteristic types that are recognised for their particular quality and resulting repertoire:
Coloratura Soprano
This is a soprano voice that is characterised by its extreme agility and the ability of the singer to negotiate fast, intricate musical passages. This is the type favoured by the bel canto composers, whose music is embellished for dramatic effect. Australia’s Dame Joan Sutherland is one of the world’s best-known exponents of this type and repertoire.
Roles for the coloratura include Alcina (Alcina, Handel), Blondchen (Abduction from the Seraglio, Mozart), Gilda (Rigoletto, Verdi), Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor, Donizetti) and the Queen of the Night (The Magic Flute, Mozart).
Lyric Soprano
This is a warm, bright voice that carries well over an orchestra. A light lyric soprano can sing soubrette roles, and a full lyric soprano can sometimes take on a heavier role. In either case, it is the quality of the sound rather than the weight of the voice that enables the singer to manoeuvre to fit the requirements. In a larger theatre, this can be an issue in the latter scenario, as the lyric soprano rarely has the power to be heard over the top of a very large orchestra without pushing, risking vocal damage.
Most often, the types of roles for lyric sopranos are sympathetic supporting characters, or younger women. These include Euridice (Orpheus and Euridice, Gluck), Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi, Puccini), Musetta and Mimi (La Boheme, Puccini), Pamina (The Magic Flute, Mozart), Liu (Turandot, Puccini) and Tatyana (Eugene Onegin, Tchaikovsky).
Dramatic Soprano
These are the sopranos who give rise to the stereotype of the opera diva, partly because they play the big tragic roles. The voice is rich and powerful with a slightly lower tessitura than the other types, but is powerful enough to sing above, or through very large orchestras. A sub-type within this group are those with particularly substantial voices who specialise in the Wagner roles, which require enormous power and vocal stamina due to Wagner’s enlarged orchestras and dense composition.
Some dramatic soprano roles are the title roles from Elektra and Salome by Richard Strauss, Lenore/Fidelio (Fidelio, Beethoven), Maddalena (Andrea Chenier, Giordano), Turandot (Turandot, Puccini) and a host of Wagnerian roles, the best known being Brunnhilde from the Ring Cycle.
Soubrette and Spinto Soprano
The soubrette is a character and a vocal type. These are the young, pert girls of the Mozart operas – the Susannas, the Zerlinas. Girls who, while often in subservient positions, are well able to take care of themselves. Vocally, this is a light, pretty voice with a mid-range tessitura and not a great deal of coloratura facility. Often, young singers start out with these roles, but with maturity, develop into other types.
The spinto, or lirico-spinto in Italian, has the range and brightness of the lyric soprano, but can be ‘pushed’ into weightier roles without damage to the voice. Examples of roles are Puccini’s Tosca and Madama Butterfly, Verdi’s Aida, Dvorak’s Rusalka and The Marschallin (Der Rosenkavalier, Richard Strauss).
So, it may take some time for the opera to be over, with today’s sopranos no longer filling the stereotype that began this article. The contemporary soprano is required to fulfil audience expectations physically as well as vocally.
Readers may also enjoy Operatic Voice Types - The Mezzo Soprano and Operatic Voice Types - The Contralto
Karen Finch - Karen is a Sydney based freelance writer, artist and musician. To learn more, click on her name to read her profile.
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