Lyric soprano

A lyric soprano is a type of operatic soprano voice that has a warm quality with a bright, full timbre that can be heard over an orchestra. The lyric soprano voice generally has a higher tessitura than a soubrette and usually plays ingenues and other sympathetic characters in opera. Lyric sopranos have a range from approximately middle C (C₄) to "high D" (D₆).[1] This is the most common female singing voice.[2] There is a tendency to divide lyric sopranos into two groups: light and full.[3]

Light lyric soprano

A light-lyric soprano has a bigger voice than a soubrette but still possesses a youthful quality.[4] There are a wide variety of roles written for this voice, and they may sing soubrette, baroque and other light roles as well.[5]

Light lyric soprano roles

Source:[3]

• Alice, Le comte Ory (Gioachino Rossini)
• Ännchen, Der Freischütz (Carl Maria von Weber) (or soubrette)
• Annina, La traviata (Giuseppe Verdi)
• Antonia, The Tales of Hoffmann (Jacques Offenbach)
• Clorinda, La Cenerentola (Gioachino Rossini)
• Despina, Così fan tutte (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) (or soubrette)
• Euridice, Orfeo ed Euridice (Christoph Willibald Gluck)
• Gretel, Hänsel und Gretel (Engelbert Humperdinck)
• Juliette, Roméo et Juliette (Charles Gounod)
• Laurie Moss, The Tender Land (Aaron Copland)
• Lauretta, Gianni Schicchi (Giacomo Puccini)
• Marzelline, Fidelio (Ludwig van Beethoven)
• Manon, Manon (Jules Massenet)
• Musetta, La bohème (Puccini)
• Pamina, The Magic Flute (Mozart)
• Servilia, La clemenza di Tito (Mozart)
• Sophie, Der Rosenkavalier (Richard Strauss)
• Sophie, Werther (Jules Massenet)
• Susanna, The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart) (or soubrette)
• Zerlina, Don Giovanni (Mozart) (or soubrette)

Full lyric soprano

A full-lyric soprano has a more mature sound than a light-lyric soprano and can be heard over a bigger orchestra.[4] This more mature sound may make a full-lyric less suitable for some of the lighter roles. Occasionally a full lyric will have a big enough voice that she can take on much heavier roles, using volume in place of vocal weight. This is done when a more lyric timbre is desired in an otherwise heavier role. Otherwise full lyric sopranos need be judicious with spinto and other heavy roles to prevent vocal deterioration.[1][6]

Full lyric soprano roles

Source:[3]

• Emilia, The Makropulos Case (Leoš Janáček)
• La Contessa, The Marriage of Figaro (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
• Liù, Turandot (Giacomo Puccini)
• Lulu, Lulu (Alban Berg)
• The Marschallin, Der Rosenkavalier (Richard Strauss)
• Magda, La rondine (Puccini)
• Wally, La Wally (Alfredo Catalani)
• Mimì, La bohème (Puccini)
• Micaëla, Carmen (Georges Bizet)
• Rusalka, Rusalka (Antonín Dvořák)
• Tatyana, Eugene Onegin (Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)
• Hanna, The Merry Widow (Franz Lehár)
• Bess, Porgy and Bess (George Gershwin)

See also

• Coloratura soprano
• Spinto soprano
• Dramatic soprano
• Soubrette

References

Notes

1. Coffin (1960)
2. Aronson (2009), p. 278
3. Boldrey (1994), Guide to Operatic Roles and Arias
4. Nashville Opera Archived 2008-02-29 at the Wayback Machine
5. Boldrey (1992), Singer's Edition (Light Lyric Soprano)
6. "Full lyric soprano" example: Contessa: "Dove sono" on YouTube from The Marriage of Figaro by Renée Fleming, Metropolitan Opera 1998

Sources

• Aronson, Arnold Elvin; Bless, Diane M. (2009). Clinical Voice Disorders (4th ed.). New York, NY: Thieme Medical Publishers. ISBN 978-1-58890-662-5.
• Boldrey, Richard (1994). Guide to Operatic Roles and Arias. Caldwell Publishing Company. ISBN 978-1-877761-64-5.
• Boldrey, Richard; Robert Caldwell, Werner Singer, Joan Wall and Roger Pines (1992). Singer's Edition (Light Lyric Soprano): Operatic Arias - Light Lyric Soprano. Caldwell Publishing Company. ISBN 978-1-877761-02-7.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Coffin, Berton (1960). Coloratura, Lyric and Dramatic Soprano, Vol. 1. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 978-0-8108-0188-2.

Further reading

• Boldrey, Richard; Robert Caldwell, Werner Singer, Joan Wall and Roger Pines (1992). Singer's Edition (Soubrette): Operatic Arias - Soubrette. Caldwell Publishing Company. ISBN 978-1-877761-03-4.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)