A lyric soprano is a type of operatic

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

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 Range may refer to: Geography * Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra) ** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands * Range, a term used to i ...

from approximately

middle C C or Do is the first note and semitone of the C major scale, the third note of the A minor scale (the relative minor of C major), and the fourth note (G, A, B, C) of the Guidonian hand, commonly pitched around 261.63 Hz. The actual frequen ...

( C₄) to "high D" (D₆). This is the most common female singing voice. There is a tendency to divide lyric sopranos into two groups: light and full.

Light lyric soprano

A light-lyric soprano has a bigger voice than a soubrette but still possesses a youthful quality.Nashville Opera
There are a wide variety of roles written for this voice, and they may sing soubrette,

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and other light roles as well.

Light lyric soprano roles

Source: * Alice, '' Le comte Ory'' ( Gioachino Rossini) * Ännchen, '' Der Freischütz'' ( Carl Maria von Weber) (or soubrette) * Annina, ''

La traviata ''La traviata'' (; ''The Fallen Woman'') is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on ''La Dame aux camélias'' (1852), a play by Alexandre Dumas ''fils'' adapted from his own 18 ...

'' (

Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...

) * Antonia, '' The Tales of Hoffmann'' ( Jacques Offenbach) * Clorinda, '' La Cenerentola'' (Gioachino Rossini) * Despina, ''

Così fan tutte (''All Women Do It, or The School for Lovers''), K. 588, is an opera buffa in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was first performed on 26 January 1790 at the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte w ...

'' ( Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) (or soubrette) * Euridice, ''

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'' (

Christoph Willibald Gluck Christoph Willibald (Ritter von) Gluck (; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the Holy Roman Empire, he g ...

) * Gretel, ''

Hänsel und Gretel "Hansel and Gretel" (; german: Hänsel und Gretel ) is a German fairy tale collected by the German Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 in Grimms' Fairy Tales, ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' (KHM 15). It is also known as Little Step Brother and Little ...

'' ( Engelbert Humperdinck) * Juliette, '' Roméo et Juliette'' ( Charles Gounod) * Laurie Moss, '' The Tender Land'' ( Aaron Copland) * Lauretta, '' Gianni Schicchi'' ( Giacomo Puccini) * Marguerite, '' Faust'' ( Charles Gounod) * Marzelline, '' Fidelio'' ( Ludwig van Beethoven) * Manon, ''

Manon ''Manon'' () is an ''opéra comique'' in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based on the 1731 novel '' L'histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut'' by the Abbé Prévost. It was first ...

'' (

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) * Musetta, '' La bohème'' (Puccini) * Pamina, '' The Magic Flute'' (Mozart) * Servilia, '' La clemenza di Tito'' (Mozart) * Sophie, '' Der Rosenkavalier'' (

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...

) * Sophie, '' Werther'' (Jules Massenet) * Susanna, ''

The Marriage of Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' ( it, Le nozze di Figaro, links=no, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premie ...

'' (Mozart) (or soubrette) * Zerlina, ''

Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; Vienna (1788) title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanis ...

'' (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. 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.

Full lyric soprano roles

Source: * Emilia, ''

The Makropulos Case ''Věc Makropulos'' is a Czech play written by Karel Čapek. Its title—literally ''The Makropulos Thing''—has been variously rendered in English as ''The Makropulos Affair'', ''The Makropulos Case'', or ''The Makropulos Secret'' (Čapek's o ...

'' ( Leoš Janáček) * La Contessa, ''

'' ( Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) * Liù, '' Turandot'' ( Giacomo Puccini) * Lulu, '' Lulu'' (

Alban Berg Alban Maria Johannes Berg ( , ; 9 February 1885 – 24 December 1935) was an Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School. His compositional style combined Romantic lyricism with the twelve-tone technique. Although he left a relatively sma ...

) * The Marschallin, '' Der Rosenkavalier'' (

) * Magda, ''

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'' (Puccini) * Wally, ''

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'' (

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) * Mimì, '' La bohème'' (Puccini) * Micaëla, ''

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'' (

Georges Bizet Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', whi ...

) * Rusalka, ''

Rusalka In Slavic folklore, the rusalka (plural: rusalky/rusalki; ; pl, rusałka}) is a typically feminine entity, often malicious toward mankind and frequently associated with water, with counterparts in other parts of Europe, such as the French Melus ...

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Antonín Dvořák Antonín Leopold Dvořák ( ; ; 8 September 1841 – 1 May 1904) was a Czechs, Czech composer. Dvořák frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravian traditional music, Moravia and his native Bohemia, following t ...

) * Tatyana, '' Eugene Onegin'' ( Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky) * Hanna, ''

The Merry Widow ''The Merry Widow'' (german: Die lustige Witwe, links=no ) is an operetta by the Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt t ...

'' ( Franz Lehár) * Bess, '' Porgy and Bess'' ( George Gershwin)

References

Notes Sources * * * *

Light lyric soprano

Light lyric soprano roles

Full lyric soprano

Full lyric soprano roles

See also

References

Further reading