The timbre-role of the colouratura soprano in the semantic reference points of an opera workу
Authors: Jiang Qin 
Published: September 2023

Statement of the problem. Opera is one of the most popular and most difficult musical phenomena for scientific comprehension. The attention of musicologists is consistently focused on the vocal component, because it is the art of singing that has affected the emergence, evolution, numerous reforms and modern transformations of dramma per musica. While in dramatic theatre, in order to comprehend the plot’s conflicts, we need to hear and understand literally every word spoken on stage, in opera this is not necessary and does not prevent us from following the development of the plot, which is revealed on a musical level, where the beauty of the human voice is of particular importance. Therefore, belonging to a certain role in opera is determined by the type of singer’s voice. The purpose of this work is to outline the basic approaches to the interpretation of the timbre-role of the colouratura soprano in Western European opera. Results and conclusion. The history of Western European vocal art goes back several centuries, during which the content, language resources, genre systems and areas of music-making have changed significantly. This provoked a rethinking of the sound-expressive and dynamic capabilities of the human voice and changes in approaches to the classification of singer’s voices. For example, in the twelfth century, the transition from monody to polyphony determined the need to divide the functions of male voices (because women did not sing in churches). A system similar to the modern one was developed: tenor; discant (later named soprano); alto; bass. However, the development of solo vocal performance and opera art influenced the reconsideration of the expressive capabilities of the human voice. If in the Renaissance vocal tradition, the soloist’s voice was supposed to sound like an analogue of the most virtuoso instrument, then gradually requirements for natural voice sound were formed. However, virtuosity prevailed in vocal art for a long time, influencing the formation of the bel canto style, the heyday of which is associated with the work of castrato singers. However, over time, aesthetic guidelines changed, and gradually vocal teachers began to use the bel canto technique in their work with natural voices. One of the consequences of these transformations was the clarification of the classification of singing voices and the crystallisation of the corresponding stage roles. Let us analyse the vocal and stage potential of the colouratura soprano in this aspect, pointing out that there are still several different interpretations of this concept. Historically, the first of them comes from the technique of performance, but as for the definition of “colouratura soprano” itself, its use is not generally accepted. A significant number of vocal teachers are inclined to believe that the most appropriate distribution of female voices is the following: soprano – mezzosoprano – contralto. Nevertheless, in the Fach System, which is the most widespread in contemporary opera practice, we find references to colouratura: lyric colouratura soprano, colouratura mezzo-soprano, and dramatic colouratura soprano. And while this division is conditional and does not deny the performance of roles intended for a different voice, the requirements of contemporary opera directors to match not only the voice, but also the age and appearance of the performers to the chosen character still make their own adjustments. herefore, as a conclusion of the study, we would like to express the opinion that colouratura sopranos are “doomed” to perform the roles of young girls and representatives of the otherworld.