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). 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. There are a wide variety of roles written for this voice, and they may sing soubrette, baroque and other light roles as well.
=== Light lyric soprano roles ===
* 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. 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 ===
* Emilia, The Makropulos Case (Leoš Janáček)
* La Contessa, The Marriage of Figaro (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
* Liù, Turandot (Giacomo Puccini)
* Lulu, Lulu (Alban Berg)
* Lightning, Elmo Saves Christmas (Lieb)
* 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
Category:Operatic Sopranos