Operatic voices - Voices with proper classical technique and skills which can be heard without amplification throughout the opera house, over the orchestra and choir.
Female voice types:
The female classical singing voice can be broadly classified by their tessitura (comfortable range) as follows:
1) Soprano : Female voice with the highest tessitura. Range: A3 to F6(or higher)
2) Mezzo-soprano : Middle-range voice type for females and is the most common female voice. Range: F3 to B5
3) Contralto : The lowest female voice type, with the lowest tessitura. True operatic contraltos are rare. Range: E3(or lower) to G5
The above 3 voice types can be further divided on the basis of their vocal weight and quality as:
a) Coloratura : Light, agile voices which is specialised in fast passages with leaps and runs.
b) Lyric : A warm voice with a bright, smooth and full timbre and can be heard over a big orchestra.
c) Dramatic : A powerful, rich, emotive voice that can sing over a full orchestra with ease. Usually has a lower tessitura than the Lyric and Coloratura voices.
The Coloratura Soprano can be further divided into Lyric-Coloratura soprano and Dramatic-Coloratura soprano with the former being very light and the latter being powerful, almost comparable to a Dramatic soprano.
Also, we have the following special types:
- Soprano Leggero : A very agile light voice like a lyric coloratura, but with a slightly warmer vocal timbre and a lower tessitura.
- Spinto Soprano : This voice has the brightness and height of a lyric soprano, but with a heavier vocal weight and can be "pushed" to dramatic climaxes without strain
- Wagnerian Soprano : Type of dramatic sopranos, who have an extremely powerful voice which can assert itself over an exceptionally large orchestra and is ideally even throughout the registers. These voices are extremely rare.
- Soprano Sfogato : A soprano with a warm lower register as a mezzo-soprano or contralto, but capable of extending her upper range and being able to encompass the coloratura soprano tessitura.
- Soprano Acuto Sfogato : A type of coloratura sopranos who're able to sing above high F (F6) with great ease.
Soubrette : A young soprano with a light voice with a bright, sweet timbre and tessitura slightly lower than the lyric and spinto sopranos