Soprano sfogato
Encyclopedia
In the art of singing, the term "soprano sfogato" (unlimited soprano
) designates a singer (contralto
or mezzo-soprano
) capable of by sheer industry or natural talent to extend her upper range
and be able to encompass the coloratura soprano
tessitura
. It is sometimes called soprano assoluta.
and classical periods
, distinctions between voices
were not based so much on the range as in the tessitura and color
of the voice. There were two main groups: soprano and contralto. Their range was often blurred, relying more on tessitura to cast different roles in opera. In Italian bel canto
, the soprano did not have extremely high notes actually written (often just to high C or D) and it was not until the nightingale type of sopranos such as Jenny Lind
, Fanny Persiani
, Adelina Patti
and her imitators that ending the cabaletta
s in a climactic high E or E became traditional as it was in the French grand opera
which became so popular when Rossini moved to Paris. Singers however did ornament
higher than high C but in a light and fast way as it was done still in the classical and baroque periods. Virtuosity was shown by quick-silver agility, changes in register and tessitura, perfect control of dynamics
and tonal coloration, not by whistle-like
high notes.
For mezzos/contraltos on the other hand, they started to be more used in Rossini's bel canto operas for example, and to assume roles replacing the castrati
who by that time were almost extinct, and composers demanded a range often going as high as B below high C. This change in demand of the voice would give birth to the soprano sfogato or assoluta
These voices had in common with those of the greatest castrati the ability to sing widely contrasting tessituras, segments well into the low mezzo or contralto and segments in high soprano.
.
Testimonies of the time tell us that the main flaw of the soprano sfogato was the lack of homogeneity in the voice, something so prized in Mozart's
time.
, Giuditta Pasta, Maria Malibran
, Giuseppina Ronzi de Begnis
, Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient
, Mary Anne Paton (Mrs. Wood), Giuseppina Strepponi
, Emma Calvé
, Marianne Brandt
, Félia Litvinne
amongst others. Other example was Pauline Viardot, who alternated roles of soprano and contralto. In the 20th century, the main exponent of this voice category was probably Maria Callas
, though she did not perform roles of contralto, she did sing a couple of roles for mezzo in the mezzo keys and many of the roles associated with the soprano sfogato (Medée
, Armida
, Norma
, Anna Bolena
, Lady Macbeth
, Abigaille
, etc) using overall a range of 3 octave
s. Other possible assolutas/sfogatos of the 20th century were Marisa Galvany
and Leyla Gencer
.
, Gemma di Vergy
, Reiza in Carl Maria von Weber's Oberon
.
The common requirements for the roles associated with this voice type are:
The major exponents of the soprano sfogato vocal type were able to sing both soprano and mezzo-soprano/contralto roles: Ronzi de Begnis
was the first Elisabetta in Devereux, and she also performed Bellini's Romeo
as well as Norma; Isabella Colbran sang both Armida and Desdemona in Rossini's Otello
as well as the mezzo role of Paisiello's "Nina" as well as Mozart's soprano heroines; Giuditta Pasta originated Anna Bolena, Norma and La Sonnambula as well as singing La Cenerentola
, Tancredi
, Arsace
, Cherubino
and Romeo.
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
) designates a singer (contralto
Contralto
Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...
or mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
) capable of by sheer industry or natural talent to extend her upper range
Vocal range
Vocal range is the measure of the breadth of pitches that a human voice can phonate. Although the study of vocal range has little practical application in terms of speech, it is a topic of study within linguistics, phonetics, and speech and language pathology, particularly in relation to the study...
and be able to encompass the coloratura soprano
Coloratura soprano
A coloratura soprano is a type of operatic soprano who specializes in music that is distinguished by agile runs and leaps. The term coloratura refers to the elaborate ornamentation of a melody, which is a typical component of the music written for this voice...
tessitura
Tessitura
In music, the term tessitura generally describes the most musically acceptable and comfortable range for a given singer or, less frequently, musical instrument; the range in which a given type of voice presents its best-sounding texture or timbre...
. It is sometimes called soprano assoluta.
Origin
In the early 19th century as well as in the baroqueBaroque music
Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...
and classical periods
Classical period (music)
The dates of the Classical Period in Western music are generally accepted as being between about 1750 and 1830. However, the term classical music is used colloquially to describe a variety of Western musical styles from the ninth century to the present, and especially from the sixteenth or...
, distinctions between voices
Voice type
A voice type is a particular kind of human singing voice perceived as having certain identifying qualities or characteristics. Voice classification is the process by which human voices are evaluated and are thereby designated into voice types...
were not based so much on the range as in the tessitura and color
Timbre
In music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices and musical instruments, such as string instruments, wind instruments, and percussion instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that determine the...
of the voice. There were two main groups: soprano and contralto. Their range was often blurred, relying more on tessitura to cast different roles in opera. In Italian bel canto
Bel canto
Bel canto , along with a number of similar constructions , is an Italian opera term...
, the soprano did not have extremely high notes actually written (often just to high C or D) and it was not until the nightingale type of sopranos such as Jenny Lind
Jenny Lind
Johanna Maria Lind , better known as Jenny Lind, was a Swedish opera singer, often known as the "Swedish Nightingale". One of the most highly regarded singers of the 19th century, she is known for her performances in soprano roles in opera in Sweden and across Europe, and for an extraordinarily...
, Fanny Persiani
Fanny Tacchinardi Persiani
Fanny Tacchinardi Persiani was an Italian soprano particularly associated with bel canto composers, such as Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, and early Verdi...
, Adelina Patti
Adelina Patti
Adelina Patti was a highly acclaimed 19th-century opera singer, earning huge fees at the height of her career in the music capitals of Europe and America. She first sang in public as a child in 1851 and gave her last performance before an audience in 1914...
and her imitators that ending the cabaletta
Cabaletta
Cabaletta describes the two-part musical form particularly favored for arias in 19th century Italian opera, and is more properly the name of the more animated section following the songlike cantabile. It often introduces a complication or intensification of emotion and/or plot. Some sources...
s in a climactic high E or E became traditional as it was in the French grand opera
Grand Opera
Grand opera is a genre of 19th-century opera generally in four or five acts, characterised by large-scale casts and orchestras, and lavish and spectacular design and stage effects, normally with plots based on or around dramatic historic events...
which became so popular when Rossini moved to Paris. Singers however did ornament
Ornament (music)
In music, ornaments or embellishments are musical flourishes that are not necessary to carry the overall line of the melody , but serve instead to decorate or "ornament" that line. Many ornaments are performed as "fast notes" around a central note...
higher than high C but in a light and fast way as it was done still in the classical and baroque periods. Virtuosity was shown by quick-silver agility, changes in register and tessitura, perfect control of dynamics
Dynamics (music)
In music, dynamics normally refers to the volume of a sound or note, but can also refer to every aspect of the execution of a given piece, either stylistic or functional . The term is also applied to the written or printed musical notation used to indicate dynamics...
and tonal coloration, not by whistle-like
Whistle register
The whistle register is the highest register of the human voice, lying above the modal register and falsetto register...
high notes.
For mezzos/contraltos on the other hand, they started to be more used in Rossini's bel canto operas for example, and to assume roles replacing the castrati
Castrato
A castrato is a man with a singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto voice produced either by castration of the singer before puberty or one who, because of an endocrinological condition, never reaches sexual maturity.Castration before puberty prevents a boy's...
who by that time were almost extinct, and composers demanded a range often going as high as B below high C. This change in demand of the voice would give birth to the soprano sfogato or assoluta
These voices had in common with those of the greatest castrati the ability to sing widely contrasting tessituras, segments well into the low mezzo or contralto and segments in high soprano.
Characteristics
By definition, the soprano sfogato is linked to the mezzo/contralto. It possesses a dark timbre with a rich and strong low register, as well the high notes of a soprano and occasionally a coloratura soprano. Those voices are typically strong, dramatic and agile, supported by an excellent bel canto technique and an ability to sing in the soprano tessitura as well as in the contralto tessitura with great ease, such as was said of Giuditta PastaGiuditta Pasta
Giuditta Angiola Maria Costanza Pasta , born in Saronno, Italy, was a soprano considered among the greatest of opera singers, to whom the 20th-century soprano Maria Callas was compared.-Studies and career:...
.
Testimonies of the time tell us that the main flaw of the soprano sfogato was the lack of homogeneity in the voice, something so prized in Mozart's
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
time.
Exponents
The term soprano sfogato appeared at the same time as its greatest exponents: Isabella ColbranIsabella Colbran
Isabella Colbran was a Spanish opera singer, who was known in her native country as Isabel Colbrandt. Many sources note her as a dramatic coloratura soprano but, some believe that she was a mezzo-soprano with a high extension, a soprano sfogato...
, Giuditta Pasta, Maria Malibran
Maria Malibran
The mezzo-soprano Maria Malibran , was one of the most famous opera singers of the 19th century. Malibran was known for her stormy personality and dramatic intensity, becoming a legendary figure after her death at age 28...
, Giuseppina Ronzi de Begnis
Giuseppina Ronzi de Begnis
Giuseppina Ronzi de Begnis was an Italian operatic soprano, one of the leading sopranos of her time, particularly associated with Donizetti roles....
, Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient
Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient
Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient, born Wilhelmine Schröder , was a German operatic soprano. As a singer she combined a rare quality of tone with dramatic intensity of expression, which was as remarkable on the concert platform as in opera.- Biography :Schröder was born in Hamburg, the daughter of the...
, Mary Anne Paton (Mrs. Wood), Giuseppina Strepponi
Giuseppina Strepponi
Clelia Maria Josepha Strepponi was a nineteenth century Italian operatic soprano of great renown and the second wife of composer Giuseppe Verdi...
, Emma Calvé
Emma Calvé
Emma Calvé, born Rosa Emma Calvet , was a French operatic soprano.Calvé was probably the most famous French female opera singer of the Belle Époque. Hers was an international career, and she sang regularly and to considerable acclaim at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, and the Royal Opera...
, Marianne Brandt
Marianne Brandt (contralto)
Marianne Brandt was an Austrian operatic singer with an international reputation.She was born as Marie Bischof in Vienna and was educated at the music conservatory in that city. She first attracted attention on stage in 1867 as Recha in La Juive and soon afterward accepted an engagement at the...
, Félia Litvinne
Félia Litvinne
Félia Litvinne was a Russian-born, French-based dramatic soprano. She was particularly associated with Wagnerian roles, although she also sang a wide range of parts by other opera composers....
amongst others. Other example was Pauline Viardot, who alternated roles of soprano and contralto. In the 20th century, the main exponent of this voice category was probably Maria Callas
Maria Callas
Maria Callas was an American-born Greek soprano and one of the most renowned opera singers of the 20th century. She combined an impressive bel canto technique, a wide-ranging voice and great dramatic gifts...
, though she did not perform roles of contralto, she did sing a couple of roles for mezzo in the mezzo keys and many of the roles associated with the soprano sfogato (Medée
Médée (Cherubini)
Médée is a French language opéra-comique by Luigi Cherubini.The libretto by François-Benoît Hoffmann was based on Euripides' tragedy of Medea and Pierre Corneille's play Médée....
, Armida
Armida (Rossini)
Armida is an opera in three acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Schmidt, based on scenes from Gerusalemme liberata by Torquato Tasso.-Performance history:...
, Norma
Norma (opera)
Norma is a tragedia lirica or opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini with libretto by Felice Romani after Norma, ossia L'infanticidio by Alexandre Soumet. First produced at La Scala on December 26, 1831, it is generally regarded as an example of the supreme height of the bel canto tradition...
, Anna Bolena
Anna Bolena
Anna Bolena is a tragedia lirica, or opera, in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Felice Romani wrote the Italian libretto after Ippolito Pindemonte's Enrico VIII ossia Anna Bolena and Alessandro Pepoli's Anna Bolena, both telling of the life of Anne Boleyn...
, Lady Macbeth
Macbeth (opera)
Macbeth is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi, with an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave and additions by Andrea Maffei, based on Shakespeare's play of the same name...
, Abigaille
Nabucco
Nabucco is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera, based on the Biblical story and the 1836 play by Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois and Francis Cornue...
, etc) using overall a range of 3 octave
Octave
In music, an octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music", the use of which is "common in most musical systems"...
s. Other possible assolutas/sfogatos of the 20th century were Marisa Galvany
Marisa Galvany
Marisa Galvany is an American soprano who had an active international career performing in operas and concerts up into the early 2000s. Known for the great intensity of her performances, Galvany particularly excelled in portraying Verdi heroines...
and Leyla Gencer
Leyla Gencer
Leyla Gencer, or Ayşe Leyla Çeyrekgil was a world-renowned Turkish operatic soprano.Known as "La Diva Turca" and "La Regina" in the opera world, Gencer was a notable bel canto soprano who spent most of her career in Italy, from the early 1950s through the mid-1980s, and had a repertoire...
.
Roles
Other roles associated with this voice type are Elisabetta in Roberto DevereuxRoberto Devereux
Roberto Devereux is a tragedia lirica, or tragic opera, by Gaetano Donizetti...
, Gemma di Vergy
Gemma di Vergy
Gemma de Vergy is a tragedia lirica or tragic opera in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti from a libretto by Emanuele Bidéra. It is based on the tragedy Charles VII chez ses grands vassaux by Alexandre Dumas père, which was later to become the subject of the opera The Saracen by the Russian composer...
, Reiza in Carl Maria von Weber's Oberon
Oberon (opera)
Oberon, or The Elf King's Oath is a 3-act romantic opera in English with spoken dialogue and music by Carl Maria von Weber. The libretto by James Robinson Planche was based on a German poem, Oberon, by Christoph Martin Wieland, which itself was based on the epic romance Huon de Bordeaux, a French...
.
The common requirements for the roles associated with this voice type are:
- widely varied tessitura throughout the role, extended segments lying well into the low mezzo or contralto tessitura and segments lying in high soprano tessitura
- a range extending down to at least low B and at least up to high B with at least one whole tone required at either end
- fioratura (coloratura) singing in the most intricate bel canto style
- florid singing combined with heroic weight
- a heavy or dense sound in the lower range
- vocal power over energetic orchestral accompaniment
The major exponents of the soprano sfogato vocal type were able to sing both soprano and mezzo-soprano/contralto roles: Ronzi de Begnis
Giuseppina Ronzi de Begnis
Giuseppina Ronzi de Begnis was an Italian operatic soprano, one of the leading sopranos of her time, particularly associated with Donizetti roles....
was the first Elisabetta in Devereux, and she also performed Bellini's Romeo
I Capuleti e i Montecchi
I Capuleti e i Montecchi is an Italian opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini.The libretto by Felice Romani was a reworking of the story of Romeo and Juliet for an opera by Nicola Vaccai called Giulietta e Romeo. This was based on Italian sources rather than taken directly from Shakespeare...
as well as Norma; Isabella Colbran sang both Armida and Desdemona in Rossini's Otello
Otello (Rossini)
Otello is an opera in three acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Berio di Salsi, based on Shakespeare's play Othello....
as well as the mezzo role of Paisiello's "Nina" as well as Mozart's soprano heroines; Giuditta Pasta originated Anna Bolena, Norma and La Sonnambula as well as singing La Cenerentola
La Cenerentola
La Cenerentola, ossia La bontà in trionfo is an operatic dramma giocoso in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. The libretto was written by Jacopo Ferretti, based on the fairy tale Cinderella...
, Tancredi
Tancredi
Tancredi is a melodramma eroico in two acts by composer Gioachino Rossini and librettist Gaetano Rossi, based on Voltaire's play Tancrède...
, Arsace
Semiramide
Semiramide is an opera in two acts by Gioachino Rossini.The libretto by Gaetano Rossi is based on Voltaire's tragedy Semiramis, which in turn was based on the legend of Semiramis of Babylon...
, Cherubino
The Marriage of Figaro
Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...
and Romeo.