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Soprano

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This article is about singers. For the popular HBO television drama series about the Mafia, see The Sopranos.
Look up soprano in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

In music, a soprano is a singer with a voice ranging approximately from the A below middle C to high C two octaves above middle C (i.e. A3-C6). Some sopranoes can go much higher, up to F6. In four part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, and will usually take the melody.

The word "soprano" generally refers to a female singer of this highest vocal range and to her voice. Male singers whose voices have not changed are known either as "boy sopranos" or, in the Anglican and English Catholic traditions, as trebles. Some adult male singers use a special technique without using falsetto in order to sing in this high range, and they are known as sopranists.

Voice type
Female
Male

Historically women were not allowed to sing in the Church, so the soprano roles were given to young boys, and later to castrati, who were men whose larynxes had been fixed in a pre-adolescent state through the process of castration.

More generally, a soprano is a relatively high-pitched member of a group of similar instruments (for example, the soprano saxophone).

Types of soprano and soprano roles in operas

In opera, the character and timbre of soprano voices are often categorized according to the German Fach system. However, several roles are regularly sung by sopranos who are considered to belong to another "Fach". For example, Lyric Coloratura Sopranos and Full Lyrics often sing Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor). Sopranos usually play the heroine in opera. The soprano Fächer, with examples of respective roles, are:

Soprano
Alto
Tenor
File:Bass.png
Basso

Two types of soprano especially dear to the French are the Dugazon and the Falcon, which are intermediate voice types between the soprano and the mezzo soprano: a Dugazon is a darker-colored soubrette, a Falcon a darker-colored soprano drammatico.

Soprano roles in operettas and musicals

Famous sopranos

Classical music

NOTE: In most cases, it is not possible to find a reputable source for the vocal range of pop singers. It seems most names were listed here on an empirical basis. It must be noted that in the pop world, the vocal range of a singer is sometimes artificially enhanced.

See also

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