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Lyric Soprano: Voice Type Characteristics (5/25)

A lyric soprano is liked for her warm and melodious voice. She is considered the queen of sopranos because she can sing long legato phrases with elegance and sustain top notes with ease. Due to her full voice and bright timber, she is usually casted as a young, innocent girl, and other such sympathetic characters.
Just like all sopranos, a lyric soprano is expected to be able to sing anywhere between a C4 and a C6, though some time she might explore coloratura territory by embellishing her cadenzas with a D6.
Lyric sopranos are usually excellent actresses and display deep emotion and passion in their singing. Due to this aptitude for dramatization, they are usually casted in roles of other soprano fachs and are considered Jacks of all trades. Even though they lack in flexibility, their beautiful and soothing sound tends to mesmerize the audiences.
Though lyric soprano roles tend to be rather one-dimensional and static, there is a great variety of characters to choose from ranging from leading roles to second characters and singing extras. What this means is that a lyric soprano will always have a place in an opera even if she doesn’t aspire or is capable to become a prima dona.


Lyric Soprano Anna Netrebko as Adina in L’elisir d’amore
The most sought after lyric soprano at this time is the Russian Anna Netrebko, who’s again the leading lady in house at the Metropolitan Opera this year (2013). In the following video she sings Musetta’s narcissistic aria Quando me’n vo’ in La Bohème.

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