DRAMATIC COLORATURA SOPRANOS

Take a deep breath before you listen to Maria Callas sing this incredibly beautiful aria, guaranteed to melt you into a pool of mistletoe juice. This is an example (or should I say the example) of a dramatic coloratura soprano.

Wikipedia defines this very rare voice as:

"a coloratura soprano with great flexibility in high-lying velocity passages, yet with great sustaining power comparable to that of a full spinto or dramatic soprano. Dramatic coloraturas have a range of approximately "low B" (B3) to "high F" (F6). Various dramatic coloratura roles have different vocal demands for the singer - for instance, the voice that can sing Abigail (Nabucco, Verdi) is unlikely to also sing Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor, Donizetti), but a factor in common is that the voice must be able to convey dramatic intensity as well as flexibility. Roles written specifically for this kind of voice include the more dramatic Mozart and bel canto female roles and early Verdi.^[3] This is a very rare vocal fach, as thick vocal cords are needed to produce the large, dramatic notes, which usually lessens the flexibility and acrobatic abilities of the voice."

YouTube Sample Title: Maria Callas (Best)
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The role of the Celtic High Priestess Norma in Bellini's opera of the same name is what catapulted Maria Callas to international stardom and fame. I can listen to this a thousand times and still be moved by the dramatic intensity and stunned by the vocal flexibility of this voice!

LYRICS to CASTA DIVA

Casta Diva, Norma's aria from Norma

Casta Diva, che inargenti  -----O pure Goddess, who silver 

queste sacre antiche piante,  -----These sacred ancient plants,
a noi volgi il bel sembiante  -----Turn thy beautiful semblance on us 
senza nube e senza vel...  -----Unclouded and unveiled... 
Tempra, o Diva,    -----Temper, o Goddess,
tempra tu de’ cori ardenti  -----The brave zeal
tempra ancora lo zelo audace,  -----Of the ardent spirits,
spargi in terra quella pace   -----Scatter on the earth the peace 
che regnar tu fai nel ciel...    -----Thou make reign in the sky... 

Fine al rito : e il sacro bosco  -----Complete the rite : and the sacred wood 
Sia disgombro dai profani.  -----Be clear of the laity.
Quando il Nume irato e fosco,  -----When the irate and gloomy God  
Chiegga il sangue dei Romani,  -----Asks for the Roman’s blood 
Dal Druidico delubro    -----My voice will thunder
La mia voce tuonerà.   -----From the Druidic temple.
Cadrà; punirlo io posso.  -----He will fall ; I can punish him
(Ma, punirlo, il cor non sa.  -----(But my heart is unable to do so). 
Ah! bello a me ritorna    -----(Ah! Return to me beautiful
Del fido amor primiero;   -----In your first true love ; 
E contro il mondo intiero...  -----I’ll protect you
Difesa a te sarò.   -----Against the entire world.
Ah! bello a me ritorna    -----Ah! Return to me beautiful 
Del raggio tuo sereno;   -----With your serene ray;
E vita nel tuo seno,    -----I’ll have life, sky 

E patria e cielo avrò.   -----And homeland in your heart.
Ah, riedi ancora qual eri allora, -----Ah, return again as you were then,
Quando il cor ti diedi allora,  -----When I gave you my heart then,
Ah, riedi a me.)   -----Ah, come back to me.) 

OUTLINE for DRAMATIC COLORATURA SOPRANOS

1. Dramatic Coloratura Roles from the BAROQUE period

• ARMIDA - Handel, Rinaldo
• CLEOPATRA - Handel, Giulio Cesare
• ROLE - Composer, Opera

2. Dramatic Coloratura Roles from the CLASSICAL period

• ASCANIO - Mozart, Ascanio in Alba (trouser role)
• DONNA ANNA - Mozart, Don Giovanni
• ELETTRA - Mozart, Idomeneo
• FIORDILIGI - Mozart, Così fan tutte
• JUNIA - Mozart, Lucio Silla
• MADAME HERZ - Mozart, Der Schauspieldirektor
• MATHILDE - Rossini, Guillaume Tell
• THE QUEEN OF THE NIGHT - Mozart, The Magic Flute. See June ANDERSON, Edita GRUBERNOLA below.
• SEMIRAMIDE - Rossini, Semiramide
• VITELLIA - Mozart, La Clemenza di Tito

3. Dramatic Coloratura Roles from the ROMANTIC period

• ABIGAILLE- Verdi, Nabucco
• AMALIA- Verdi, I masnadieri
• ELISABETTA- Donizetti, Maria Stuarta
• ELVIRA- Verdi, Ernani. See Caterina MANCINI below.
• GIOVANNA- Verdi, Giovanna d'Arco
• GIULIETTA- Bellini, I Capuleti e i Montecchi.
  
• GIULETTA DI KELBAR- Verdi, Un Giorno di Regno
• HÉLÈNE - Verdi, Jérusalem
• LADY MACBETH- Verdi, Macbeth
• LEONORA- Verdi, Il trovatore
• LIDA- Verdi, La battaglia di Legnano
• LUCIA- Donizetti, Lucia di Lammermoor
• LUISA MILLER- Verdi, Luisa Miller
• MARIA STUARDA- Donizetti, Maria Stuarda
• MEDORA- Verdi, Il Corsaro
• NORMA- Bellini, Norma -THIS PAGE for Maria CALLAS; Also June ANDERSON;
  
• ODABELLA- Verdi, Attila      
• VIOLETTA- Verdi, La Traviata

 4. Dramatic Coloratura Roles from the MODERN period

• ANNE- Stravinsky, The Rake's Progress
• CHIEF OF THE SECRET POLICE- György Ligeti, Le Grand Macabre
• ESCLARMONDE- Massenet, Esclarmonde

LIST OF NOTABLE DRAMATIC COLORATURA SOPRANOS

• June ANDERSON (1952-) American, Bellini & Donizetti Roles. Do you remember the aria of the Queen of Night in the movie Amadeus? That was June Anderson! See a clip from the movie Amadeus, Then listen to her sing the real thing in German: Die Hölle Rache. Also see June's Casta Diva in NORMA;
• Maria CALLAS (1923-1977) American-born Greek. See NORMA (THIS PAGE); See a live performance of her Casta Diva in NORMA; In the very near future, I intend to devote a whole page to  Maria Callas. For now, just a few teasers: one dramatic soprano aria from each musical period.
  • From the Baroque repertoire, did Maria Callas ever sing a Baroque aria? After a long visit in Googleland, I have come out empty handed. Who knows, I may be surprised! I did find a  Bach-Gounod Ave Maria which is absolutely serene.
  • From the Classical repertoire, we will get a real treat, we'll watch excerpts from Pasolini's film Medea (in her rare role as the non-singing leading actress) while listening to her sing an aria from Cherubini's opera. 
  • Another treat is her singing Martern aller Arten ....in Italian! Mozart is Mozart and Callas is Callas. Put the two together and you have a beautiful dramatic and very Greco-Italian interpretation of Konstanze. It's too bad that Callas is not living in our more experimental and enlightened times where fusion in music is the norm! With all respect to Mozart purists; sure, it was meant to be sung in German, like a sweet apple strudel; but Mozart wrote many Italian operas so this interpretation by Callas is a luscious and savory pastry stuffed with olives!
  • From the Early Romantic repertoire, we will hear her sing her 1952 performance of the Mad Scene from Donizetti's opera Lucia di Lammermoor. Here are Parts One; Two, and Three.
  • From the Later Romantic repertoire, we will hear her sing GIOCONDA in the famous aria Suicidio! 
  • From the Modern repertoire, we will hear her sing Depuis le Jour as Louise from Charpentier's opera Louise.
• Cristina DEUTECOM (1931-) Dutch, lyrico spinto with an incredible coloratura technique. Listen to her as ODABELLA in Verdi's Attila; From the opera Norma, listen to her sing "Ah Bello a me ritorna" then listen to her interpretation of Casta Diva.
• Mariella DEVIA (1948-) Italian. Watch her in the final scene of Maria Stuarda; then listen to her lovely version of Casta Diva, with piano accompaniment.
• Edita GRUBERNOVÁ (1946-) Slovak.Watch her Vienna 1981 performance of Die Hölle Rache as the Queen of Night. Here is the earlier aria in the opera O Zittre Nicht (this glorious performance recently added after a pondering Googleschmerz) Then see her Casta Diva with subtitles in Spanish! Do I need new glasses? Edita's beautiful face almost looks like Madonna's!
• Lilli LEHMANN (1848-1929) German. Listen to her amazing voice in this old scratchy, but wonderfully remastered recording as DONNA ANNA singing the difficult  Or sai chi l'onore from Don Giovanni. They say Mozart used to like to eat sopranos for breakfast! Then listen to her sing a riveting Casta Diva.
• Caterina MANCINI (1924-) Italian, active in Italy during the 1950s. Listen to her as a strong ELVIRA in Verdi's Ernani. The aria is called Surta è la notte; then as LEONORA in Tacea la notte placida from Verdi's Il Trovatore. Could not find a recording of her singing Casta Diva nor Queen of Night!
• Nelly MIRICIOIU (1952-) British operatic soprano of Romanian birth. Here she is singing ABIGAILLE's cabaletta from Nabucco. In another video we see sing and act as Violetta singing Sempre Libera. I love the super elegant costume and the set. She reminds me of Grace Kelly. Finally we get some excellent close-ups of her singing a masterful and mature Casta Diva in 2009.
• Edda MOSER (1938-) German soprano, particularly well-known for her interpretations of music by Mozart. We'll start with two arias from the Magic Flute -O Zittre nicht (I LOVE this aria!!!) and Die Hölle Rache. Here is a dramatic coloratura version of Martern Aller Artern from Die Entführung von dem Serail. We finish with a rare pasticcio or pastiche that depicts Edda as a goddess or god with a troupe of goblins in an imaginary opera by Handel with a Tolkienesque setting!
• Lillian NORDICA (1857-1914) American dramatic soprano with a great range. Very few recordings remain of excellent quality, like her 1907 performance from an obscure Hungarian opera called  Hunyadi Lazlo, an opera that is begging me for more research! She did Wagnerian roles as well. Here is an excerpt from her Mild und Liese, the "Liebestod" from Tristan und Isolde. Strange, but this recording sounds like a good amateur singer warbling down the hall in the middle of a Jakarta rainstorm! Quite a natural sounding voice, I must say. I love her portrait on the Coca-Cola poster! One more, or should I say... three American songs she sang in 1910.
• Rosa PONSELLE (1897-1981) American operatic soprano, considered one of the greatest sopranos in the last 100 years. Norma was considered her greatest achievement, so let's hear her first in Casta Diva recorded in the 1920s. Let's now go to Act IV, Scene 2 of Verdi's La Forza Del Destino, and to hear Rosa sing a dramatic soprano version of Pace, Pace mio Dio then ,..we can see her perform the Habanera (for the lyrics, click here) as Carmen in a voice that Pavarotti described as a dark cognac flavored with chocolate! Yummy!
• Rita SHANE (19??-) American. Here she is as the QUEEN OF NIGHT singing O zittre nicht;and Die Hölle Rache from The Magic Flute; Ophelia's mad scene from Ambroise Thomas's Hamlet; "O beau pays de la Touraine" from Les Huguenots.
• Dame Joan SUTHERLAND (7 November 1926-10 October 2010) Australian dramatic coloratura performance. In the very near future, I intend to devote a whole page to Dame Joan Sutherland one day. For now, just a few teasers: first Casta Diva and Die Hölle Rache for comparison, then, one aria from each musical period. Joan could sing from nearly every historical musical period!
• From the Baroque repertoire, we will hear her sing "Di. cor mio, quanto t'amai" as Alcina from Handel's opera of that name.
• From the Classical repertoire, a triple Mozart treat: we will hear her sing "D'Oreste d'Aiace" as ELLETRA from Idomeneo, an impeccable"Martern Aller Arten" as KONSTANZE from the Abduction from the Seraglio (My favorite Sutherland recording!!) and a note-perfect 1962 rendition of her QUEEN OF NIGHT in "Die Hölle Rache"
• From the early Romantic repertoire, without question, Joan's monumental version of Casta Diva. I LOVE her photo in this particular video. Had to post it right away on Facebook.
• From the later Romantic repertoire, we will see her sing in La Traviata in a duet as VIOLETTA with a very handsome young Alfredo! Can you identify who this dashing tenor is? Off to Googleland I go! I may have an answer later or I may not.
• From the Modern repertoire, we will hear her sing Igor Stravinsky's Pastorale in lovely dissonance, like a bittersweet and delicious Campari. 
• Josepha WEBER (1758-1819) A German soprano of the classical era. She was a sister-in-law of Mozart. The first to perform the Queen of Night in the Magic Flute. I will redirect you again  to June Anderson's performance in a clip from the movie Amadeus. You can imagine it is she! I love the way his angry and vindictive mother-in-law shrilly turns into the Queen of Night. It could have been a true story!
• Virginia ZEANI (1900-2000) a very beautiful Romanian soprano. Especially famous for her role as CLEOPATRA ("Se pieta") in Handel's Giulio Cesare and VIOLETTA in La Traviata, Here she is singing Sempre Libera. She was a soprano assoluta, in other words, she sang in many different voices and styles. In this video you'll first hear her as Aida in "Ritorna Vincitor"; Olympia in Tales of Hoffman; Charpentier's Louise; Francesco Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur; Bellini's I Puritani; Puccini's Madame Butterfly; and finally Franz Lehár's the Merry Widow. Although she is billed as a dramatic coloratura, she also can be a lyric coloratura, a spinto soprano, and other voices as well.
   

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