The coloratura aria (in brief)

Some performances of coloratura arias, either live or on a recording, may be easily identifiable because, when listening, one has the distinct impression that the singer is taking big chances, seemingly taking her voice and talent to the very edge of what is humanly possible.  This is, in a way, accurate.  In some coloratura arias one hears incredibly fast and exhilarating runs and trills accomplished with absolute rhythmic accuracy.  One will hear a leap to a high note, the singer landing on that note with perfect pitch and timing or a series of fast runs executed with great facility that has the effect of “rushing” the vocal line to the next sustained note.  But not all coloratura arias are about such obvious virtuosity.

Coloratura arias are the biggest challenges in the repertoire for these singers.  The composer’s intention is to allow the vocalist the opportunity to add embellishment to the aria in order to breathe greater dramatic life into performance of the aria, to achieve a heightened dramatic tension in the music that has an immediacy and freshness not possible if the aria were to be sung precisely as written.  For the singer, it is a coveted opportunity to express her vocal gifts as well as an opportunity to demonstrate her knowledge of vocal performance practice of the period in which the aria was written.   Ultimately, a successful performance of a coloratura aria is an original and artful elaboration of that aria, a rendition that is sensitive to the structure and emotion expressed in the aria by the composer and librettist.  Therefore, each singer will attempt to put her own imprimateur on a given aria; no two singers will perform the same aria in exactly the same way.

Coloratura arias require significant preparation on the part of the singer.  In this preparation, the singer must decide precisely how she will embellish the aria, because some of the direction in this regard is absent from the musical score.  This is always done thoughtfully, with consideration for the style of embellishment used in the period in which the aria was written. Therefore, the expository dimension in a coloratura aria is “mapped out” in great detail by the performer well in advance.  Very little is left to chance.

Arias that involve vocal “pyrotechnics”, sung in a medium to fast tempo, may at first be the most obvious in the coloratura repertoire.  Perhaps the most famous example of this would be Mozart’s Queen of the Night aria, “Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen” from Die Zauberflöte.

However, there are other coloratura arias that require a much more subtle form of expression, often sung in a slower tempo and in which fast runs, leaps and other complex embellishments normally associated with vocal virtuosity would not be appropriate.  In these arias, one often hears embellishment expressed in a deliberately understated way, requiring no less control than the more obviously challenging style.  One example of this type of coloratura aria would be “Deh vieni non tardar” from Le Nozze di Figaro.

A third variant would be a slow tempo coloratura aria that is embellished in the demanding vocal style of very early 19th century Opera Buffa in which the singer is given the opportunity to apply extensive ornamentation.  An example of this is “Una Voce Poco Fa” from Il Barbieri di Siviglia.

Coloratura singing requires intense concentration and an ability to make that which is technically complex, sound natural in performance.  This must be controlled live, in real time; a formidable challenge that is made even greater by the fact that the singer is required to act at the same time. There is a high probability of failure in any given performance, that the performer will stumble, make a mistake or simply give an uninspired performance.  This consideration is accurate, as singers, just like dancers, have “off-nights”.  Therefore, the result is not always predictable.  Consequently, as an example, a few of the most memorable performances of Maria Callas were not captured by her record company in a studio or on stage but are to be found on illicit recordings made by someone in the audience with a tape recorder on their lap who happened to be attending a performance on a good night.

In listening to coloratura arias, it helps to understand the sentiment that is being expressed by the poet.  Translations of the text of most well-known coloratura arias are available online. I have compiled a list below of a selection of recordings of coloratura arias dating from the 18^th-20^th century.

First, some background. Coloratura (It.), in the contemporary view, refers to roulades, cadenze, embellishments or ornamental passages in vocal music.  In 18^th and 19^th century opera, coloratura was understood to refer to a virtuosic and ornate treatment of a melody performed by voice requiring great skill and characterized by trills, runs, staccati and dramatic leaps.  The definition of coloratura would be “coloration” or “coloring”, derived from the Latin root colorare.  Arias have been written for the coloratura singer in baroque, classical, bel canto and contemporary repertoire and the style of ornamentation is somewhat different in each genre.

In a very general sense, the opportunity for a composer or a singer to introduce this element, the basic “cell” in which the embellishment takes place, fundamentally occurs between two notes at certain specific moments in a melody.  A note can be connected to the next note in a variety of ways.  So it is the treatment of the interval between two notes that is referred to here.  The two notes can be simply joined by sustaining the first note until the arrival of the second.  This space can also be filled by a trill, a glissando, an elaborate run or an appoggiatura, all with the intent to increase the dynamic tension or emotion expressed in the melodic line. In actual fact, coloratura does not refer to the range of the voice or even the sex of the singer.  Coloratura arias have been written for basso, baritone, soprano, mezzo-soprano and contralto voice and sometimes sung by castrati.  However, the coloratura style is most often associated with the soprano and mezzo-soprano voice because most coloratura arias have been written for these vocal ranges.

There are two basic types of coloratura soprano:  lyric and dramatic.  Lyric coloratura refers to a lighter-sounding, “lithe” voice with a higher upper range that resonates fully and clearly. The dramatic coloratura is a voice that is “stronger”, with sustaining ability, a qualitatively different form of dramatic intensity and a range beginning a note or two lower than that of a lyric soprano.  Therefore, coloratura does not refer to the range of the singer but to the style in which she is singing; lyric and dramatic refer to the attributes of the voice itself.  Kathleen Battle and Beverly Sills would be examples of singers who perform lyric coloratura soprano arias and Maria Callas and Joan Sutherland that of dramatic coloratura soprano.

Arias written for soprano voice that are not coloratura arias greatly outnumber those having been written for coloratura soprano.  Not every composer of opera tries their hand at writing for coloratura soprano, so the coloratura repertoire is comparatively small.  However, there is a wonderful and very long vocal tradition in the coloratura repertoire and, fortunately, in the recording age, there have been many highly gifted singers who have devoted their entire careers to perfecting their ability to sing coloratura arias.

Two interesting videos available on Youtube will easily demonstrate lyric and dramatic coloratura arias.  They can be found by searching on Youtube for “battle deh vieni” and “damrau der holle”, resp.

All of the examples below should be available on Itunes and possibly other music sites as well.  If you run a search in Itunes with the name of the aria and the performer’s name, the correct recording should come up.  Keep in mind that in some cases, there is more than one recording/performance available of a given singer performing the named aria, often with different orchestras. In these cases, I have chosen the performance that I preferred.  In other cases, although there may be many recordings available of a given aria by a specific performer, some or many of those performances are only available from Itunes if one purchases the entire opera (“album only”). [Blame the record companies.  They know what you want.]  “O rendetemi la speme” from Bellini’s I Puritani is one example of an aria that, with just a few exceptions, is only available for download if one purchases a recording of the entire opera.  In these cases, I sometimes had to reference a recording from a release of a compilation of arias from various operas by a given singer in which Itunes allows the purchase of that aria by itself.

“Una Voce Poco Fa” Il Barbieri di Siviglia (Gioachino Rossini, comp; Cesare Sterbini, lib.), 1816 Maria Callas, Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala, Carlo Maria Giulini, cond.

“Volta la terrea” Un Ballo in Maschera (Giuseppe Verdi, comp., Antonio Somma, lib.), 1859 Kathleen Battle, National Philharmonic Orch., Georg Solti, cond.

“Quel guardo il cavaliere..so anch’io la virtu magica” Don Pasquale (Gaetano Donizetti, comp., Giovanni Ruffini, lib.) 1842 Lina Aymaro, Vienna State Opera, Argeo Quadri, cond.

“durch Zärtlichkeit und schmeicheln” Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail (W.A. Mozart, comp., Christoph Friedrich Bretzner/Gottlieb Stephanie, lib.), 1782 Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, Wiener Philharmoniker, Rudolf Moralt, cond.

“O zittre nicht, mein lieber Sohn” and “Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen” Die Zauberflöte K. 620 (W.A. Mozart, comp., Emmanuel Schikaneder, lib.), 1791 Wilma Lipp, Wiener Philharmoniker, Karl Böhm, cond.

“Mein herr, was dachten sie von mir” and “spiel’ ich die Unschuld vom lande” Die Fledermaus (Johann Strauss, comp., Karl Haffner and Richard Genee, lib.), 1874 Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus, Herbert von Karajan, cond.

“il dolce suono..spargi d’amori pianto” Lucia de Lammermor (Gaetano Donizetti, comp., Salvadore Cammarano, lib.), 1835 Maria Callas, Rias Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin, Herbert von Karajan, cond.

“O rendetemi la speme..qui la voce” I Puritani (Vincenzo Bellini, comp., Count Carlo Pepoli, lib.), 1835 Anna Netrebko, Mahler Chamber Orch., Claudio Abbado, cond.

“Da schlägt des Abschieds Stunde” and “Bester jungling” Der Schauspieldirektor K. 486 (W.A. Mozart, comp., Gottlieb Stehpanie, lib.), 1786 (“Da schlagt..”): Ruth Welting, London Symphony Orch, Sir Colin Davis, cond.

“Glitter and be Gay” Candide (Leonard Bernstein, comp., Hellman/Wheeler/Sondheim etc., lib.), 1956 Dawn Upshaw, Eric Stern, cond.

“Ah, fors’e lui che l’anima” La Traviata (Guiseppe Verdi, comp.,  Francesco Maria Piave, lib.), 1853 Maria Callas, Orquesta Sinfonica De La RAI De Turin, Gabriele Santini, cond.

“Ah! Je ris de me voir si belle en ce miroir” Faust (Charles Gounod, comp., Jules Barbier/Michel Carré, lib.) 1859 Lune Fortin, Quebec Symhony Orchestra, Simon Streatfield, cond.

“Pensieri, voi mi tormentate” Agrippina (George Frideric Handel, comp., Cardinal Vincenzo Grimani, lib.) 1709 Renée Fleming, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Harry Bicket, Cond.

“Non hò cor che per armarti” Agrippina (George Frideric Handel, comp., Cardinal Vincenzo Grimani, lib.) 1709 Alexandrina Pendatchanska,Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, René Jacobs, Cond.

“Großmächtige Prinzessin” Ariadne auf Naxos (Richard Strauss, comp., Hugo von Hofmannsthal, lib.) 1912, 1916 Diana Damrau, Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Dan Ettinger, Cond. or Sumi Jo, Orchestre de L’Opera National de Lyon, Kent Nagano, Cond. (1912 version)

“Les oiseaux dans la charmille” (“The Doll’s Song”) Les Contes D’Hoffman (Jacques Offenbach, comp., Jules Barbier, lib.) 1881 Dame Joan Sutherland, L’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Richard Bonynge, cond.

“Quando spieghi i tuoi tormenti” Orlando (George Frideric Handel, comp., lib. adapted by the composer) 1733 Emma Kirkby, Academy of Ancient Music, Christopher Hogwood, cond.

“Padre, germani addio” Idomeneo re do Creta K. 355 (W.A. Mozart, comp., Giambattista Varesco, lib.) 1781 Heidi Grant Murphy, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, James Levine, cond.

“Zeffiretti lusinghieri” Idomeneo re do Creta K. 355 (W.A. Mozart, comp., Giambattista Varesco, lib.) 1781 Barbara Hendricks, Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Sir Colin Davis, cond.

“Deh vieni non tardar” Le Nozze di Figaro K. 492 (W.A. Mozart, comp., Lorenzo da Ponte, lib.) 1786 Kathleen Battle, Wiener Philkarmoniker, Riccardo Muti, cond.

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