thumb|150px| right|[[Nino Machaidze, in the coloratura role of Marie, in La Fille du Régiment at the Metropolitan Opera House in <!--December 24, -->2011.]]

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Coloratura, syllabification col·or·a·tu·ra

Such coloratura, for sopranos and otherwise, is often found in the vocal melodies of arias of the 18th and 19th centuries (appearing as aria di coloratura, aria di bravura, and Koloraturarie); an example cited as famous is the aria of the operatic character, the Queen of the Night, in Mozart's Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute). and that from the Latin colōrātus, deriving from the verb "to color".<!--RETURN THE FOLLOWING WHEN SOURCED:)-->

History

The term coloratura was first defined in several early non-Italian music dictionaries: Michael Praetorius's Syntagma musicum (1618); Sébastien de Brossard's Dictionaire de musique (1703); and Johann Gottfried Walther's Musicalisches Lexicon (1732). In these early texts "the term is dealt with briefly and always with reference to Italian usage".<!--Link is to site homepage, not to article, and in any case requires subscription to review.-->

thumb|150px|[[Farinelli, a soprano castrato famous for singing baroque coloratura roles (painting by Bartolomeo Nazari, 1734).]]<!--Ref. support for both Farinelli being famous for singing baroque coloratura roles, and for this painting being by Nazari, are needed.-->

thumb|left|150px| Ruth Jenkins-Róbertsson, in rehearsal for the Queen of the Night coloratura role, in <!--Act II Scene 9 of -->the opera [[Die Zauberflöte<!-- (The Magic Flute)--> by W. A. Mozart,]]

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Richard Miller names two types of soprano coloratura voices (the coloratura and the dramatic coloratura) as well as a mezzo-soprano coloratura voice, and although he does not mention the coloratura contralto, he includes mention of specific works requiring coloratura technique for the contralto voice.

More generally, singers of major roles in Rossini operas must have a secure coloratura technique.

See also

  • Bel canto
  • Diatonic and chromatic § Medieval coloration

Citations

Works cited

  • For the Wikipedia article on this source, see Harvard Dictionary of Music.