C (G3) to the B two octaves above middle C (B5) Description: Found especially in Rossini's operas, these roles were written originally for altos with agility and secure top notes. Today they are often played by mezzo-sopranos and sometimes even by sopranos. At times a lyric or full lyric soprano with a flexible voice will assume the roles as written while a true coloratura soprano will sing the same music transposed to a higher key. Roles: Angelina, La Cenerentola (Gioachino Rossini) Griselda, Griselda (Vivaldi) Isabella, L'italiana in Algeri (Gioachino Rossini) Isolier, Le comte Ory (Rossini) Julius Caesar, Giulio Cesare (Handel) Orsini, Lucrezia Borgia (Donizetti) Romeo, I Capuleti e i Montecchi (Vincenzo Bellini) Ruggiero, Alcina (Handel) Rosina, Il barbiere di Siviglia (Gioachino Rossini) Tancredi, Tancredi (Gioacchino Rossini) Range: From about the G below middle C (G3) to the B two octaves above middle C (B5) English equivalent: lyric mezzo-soprano Description: A lyric mezzo soprano's instrument in a lower range; the resulting sound is less piercing, more lachrymose and rather sensitive. The voices are similar, giving rise to the term 'short soprano' i.e. a soprano without the highest notes. In fact, many lyric mezzos with strong extensions to their upper vocal registers make the transition to singing as sopranos at some point in their careers. Roles: Charlotte, Werther (Massenet) Cherubino, Le nozze di Figaro (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) Dorabella, Così fan tutte (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) Hänsel, Hänsel und Gretel (Engelbert Humperdinck) Marguerite, La damnation de Faust (Berlioz) Meg, Little Women (Mark Adamo) Mignon, Mignon (Ambroise Thomas) Nicklausse, Les contes d'Hoffman (Offenbach) Mother, Amahl and the Night Visitors (Menotti) Suzuki, Madama Butterfly (Giacomo Puccini) English equivalent: dramatic mezzo-soprano Range: From about the G below middle C (G3) to the B two octaves above middle C (B5) Description: Dramatic mezzo-sopranos have ranges very similar to a dramatic soprano. The main difference is the endurance and ease in which the two voice-types sing – a mezzo will concentrate singing most of the time in her middle and low registers and will go up to notes like high B-flat only at the dramatic climax. Consequently, many dramatic mezzo-sopranos have success in singing some dramatic soprano roles that are written with a lower tessitura. Roles: Amneris, Aida (Giuseppe Verdi) Dido, Les Troyens (Hector Berlioz) The Composer, Ariadne auf Naxos (Richard Strauss) Dalila, Samson et Dalila (Camille Saint-Saëns) Eboli, Don Carlo (Giuseppe Verdi) Fricka, Das Rheingold, Die Walküre (Richard