Mezzo-sopranos often portray maternal figures, villainesses, or seductive anti-heroines. Literally ‘little book’, the text sung in an opera or oratorio. It also featured upper-, middle- and lower-class characters instead of just the latter. Dramma giocosoĪ sub-category of opera buffa that arose in the mid-18th-century and included sentimentality, pathos and sometimes even glimmers of tragedy amid the comedy and despite a happy ending. Literally ‘goddess’, or an important female opera star, also sometimes called a ‘prima donna’ (‘first lady’). Countertenors frequently sing Baroque opera but there is also some modern repertoire for them. Similar to mezzo-sopranos, they frequently embody female villains or ‘trouser roles’, ie roles written for men with higher voices (such as in Baroque opera). It usually follows and comments upon the dramatic action. ContinuoĪn accompaniment for dry or ‘secco’ recitative, written for a harpsichord or other keyboard instrument together with a bass instrument (eg a cello). Many people would describe this as ‘typical opera singing’. ColoraturaĮlaborately ornamented vocal music featuring runs up and down the scale, trills, wide melodic leaps and many fast notes per syllable, used both to depict a character’s heightened emotional state and to display a singer’s ‘athletic’ virtuosity.

CadenzaĪ passage, usually at the end of a musical number, in which singers perform a few improvised measures of vocally showy music to personalise their characters and show off their virtuosity. In comic opera, though, the bass is often a buffoonish old man. In serious operas, the basses usually play authority figures such as fathers, monarchs or priests, but sometimes they portray incarnations of the devil. A baritone in opera often portrays either the villain, the tenor’s rival in love, or his best mate. The middle male singing voice, situated between the bass and tenor ranges. It derives from the Greek and Latin ‘aer’, meaning ‘air’. A piece for one voice in an opera, ie a song for a solo singer.

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