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Spinto (from Italian, "pushed") is a vocal term used to characterize a soprano
Soprano

A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four part chorale style harmony the soprano takes the highest part which usually encompasses the melody....
 or tenor
Tenor

The tenor is a type of male voice type and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between the C one octave below middle C to the A above in choral music, and up to high C in solo work....
 voice of a weight between lyric
Voice type

A voice type is a particular kind of human singing voice perceived as having certain identifying qualities or characteristics. Voice classification is the process by which human voices are evaluated and are thereby designated into voice types....
 and dramatic
Voice type

A voice type is a particular kind of human singing voice perceived as having certain identifying qualities or characteristics. Voice classification is the process by which human voices are evaluated and are thereby designated into voice types....
 that is capable of handling large dramatic climaxes at moderate intervals. Sometimes the terms lirico-spinto or jugendlich-dramatisch are used. This voice type
Voice type

A voice type is a particular kind of human singing voice perceived as having certain identifying qualities or characteristics. Voice classification is the process by which human voices are evaluated and are thereby designated into voice types....
 is recognized by its "slice", allowing the singer to be heard over a full Romantic
Romantic music

In music, romanticism is a term, often considered misleading, and concept derived from literature traditionally defined by attributes including, "interest in nature, medieval chivalry, mysticism, [and] remoteness [ Social alienation and Solitude]"....
 orchestra in roles including, in particular, the most taxing of the Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi

Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic music composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers in the 19th century....
, Puccini
Giacomo Puccini

Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italians composer whose operas, including La boh?me, Tosca, Madama Butterfly and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the List of important operas....
 and verismo
Verismo

Verismo was an Italian literary and, by extension, operatic movement which peaked between approximately 1875 and the early 1900s. It was mainly inspired by Naturalism ....
 parts, such as Otello
Otello

Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on William Shakespeare's Play Othello. It was Verdi's second to last opera and is considered by many to be his greatest tragedy....
.



Rosalind Plowright
Rosalind Plowright

Rosalind Anne Plowright OBE is an English opera singer who spent much of her career as a soprano but later returned to the stage in mezzo-soprano roles....
 defines a spinto voice as one that has a tonal colour one down from its range.






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Spinto (from Italian, "pushed") is a vocal term used to characterize a soprano
Soprano

A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four part chorale style harmony the soprano takes the highest part which usually encompasses the melody....
 or tenor
Tenor

The tenor is a type of male voice type and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between the C one octave below middle C to the A above in choral music, and up to high C in solo work....
 voice of a weight between lyric
Voice type

A voice type is a particular kind of human singing voice perceived as having certain identifying qualities or characteristics. Voice classification is the process by which human voices are evaluated and are thereby designated into voice types....
 and dramatic
Voice type

A voice type is a particular kind of human singing voice perceived as having certain identifying qualities or characteristics. Voice classification is the process by which human voices are evaluated and are thereby designated into voice types....
 that is capable of handling large dramatic climaxes at moderate intervals. Sometimes the terms lirico-spinto or jugendlich-dramatisch are used. This voice type
Voice type

A voice type is a particular kind of human singing voice perceived as having certain identifying qualities or characteristics. Voice classification is the process by which human voices are evaluated and are thereby designated into voice types....
 is recognized by its "slice", allowing the singer to be heard over a full Romantic
Romantic music

In music, romanticism is a term, often considered misleading, and concept derived from literature traditionally defined by attributes including, "interest in nature, medieval chivalry, mysticism, [and] remoteness [ Social alienation and Solitude]"....
 orchestra in roles including, in particular, the most taxing of the Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi

Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic music composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers in the 19th century....
, Puccini
Giacomo Puccini

Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italians composer whose operas, including La boh?me, Tosca, Madama Butterfly and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the List of important operas....
 and verismo
Verismo

Verismo was an Italian literary and, by extension, operatic movement which peaked between approximately 1875 and the early 1900s. It was mainly inspired by Naturalism ....
 parts, such as Otello
Otello

Otello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on William Shakespeare's Play Othello. It was Verdi's second to last opera and is considered by many to be his greatest tragedy....
.

  • Spinto soprano
    Spinto soprano

    A spinto soprano is an operatic soprano that has the brightness and height of a lyric soprano, but can be "pushed" to dramatic climaxes without strain, and may have a somewhat darker timbre....
    : a lyric soprano with a fair amount of "pulp". As they have both a lyric and a dramatic quality, spinto sopranos are suitable for wide range of roles, from lyric roles such as Micaela in Carmen
    Carmen

    Carmen is a French op?ra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Hal?vy, based on the Carmen by Prosper M?rim?e, first published in 1845, itself influenced by the narrative poem "The Gypsies" by Pushkin....
     and Mimì in La Bohème
    La bohème

    La boh?me is an opera in four acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Sc?nes de la vie de boh?me by Henri Murger....
     to Verdi
    Giuseppe Verdi

    Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic music composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers in the 19th century....
     heroines like Leonora (in Il Trovatore
    Il trovatore

    Il trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Leone Emanuele Bardare and Salvatore Cammarano, based on the Play El Trovador by Antonio Garc?a Guti?rrez....
     or La forza del destino
    La forza del destino

    La forza del destino is an Italian opera by Giuseppe Verdi. The libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on a Spanish drama, Don ?lvaro, o La fuerza del sino , by ?ngel de Saavedra, Duke of Rivas, with a scene adapted from Friedrich Schiller's Wallensteins Lager....
    ), Aïda
    Aida

    Aida an Arabic female name meaning "visitor" or "returning") is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette ....
     or Puccini
    Giacomo Puccini

    Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italians composer whose operas, including La boh?me, Tosca, Madama Butterfly and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the List of important operas....
    's Madame Butterfly
    Madama Butterfly

    Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa....
    .
  • Tenor
    Tenor

    The tenor is a type of male voice type and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between the C one octave below middle C to the A above in choral music, and up to high C in solo work....
    e spinto    : the tenor equivalent of the above. They can sing roles like Rodolfo in La Bohème
    La bohème

    La boh?me is an opera in four acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Sc?nes de la vie de boh?me by Henri Murger....
     and Alfredo in La Traviata
    La traviata

    La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on the novel The Lady of the Camellias by Alexandre Dumas, fils, published in 1848....
     all the way up to Mario Cavaradossi in Tosca
    Tosca

    Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Victorien Sardou drama, La Tosca....
     and Radames in Aïda
    Aida

    Aida an Arabic female name meaning "visitor" or "returning") is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette ....
    . The tenor lead in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci
    Pagliacci

    Pagliacci is an opera consisting of a prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It recounts the tragedy of a jealous husband in a commedia dell'arte troupe....
     is another well-known example of a spinto part.


Rosalind Plowright
Rosalind Plowright

Rosalind Anne Plowright OBE is an English opera singer who spent much of her career as a soprano but later returned to the stage in mezzo-soprano roles....
 defines a spinto voice as one that has a tonal colour one down from its range. For example, a voice with a mezzo's tone colour and the high notes of a soprano, or a voice with a tenor range and a baritone's tone colour, is a spinto. She names Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo

Jos? Pl?cido Domingo Embil Order of the British Empire , better known as Pl?cido Domingo, is a Spanish tenor, known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range....
 as an instance of the latter. Plowright's generalisation does not hold true for all spinto tenors, however. Giovanni Martinelli
Giovanni Martinelli

Giovanni Martinelli was a celebrated Italian operatic tenor. He was particularly associated with the Italian lyric-dramatic repertory, although he performed French operatic roles to great acclaim as well....
, Giacomo Lauri-Volpi
Giacomo Lauri-Volpi

Giacomo Lauri-Volpi was an Italy tenor with a lyric-dramatic voice of exceptional range and technical facility. He performed throughout Europe and the Americas in a top-class career that spanned 40 years....
 and Jussi Björling
Jussi Björling

Johan Jonatan was a Sweden operatic tenor, Grammy Award for Best Classical Vocal Performance ....
, for instance, sang spinto roles such as Radames with bright-toned voices that lacked any baritonal colouration.

See also

  • Fach
    Fach

    The German Fach system is a method of classifying singers, primarily opera singers, The Fach system is a convenience for singers and opera houses....


External links

  • singing Vissi d'arte
    Vissi d'arte

    Vissi d'arte is a soprano aria from Act II of the opera Tosca by Giacomo Puccini. It is sung by Tosca as she thinks of her fate and of her lover?s life which is at the mercy of Baron Scarpia....
    , illustrating the sound of a spinto voice and how it differs from a lyric voice. Hosted at . In order:
  1. Lyric (Claudia Muzio
    Claudia Muzio

    Claudia Muzio was an Italian opera soprano, whose international career was among the most successful of the early 20th century....
    )
  2. Spinto (Leontyne Price
    Leontyne Price

    Mary Violet Leontyne Price in Laurel, Mississippi in the United States is one of America's most beloved and widely recorded operatic sopranos....
    )
  3. Spinto (Renata Tebaldi
    Renata Tebaldi

    Renata Tebaldi was an Italian lirico-spinto soprano, popular in the post-World War II period. Acclaimed as one of the most beloved opera singers of all time, she primarily focused on the verismo roles of the lyric and dramatic repertoires....
    )
  4. Spinto (Zinka Milanov
    Zinka Milanov

    Zinka Milanov n?e Zinka Kunc was a Croatian-born operatic Voice type.Born in Zagreb, she studied with the Wagnerian soprano Milka Ternina and her assistant Marija Kostrencic....
    )
  5. Lyric (Montserrat Caballé
    Montserrat Caballé

    Montserrat Caball? is a Spain Catalan people operaticsoprano. One of the greatest sopranos of the 20th century,she possesses a voice of remarkable beauty and of great range...
    )
  6. Spinto (Antonietta Stella
    Antonietta Stella

    Antonietta Stella is an Italian operatic soprano, one of the finest Italian spinto sopranos of the 1950s and 1960s, possessing a beautiful and ample voice, and particularly associated with Verdi and Puccini roles....
    )