coloratura soprano
- noun
- /ˌkoʊləˈrʊtə rə səˈprɑːnoʊ/
- Specialized
:
soprano coloratura
- By the bakery on the way there, we met her friend, Harry from Amsterdam, who became famous at the Firemen's house with an imitation of a coloratura soprano and the hit "Fiir Jugentliche verboten..."
Examples
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Gretchen is a former coloratura soprano, the voice of Mary on G4's Code Monkeys, and she sings with the LA-based circus troupe Cirque Berzerk.
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She performed beautifully as a coloratura soprano in the opera, showcasing her agility with rapid passages.
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The coloratura soprano dazzled the audience with her elaborate ornamentation during the concert.
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As a celebrated coloratura soprano, she is known for her ability to hit high notes with remarkable ease.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A soprano who sings fast, decorated runs and very high notes in opera
How Ornate
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound combines 'coloratura' (relating to florid, agile vocal ornamentation) with 'soprano' (the highest singing voice), so the meaning—a soprano capable of agile, ornate passages—is directly derivable from its parts. This straightforward adjective+noun composition follows standard lexical formation and musical terminology cross-linguistically, making it predictable for a learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
Coloratura soprano comes from Italian: coloratura from a word meaning 'to color' and soprano from a word meaning 'above'. Singers were said to 'color' a tune by adding quick, fancy notes, so the phrase now means a high female singer who can sing very fast, decorated parts of a song.