Barbara,
I'm writing this privately because I suspect people
are getting sick of hearing me spout my opinions in
the last few days! :)
To my reading, Miller made a distinction between
soubrettes (basically lighter lyrics with the young,
attractive persona) and coloraturas, although
soubrettes often mature into coloraturas or overlap
the same roles. I wouldn't feel spinto-longing if I
were you. Lyrics are the bread-and-butter soprano
roles of the repertoire. In terms of "what's a facile
lyric," I thought he was saying that they're not any
type of coloratura, but a true lyric with an upper
extension and agility. Some lyrics have great high
D's and can sing breakneck runs, and some can't --
those who can are "facile," or at least that was my
interpretation.
The liciro-spinto category (again, my impression upon
reading -- I don't know if this will help you or not,
since I'm just clarifying my own understanding of
Miller) is basically a full, hefty lyric voice with
the steel and bite for the meatier roles. A full
spinto voice is huge and dark, with a powerful lower
voice and the ability to cleft through orchestrations
like Leonora's and Salome's. Then a dramatic voice is
HUGE and DARK.
I agree that it would have been useful if Miller had
named some known sopranos to epitomize his fachs. If
it helps you see where I'm coming from, here are my
opinions. Lyric: Licia Albanese, Victoria de los
Angeles, young Mirella Freni. Larger lyric: Kiri Te
Kanawa, Renee Fleming. Lirico-spinto: Renata Tebaldi,
Diana Soviero. Spinto: Dorothy Kirsten, Magda Olivero.
So, to my reading, a large lyric is a lyric voice with
a full, heavy heft (warmth and richness being what
makes it "big"). A lirico-spinto is a lyric voice
with a steely, cutting bite (both darker and more
piercing). The voices may sometimes be the same
"size," but the lirico-spinto will pierce through
heavier orchestration. Many people prefer the lyric
sound as more soft and feminine, or dislike the
lirico-spinto sound as too metallic.
Don't get spinto envy! Lyrics sing most of the young,
beautiful heroines of the standard reps (and spintos
sing mostly the slightly deranged, wildly dramatic
ones) -- Mimi, Juliette, Louise, Antonia, Susanna,
Nedda, Pamina, Musetta, Micaela, Liu, Nanetta,
Rosalinda, Countess in Figaro, Tatiana, Capriccio,
Manon, Magda, Bellini's Elvira, if you've got an
extension Giulietta, Violetta, Amina, etc.
Plus, lyrics can often sing either light lyric roles
or coloratura roles, and they often mature into more
lirico-spinto roles in their 40s. And lyric voices
sound better at an earlier age than spintos. And
sound more youthful. And many people find the sound
more appealing. True, there aren't as many
wrist-slashing moments of tragic drama, but think of
all the great love duets and heart-melting arias that
are yours.
Isabelle B., always glad to jabber on
=====
Isabelle Bracamonte
San Francisco, CA
ibracamonte@y...
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