coloratura

Also col·or·a·ture

[kuhl-er-uh-toor-uh, -tyoor-uh, kol-, kohl-]

noun

1. runs, trills, and other florid decorations in vocal music.

2. a lyric soprano of high range who specializes in such music.

coloratura

/ ˈkɒlərəˌtjʊə, ˌkɒlərəˈtʊərə /

noun

1. 1. (in 18th- and 19th-century arias) a florid virtuoso passage

   2. ( as modifier )

      a coloratura aria

2. Also called: coloratura soprano. a lyric soprano who specializes in such music

coloratura

1. Elaborate ornamentation in a piece of vocal music. A coloratura soprano is one who can sing such highly ornamented parts.

Word History and Origins

Origin of coloratura¹

1730–40; < Italian < Late Latin: literally, coloring. See color, -ate ¹, -ure

Word History and Origins

Origin of coloratura¹

C19: from obsolete Italian, literally: colouring, from Latin colōrāre to _colour

Example Sentences

As she scrabbled for a laser pointer in her large handbag, her coloratura was comically on point, though she was inaudible in her middle range during the cabaletta.

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“But I so love what her voice does on it — how open her coloratura is — that I’ll leave that for her,” she adds.

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She was a coloratura soprano with an almost freakish vocal range — nearly four octaves, it was said, a voice capable, if any voice is, of the wineglass-shattering stunt of legend.

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“She is a lyric coloratura, with a relatively small voice that carries in a big auditorium by virtue of its concentrated tone. And she is a complete actress, in voice and movement.”

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She was admired for her coloratura singing and feared for her business chops.

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Related Words

• singer