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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