Coloratura in the context of Mezzo-soprano

A coloratura soprano (Italian: soprano di coloratura) is a type of operatic soprano voice that specializes in music that is distinguished by agile runs, leaps and trills.

The term coloratura refers to the elaborate ornamentation of a melody, which is a typical component of the music written for this voice. Within the coloratura category, there are roles written specifically for lighter voices known as lyric coloraturas and others for larger voices known as dramatic coloraturas. Categories within a certain vocal range are determined by the size, weight and color of the voice. Coloratura is particularly found in vocal music and especially in operatic singing of the 18th and 19th centuries.

In music, fioritura (/fiˌɔːrɪˈtjʊərə/ fee-OR-i-TURE-ə, Italian: [fjoriˈtuːra], meaning "flourish" or "flowering"; plural fioriture) is the florid embellishment of melodic lines, either notated by a composer or improvised during a performance. It usually involves lengthy, complex embellishments, as opposed to standardized local ornamental figures such as trills, mordents, or appoggiaturas, and its use is documented as early as the thirteenth century. The alternative term coloratura is less accurate. It is closely related to the sixteenth-century practice of diminution or division.

A roulade (from Old French roler, "to roll") is a type of music ornamentation. The term has been used with some variation in meaning. While the term has had some usage in instrumental music, it is most frequently used in the context of vocal music to refer to a florid embellishment of several musical notes sung on a single syllable. The word has sometimes been used interchangeably with the term coloratura to refer to any difficult vocal run requiring great vocal dexterity, or as a synonym for or a specific type of virtuosic melisma. The term roulade has also been used more specifically to refer to the ornamental practice of splitting up the melodic line of a piece of music into many smaller notes.

The term roulade has sometimes been defined as a vocal ornamental passage specifically limited to opera arias of the Classical and Romantic music periods. However, this limited definition is contradicted in the historical record, and other writers have used the term in contexts to other forms of music, such as oratorio, gospel music, and rock and roll.