sb. (and a.). Mus. Pl. sopranos, also soprani. [a. It. soprano, f. sopra above.]
1. The highest singing voice in women and boys, having a compass from about middle C to two octaves above it; the quality or range of this voice.
1730. [see 3].
1774. Joel Collier [J. L. Bicknell], Mus. Trav. (1776), 32. He could not sing only bass and treble, counter-tenor, and soprano to admiration; but also squeak like a pig [etc.].
1854. Orr’s Circ. Sci., Org. Nat., I. 132. It is not yet clearly understood what is the cause of the different qualities of voice, as exhibited in the tenor and bass, and the contralto and soprano.
1899. E. E. Hale, Lowell & His Friends, vi. 76. Then a clear soprano or tenor would be heard.
b. A part for or sung by such a voice.
1801. Busby, Dict. Mus., Soprano.… The treble, or higher voice part, or parts.
2. A singer having a soprano voice; one who sings the soprano part.
1738. Chesterf., in Misc. Wks. (1777), II. 81. Sopranos being the objects of the attention, and raptures of the ladies.
1817. Byron, Beppo, xxxii. Soprano, basso, even the contra-alto, Wish’d him five fathom under the Rialto.
1834. Beckford, Italy, II. 31. Little madam whisks about the Botanic Garden with … a troop of sopranos.
1883. H. C. Deacon, in Grove’s Dict. Mus., III. 635/2. Many mezzo-soprani can sing higher notes than many soprani.
1892. E. Reeves, Homeward Bound, 187. He … is a dark-haired, stout, youthful-looking male soprano.
3. attrib. or as adj. a. Of persons: Having a soprano voice; singing a soprano part.
1730. Owen Swiny, in G. Colman, Posth. Lett. (1820), 25. We must provide a Soprano Man & a Contrealt Woman.
1854. Orr’s Circ. Sci., Org. Nat., I. 132. The contralto not unfrequently sings the high notes like soprano singers.
1873. H. C. Banister, Music (1877), 217. Solo Tenor and Soprano singers will exceed the altitude here specified.
b. transf. Of certain musical instruments, as soprano cornet, trombone.
1856. Mrs. C. Clarke, trans. Berlioz’ Instrument., 151/2. The Soprano Trombone … exists still in some parts of Germany.
4. Of or belonging to the soprano.
Soprano clef, the C-clef upon the first line of the treble stave.
1801. Busby, Dict. Mus., Introd. p. xxiii. The Soprano-cliff is used for the second class of the higher species of voice.
1833. Wiseman, in W. Ward, Life (1898), I. v. 121. Possessing a strong soprano voice up to A, and sometimes C.
1845. E. Holmes, Mozart, 166. The soprano solo was doubtless intended for the Weber.
1883. H. C. Deacon, in Grove’s Dict. Mus., III. 635/2. That part of the scale upon which even a limited soprano part is written.
1883. M. G. Van Rensselaer, in Harper’s Mag., March, 551/1. The far-off soprano strains and tender orchestral harmonies become triumphant with holy ecstasy.
