Beginner opera arias by voice type: what the student anthologies include

Every aria on this page comes from a named anthology. The Fach system page explains how voices are classed, and the roles section covers the rest of role preparation.

What the Schott volumes are for

Schott’s Arias for aspiring singers has a separate volume for each voice type. The soprano volume is designed as a collection of material for budding voice students and gives the beginning student a sound and balanced basis for the entrance examination¹. The guiding principle of the selection was to make effective, yet not too demanding pieces available to voice students¹.

The mezzo-soprano/alto volume and the tenor volume carry the same description and the same selection principle^2,3. The baritone or bass volume spans many different eras and origins and is devised for budding vocal students and ambitious amateurs, with something for everybody without being too demanding⁴.

Soprano

The Schott soprano volume holds 27 arias from 4 centuries¹. The rows below are a selection.

Mezzo-soprano and alto

The Schott mezzo-soprano/alto volume holds 28 arias from 4 centuries². The rows below are a selection.

Tenor

The Schott tenor volume is designed for budding voice students and offers effective pieces that are not too demanding³. It holds 32 arias from 4 centuries³. The rows below are a selection.

Baritone and bass

The rows below are a selection from the Schott baritone or bass volume⁴.

Where the Schott volumes overlap

The four volumes share operas, so a role can appear in more than one. Cherubino from Le nozze di Figaro is in both the soprano and the mezzo-soprano/alto volumes^1,2. Medoro from Handel’s Orlando is in both the mezzo-soprano/alto and the tenor volumes^2,3. Mozart’s La finta giardiniera supplies Serpetta to the soprano volume and Il Contino to the tenor volume^1,3. Don Giovanni gives Zerlina to the soprano volume and Masetto and Leporello to the baritone or bass volume^1,4. Die Zauberflöte gives Monostatos to the tenor volume and Sarastro and Papageno to the baritone or bass volume^3,4.

The Schirmer 24 Italian Songs and Arias

G. Schirmer’s 24 Italian Songs & Arias of the 17th & 18th Centuries carries the publisher’s tagline “The Essential Collection for Every Beginning Classical Singer”⁵. Its contents include Alma del core, Amarilli, mia bella and Caro mio ben⁵.

Choosing criteria from a beginner-repertoire study

A doctoral thesis from the University of Colorado Boulder studies repertoire for beginning university singers. It covers bel canto art songs, not opera arias, so use it for general selection criteria only⁶. Exploring less common bel canto repertoire with beginning students, the author found that different pieces were more accessible and helped with onset, legato, constant spin and vibrato⁶.

Two named examples show the criteria. Bellini’s art song Dolente, immagine di Fille mia has a low tessitura with stepwise and small-leap melodic motion, which the author calls ideal for beginning singers⁶. Tosti composed many pieces that are ideal for beginning singers⁶.

For audition work, the opera audition package page covers how a package is built, and young artist programs covers the programs that hear them.