Lyric Diction for Opera (MUSI90239)

Graduate courseworkPoints: 12.5On Campus (Southbank)

You’re viewing the 2025 Handbook:
Or view archived Handbooks

Overview

Availability
Semester 1
FeesLook up fees

Lyric Diction for Opera offers an immersive experience for students to experiment with and develop high level skills in operatic lyric diction in the “big three” operatic languages: Italian, German and French.

Students will learn to correctly pronounce the characteristic speech sounds of the language, to use prosodic features, to understand special rules pertaining to each language and to apply the International Phonetic Alphabet to opera librettos.

The subject will be taught with frequent reference to operatic literature and to recorded material in an interactive lecture/seminar environment.

Intended learning outcomes

On completion of this subject, students should be able to:

  • transcribe operatic texts using a three- and four-line transcription and translation system based on the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA);
  • recognise and correctly use the prosodic features (syllabification, stress) of the operatic languages studied;
  • pronounce the characteristic speech sounds (vowels, semi-consonants or glides and consonants) of the operatic languages studied;
  • implement the special rules of lyric diction pertaining to each language studied;
  • demonstrate accurate speech sounds, prosody and special rules in both spoken and sung performance.

Generic skills

On completion of this subject, students should be able to:

  • communicate effectively, in oral, written and digital forms;
  • give and receive constructive feedback;
  • articulate, integrate and adapt knowledge from different domains;
  • manage competing demands on time.

Last updated: 4 March 2025