spinto

In singing, this refers to a soprano or tenor voice type of a vocal weight between a lyric voice and a dramatic voice, a "light heavyweight" voice. Lyric voices are light, smooth, sweet, and agile; dramatic voices are heavy, rich, powerful, and full of emotion. "Spinto" is Italian for "pushed" (this should not imply force) and applied to a tenor or a soprano it means a lyric voice which can be "pushed" to large musical climaxes at moderate intervals. This effect is achieved by a sharp edge in the voice's tone (squillo), which allows it to "cut" through a full orchestra (rather than singing over it like a true dramatic voice). Since spinto voices bridge lyric and dramatic voices, they are able to play a wide range of roles in opera (but a spinto is not a common voice type).