Why It's So Hard to Make Out the Heroine's Words at the Opera?

Just to amplify a point I brought up in the previous post about the intelligibility of singing in English. This is an article I read long ago in Physics Today:


Acoustics Experiment Shows Why It's So Hard to Make Out the Heroine's Words at the Opera

It starts with

".... A frustrated listener might well define grand opera as musical theater where you have a hard time making out the words even when they're being sung in your own language. Conceding the point, many opera houses nowadays always flash surtitles above the proscenium. Comprehension is particularly difficult in the higher reaches of the soprano register. Hector Berlioz long ago warned composers not to put crucial words in the soprano's mouth at high notes...."


Quite an interesting read, especially for those interested in the art of singing and acoustics.