The purpose of this dissertation is focusing on the discussion of live performance of an elaborate ornamentation of vocal melodies and the acoustical sound figurations with the soprano skill of coloratura. This research uses the opera of Les Contes d’Hoffmann, wrote by Jacques Offenbach as the main discussion. In addition, this research focuses on the song named Les oiseaux dans la charmille performed by Olympia and to review how musical educators used such coloratura technique and for further applications.

This paper not only had reviewed the creating background of the Les Contes d’Hoffmann and the relevant key characters and themes within, but how the opera act & scene deployment structured also. In fact, J. Offenbach was not being able to complete his work for this opera, and a number of different versions have appeared throughout the time. Nevertheless, this research also extends and addresses issues of the Les Contes d’Hoffmann from some commonly known versions these days.

Finally, this research analyses on the live performance and vocal techniques of Renée Doria, Ruth Welting, Edita Gruberová, Natalie Dessay and the recent Japanese vocal talent Maki Mori. This is also to be perceived as an important indicator for learning live vocal performance and singing technique for further training on ornaments and the soprano skill of coloratura.