Spinto (from Italian, "pushed") is a vocal term used to characterize a soprano or tenor voice of a weight between lyric and dramatic that is capable of handling large dramatic climaxes at moderate intervals. Sometimes the terms lirico-spinto or jugendlich-dramatisch are used. This voice type is recognized by its "slice," allowing the singer to be heard over a full Romanticorchestra in roles excluding, in particular, the most taxing of the Verdi, Puccini and verismo parts, such as Otello.
Tenore spinto: the tenor equivalent of the above. They can sing roles like Rodolfo in La Bohème and Alfredo in La Traviata all the way up to Mario Cavaradossi in Tosca and Radames in Aïda. The tenor lead in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci is another well-known example of a spinto part.
To illustrate what a spinto voice is, and how it differs from a lyric voice, a soundfile of Vissi d'arte sung by six different sopranos (on opera blog Parterre.com) is provided.
