Prompter (opera)

The prompter (French/German: souffleur; Italian: rammentatore, suggeritore) in an opera house gives the singers the opening words of each phrase a few seconds early. Prompts are mouthed silently or hurled lyrically in a half-voice, audible (hopefully) only on stage. (This is in contrast to the prompter in a theatre who aids actors who have forgotten their words or lines.) Opera prompters are traditionally housed in a stuffy wooden box at the center-front edge of the stage, above the orchestra pit. They are visible to the performers and no one else.