Mirella Freni, an exemplary Italian prima donna for nearly 50 years, whose voice was ideally suited to lighter lyric roles but maintained its bloom even as she took on weightier, more dramatic repertory in midcareer, died on Sunday at her home in Modena, in north-central Italy. She was 84.

She died after a long degenerative illness and a series of strokes, said J.F. Mastroianni, her longtime manager.

In the late 20th century, when opera was becoming increasingly internationalized, Ms. Freni was hailed as a last exponent of the great Italian operatic heritage.

“That tradition is ending,” Plácido Domingo was quoted as saying in a 1997 New York Times article about Ms. Freni. “Mirella is the end of a chain. After that you cannot see who really follows her.”