When Deborah Voigt gave a recital in Carnegie Hall three years ago, she caused a sensation. The audience cheered and whooped late into the night. The famed American soprano returned to Carnegie Hall on Friday night for another recital. And she scored a similar triumph.

Ms. Voigt sang an attractively mixed program, beginning with three of the great opera composers: Mozart, Verdi, and Strauss. Only there was no opera on this program.

To start things off was “Die ihr des unermesslichen Weltalls Schöpfer ehrt,” one of Mozart’s Masonic cantatas. Ms. Voigt sang this with authority and definition. You could appreciate her operatic boldness, a boldness perfectly appropriate to this piece, especially in a hall so grand. Some harshness crept into the voice, but nothing too serious.

Serving as accompanist was Brian Zeger, Ms. Voigt’s regular pianist. His Mozart was sensible and shapely, even if (very) liberally pedaled.

The performers then moved to five Verdi songs, beginning with “Non t’accostar all’urna.” Ms. Voigt sang this with wonderful smoky drama — with technical accuracy, too. In “Brindisi,” she was charming and smart. Later in the set, however, she suffered some pitch problems: some flatness.

You could also argue that the set as a whole suffered from a little sameness —a little monotony. But the fault may lie as much with Verdi as with the soprano.

From Strauss, Ms. Voigt took three songs, starting with “Schlechtes Wetter.” She was as crunchy and cutting as you would want. But where the song requires lyricism and bloom, she fell somewhat short. She also fell short of her big B flat — it was “low.”

The middle song, “Ach Lieb, ich muss nun scheiden,” was touching. Ms. Voigt avoided emotionalism, knowing that the notes and words contain all the emotion necessary.

The third Strauss song was “Lied der Frauen,” a big, soaring, rapturous thing. Debbie Voigt should absolutely eat it up — she is, after all, one of the greatest Strauss sopranos in memory. And she was all right in it. What she lacked, primarily, was Voigtian lushness, or creaminess: beauty of sound. And she was repeatedly low on her high notes.

But she ended the song well: with the simplicity and honesty this ingenious and unexpected ending needs.

It was in the second half of the recital that Ms. Voigt really came into her own. Returning to the Italian language, she began with a Respighi set. The opening song, “Contrasto,” was well-nigh perfect: clean, lyrical, and even. Moreover, the singer’s intonation was spot-on. The next song, “Nebbie,” has to be calibrated just so, and Ms. Voigt largely did — so did Mr. Zeger. Then he gave “Notte” a lovely rocking accompaniment.

In her Respighi, Ms. Voigt was entirely in control and entirely musical. Also, the beauty of voice was there, which was reassuring.

Ms. Voigt then turned to a composer she loves and champions, Amy Beach (known to us for decades as Mrs. H.H.A. Beach, until she suddenly became Amy). Ms. Voigt sang three Beach songs, and she sang them full-out, too. You might even say she was “operatic.” But she was also perfectly songlike. This is one singer who knows that “song-like” does not necessarily mean small-scale and intimate. It depends.

And she closed her printed program with another composer she loves and champions, Bernstein. She sang seven of his songs, and she did so idiomatically and well. Like her fellow American soprano, Renée Fleming, Ms. Voigt is a fine jazzwoman. And that voice sounded terrific: up high and down low. (She gave a fabulous, glowing low G in “Piccola serenata.”)

Closing the Bernstein set was “Somewhere,” which I happen to like kind of hymn-like and noble. From Ms. Voigt, it was more casual and lounge-like. But she unquestionably knows her Bernstein.

Her encores are usually delicious, and so they were on this occasion. She began with maybe the most popular encore in the world: Strauss’s “Zueignung.” The song is almost obligatory as an encore. And Ms. Voigt sang it richly and affectingly. Then she unveiled a new song, by her friend Ben Moore.

Mr. Moore is a master of parody songs, and he once wrote one for Ms. Voigt called “Wagner Roles” — clever and hilarious. The new one is about the relationship between a singer — a diva, really — and her pianist. And it, too, is clever and hilarious. Ms. Voigt and Mr. Zeger did it up in style.

As Ms. Voigt was preparing for her third encore, some of the audience scurried out, and she said, “You’ll be sorry.” Then she sort of imitated these departees. All through the recital, Ms. Voigt was tremendously personable, as we can expect.

That third encore was an Irving Berlin song, “I Love a Piano,” and, toward the end of it, Ms. Voigt engaged in a familiar routine of hers: She sat down with Mr. Zeger for a piano duet. In the course of this, she gave some looks that would have made Jack Benny, the fabled violinist, proud. Indeed, Ms. Voigt is about as funny.

She bade goodnight with one of her very favorite songs: “Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man” (Kern/Hammerstein). This, she sang with utter loveliness and musical sense.

Not a few of us have been worried about vocal changes that have come over Deborah Voigt in recent seasons. But this recital, particularly its second half, allayed fears. She sounded like herself, and what a glorious, treasurable self that is.