La voce d’angelo

“Miss Renata Tebaldi was always sweet and very firm. She had dimples of iron.” - Rudolf Bing, General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera in New York

How remiss of me to have completely overlooked another important centenary a couple of weeks ago - that of La Tebaldi, one of the greatest ever voices in opera, a legendary diva who was adored in her native Italy and dazzled audiences both at La Scala [she was one of the key performers at its opening gala after the war] and the New York Met over three decades. No less a figure than the legendary maestro Toscanini described her as having “La voce d’angelo” ["The voice of an angel"].

She was also fearless in the face of competition from rival divas, most notably the notoriously temeramental Maria Callas. From the ABC Classic radio station site:

As early as 1950, Maria Callas had shown signs of growing resentment towards Tebaldi, the then-reigning prima donna at La Scala, with Italian devotees divided into Tebaldi and Callas camps.

Callas only began to sing regularly at La Scala in 1951 and always had a very fractious relationship with the house. How real the animosity was on a personal level continues to be disputed. Their voices and repertoire couldn’t have been more different. Tebaldi was essentially a lyric soprano who valued beauty of sound above all, Callas a dramatic artist who sang 19th-century bel canto opera.

In 1951 things came to a head when both singers appeared in Rio De Janeiro and the Greek diva’s Tosca was booed. Callas accused Tebaldi of organising a cabal against her. When Tebaldi's first Milan appearance in La Traviata failed to impress audiences, Callas told the press, “Poor thing, I feel so sorry for her.” Privately, Tebaldi commented, “Callas is flamboyant and thrives on this sort of thing. I am not, and I don't feel any need of this. I can stand on my accomplishments. I have my public and she has hers. There is enough space for both of us – to each her own.”

Fuelled by an insatiable press, the ‘feud’ hit a low point in 1956 when a Time magazine cover story compared Callas’ vocalism to champagne and Tebaldi’s to Coca-Cola. Callas added that Tebaldi “has no spine”, provoking a letter to the editor from Tebaldi: “She says I have no spine, but I have one thing she will never have – a heart.”

Much later, in 1968, when Tebaldi sang a Met opening-night Adriana Lecouvreur, Callas, who’d stopped singing at the house, visited her backstage after the performance. A photo taken at the time, skilfully arranged by Rudolf Bing, shows the two women embracing warmly – all smiles.

Almost as well-recognised for her dramatic "updos" [see my previous post about La Tebaldi for much more on that subject] and exquisite fashions, it's no surprise that a musuem has been established in Tebaldi's honour - in the same elegant villa outside Pisa as the National Museum of Giuseppe Verdi! Quite an accolade.

Let's celebrate La nostra Tebaldi with just a few examples of her genius:

Renata Tebaldi - Io son l'umile ancella [Adriana Lecouvreur - Francesco Cilea]

Renata Tebaldi - O Mio Babbino Caro [Gianni Schicchi - Giacomo Puccini]

Renata Tebaldi - Un bel di vedremo [Madame Butterfly - Giacomo Puccini]

Glorious.

Renata Ersilia Clotilde Tebaldi (1st February 1922 - 19th December 2004)