Tebaldi, Renata

Tebaldi, Renata, celebrated Italian soprano; b. Pe-saro, Feb. 1, 1922. Her mother, a nurse, took her to Langhirano after the breakup of her marriage to a philandering cellist. Renata was stricken with poliomyelitis when she was 3. After initial vocal training from Giuseppina Passani, she studied with Ettore Campogaliani at the Parma Cons. (1937-40) and with Carmen Melis at the Pesaro Cons. (1940-43). She made her operatic debut in Rovigo as Elena in Boito’s Mefistofele in 1944. In 1946 Toscanini chose her as one of his artists for the reopening concert at La Scala in Milan, and she subsequently became one of its leading sopranos. She made her first appearance in England in 1950 with the visiting La Scala company at London’s Covent Garden as Desdemona; also in 1950 she sang Aida with the San Francisco Opera. On Jan. 31, 1955, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut in N.Y. as Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello; she continued to appear regularly there until 1973. She toured Russia in 1975 and 1976. Her repertoire was almost exclusively Italian; she excelled in both lyric and dramatic roles; was particularly successful as Violetta, Tosca, Mimi, and Madame Butterfly. She also sang the role of Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. On Nov. 3, 1958, she was the subject of a cover story in Time magazine.

Bibliography

K. Harris, R. T: An Authorized Biography (N.Y., 1974); C. Casanova, R. T: The Voice of an Angel (Dallas, 1995).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire