What is Renata Tebaldi?
[[File:Renata Tebaldi Madame Butterfly Bell Telephone Hour.JPG|thumb|Renata Tebaldi Madame Butterfly Bell Telephone Hour]] '''Renata Tebaldi''' (February 1, 1922 - December 19, 2004) was an Italian operatic [[soprano]] and one of the leading lyric-dramatic sopranos of the postwar period. She possessed a voice of great beauty and considerable power which she used with unfailing musicianship and style. ==Life and career== Born in [[Pesaro]], Italy, she studied first at the [[Parma]] Conservatory with Branducci and Campogaliani, and at the Pesaro Conservatory with Carmen Melis and Giuseppe Pais. She made her debut in [[Rovigno]] in 1944, as Elena in ''Mefistofele''. She was chosen by conductor [[Arturo Toscanini]] to sing at the reopening of [[La Scala]] in Milan in 1946, where she sang until 1954. She also appeared at all the major opera houses of Italy. She then began singing abroad and made her debut at the [[Royal Opera House]] in 1950, at the [[Paris Opéra]] in 1951, and at the [[Metropolitan Opera]] in 1955, where she was to sing regularly until 1973. She also appeared in [[San Francisco]], [[Buenos Aires]], [[Rio de Janeiro]], etc. She was particularly admired in operas like [[Verdi]]'s ''La forza del destino'', ''Aida'', ''Otello'', [[Puccini]]'s ''Manon Lescaut'', ''La bohème'', ''Tosca'', ''Madama Butterfly'', Ponchielli's ''La Gioconda'', Boito's ''Mefistofele'', Giordano's ''Andrea Chénier'', Cilea's ''[[Adriana Lecouvreur]]'', Catalini's ''La Wally''. Renata Tebaldi retired from the stage in 1977. She died at her home in [[San Marino]], at the age of 82. The so-called rivalry between Tebaldi and soprano [[Maria Callas]] was mostly fueled by admirers of these two singers and by the press. ==References== * ''The Complete Dictionary of Opera & Operetta'', James Anderson, Wings Books, 1993. == Other websites == * [http://nataliamalkova61.narod.ru/index/radioperedachi/0-14 Broadcast auditions (2)“RENATA TEBALDI” (cycle “From collection of the rare recordings” by Maxim Malkov – in Russian).] {{DE