final credits - renata tebaldi
Overcoming polio at age 3, and despite a public feud with established diva Maria Callas and vocal exhaustion at the height of her career, Renata Tebaldi leaves behind a legacy unlikely to be rivalled. She died December 19, 2004 at age 82 due to failing health after a long illness.
Tebaldi was described as a singer of overwhelming expressivity and matchless vocal allure -- the most sumptuously beautiful lirico-spinto soprano voice (one combining lighter lyrical and weightier dramatic qualities) to emerge from Italy in the 20th century. She avoided singing in any language other than Italian, deeming French too nasal and German too guttural.
At the age of 3, Tebaldi woke one morning and could hardly stand. The diagnosis was polio. She began treatments - injections, massages, thermal compresses, and physical therapy - that lasted five years but proved successful (although the aftereffects of the disease affected her mobility on stage years later). During this time she and her mother bonded tightly. When Tebaldi's career began, her mother traveled with her constantly, essentially continuing until, at 68, she died in New York in 1957, a loss that devastated Tebaldi. Her opera debut in 1944, led to a career-making appearance in a concert to reopen the La Scala opera house, heavily damaged during the Second World War.
During the 1950's, she endured a public rivalry with fellow soprano Maria Callas. Biographies of the two divas present contrary accounts of who started it and how. The dispute was fueled by publicists and an eager press. Callas did once notoriously describe herself as champagne to Tebaldi's "Coca-Cola." The two singers were literally incomparable, and although they sang some of the same roles, they were not in any respect similar. Callas' husband once suggested the "feud" was a cynical move to boost record sales, with both divas playing along.
A vocal crisis in 1963, compounded by exhaustion, compelled her to take a year off, during which she recuperated and reworked her technique. When she returned to the stage in 1964, even some of her most ardent fans conceded that her voice had lost some of its luster.
Audiences often kept her coming back for so many curtain calls that she would finally appear wearing her coat around her costume, signalling her need to go home.
In 1973, Miss Tebaldi sang her final performance at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. She had sung some 270 performances with the Met, a house where she considered herself "la regina" - the queen. When she retired in 1976, she was only 54.
Tebaldi had a long and productive relationship with the Decca recording company (also called London Records) and left classic accounts of major roles in complete recordings of "Otello," "La Forza del Destino," "Andrea Chenier," "La Bohème," "Tosca," "Madama Butterfly" and "Il Trovatore" among many other works. Asked during a 1995 interview how she felt about her discography, she said, "I cry when I hear the records. Now I understand what happened during my performances. I feel the same thing."