Word: tebaldi
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...soon became clear that she did not like the Met's Traviata production; moreover, Renata Tebaldi had been allowed to withdraw from it-so why not Callas? "Those lousy Traviatas he wanted to make me do!" said she. "Why give up a contract of 26 performances just for three lousy Traviatas...
Nevertheless, under the tutelage of various stage directors, including Roberto Rossellini (who directed her in Otello in Naples), Tebaldi's acting has improved in recent years-most noticeably in her mastery of an imaginatively conceived and many-faceted Aïda. Now slimmed down from what she called her troppo robusta dimensions ("I lose 25 pounds in three years!"), she is better able to cope with bantam-sized tenors and the visual realities of such consumptive roles as Mimi and Violetta...
Above all, she has preserved the remarkable instrument of her voice in all its original power and glory. While other singers' voices begin to fray, Tebaldi's only grows more refulgent with the years. "A career," says Tebaldi's friend Licia Albanese, "should be slow, taken quietly. Renata is a quiet person. And she takes the singing quiet. She is right. It must...
...famed sopranos give the Met its glamour, but its roster of first-class male singers provides the backbone. As box-office attractions, none of them can compare with a Callas or Tebaldi, and certainly not one of them commands the fanatical personal devotion Caruso once enjoyed. But their presence at the Metropolitan means the difference between a minor and a major opera house. Among the Met's best...
Mario Del Monaco, 39, tenor, singing opposite Tebaldi in this week's opening Tosca. Endowed with the most glorious top register in all opera, Del Monaco came to the Met in 1952 after serving in the Italian army and making his big-time debut at Covent Garden. Short, stocky and a shouter, Del Monaco commands ringing B-flats that have made a name for him in all the roles-Pagliacci's Canio, Samson, Aïda's Radames-in which vocal volume, height and brilliance are needed simultaneously. His interpretation of Otello, by critical consensus...