Word: tebaldi
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...goddesses who insist that he choose the fairest of them by handing her an apple (Golden Delicious, supplied by Sherry's Restaurant). The goddesses, of course, are the three reigning sopranos who, season after season, vie for favor at the Met-Zinka Milanov, Maria Meneghini Callas and Renata Tebaldi...
...three dazzling prima donnas. For sheer beauty of voice, the prize might go to Milanov, who at 52 still offers many a superb performance. For excitement, versatility and dramatic power, the apple would easily go to Maria Callas. But for sustained excellence of singing, it would go to Renata Tebaldi...
...their vocal specialties. If the award of Bing's dream were ever to take place, Soprano Milanov, a buxom, outgoing, hearty woman, would probably take a bite out of the apple. Soprano Callas would coolly accept it as her due and have it mounted in diamonds. Soprano Tebaldi, if she followed form, would place it on her dressing table amid her collection of toy animals. On the surface, at least, Renata Tebaldi is that rarest of phenomena in the posturing, wigged-and-powdered world of grand opera-a soprano without apparent temper, temperament or obtrusive...
Champagne & Coke. Tebaldi's eminence in the world of international opera is made the more striking by a shortage of competition. Only Callas, Milanov and Italy's great mezzo, Giulietta Simionato, rank with her in the grand tradition. Below the leaders there is a substantial reservoir of fine veteran singers, all of them capable of turning in consistently competent and often inspired performances. They include Victoria de los Angeles, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Antonietta Stella, Eleanor Steber, Sena Jurinac, Lisa Delia Casa, Irmgard Seefried, Leonie Rysanek, Risë Stevens. Backing them up is a promising and fast-rising crop...
...somehow, whatever the achievements of the oldtimers or the promise of the newcomers, opera fans invariably return to the bubbling controversy about just two singers-Tebaldi and "The Other One" (as Tebaldi partisans coldly dub Callas). Comparing them role by role, aria by aria is one of the more fascinating operatic pastimes. As far as The Other One is concerned, she considers all these comparisons idle. She and Tebaldi are simply not in the same league, Callas explained to a TIME reporter last week, because Tebaldi's repertory is so much smaller. Said Callas...