Renata Tebaldi (1922-2004) was an extraodinary Italian “soprano” singer. She completed her musical education at the conservatories of Parma and Pesaro, with masters like Carmen Melis, Giuseppe Pais, Brancucci y Campogalliani. Her debut came with the interpretation of Elena´s character in “Mefistole” from Opera compositor Arrigo Boito, in the year 1944.
2 years later, in 1946, she was the only young artist selected by Arturo Toscanini, prestigious orchestra director, to sing the “Cuatro Piezas Sacras” from Verdi together with a group of experienced singers in the re-opening. It was precisely this director who commented, during her trials, regarding the important position she occupied next to the organ, he referred to her as “La voce d´angelo” (the voice of an angel). It was this that boosted her career as one of the greatest Singers of her Era together with the exceptional soprano: Maria Callas.
Her international carreer started with a tour, together with La Scala, acting at the Edimburg Festival and after that in London, where she sang at Covent Garden interpreting the character of “Desdémona” in two diferent representations, “Otello” and “Réquiem de Verdi”, under the direction of Victor de Sabata.
After this, she occupied herself singing at New York´s Metropolitan, as well as in the Chicago and San Francisco Opera´s in the US. She also sang in Germany, Paris, Viena, Barcelona, Japan and South America.
By the end of her career, Renata Tebaldi had sung more or less 1262 times of which 1084 were in operas and 214 were concerts. Tebaldi retired on the 8th of January 1973, singing at the New York Metropolitan Desdémonas script like she did on the day of her debut 18 years back.
For the next 3 years she limited herself to singing at concerts, usually in the company of Franco Corelli. She sang for last time at “La Scala” in 1976 at the age of 54.
She spent the last few years of her life mostly in Milan and sadly died on the 19th of December, with 82 years in her house, in San Marino. Her corpse rests within her family’s chapel in the Mattaleto cementary in Langhirano, province of Parma.
There is a museum dedicated to the memory of Tebaldi in the castle of Torrechiara, near to Parma, in which are exposed many of her belongings among which are more than 50 dressess that she used to perform, some of which were custom made exclusively for her by designers like Giorgio de Chirico and Christian Dior.