Renata Tebaldi

There is a unique quality about Italian sopranos that makes their singing especially exciting. On Wednesday night Renata Tebaldi provided an excellent example of Italian singing at its best. Her voice is more sensuous and passionate than Elizabeth Schwarzkopf's, but lacks the cool perfection of the Viennese singer's style.

Tebaldi excells in the delicate spinning out of a phrase with a lovely, floating mezza-voce (half-voice). She loves to linger over each tone color much in the manner of the tenor Gigli. There is no doubt that she is a true diva; even her faults are majestic. Her voice is accustomed to soaring over an orchestra, and the bare accompaniment of a piano could not hide her steely, shrill quality at full voice, another common trait of Italian sopranos.

Her program was almost all Italian arias songs. The only composer of the German school represented was Mozart, and he by an Italian aria from The Marriage of Figaro. The most successful song was Bellini's Dolente Immagine, in which Tebaldi lingered over every vowel, almost caressing the notes with her voice. Another highlight was the magnificent Ave Maria from Verdi's Otello, which despite one shrill phrase was memorable for a ravishing final high note in mezza-voce. The audience went wild, and called Tebaldi back for three Puccini arias as encores. She didn't mind the tiring program, and sounded as warm-voiced, and also as occasionally shrill-voiced, at the end as she did in the beginning of the concert. She may not be the best of the Italian sopranos, but she is certainly the most Italian of the best sopranos.