At last, a monument to Callas’s rival

Duncan McLennan says:

I disagree with the headline “Callas’s rival”. They had almost totally different repertoires and shared few major roles. Nevertheless Tebaldi was indeed the mistress of her repertoire and has been as shamefully neglected as her own predecessor, Magda Olivera. I visited Bussetto and Saht’ Agate a couple of years ago – looks like I’ll have to go back once the Tebaldi museum is operating.

I too heard her and Corelli in Andrea Chenier in 1966 (in Boston) and will never forget them in the final scene – No singers today let it rip as they did. A pity that they didn’t record it together but then del Monaco in Tebaldi’s Decca recording was a more than adequate substitute. A few nights later I heard her do a Boheme but I have no memories of anything about the production other than her singing. A few years later I read in her autobiography that Rudolfo was sung by a young tenor making his US debut – someone called Placido Domingo. I have absolutely no recollection of his performance. I also heard her and del Monaco do an Otello somewhere in Canada, and I won’t be forgetting that in a hurry. But I can’t recall whether it was in Montreal, Toronto or Ottawa.

And an opera-loving acquaintaince once shared a compartment on an Italian train with a dignified Italian lady. They conversed in her limited English and his bad Italian. Only after a couple of hours did he realise that she was Renata Tebaldi, then retired. She invited him to afternoon tea after the trip – it was the highlight of his life.