Her connection with that work began early with her teacher, Giuseppina Baldassare-Tedeschi, a contemporary of the composer, and an important exponent of the title role in the previous generation.

She soon realized great success all over the world, especially for her performances in Carmen, L'amico Fritz and Madama Butterfly in Italy, France and England.

[5] She and her colleagues were showcased in selections from operas by Giacomo Puccini including: Tosca, La bohème, Turandot, Manon Lescaut and Madama Butterfly.

Throughout her career, she continued to perform widely in recital, concert, and opera, she was heard throughout the country; she participated in benefits, entertained the troops, had her own weekly radio show, was a guest on other broadcasts and telecasts, and recorded frequently.

Joining numerous colleagues who had sung with the company, Albanese sang the duet from Madama Butterfly with tenor Frederick Jagel, accompanied by the San Francisco Opera Orchestra conducted by longtime director Kurt Herbert Adler.

Her voice had a distinctive character which the Italians call a lirico spinto, marked by its quick vibrato, incisive diction, intensity of attack and unwavering emotional impact.

Despite her talent and numerous performances, she was not the best known of her contemporaries, overshadowed in her day by Zinka Milanov, Maria Callas, Victoria de los Ángeles and Renata Tebaldi.

Alfredo Vecchio, a frequent member of the audience at her performances, gave the following tribute to the career of Albanese at the Columbus Club, Park Avenue, New York City, in 1986: Like all great artists, Licia's specific ingenuity as a singer, the originality of her art, lay in the fact that technique for this artist at least was always a means to an end and never an end in itself: for the salient features of all great art is the ability to connect technique to the emotions.

"[9] Albanese appeared in the very first live telecast from the Metropolitan Opera, Verdi's Otello, opposite Ramón Vinay and Leonard Warren, conducted by Fritz Busch.

One of the first generation of opera singers to appear widely in recordings and on the radio, her performances, now reappearing on both compact disc and video, have provided a lasting testament to her ability.

The following season Toscanini cast her again, this time as Violetta in a now-classic performance of La traviata, broadcast nationally on NBC Radio on December 1 and 8, 1946.

Among her recordings are Bizet's Carmen under the direction of Fritz Reiner, with Risë Stevens and Jan Peerce (1951) and Puccini's Manon Lescaut with Jussi Björling and Robert Merrill, conducted by Jonel Perlea (1954).

For a 1951 recording conducted by Leopold Stokowski of Tatiana's Letter Scene from Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, a part she had never sung before, she learnt Russian especially for the occasion.

Soprano Teresa Stratas was quoted as crediting a Metropolitan Opera performance of La traviata starring Albanese at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens, with motivating her toward a singing career.