[8] Often considered among the great opera singers of the 20th century, she focused primarily on the verismo roles of the lyric and dramatic repertoires.

[19] She later transferred to Liceo musicale Rossini in Pesaro, taking lessons with Carmen Melis,[20] and on her suggestion with Giuseppe Pais.

She caused a stir when in 1946 she made her debut as Desdemona in Verdi's Otello alongside Francesco Merli as the title role in Trieste.

[1] Tebaldi made her La Scala debut that year at the concert marking the reopening of the theatre after World War II.

She sang the "Prayer" ("Dal tuo stellato soglio") from Rossini's biblical opera, Mosè in Egitto, and the soprano part in Verdi's Te Deum.

[citation needed] During the first decade of her career, Tebaldi's repertoire included roles by Rossini, Spontini, Handel, Mozart, Wagner, Gounod, Mascagni, Tchaikovsky and contemporary composers such as Refice, Casavola and Cilea.

[26] Tebaldi went on a concert tour with the La Scala ensemble in 1950, first to the Edinburgh Festival and then to London, where she made her debut as Desdemona in two performances of Otello at the Royal Opera House and in the Verdi Requiem, both conducted by Victor de Sabata.

However, her Lecouvreur was a practical move for the Met, as she was "the greatest box-office draw since Flagstad", according to Francis Robinson, then assistant manager of ticket sales.

One of the public's favourite Tebaldi roles was Minnie in Puccini's La fanciulla del West of which she sang only five performances in February and March 1970.

She developed a special rapport with the Met audiences and became known as "Miss Sold Out", as her name on the marquee was considered a performance that could hardly be matched.

[33] This incident began the rivalry, which reached a fever pitch in the mid-1950s, at times even engulfing the two women themselves, who were said by their more fanatical followers to have engaged in verbal barbs in each other's direction.

They shared a few roles, including Tosca in Puccini's opera and La Gioconda, which Tebaldi performed only late in her career.

[citation needed] The alleged rivalry aside, Callas made remarks appreciative of Tebaldi, and vice versa.

Francis Robinson of the Met wrote of an incident in which Tebaldi asked him to recommend a recording of La Gioconda to help her learn the role.

In 1978, Tebaldi spoke warmly of her late colleague and summarized this rivalry: This rivality [sic] was really building from the people of the newspapers and the fans.

[40] Tebaldi withdrew from performances in 1963 to restudy, made in part due to the emotional stress after eighteen years of singing.

Similarly, in her recorded Puccini roles at that time, one can't always count on the "floats" being easily produced or accurately pitched.

of Tebaldi have commented adversely on her seemingly incomplete technique; sometimes she took on strident, full-voiced top notes when tackling material above the high B-flat, and had occasional lapses in her pitch.

For most audiences however, there was the sheer and deep richness of Tebaldi's voice, her melting legato phrases, the deeply expressive but never maudlin quality of singing, the beauty of her floated pianissimo high notes, and her temperament when dwelling in moments of dramatic intensity.

Tebaldi herself mentioned that recording presented challenges for her, as she missed the stimulation of an audience, and her powerful voice would often cause sound engineers to insist that she turn away from the microphone at moments of climactic intensity.

[42] Tebaldi enjoyed a beloved relationship with her mother, who helped nurture her and was devoted to her career and well-being from an early age.

In one recital held in Manila with frequent partner Franco Corelli, Tebaldi's voice cracked in a Manon Lescaut aria; she then massaged her throat and genuflected to great applause from the audience.

She then moved out of her New York apartment, her home for many years during her stint at the Met, and returned to Italy, where she gave her final public appearance in a vocal recital in La Scala in May 1976.

[5] Tebaldi won the first Grammy Award Best Classical Performance - Vocal Soloist in 1959 for her album Operatic Recital.

[3] Their joint recording of Puccini's Turandot, conducted by Erich Leinsdorf and starring Birgit Nilsson as Turandot, Jussi Björling as Calaf, Tebaldi as Liù and Giorgio Tozzi as Timur with the Rome Opera Orchestra won the Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording in 1961.

[5] Proclamation of "Tebaldi day" was made in her honour on 11 December 1995 by Rudy Giuliani, then Mayor of New York City.

The items showcased followed her over the arc of time as she spread the world-class tradition of Italian lyrical art, all the way from the beginning of her career and throughout her artistic achievements.