# Tebaldi Problem



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I love Tebaldi, but am always disappointed in her video clips. Some singers can survive poor sound and still be great ( Ponselle) but all that gorgeous metallic sheen to Tebaldi's voice is missing from all of her videos. Nilsson's videos from the same period are much better. It is a shame. She sounds much better on studio recordings.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I love Tebaldi, but am always disappointed in her video clips. Some singers can survive poor sound and still be great ( Ponselle) but all that gorgeous metallic sheen to Tebaldi's voice is missing from all of her videos. Nilsson's videos from the same period are much better. It is a shame. She sounds much better on studio recordings.


It's unfortunate that the videos are not representative of Tebaldi's voice; I think even her commercial recordings don't quite capture it, if I recollect comments made by some friends who were fans of hers and saw her at the Metropolitan in her day (all dead now, alas!). They told me that, in the house, the voice was much more beautiful, more velvety, floatier than on records.

I remember reading a critic saying that Tebaldi's voice on recordings had "something of the fishwife," that he didn't hear on stage at Covent Garden. In the house, the voice would float out to the audience, with a radiance that was lost in her records. That's why she was so loved by the Metropolitan fans of hers.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

The airwaves can be as cruel to a singer as a camera can be to some faces. Tebaldi was one of these singers.
Every time I would read a critique online about an afternoon Met production and how terrible the singer's voice sounded, (when I happened to be in-house at the time and glorifying in the beautiful sounds of said singer), I realized that the airwaves had not been kind to that particular voice. They would mention wobbles (I heard none at all in the house), and pushing their high notes (nay not so in-house), etc.
So Tebaldi will always be remembered for her early years singing live with her powerful spinto soprano sound which thrilled just about everyone and crowning her by Toscanini to be, "the voice of an angel."


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

She was supposed to have a lot of squillo to her sound and it was said she could be heard around the block. She could shout for a taxi in a baritonal sound.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

It was less than comfortable to have to be a singer standing directly next to Tebaldi as her sound could be deafening.
Sondra Radvanovsky's voice has also been known to exhibit that same discomfort to her peers as well. Very powerful singers.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I find nothing whatever problematic about these:











At one time this entire scene was on YouTube. I don't know what happened to it. I find it incomparable and treasurable, knowing that I will never again hear such singing in this music.


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## The Conte (May 31, 2015)

This afternoon I watched the VAI DVD of 'Great Stars of Opera' and Tebaldi delivers a superb Con onor muore from an early Bell Telephone Hour. Much better than her studio versions of the aria.

N.


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

I've posted it elsewhere on the forum, but I find this Un bel di to be exquisite. Her legato here is simply extraordinary, for example on "chiamera piccina mogliettina olezza di verbena". When Tebaldi is off, the voice can be a bit acidic, shrill, harsh etc. When she's on, though, she can't be touched by any other singer this side of the war for sheer beauty of tone.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

vivalagentenuova said:


> I've posted it elsewhere on the forum, but I find this Un bel di to be exquisite. Her legato here is simply extraordinary, for example on "chiamera piccina mogliettina olezza di verbena". When Tebaldi is off, the voice can be a bit acidic, shrill, harsh etc. When she's on, though, she can't be touched by any other singer this side of the war for sheer beauty of tone.


This has much better sound than normal for her videos. This is wonderful and she is so glamorous.


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