I see so much love and appreciation on Facebook,etc. for dear Renata Tebaldi, I thought I would tell you a few PERSONAL experiences with her:
I am aware I have posted some of these previously, but I know some of you have not seen them;those who have seen them, you can see them again...
1. After she signed every program (despite the cold), she got into the limo, and as it drove her up 40th St.,she yelled "Ciao" out the window, with us "Tebaldiani" running after her. Remember, this is where little Charlie forgot there was a fire plug,and almost became the last castrato.
2. At one of huge affairs,as she cut the cake, she waved the knife and said, "Questo e il bacio di Tosca." This might have been the same party where she said to me, "Dammi il braccio,mio piccino,and since I knew Boheme even at a tender age, I responded,"Obbedisco,signorAAA" and someone snapped the photo of us, a treasure for me. You have seen it on Facebook. She also sang at one of the affairs,accompanied by my "maestro" Armen Boyajian, and we sat on the floor a few feet away....so you see why the rest of my life has been an anti-climax....well,sort of.
3. Before she left on the ill-fated Andfea Doria, we saw her off, and then my friends gave me the London Forza, a gift to me on my 20th birthday.(She almost came to my surprise party.)
4.The Met went to Philadelphia on Tuesdays, and we saw her off on the train. She stood in the open last car,and when the baggage handler opened the door, she said, "Spoletta,chiudi."
5. After dad died,I brought ma to her first opera, Traviata. Tebaldi held her hand backstage, and every time we met,she always asked, "Carlos, com'e la madre?" (The reason for the "Carlos" rather than "Carlo" is because I spoke Spanish at that time and not Italian, and her English was limited.)
7. At the Carnegie Bell Telephone Hr. around 1957 she looked down at us kiddies sitting in the first row, winked at us and then out came "Inflammatus" like a jet plane.
O sante memorie.....Her performances were EVENTS and never could any of us forget what she meant to us in our misspent youth. Non possiamo scordare questa donna chi ha dato tanto a tutti noi e alla arte vocale.(opera Italian.....That is how I learned it....non ridere!!!! Carlos <
