Customer Reviews

Renata Tebaldi, the Woman and the Diva: The Woman and the Diva (Biography Index Reprint Series)

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Now that the great Renata Tebaldi has passed away, one hopes that a really objective and definitive biography will emerge. This 1961 book by Victor Seroff is really pretty bad. That Tebaldi in her prime had a magnificent voice is well known and documented. That she was loved by her audiences is also well remembered. Because this book was written during the period of Tebaldi's vocal prime, there is no hint of the vocal decline that set in later on in the decade. Seroff obviously loved Tebaldi very much, and his adoration comes out in every page of his book. What damages this book, however, is the nasty and vicious remarks and references to Maria Callas. Maria Callas lived in a totally different operatic sphere than Tebaldi, and it is unfortunate that these two great divas were ever compared, since both were so different. The only thing Seroff accomplishes in this book is a projection of great malice. Meanwhile, while Tebaldi still has fans who purchase her recordings, Callas has become an even bigger legend in death than she was in life. But this is all besides the point. The bottom line is that Tebaldi was a great soprano who certainly deserves a better book than this one, or even the two others written much later, both of which are also little more than exercises in diva worship.