Tebaldi made her American debut in 1950 as Aida at the San Francisco Opera; her Metropolitan Opera debut took place on 31 January 1955, as Desdemona opposite Mario Del Monaco's Otello.
For some twenty years, she made the Met the focus of her activities.
For the 1962/1963 season, Tebaldi convinced the director of the Met, Rudolf Bing, to stage a revival of Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur, an opera that Bing said he "detested."
Unfortunately, Tebaldi was not in top vocal form and cancelled performances, and, as Bing says in '1000 Nights at the Opera', "we had to do the wretched thing without her."
Her Lecouvreur, however, was a practical move for the Met, as Tebaldi was "the greatest box-office draw since Flagstad", according to Francis Robinson, the then assistant manager in charge of ticket sales.

One of the public's favorite Tebaldi roles is Minnie in Puccini's La fanciulla del West.
When she made her debut in the role at the Met, she was told that, as all Minnies do, she would have to enter in the 3rd act on horseback.
Tebaldi, who had a lifelong fear of horses, refused to go near the animal until she was sure he was safe.
At her first rehearsal with the animal, Tebaldi approached him, patted his mane, and said, "Well, Mr. Horse, I am Tebaldi.
You and I are going to be friends, eh?"
Tebaldi conquered her fear and the performances were a success.

She sang more at the Met and far less elsewhere.
She had developed a special rapport with the Met audiences and became known as "Miss Sold Out", as the Tebaldi name on the marquee was thought to be a performance that could hardly be matched.
She sang there some 270 times in La bohème,  Madama Butterfly, Tosca, Manon Lescaut, La fanciulla del West, Otello, La forza del destino, Simon Boccanegra, Falstaff, Andrea Chénier, Adriana Lecouvreur, La Gioconda and Violetta in a production of La traviata created specially for her.
Puccini's Tosca became her most performed role at the Met, playing it 45 times.
She was the Leonora in La forza del destino on the night that Leonard Warren suddenly died in a performance in 1960, and she was Adriana Lecouvreur on the night Placido Domingo made his Met debut in 1968.
She made her last appearance there as Desdemona in Otello on January 8, 1973, the same role in which she had made her Met debut eighteen years earlier and became one of her signature roles.

Her years in the Met, as well as in America, was that she became a well-loved figure by the American operatic public.
Tebaldi did not became a classical temperamental diva, but trusted her own artistic instinct.
Rudolf Bing, referring to Tebaldi's demanding side, once famously said of her, "she has dimples of iron".
Tebaldi made her American debut in 1950 as Aida at the San Francisco Opera; her Metropolitan Opera debut took place on 31 January 1955, as Desdemona opposite Mario Del Monaco's Otello. For some twenty years, she made the Met the focus of her activities. For the 1962/1963 season, Tebaldi convinced the director of the Met, Rudolf Bing, to stage a revival of Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur, an opera that Bing said he "detested." Unfortunately, Tebaldi was not in top vocal form and cancelled performances, and, as Bing says in '1000 Nights at the Opera', "we had to do the wretched thing without her." Her Lecouvreur, however, was a practical move for the Met, as Tebaldi was "the greatest box-office draw since Flagstad", according to Francis Robinson, the then assistant manager in charge of ticket sales.
One of the public's favorite Tebaldi roles is Minnie in Puccini's La fanciulla del West. When she made her debut in the role at the Met, she was told that, as all Minnies do, she would have to enter in the 3rd act on horseback. Tebaldi, who had a lifelong fear of horses, refused to go near the animal until she was sure he was safe. At her first rehearsal with the animal, Tebaldi approached him, patted his mane, and said, "Well, Mr. Horse, I am Tebaldi. You and I are going to be friends, eh?" Tebaldi conquered her fear and the performances were a success.
She sang more at the Met and far less elsewhere. She had developed a special rapport with the Met audiences and became known as "Miss Sold Out", as the Tebaldi name on the marquee was thought to be a performance that could hardly be matched. She sang there some 270 times in La bohème,  Madama Butterfly, Tosca, Manon Lescaut, La fanciulla del West, Otello, La forza del destino, Simon Boccanegra, Falstaff, Andrea Chénier, Adriana Lecouvreur, La Gioconda and Violetta in a production of La traviata created specially for her. Puccini's Tosca became her most performed role at the Met, playing it 45 times. She was the Leonora in La forza del destino on the night that Leonard Warren suddenly died in a performance in 1960, and she was Adriana Lecouvreur on the night Placido Domingo made his Met debut in 1968. She made her last appearance there as Desdemona in Otello on January 8, 1973, the same role in which she had made her Met debut eighteen years earlier and became one of her signature roles.
Her years in the Met, as well as in America, was that she became a well-loved figure by the American operatic public. Tebaldi did not became a classical temperamental diva, but trusted her own artistic instinct. Rudolf Bing, referring to Tebaldi's demanding side, once famously said of her, "she has dimples of iron".
Renata Tebaldi