Fedora Barbieri, who has died aged 82, was one of the most celebrated Italian mezzo-sopranos of the postwar era. In addition to possessing a voice of formidable proportions, given her small stature, she was a consummate actor, as happy in comic as in tragic parts. From her 1942 debut, as Meg Page in Verdi's Falstaff, she appeared regularly at La Scala, Milan, until 1969.
She was just as popular at the New York Met, where she gave 95 performances of 11 roles, following her first appearance in 1950, as Princess Eboli in Verdi's Don Carlos. She performed the same role at Covent Garden in 1958, at the first night of the legendary Visconti staging. During the same season, she also sang an imposing Amneris, and returned in 1964 as Mistress Quickly in Verdi's Falstaff.
Barbieri had already made her debut in that role with La Scala, on its 1950 London visit. It was one of her most noted parts, fully exploiting her gifts for comedy. She also sang in a concert of Verdi's Requiem, under the arresting baton of Victor De Sabata. She repeated the same part with De Sabata at that year's Edinburgh festival, and at Salzburg in 1952. There have been few better mezzo soloists, stylistically speaking, in the work since her time.
Barbieri was born in Trieste, and studied there and in Florence, where she made her stage debut, as Fidalma in Cimarosa's Il Matrimonio Segreto, in 1940. At the Maggio musicale festival in Florence the following year, she sang in Monteverdi. Once established at La Scala, her career took wing on most of opera's international stages. A notable souvenir of her work, caught live on stage, is her Preziosilla in Verdi's La Forza Del Destino, under Dimitri Mitropoulos at the Maggio musicale in 1953.
She was also active in the studio, twice recording Azucena (Il Trovatore), another of her favourite parts, with Callas as her Leonora. On record, she creates a properly tense impression through her imaginative use of words. With the same soprano as Aida, Barbieri's Amneris is a formidable antagonist.
Ulrica (Un ballo in maschera) was another Verdi part that Barbieri committed to disc, and she is an imposing mezzo soloist in Toscanini's 1951 account of Verdi's Requiem. Elsewhere, she recorded roles as diverse as Gluck's Orfeo, Rossini's Rosina, Donizetti's Leonora (La Favorita) and the Old Princess in Puccini's Suor Angelica, all disclosing her innate artistry.
Although officially retired, she appeared on occasion as Mamma Lucia in Mascgani's Cavalleria Rusticana, most notably in Zeffirelli's 1982 film of the opera. In November 2000, to mark the 60th anniversary of her debut, she sang the role once more in Florence. Her voice had both quality and power, with a strong chest register used to good effect. She was a quick-witted interpreter, using her eyes and body to create character.
She was married in 1943 to Luigi Barzoletti, who predeceased her. They had two sons.
Fedora Barbieri, mezzo-soprano, born June 4 1920; died March 4 2003