The name Montserrat Caballe was heard even by those people who have nothing to do with opera. This greatest woman captivated an audience of millions with her lyric-coloratura soprano and excellent command of the bel canto technique.
It is unlikely that at least one of the new prima donnas is able to compete with Montserrat with the vastness of the repertoire and the number of concerts. The combination of lightness, smiling, femininity, kindness, confidence and calmness allow Caballe to be called the ideal of a woman ..
Opera diva Montserrat Caballe
Biography
The biography of Montserrat Caballé dates back to 1933. The date of birth of the opera diva is April 12.
Childhood, youth
A girl was born in poverty. The Montserrat Caballe family barely made ends meet. My father was engaged in the production of chemical fertilizers, and my mother worked as a housekeeper. At school, the girl was not loved for her aloofness and silence. In addition, due to poverty, Montserrat always came to class in the same dress. The children laughed at her. This greatly offended Caballe. On top of that, after the birth of his brother, Pope Montserrat became very ill.
Start of Montserrat Caballe
For the first time the girl heard opera at the age of seven. She remembered this experience for the rest of her life. Montserrat was so shocked by the death of Madame Butterfly that she wept all the way from home.
The girl decided to learn the aria by heart and did it. And in 1940, at Christmas, she performed it in front of the whole family.
Legendary opera singer
A panicky lack of money forced Montserrat to work at a handkerchief factory at a young age. Probably, Caballe would have continued to work in this area, but then the Bertrand family arrived in their city, which was looking for young talents. After listening, no one had any doubts that Montserrat is a real star of the opera.
Studies
The Bertrands helped the girl enter the Liceo Conservatory in Barcelona. Supervised the future diva Eugenia Kemmeni. It was she who managed to put the voice of a novice performer. Thanks to Eugenia, Montserrat maintained the strength and purity of her voice for 40 years. In addition, Kemenni revealed to Caballe all the secrets of vocal mastery. She taught her a special breathing technique that the singer always used in her concerts.
Montserrat in his youth
All expenses and financial concerns were taken over by the Bertrand spouses. In addition, they took care of the education of their younger brother Montserrat Carlos, found a good job for her father. All this, in their opinion, was to pay off when Caballe reached fame and performed in concerts at the Gren Teatro del Liceo, which they owned.
Career
In 1965, the biography of Montserrat Caballe was replenished with another bright moment. On 17 November she sang Mimi in La bohème by Giacomo Puccini. The action took place on the stage of the Basel Theater. This performance became crucial for the aspiring singer and opened her way to the world stage.
In 1965, the singer is already known outside her homeland, in particular, in Vienna, Milan, Lisbon.
However, world success came to the singer only in 1966. Montserrat was then offered to replace the famous Marilyn Horne in the Carnegie Hall opera.
Montserrat Caballe
After the performance, the audience applauded Caballe standing up. After the performance, the audience did not let the singer out of the hall for about half an hour.
The next fateful performance was participation in the opera "Norma" by Bellini. 4 years after the premiere of the performance, the team led by Moserrat Caballe came on tour to Moscow.
The singer performed on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in arias:
- "Othello";
- "Aida";
- "Troubadour";
- "Trivia";
- "Louise Miller".
Montserrat collaborated with stellar orchestras led by:
- James Livian;
- Herbert von Karajan;
- Georg Solti;
- Leonard Bernstein;
- Zubin Meta.
In duet Caballe performed with Freddie Mercury, Placido Domingo, Luciano Povorotti, Marilyn Horn and Elena Obraztsova.
The singer's repertoire includes 130 opera performances. Throughout her creative career, she has released more than a hundred records, was awarded the Grammy Award for the best performance of a vocal classical solo.
The opera diva also performed in a duet with Freddie Mercury. With the soloist of the Queen group, she recorded 2 songs for his album Barcelona.
Caballe and Freddie Mercury
In addition, Montserrat taught vocals and sang together with Nikolai Baskov. They performed a composition taken from The Phantom of the Opera, Ave Maria.
Opera diva with Nikolai Baskov
Personal life
The personal life of the singer is not as bright as her performance. She gave all her love to one single person and gave birth to two wonderful ones.
Wedding of Montserrat Caballe
Family
Montserrat met her future husband at the play Madama Butterfly. As it turned out, this performance was twice fatal for the opera diva. At the performance, the man clung to her lips so passionately that he could not tear himself away. The kiss lasted a very long time. Caballe immediately fell in love with a young man.
Montserrat Caballe with her husband
Barnabe later proposed to her. After a few years, Marty gave up his career. The man preferred the stage to his family. For about 50 years, the couple lived in perfect harmony.
Husband
The husband of the singer Marty Barnabe is a big and significant chapter in the biography of Montserrat Caballe. The singer became known to the general public in the middle of the 20th century. Marty is 5 years older than Caballe. The marriage took place on Mount Montserrat.
Husband of singer Marty Barnabe
The love and happiness of the couple was not prevented by either the glory of Caballe or her rapidly gaining, the cause of which was the accident. After that, the receptors responsible for lipid metabolism were switched off in the singer's brain. With a height of 161 cm, Caballe weighed 100 kg.
Children
In marriage, the couple had a daughter, Montserrat (in the photo she is very similar to her mother). The second child in the family was Bernabe. The biography of Montserrat Caballe and her daughters are somewhat similar, because the girl followed in the footsteps of her star mother and is already one of the best Spanish performers.
Montserrat Caballe with son and husband
News 2019
Unfortunately, Montserrat Caballe is no longer with us. She died on October 6 in the morning. The cause of death is still unknown. However, the journalists managed to find out that at the end of September the singer was hospitalized due to problems with the bladder.
The funeral of the opera diva is scheduled for Monday.
It is noteworthy that the singer several years ago underwent surgery to remove a cancerous tumor on the brain. The intervention went well. However, the singer had to re-learn how to walk, speak and sing.
She died on October 6 in a hospital in Barcelona at the age of 86. This is reported by El Pais. According to the source,
the artist, whose exact cause of death has not yet been reported, has been in the clinic since mid-September due to problems with her gallbladder. It is noted that the funeral of the famous singer will be held on Monday, October 8. Farewell to Caballe will be held on Sunday.
One of the first to express his condolences in connection with the death of the opera singer was the Prime Minister of Spain. According to him, the work of the artist will forever remain in the hearts of grateful listeners.
Photo report: Death of Montserrat Caballe
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“Sad news. The great ambassador of our country, internationally recognized Montserrat Caballe, has died. Her voice and tenderness will stay with us forever,” he tweeted.
The singer commented on the tragic news.
“The great singer will forever remain in our hearts. I regret not knowing her. I always listened to her very first performance, from her youth, appearance on stage. Such voices appear once in a hundred years, ”Gverdtsiteli noted, admitting that Caballe’s departure came as a surprise to her.
In turn, the artistic director and general director of the Mariinsky Theater expressed the opinion that Caballe's performances dated from the 60s, 70s and 80s of the last century set a very high bar, which not everyone was able to conquer.
“This is a golden page in the history of opera performance - in the late 60s, in the 70s, in the 80s of the twentieth century.
I think her performances at that time set the bar very high and she fit in with a very small elite group of performers who, within the "Italian" repertoire, set the standard of excellence. And she very timely recorded many parties - cornerstone, famous, most important. And with the help of these records, we will keep the memory of her,”
Montserrat Caballe was born in the capital of Catalonia on April 12, 1933. At the end of World War II, she studied at the conservatory at Barcelona's Liceo Theatre. In 1956 she entered the Basel Opera, where her repertoire included the roles of Tosca, Aida, Arabella and Salome. In the same years, Caballe began to actively perform in opera houses in European cities, including Milan, Lisbon and Vienna, while in the mid-60s she impressed Mexican listeners with the part of Manon from Massenet's opera of the same name while touring America.
Around the same time, really great fame came to Montserrat, and helped the Spaniard in this case: she was entrusted to replace the famous American opera singer (shortly before entering the stage she felt unwell) in the part of Lucrezia Borgia in Gaetano Donizetti's opera, and Caballe took advantage of the opportunity.
The crowded hall of the legendary Carnegie Hall, where the concert took place, was so dumbfounded by the talent of the European that they applauded her for about half an hour.
In 1965, she also made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera, performing the part of Margherita in Faust, while five years later she first performed at the famous La Scala theater in Milan, where she had no less success.
Caballe became widely known to fans of popular music in the late 80s, when she released her album “Barcelona” with Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury. The title song of that record in 1992 became the anthem of the Summer Olympic Games, held in the capital of Catalonia.
The opera singer has repeatedly given concerts in Russia, where she first performed back in 1974, performing the role of Norma in the opera of the same name. Caballe's last concert in Moscow took place in June of this year as part of a tour dedicated to the artist's anniversary.
One of the students of Caballe is considered to be the People's Artist of Russia Baskov. The opera singer was one of the first to notice the talent of the performer and subsequently repeatedly emphasized that Nikolai would have a bright future. Being amazed by Baskov's vocal abilities, the Spaniard also often performed together with the Russian on the same stage.
In 2015, Caballe was sentenced by a Spanish court to six months in prison for fraud - the singer was accused of tax evasion. According to Spanish law, the prison term of Montserrat, who admitted her own guilt and paid an impressive fine, was suspended, since the performer had committed this kind of fraud for the first time.
Name: Montserrat Caballe
Date of Birth: April 12, 1933
Zodiac sign: Aries
Age: 85 years old
Date of death: October 6, 2018
Place of Birth: Barcelona, Spain
Height: 161
Activity: Opera singer
tags: singer, opera
Family status: Married
Montserrat Caballe is the most famous Spanish opera singer, the greatest soprano of our time. Today her name is known even to those who are far from opera art. The widest range of voice, unsurpassed skill and bright temperament of the diva conquered the main stages of the world's leading theaters. Caballe is a laureate of various awards. He is the Ambassador of Peace, Goodwill Ambassador of UNESCO.
On April 12, 1933, a girl was born in Barcelona, who was given the name Montserrat Caballe. You can hardly pronounce her full name right away - Maria de Montserrat Viviana Concepción Caballe y Folk. Her parents gave her this name in honor of the sacred mountain of St. Mary of Montserrat.
In the future, she was destined to become a legendary opera singer, who was given the unofficial status of "Unsurpassed". The baby was born into a poor family of a chemical plant worker and a housekeeper. The mother of the future singer had to earn extra money where she had to. Montserrat from childhood was not indifferent to music, she listened to opera arias on records for hours. At the age of twelve, the girl entered the Lyceum of Barcelona, where she studied until her twenty-fourth birthday.
Since the family was tight with money, Montserrat helped her parents, working first in a weaving factory, then in a store and in a sewing workshop. Simultaneously with her studies and additional earnings, the girl took French and Italian lessons.
She studied for four years at the Liceo Conservatory in the class of Eugenia Kemmeni. Hungarian by nationality, ex-swimming champion, singer, Kemmeni came up with her own breathing system, the basis of which was the strengthening of the muscles of the torso and diaphragm. To this day, Montserrat uses the breathing exercises of his teacher and her chants.
Having earned the highest score in the final exams, the girl begins her professional career. The patronage of the famous philanthropist Beltran Mat helped the young girl to be in the troupe of the Basel Opera House. The debut of the aspiring singer was the performance of the main role in the opera La bohème by Giacomo Puccini.
The young artist began to be invited to the opera companies of other European cities: Milan, Vienna, Lisbon, native Barcelona. Montserrat masters the musical language of romantic, classical and baroque operas. But especially she gets parts from the works of Bellini and Donizetti, in which all the power and beauty of her voice is revealed.
By 1965, the Spanish singer was already known outside her homeland, but she gained worldwide popularity after performing the part of Lucrezia Borgia in the American opera Carnegie Hall, when Montserrat Caballe had to replace another star of the classical stage, Marilyn Horne.
After the performance, the audience did not let the main character of the evening leave the stage for half an hour. It is interesting that the solo career of the opera diva Maria Callas ended just this year. Thus, the predecessor, as it were, handed over the palm to Montserrat Caballe, as the best soprano on the planet.
The next peak in the singer's creative biography was her role in Bellini's opera Norma. This party appeared in the repertoire of Montserrat in the seventieth year. The premiere of the performance took place at the La Scala theater, and 4 years later the Italian team came on tour to Moscow. For the first time, Soviet listeners had the opportunity to enjoy the sound of the voice of a talented Spaniard, who shone so much in the aria "Norma". In addition, the diva performed on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in the leading parts of the operas Il trovatore, La traviata, Othello, Louise Miller, Aida.
During his career, Montserrat Caballe managed to collaborate with orchestras of such stellar conductors as Leonard Bernstein, Herbert von Karajan, Georg Solti, Zubin Mehta, James Levine. Her stage partners were the best tenors in the world: Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti. Diva was friendly with Elena Obraztsova and Marilyn Horne.
In addition to the main opera stages of the world, the Spaniard performed in the Great Hall of Columns of the Kremlin, the White House in the USA, in the UN Auditorium and even in the Hall of the People, which is located in the capital of China. Throughout her creative life, the legendary artist has sung in more than one hundred and twenty operas, hundreds of discs have been released with her participation. In the seventy-sixth year at the eighteenth Grammy ceremony, Caballe was awarded the award for the performance of the best classical vocal solo.
Montserrat Caballe is not only interested in opera art. She tries herself in other projects. For the first time, the opera diva performed with rock star Freddie Mercury, the leader of the Queen musical group, in the late eighties. Together they recorded compositions for the album "Barcelona".
The composition of the same name was performed by a famous duet at the 1992 Olympics, which took place in Catalonia. The hit broke all world chart records and became the anthem not only of the Olympic Games, but of the entire autonomous community of Spain.
At the end of the nineties, Montserrat Caballe recorded with the rock band Gotthard from Switzerland, and also gave a joint performance with the Italian pop singer Al Bano in Milan. In addition, the singer conducts experiments with electronic music: she records compositions with the author from Greece Vangelis, who is one of the founders of the new New Age style.
Among the fans of the opera singer, the ballad song "Hijodelaluna" ("Child of the Moon"), which was first performed by the Spanish group "Mecano", gained great popularity. Montserrat once singled out the Russian performer Nikolai Baskov. She noticed a great singer in the young tenor and offered him vocal lessons. Subsequently, Montserrat and Basque sang together a duet from E. L. Webber's musical The Phantom of the Opera and the famous opera Ave Maria.
At the age of thirty-one, Montserrat Caballe married a colleague, operatic baritone Bernabe Marty. They met when Marty was asked to perform instead of a sick performer in Madama Butterfly. There is a kissing scene in this opera. And then Marty kissed Montserrat so sensually and passionately that the woman almost fainted right on the stage. The singer no longer hoped to meet love and start a family.
After the wedding, together with her husband, they sang on the same stage more than once. However, a few years later, Marty decided to leave the stage. Some said that he was diagnosed with heart problems, others - that, being in the shadow of Caballe's popularity, he decided to devote himself to his family. Be that as it may, the loving spouses kept the marriage throughout their lives. Shortly after the wedding, Montserrat gave her beloved 2 children: son Bernabe and daughter Montserrat.
The girl decided to connect her life with singing, like her mom and dad. She is currently one of the best female vocalists in Spain. In the late nineties, mother and daughter performed in the joint program “Two Voices, One Heart”, which opened the next opera season in Europe.
Neither the popularity of Montserrat nor her excess weight, which began to increase rapidly after the accident, prevented the happiness of Caballe and Marty. She got into a car accident at a young age, after a head injury in her brain, the receptors that are responsible for lipid metabolism stopped functioning. In an interview, the opera diva explained it this way - when she drinks a glass of water, the body perceives it as if she had eaten a piece of cake.
With a height of 161 cm, Montserrat Caballe began to weigh more than 100 kg, her figure eventually began to look disproportionate, but the brilliant singer managed to hide this flaw with the help of a special cut of clothes. In addition, Montserrat tries to stick to specific diets, and from time to time she manages to lose extra pounds. A woman has not been drinking alcohol for a long time, for the most part in her diet - fruits, vegetables, herbs and grains.
The singer had difficulties and more serious than extra pounds. Back in 1992, at a concert in New York, she became unwell, she was hospitalized, and doctors diagnosed Montserrat with a disappointing diagnosis - cancer. They insisted on an urgent operation, but her friend Luciano Pavarotti recommended not to rush, but to contact the Swiss doctor who treated his daughter.
Ultimately, no surgery was needed. After some time, Caballe felt better, but decided to limit herself to solo concert activity, because she was very worried and worried on the opera stage, and the doctors recommended avoiding stress.
On the eve of the new year 2016, there was a scandal with the name of the singer Montserrat Caballe. The Spanish tax authorities accused the celebrity of hiding part of the taxes since 2010. For this, Caballe has for several years indicated the state of Andorra as the place of residence.
For tax evasion, the court sentenced the 82-year-old opera diva to prison for six months and a fine. However, this measure was applied conditionally in connection with Montserrat's disease. At the age of 80, the singer had a stroke, which greatly undermined her health.
By the beginning of last year, the conflict between the authorities and Caballe had already been settled.
This year, the opera singer celebrated her 85th birthday. Despite her age, she continues to give concerts. In June, the diva came to Moscow to perform at the Kremlin Palace. And the day before, she came to visit Ivan Urgant on the program "Evening Urgant", where she announced the upcoming performance.
The concert turned out to be a family one, together with her daughter Montserrat Marti and granddaughter Daniela appeared on the stage. Of the sixteen numbers, the opera singer performed only seven. The prima spent the entire concert in a wheelchair. Recently, Caballe has had problems with her legs, it is difficult for her to move around.
On October 6, 2018, information appeared about the death of the singer. She passed away in Barcelona, in a hospital where she was admitted due to problems with her bladder.
parties
- Part of Mimi in the opera La bohème by D. Puccini
- Part of Lucrezia Borgia in the opera of the same name by G. Donizetti
- Part of Norma in the opera of the same name by V. Bellini
- Pamina in The Magic Flute by W. Mozart
- Marina's part in "Boris Godunov" by M. Mussorgsky
- Tatyana's part in "Eugene Onegin" by P. Tchaikovsky
- Part of Manon in the opera of the same name by J. Massenet
- Part of Turandot in the opera of the same name by D. Puccini
- Part of Isolde in "Tristan and Isolde" by R. Wagner
- Part of Ariadne in "Ariadne auf Naxos" by R. Strauss
- Part of Salome in the opera of the same name by R. Strauss
- Part of Tosca in the opera of the same name by G. Puccini
Spanish opera singer (soprano) Montserrat Caballe (full name Maria de Montserrat Viviana Concepcion Caballe i Folch, cat. Maria de Montserrat Viviana Concepcion Caballe i Folch) was born in Barcelona on April 12, 1933.
The name of the future singer was given in honor of the local sacred mountain, where the monastery is located, named after Our Lady, which the Catalans call St. Mary of Montserrat.
In 1954, Montserrat Caballe graduated with honors from the Philharmonic Drama Lyceum of Barcelona. During her studies, she helped the family, which was in a difficult financial situation, and worked as a saleswoman, cutter, seamstress, while studying English and French.
Thanks to the patronage of the Beltran family of patrons, Mata Montserrat was able to pay for her studies at the Barcelona Lyceum, and then this family recommended that the singer go to Italy, paying her all the expenses.
In Italy, Montserrat Caballe was accepted into the Maggio Fiorentino theater (Florence).
In 1956 she became a soloist with the Basel Opera House (Switzerland).
In 1956-1965, Montserrat Caballé sang at opera houses in Milan, Vienna, Barcelona, and Lisbon. There she performed many roles in operas of different eras and styles.
In 1959, Caballe joined the troupe of the Bremen Opera House (FRG).
In 1962, the singer returned to Barcelona and made her debut in Arabella by Richard Strauss.
International recognition came to Montserrat Caballe in 1965 when she replaced American singer Marilyn Horne as Lucrezia Borgia at New York's Carnegie Hall. Her performance became a sensation in the world of opera. The audience applauded the unfamiliar singer for 20 minutes.
In the same 1965, Caballe performed at the Glyndebourne Festival and made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera, and since 1969 she has repeatedly sung at La Scala. Montserrat's voice was heard in London's Covent Garden, the Paris Grand Opera, and the Vienna State Opera.
In 1970, on the stage of La Scala, Montserrat Caballe sang one of her best parts Norma from the opera Norma by Vincenzo Bellini. In 1974, the singer toured with La Scala in Moscow with the opera Norma.
Montserrat has performed with such conductors as Leonard Bernstein, Herbert von Karajan, James Levine, Zubin Mehta, Georg Solti, as well as famous singers José Carreras, Plácido Domingo, Marilyn Horne, Alfredo Kraus and Luciano Pavarotti.
She sang in such historical places as the Great Pillar Hall of the Kremlin, the White House in Washington, the UN General Assembly Auditorium in New York, the Hall of the People in Beijing.
Montserrat Caballe virtuoso bel canto singing.
The singer's repertoire includes operas by Verdi, Donizetti, Rossini, Bellini, Tchaikovsky and others. She has performed about 125 opera parts and released more than 100 discs.
Montserrat Caballe was known not only as an opera singer. In 1988, she collaborated with rock musician Freddie Mercury, the leader of the band Queen, to record the album "Barcelona". The song Barcelona, created for the 1992 Olympic Games, eventually became the symbol of Barcelona and all of Catalonia.
Montserrat also collaborated with the Greek composer, electronic music artist Vangelis on two pieces of music (March with me and Like a dream), which were included in her album "Friends for life" (Friends for life), where she sang a duet with various famous pop stars including Johnny Holiday and Lisa Nilsson.
Caballe is one of the few opera singers whose pop recordings have hit the charts.
The singer is actively involved in charity work. She was an Honorary Ambassador for the United Nations and a Goodwill Ambassador for UNESCO. Established a fund to help sick children under the auspices of UNESCO.
Montserrat Caballe celebrated her 60th birthday with a concert in Paris, the entire proceeds from which went to the World AIDS Research Foundation.
In 2000, she took part in a Moscow charity concert as part of the international program "Stars of the World for Children", organized to help gifted disabled children. She gave charity concerts in support of the Dalai Lama, as well as José Carreras when he began to have health problems.
This great opera diva tried on about one and a half hundred images. She is considered the national pride of Spain, and the list of her titles and awards will take many pages. She has many orders and medals, and besides, she received the unofficial title of "singer with a golden heart" - thanks to her wide charitable activities in the world. Brilliant roles in the operas "Mary Stuart" and "Lucretia Borgia", "Tosca" and "Adriana Lecouvrere", "Salome" and many, many others... that while singing "it seems that she is all dissolved in the sound."
You probably already guessed that we are talking about the legendary Montserrat Caballe.
Maria de Montserrat Viviana Concepcion Caballe y Folk (this is her full name) was born on April 12, 1933, in a very poor family. At that time, her father worked at a chemical fertilizer plant, and Anna's mother worked wherever she could find work. The parents gave their daughter a name after the name of the local sacred mountain peak (there is a monastery bearing the name of Our Lady, called by the Catalans St. Mary of Montserrat). Hopeless poverty reigned in the family ... Classmates did not miss the opportunity to pry off the silent Montserrat, who each time came to class in the same dress.
But even then she had a dream…. From early childhood, Montserrat loved to listen to music on the radio. At the age of 7, her parents took the girl with them to the opera, and the death of Madame Butterfly struck her so much that Montserrat cried all the way home from the theater ... However, the matter did not end with tears. She learned the main character's aria from the record and at the same time made a firm decision to become an opera singer. And certainly rich and famous. At the age of 14, Montserrat was already taking singing lessons. And soon, along with this, she began to study commercial expertise ...
It became very difficult when my father fell ill, so much so that he was forced to leave work. Then the future singer followed the path of the famous opera heroine Carmen and got a job at a factory - to embroider handkerchiefs. What has she been doing since then? Cutter, saleswoman, seamstress. However, she did not give up her studies. Moreover, she studied English and French.
And it is still unknown how her life would have turned out if it were not for the Beltran Mata spouses - patrons who passionately wanted to help some young talent. The couple paid the aspiring singer an allowance of 1,000 pesetas so that she could continue her studies. Thanks to their efforts, Caballe got into the famous Barcelona Conservatory "Liceu".
The Hungarian teacher Eugenia Kemeny instantly assessed which diamond fell into her hands, and for four years carefully cut it. She taught her student a system of her breathing exercises, which she still does in the morning. Later, the Beltran family "sent" a talented girl to Italy, to the great baritone Raimundo Torres, paying all expenses.
The first Italian audition ended in failure. "Go home, get married, you have to take care of the children and the kitchen," the girl heard. But she was distinguished by perseverance, and soon ended up in the Florentine theater "Maggio Fiorentino". This was followed by a contract with the Basel Opera House, then - the Bremen Opera House.
Real international recognition came to the singer in 1965. The reason for this again was the case. Then, she was offered to replace the American singer Marilyn Horne in New York's Carnegie Hall, who performed the part of Lucrezia Borgia. The applause in the hall lasted more than 20 minutes ...
The next day, The New York Times published an article with the headline: "Callas + Tebaldi = Caballe." Thus, Caballe was ranked among the greats of this world. By a strange coincidence, the same year was the last in the theatrical career of Maria Callas. As if she transferred her powers to a new star.
The fate of Caballe has since been a foregone conclusion: any of her performances was marked by a brilliant success. The audience of the Grand Hall of Columns of the Kremlin and the White House of Washington, the Auditorium of the UN General Assembly in New York and the Hall of the People in Beijing received her with open arms. Montserrat has performed with famous conductors: Bernstein, Karajan, Levine, Meta, Solti, singers Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Marilyn Horne, Alfredo Kraus…
But let's get back to the starting point. A year before the success of the theater in the life of Montserrat, other significant changes took place. The marriage with the famous opera singer Bernabe Marti was the first and only - for life. By that time, the bride was already 31 years old ...
They met while working together on Madama Butterfly. During the performance, Bernabé, who was singing the Pinkerton aria, suddenly kissed Montserrat hard on the lips, and this kiss lasted so long that it caused a breakdown in the orchestra and confusion among the artists and spectators. It was true romantic love at first sight. At the same time - backed up by strict conservative ideas of a not quite young bride. “If you don’t think about marriage, we have nothing to do together,” she once said to her future husband. Bernaba had no choice but to propose to her. Moreover, in depth he shared similar views - after all, he himself came from the same patriarchal Spanish family.
Soon Bernabe and Montserrat got married. The wedding took place in a monastery on Mount Montserrat. Such was the idea of the pious Anna, the mother of the singer. It just started to rain, and the old Volkswagen, in which the girl climbed the mountain with her mother, got stuck in the roadside mud, and the engine stalled. Desperate to dry it with hairspray, Montserrat rushed out to vote on the road. As a result, she arrived at the wedding in a cattle truck, soaking wet, and very late.
Nevertheless, the "unsuccessful" beginning continued with a happy and long life together. Children named after their parents were born - the son of Bernabe Marty and the daughter - Montserrat Marty (who followed in the footsteps of her mother and is now also a famous opera singer). And the fact that Bernabe's career gradually faded away did not overshadow, as is often the case, the relationship of the spouses. And Caballe has always been an exemplary model of the wife and mother of the family.
“I am happy that fate allowed me to make a career. But first of all, I am proud that I created a wonderful family, and I have two wonderful children,” Caballe once said. “I have always tried to make sure that my children do not suffer because their mother is a celebrity.After all, music is only my job.And besides music, of course, I have other interests and responsibilities.And this is, first of all, my family.I hope "that for my family and my friends I'm still more needed than for art. And when the moment comes that I won't sing anymore, I don't want to be pitied. I'll still be happy."
These words are confirmed by an incident that occurred several years ago. When the singer's son fell ill, she canceled concerts in one of the countries and flew to Spain. The theater sued Caballe, but she won the case. “Apparently, even the judges understand that there can be nothing more important than a family in life,” the singer summed up then.
In 1974, she performed one of her most brilliant parts - the part of Norma. In the same year, Moscow also heard Caballe-Norma - the theater "La Scala" came to the capital on tour. She had been to Moscow before… In 1959, Montserrat came with her mother on family matters. Then they tried to find Uncle Montserrat, like many Spaniards, who emigrated to the Soviet Union in the 30s, fleeing from the dictator Franco. By the way, the relatives of the great singer still live in St. Petersburg, which allows her to talk about blood ties that connect her with Russia.
In the 80s, she began to expand the "genre" area of her work ... Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of the Queen group, was an ardent admirer of her talent. When they met, they sang to the piano all night. Mercury wrote the play "Exercises in Free Love" in honor of her, which she subsequently performed for the first time in London, in the presence of the singer himself. But the top of their joint work was, of course, the famous hit "Barcelona". Later, the album "Friends for Life" will include her duets with Vangelis, Johnny Holiday, Lisa Nilsson ... She has hit various pop charts more than once. But the main thing, of course, has always been opera. Her repertoire includes over 125 opera parts. Caballé recorded 40 complete operas in total.
However, the singer has never been closed only at work. She enjoys growing flowers and painting. And if he leaves for a long time, he always takes albums with him and reproduces on paper the views from the windows of hotels. Her paintings are always dominated by green. The singer herself jokingly calls it "the green period of Caballe."
She also loves to swim, drive a car and cook delicious food. The singer never hid that she loves to eat delicious food. In cooking, Caballe likes to use his mother's recipes. On them, she bakes pies with strawberries and prepares a family signature paella. “I love having breakfast with the whole family,” Caballe said in one of her interviews. “It doesn’t matter when someone wakes up. We will still have breakfast together. This is the law.”
As for excess weight ... Caballe never experienced any feelings about him. And moreover, she said that when working as an opera singer, "it is important to keep the diaphragm, and for this you need volumes. In a thin body, there is simply nowhere to place all this."
The iron will of Montserrat has always won. After the car accident, the singer courageously performed at concert venues, chained in plaster, and costume designers dressed her in wide clothes with huge sleeves ...
Among the factors that give the singer support is her faith. Caballe is a devout Catholic.
She has always helped people. Giving many charity concerts, acting as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, traveling with her daughter to many "hot spots" of the planet. And, of course, supporting young artists.
Caballe helped the beginning José Carreras, taking him on stage with her in the operas Nabucco and Lucrezia Borgia. It was after the performance of parts in these operas that success came to him. When Jose, much later, fell ill with leukemia, Montserrat helped him in every possible way to fight the disease and organized a concert for him in the main square of Barcelona. And the fact that the singer was able to return to the stage is largely her merit.
The Russian media quite often mention the Caballe-Basque creative union. Their acquaintance took place in St. Petersburg in 2000. Since then, Nikolai Baskov has been ranked among the students of the great Caballe. And she, according to rumors, deals with him at home for free. From time to time they give joint concerts in our country. Not so long ago, together with the singer's daughter Monsita (abbreviated version of the name) and Ukrainian baritone Oleg Romashin, the winner of the competition organized by Caballe in Barcelona, they made a tour along the route "Krasnoyarsk - Novosibirsk - Tyumen - Yekaterinburg - Moscow - St. Petersburg". The Basques suggested that the singer travel by rail - in special wagons. This allowed Caballe to get an unforgettable experience. “I was on the train and thought what a big country Russia is,” she said.
Do not think that Montserrat Caballe is a kind of angel in the flesh. Her surroundings are well acquainted with the singer's unbridled fits of anger. The opera diva assumes threatening poses, and her eyes begin to sparkle like lightning.
One of the main catalysts for Caballe's anger is unprofessionalism on one's part. However, seeing the real fright on their faces, the singer may apologize.
The singer's anger is offset by humor. Once, during her performance at the theater on the Champs Elysees, she suddenly fell silent, after which she went to the forefront, leaned over to one of the spectators and asked: "Is everything all right? Can we continue?" Then she explained to everyone else: "Sorry, but here one monsieur in the front row recorded me on a tape recorder, but he ran out of tape while he was changing it, I decided to stop for a minute."
That's how different she is. The woman who says, "You don't have to give up anything in life. Life is the best university in the world."
