Montserrat Caballe is a famous Spanish opera singer. She was given the name of the greatest soprano of our time. It would not be superfluous to say that even those who are far from music have heard about the opera singer.
The widest range of voice, genuine skill and incendiary temperament cannot leave any listener indifferent.
Caballe is a laureate of prestigious awards. In addition, she has served as an Ambassador for Peace and a Goodwill Ambassador for UNESCO.
Childhood and youth of Montserrat Caballe
Maria de Montserrat Viviana Concepción Caballé y Folk was born back in 1933 in Barcelona.
Dad and mom named their daughter in honor of the mountain of the sacred Mary of Montserrat.
The girl was born into a very poor family. Dad was a worker at a chemical plant, and mom was unemployed, so she was engaged in housework and raising her children.
From time to time, her mother worked as a laborer. In childhood, Caballe was not indifferent to music. She could listen to the records that were in their house for hours.
Montserrat Caballe's love for opera since childhood
Since childhood, Montserrat has given preference to opera, which surprised her parents very much. At the age of 12, the girl entered one of the lyceums in Barcelona, where she studied until the age of 24.
Since the Caballe family was tight with money, the girl had to earn extra money to help her father and mother at least a little. At first, the girl worked in a weaving factory, and then in a sewing workshop.
In parallel with her studies and work, Montserrat took private lessons in Italian and French. Caballe was a diligent student. In one of her interviews, the woman said that today's youth are very lazy. They want to have money, but they don't want to work, they want to be educated, but they don't want to study well.
Montserrat cited herself as an example. Young Caballe provided for herself and her family, and also studied and educated herself.
Montserrat studied for 4 years at the Liceo in the class of Eugenia Kemmeni. Kemmeni is Hungarian by nationality.
In the past, the girl became a swimming champion. Kemmeny developed her own breathing technique, which was based on exercises to strengthen the muscles of the torso and diaphragm.
Until the end of his life, Montserrat will remember Kemmeni with warm words, and apply the basics of her methodology.
The creative path of Montserrat Caballe
At the final exams, the young Montserrat Caballe received the highest score.
From that moment on, she embarked on a professional career as an opera singer.
The financial support of the philanthropist Beltrán Mata helped the girl become part of the Basel Opera House. Soon she was able to perform the main part of the opera La bohème by Giacomo Puccini.
The previously unknown opera singer began to be invited to opera companies in other European cities: Milan, Vienna, Lisbon, native Barcelona.
Montserrat handles ballads, lyrical and classical music with ease. One of her trump cards is the parties from the works of Bellini and Donizetti.
The works of Bellini and Donizetti reveal all the beauty and power of Caballe's voice.
In the mid-60s, the singer was known far beyond the borders of her native country.
The party of Lucrezia Borgia changed the fate of Montserrat Caballe
However, real success came to Caballe after she sang the role of Lucrezia Borgia in the American opera Carnegie Hall. Then Montserrat Caballe was forced to replace another star of the classical scene, Marilyn Horne.
Caballe's performance was so successful that the admiring audience did not want to let the girl off the stage. They demanded more, enthusiastically shouting "an encore".
It is noteworthy that it was then that Marilyn Horne ended her solo career. She, as it were, handed over the palm to Caballe.
She later sang in Bellini's Norma. And this only doubled the popularity of the opera singer.
The presented party appeared in Caballe's repertoire at the end of 1970. The premiere took place at the La Scala Theatre.
In 1974, the theater troupe visited Leningrad with their performance. Soviet admirers of the opera appreciated the efforts of Caballe, who so shone in the aria Norma.
In addition, the Spaniard shone at the Metropolitan Opera in the leading parts of the operas Il trovatore, La Traviata, Othello, Louise Miller, Aida.
Caballe conquered not only the leading opera stages of the world, she had the honor to perform in the Great Hall of Columns of the Kremlin, the White House of the United States of America, in the UN Auditorium and even in the Hall of the People, which is located in the capital of the People's Republic of China.
Biographers of the artist noted that Caballe sang in more than 100 operas. The Spaniard managed to release hundreds of records with her divine voice.
Grammy Award
In the mid-70s, at the 18th Grammy ceremony, Caballe was awarded the prestigious award for the brilliant performance of the best classical vocal solo.
Montserrat Caballe is a versatile personality, and, of course, she is fascinated not only by opera. She constantly tried herself in other, "risky" projects.
For example, in the late 80s, Caballe performed on the same stage with the legendary Freddie Mercury. The performers recorded joint musical compositions for the Barcelona album.
The duo presented a joint musical composition at the 1992 Olympic Games, which at the time of 1992 were held in Catalonia. The song became the anthem of the Olympics and of Catalonia itself.
In the late 90s, the Spanish singer entered into a creative collaboration with Gotthard from Switzerland. In addition, in the same years, the singer was seen on the same stage with Al Bano in Milan.
Such experiments appealed to admirers of Caballe's work.
The musical composition "Hijodelaluna" ("Child of the Moon") enjoyed great popularity in Caballe's repertoire. For the first time this composition was performed by a musical group from Spain Mecano.
At one time, the Spanish singer noticed the talent of the Russian singer Nikolai Baskov. She became the patroness of the young man, and even offered him vocal lessons.
Such an alliance resulted in the fact that the Spanish singer and the Basques performed a duet in E. L. Webber's musical The Phantom of the Opera and the famous opera Ave Maria.
Personal life of Montserrat Caballe
By modern standards, Montserrat married late. This event happened when the girl was 31 years old. The chosen one of the diva was Bernabe Marty.
Young people met when Marty replaced a sick singer in the play Madama Butterfly.
There is an intimate scene in the opera. Marty kissed Montserrat so sensually and passionately that Caballe almost lost her mind.
Montserrat admits that she did not even hope to meet her husband and her true love, since the woman spent most of her time on rehearsals and on stage.
After the marriage, Marty and Montserrat often performed on the same stage.
Departure of Bernabe Marty from the stage
After some time, the woman's husband announced that he wanted to leave the stage. He spoke about the fact that he began to have serious heart problems that prevented him from performing.
However, ill-wishers insisted that he was in the shadow of his wife, so he decided to "honestly surrender." But, one way or another, the spouses were able to maintain their love throughout their lives.
The couple raised a son and a daughter.
Caballe's daughter decided to connect her life with creativity. At the moment she is one of the most popular singers in Spain.
At the end of the 90s, opera lovers were able to see their daughter and mother in the program “Two Voices, One Heart”.
Caballe herself called herself a happy woman. Nothing interfered with her personal happiness - neither popularity nor significant overweight.
The reason for the excess weight of Montserrat Caballe
In her youth, the woman was in a serious car accident, as a result of which she received head injuries.
In the brain, the receptors responsible for lipid metabolism were switched off. Thus, Montserrat began to rapidly gain weight.
Caballe was small in stature, but the weight of the singer was more than 100 kilograms. The woman managed to beautifully hide the lack of a figure - the best designers from all over the world worked for her.
Despite being overweight, Caballe talked about leading a healthy lifestyle, in her diet there are a lot of vegetables, fruits, cereals and nuts.
It is noteworthy that the woman was indifferent to alcohol, sweet and fatty foods.
But the singer had problems much more serious than banal overweight.
In 1992, at his speech in New York, Caballe was seriously diagnosed with cancer. The doctors insisted on urgent surgical intervention, but Luciano Pavarotti advised not to rush, but to consult a doctor who had once helped his daughter.
As a result, the singer did not need an operation, but she began to lead a more moderate lifestyle, as doctors advised her to avoid stress.
Montserrat Caballe recent years
In 2018, the opera diva turned 85 years old. But despite her age, she continues to shine on the big stage.
In the summer of 2018, Caballe arrived in Moscow to give a concert for admirers of her work. On the eve of the performance, she became a guest of the Evening Urgant program.
Death of Montserrat Caballe
On October 6, 2018, relatives of Montserrat Caballe announced that the opera diva had died. The singer died in Barcelona, in the hospital where she was hospitalized due to problems with the bladder
