Opera singer Montserrat Caballe has died. Photo gallery. ✨ Montserrat Caballe: “You don’t have to give up anything in life. Life is the best university in the world” Received its name in honor of the sacred mountain

This great one opera diva I tried on about one and a half hundred images. She is considered national pride Spain, and the list of its titles and awards will take many pages. She has many orders and medals, and in addition she received the unspoken title of “singer with a heart of gold” - thanks to her wide charitable activities in the world. Brilliant roles in the operas “Mary Stuart” and “Lucretia Borgia”, “Tosca” and “Adriana Lecouvreur”, “Salome” and many, many others... “Her very voice already contains the promise of paradise,” they say music critics, adding that when she sings, “she seems to be completely lost in the sound.”

You probably already guessed that we're talking about about the legendary Montserrat Caballe.

Maria de Montserrat Viviana Concepcion Caballe y Folk (that's her full name) was born on April 12, 1933, in a very poor family. At that time, my father worked at a chemical fertilizer company, and my mother Anna worked wherever she could find work. The parents named their daughter after the local sacred mountain peak (there is a monastery named after Our Lady, called Saint Mary of Montserrat by the Catalans). Hopeless poverty reigned in the family... Classmates did not miss the opportunity to pick on the silent Montserrat, who came to class in the same dress every time.

But even then she had a dream... From the early childhood Montserrat loved listening 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 an aria main character on 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 really difficult when my father got sick, 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 in a factory embroidering handkerchiefs. She has worked in all sorts of ways since then! A cutter, a saleswoman, a seamstress. However, she did not give up her studies. Moreover, I studied English and French.

And it is still unknown how her life would have turned out if not for the Beltran Mata spouses - philanthropists who passionately wanted to help some young talent. The couple paid the aspiring singer an allowance of 1,000 pesetas so that she would have the opportunity to continue her studies. Thanks to their efforts, Caballe got into the famous Barcelona Conservatory "Liceo".

Hungarian teacher Eugenia Kemeny immediately appreciated the diamond that fell into her hands, and for four years she carefully cut it. She taught her student the system of her breathing exercises which she still does in the morning. Later, the Beltran family “sent” the 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 need to take care of the children and the kitchen,” the girl heard. But she was persistent, and soon found herself in the Florentine theater "Maggio Fiorentino". This was followed by a contract with the Basel Opera House, then the Bremen Opera House.

The present international recognition came to the singer in 1965. This was again due to chance. Then, she was offered to replace the American singer Marilyn Horne in New York's Carnegie Hall, who performed the role of Lucretia Borgia. The ovation in the hall lasted more than 20 minutes...

The next day, The New York Times published a story with the headline: “Callas + Tebaldi = Caballe.” Thus, Caballe was ranked among the greats of this world. By a strange coincidence, this same year was the last in theater career Maria Callas. It was as if she had transferred her powers to a new star.

From then on, Caballe's fate was sealed: any of her performances was marked by resounding success. The public of the Great Hall of Columns in the Kremlin and the White House in Washington, the Auditorium of the UN General Assembly in New York and the Hall of the People in Beijing received her with open arms. Montseratt performed with famous conductors: Bernstein, Karajan, Levine, Mehta, Salty, singers Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Marilyn Horne, Alfredo Kraus...

But let's return there, to the starting point. A year before the success of the theater, other significant changes occurred in the life of Montserrat. Marriage to a famous opera singer Bernabe Marti became 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, Bernabe, who was performing a Pinkerton aria, unexpectedly kissed Montserrat deeply on the lips, and this kiss lasted so long that it caused disruption in the orchestra and confusion among the artists and spectators. It was real romantic love at first sight. At the same time - reinforced by the strict conservative ideas of the no longer quite young bride. “If you don’t think about marriage, we have nothing to do together,” she once told her future husband. Bernabe had no choice but to propose to her. Moreover, deep down 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. This was the idea of ​​devout Anna, the singer’s mother. It just started to rain, and the old Volkswagen, in which the girl was climbing the mountain with her mother, got stuck in the roadside mud, and the engine stalled. Desperate to dry it with hairspray, Montserrat ran out onto the road to vote. As a result, she arrived at the wedding on a cattle truck, soaking wet, and very late.

However, the “unsuccessful” beginning continued with a happy and long life. life together. Children were born named after their parents - son Bernabe Marti and daughter Montserrat Marti (who followed in her mother's footsteps and is now also a famous opera singer). And the fact that Bernabe’s career gradually faded away did not, as often happens, darken the relationship between the spouses. And Caballe has always been approximate sample spouses and mothers 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, in the end, music is just my job. And, besides music, I, of course, have other interests and responsibilities. And this, first of all, is my family. I hope "that I am still more needed for my family and my friends than for art. And when the moment comes that I will no longer sing, I don’t want to be pitied. I will 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 family in life,” the singer summed up then.

In 1974, she performed one of her most brilliant roles - the part of Norma. In the same year, Moscow also heard Caballe-Norma - the La Scala theater 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 Soviet Union in the 1930s, fleeing dictator Franco. By the way, relatives great singer to this day they live in St. Petersburg, which allows her to talk about the blood ties that connect her with Russia.

In the 80s, she began to somewhat 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 a play in honor of her, “Exercises in Free Love,” which she subsequently performed for the first time in London, in the presence of the singer himself. But the pinnacle of their joint creativity was, of course, famous hit"Barcelona". Later, the album “Friends for Life” will include her duets with Vangelis, Johnny Holiday, Lisa Nilsson... She has repeatedly entered various pop charts. But the main thing, of course, has always been opera. Her repertoire includes over 125 opera roles. In total, Caballe recorded 40 complete operas.

However, the singer was never confined to work only. 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 hotel windows. In her paintings always prevails green color. The singer herself jokingly calls this the “green period of Caballe.”

She also loves to swim, drive and cook delicious food. The singer has never hidden the fact that she loves to eat delicious food. When cooking, Caballe likes to use her mother's recipes. She uses them to bake strawberry pies and prepare her family’s signature paella. “I like to have breakfast with the whole family,” Caballe said in one of her interviews. “It doesn’t matter when anyone wakes up. We will still have breakfast together. This is the law.”

As for excess weight... Caballe never experienced any worries about it. And moreover, she said that when working as an opera singer, “it is important to hold the diaphragm, and for this you need volumes. In a thin body, there is simply nowhere to place all this.”

Montserrat's iron will always prevailed. After a car accident, the singer courageously performed at concert venues, encased in plaster, and the 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 always helped people. Giving many charity concerts, acting as a UNESCO goodwill ambassador, traveling with his daughter to many “hot spots” on the planet. And, of course, supporting young artists.

Caballe helped the aspiring José Carreras, bringing him on stage with her in the operas Nabucco and Lucrezia Borgia. It was after performing parts in these operas that success came to him. When Jose, much later, fell ill with leukemia, Montserrat helped him fight the disease in every possible way 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 due to her.

Russian media often mention the creative union "Caballé-Basque". They met in St. Petersburg in 2000. Since then, Nikolai Baskov has been ranked among the students of the great Caballe. Moreover, according to rumors, she works with him at home completely free of charge. From time to time they give joint concerts in our country. Not long ago, together with the daughter of the singer Monsita (a shortened version of the name) and the Ukrainian baritone Oleg Romashin, winner of a competition organized by Caballe in Barcelona, ​​they performed tour along the route "Krasnoyarsk - Novosibirsk - Tyumen - Yekaterinburg - Moscow - St. Petersburg." Basque invited the singer to move around railway- in special cars. This allowed Caballe to have an unforgettable experience. "I was on the train and thought, what kind of big country Russia," she said.

Don’t think that Montseratt Caballe is some kind of angel in the flesh. Her circle is well acquainted with the singer's uncontrollable fits of anger. The opera diva takes a threatening pose, and her eyes begin to sparkle like lightning.

One of the main catalysts for Caballe's anger is lack of professionalism on someone's part. However, seeing the real fear on their faces, the singer can apologize.

The singer's anger is compensated for by her humor. Once, during her performance at the theater on the Champs-Elysees, she suddenly fell silent, after which she walked to the front of the stage, leaned towards one of the spectators and asked: “Is everything all right? Can I continue?” Then she explained to everyone else: “Sorry, but there was a gentleman in the front row who was recording me on a tape recorder, but he ran out of tape, while he was changing it, I decided to take a break for a minute.”

That's how diverse she is. The woman who says: “You don’t have to give up anything in life. Life is best university in the world".

Spanish Opera singer, famous throughout the world for her bel canto technique.

Maria de Montserrat Viviana Concepcion Caballe y Volk was born on April 12, 1933 in Barcelona in a family of ordinary workers. The girl's name was not chosen by chance by the parents, since the birth was fraught with difficulties. Doctors managed to save the child, whose neck was wrapped in the umbilical cord. The girl's mother considered this a sign from above and named her in honor of the Catalan mountain Montserrat, where the Virgin Mary took refuge.

Montserrat has loved singing since childhood. Despite the fact that fame and recognition came to her over the years, she did not consider herself lucky. The childhood and youth of the future public favorite were spent in poverty. IN school years she had to work part-time as a seamstress, cutter, and even as a salesperson. “If only someone knew how many handkerchiefs I made!” - she said. Montserrat was demanding and strict, did not like the words “lucky” and “favorite of fate”; in her opinion, success can be achieved through long and hard work.

Montserrat spent the money she received from her part-time job on studies, music lessons and learning French and Italian. Wherein, work activity did not in any way affect academic performance. After graduating from school, she intended to go to Italy to audition. But the parents did not have the means to send their daughter to another country. Fortunately, a family of philanthropists Meltran Bata was found, who took on all the expenses and wrote a letter of recommendation to the then famous baritone Raimundo Torres.

In Italy, Caballe got a job in the theater, where she worked for a short time - at one of her performances she was noticed by the director of the Basel Opera Theater and invited her to work in Switzerland. But not everything was so smooth: when the young performer first arrived in Italy, one of the local impresarios advised her to get married and bake pies for the children, they say fat people no place on stage. Then she found support in brother Carlos, who became her personal impresario. Thanks to a family contract, the singer began an international career.

By the way, Caballe never managed to lose weight during her lifetime. The singer seriously gained weight after a car accident. The part of the brain responsible for lipid metabolism has atrophied and, no matter what Montserrat does, excess weight didn't leave.

Unexpected success came to Montserrat Caballe after she was offered to perform the role of Lucrezia Borgia, which had been beautifully performed by the American opera singer Marilyn Horne before her. After Montserrat's performance at New York's Carnegie Hall, the audience stood and applauded her for more than half an hour. The performer charmed not only the audience, but also the critics. After this fateful performance, her career began to develop rapidly, and the whole world learned about her.

Bellini's opera Norma, which premiered at La Scala, became the next peak in Montserrat's career. The singer performed with this and many other leading roles all over the world: in the Great Hall of Columns of the Kremlin, the White House in the USA, in the UN Auditorium and in the Hall of the People in China. Among her stage partners were leading tenors: Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavorotti. Throughout her life, she took part in more than 120 operas, and hundreds of discs were released with her participation.

Caballe has never been afraid to experiment on stage. Her duets with rock performers topped the music charts. One of the most famous duets is with rock star Freddie Mercury, leader of the Queen group. Caballe and Mercury performed at the opening Olympic Games 1992 hit "Barcelona".

Despite the enormous success in musical creativity, family was above all else for Montserrat. She did not hide the fact that if circumstances demanded it, she would leave the stage. They met their husband Martinez Bennabe when he was invited to replace a sick tenor in Madama Butterfly. After kissing on stage, the young people fell in love with each other for life.

The wedding of Marty and Montserrat took place on the sacred mountain, after which the singer was named. The couple raised two children: daughter Montsita and son Bernabe. Caballe's husband performed with his wife for several years, but then he got sick and began to spend more time at home. According to Caballe, they never had quarrels in the struggle for creative primacy, since the husband understood that when urgent need she's ready to give up music. She repeatedly confirmed her position with deeds - once her son got sick, and she canceled all upcoming concerts for a week. The theater tried to sue her, but to no avail.

Is not last time in Caballe's life when she sat in the dock. In 2015, Montserrat received a suspended sentence and a fine of more than 250 thousand euros for evading taxes for five years by transferring fees from performances to Andorran banks. When the scheme was discovered, she was sentenced to six months in prison. Fortunately, she managed to appease the prosecutor, and the prison sentence was replaced with a suspended sentence.

Caballe performed on stage until the end of her life, but never felt like a world-class star. She said that she didn’t like to pretend to be something, because only complete zeros do that. She believed that you cannot be proud of what was given to you from above, because this is the merit of nature and God.

Montserrat died on October 6, 2018 at the age of 86 due to problems with the urinary or gallbladder. At the request of the family, the cause of death will not be made public. On October 7, a farewell ceremony took place opera prima. The funeral will take place on October 8. The singer's niece said that Montserrat will be buried next to the graves of her parents.

The world-famous opera singer Montserrat Caballe, who passed away at the age of 85, will be buried the day after tomorrow, Monday, in Barcelona. Farewell to her will take place today. This was reported by the EuropaPress agency.

The farewell ceremony will take place at the funeral ritual center of Les Corts. It will start at 14:00 local time (15:00 Moscow time).

Caballe will be buried next to his parents

Opera singer Montserrat Caballe will be buried in the Sant Andreu cemetery in Barcelona, ​​in the same place where her parents are buried.

The farewell ceremony for the singer began on Sunday at the Les Corts funeral rituals center. Spanish Minister of Culture Jose Guirao, leader of the Citizens party Albert Rivera, and former head of the Catalan Generalitat Jordi Pujol have already come to say goodbye to the artist. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is expected to arrive in Barcelona on Monday. Consuls of a number of countries, including Belarus and Armenia, representatives of the football clubs Barcelona and Espanyol, and the management of the Liceo theater, where Caballe performed many times, came to lay flowers in Les Corts. In addition, the ceremony was attended by thousands of ordinary Catalans.

As the singer’s niece (also called Montserrat Caballe) said during the civil memorial service, for a long time was its representative and close friend, on Sunday and Monday, access to Les Corts will be open to everyone.

Causes of death

As you know, the opera diva spent several days before her death in a hospital in Barcelona. At the end of September, Montserrat Caballe was urgently hospitalized. The singer was diagnosed with bladder problems.

Then the doctors treating the opera singer reported that the course of treatment had been completed and Montserrat would soon leave the clinic. From these words one could understand that the therapy was successful and Caballe was on the mend. However, the insidious disease broke out with renewed vigor and left the singer no chance to fight for life.

It is worth noting that Montserrat several years ago already underwent surgery to remove a malignant brain tumor. The neoplasm appeared after terrible accident, which included an opera diva. Cancer did not spare the singer and caused her to lose consciousness at one of Caballe’s concerts. In addition, the tumor led to dire consequences.

The receptors responsible for lipid metabolism were blocked in the brain. In this regard, the singer began to rapidly gain weight. She was operated on in Japan. After surgery, Montserrat learned to speak, walk and sing again.

Biography of Montserrat Caballe

Montserrat Caballe was born on April 12, 1933 in Barcelona into a poor family. She studied at the conservatory at the Barcelona Liceu Theater and graduated in 1954. She entered the Basel Opera in 1956, where her repertoire included the roles of Tosca, Aida, Arabella and Salome.

Between 1956 and 1965, Montserrat Caballe sang in opera houses in various European cities - Bremen, Milan, Vienna, Barcelona, ​​Lisbon, and also performed the role of Manon in Massenet's opera of the same name in Mexico City in 1964. International fame came to Caballe in 1965, when, due to Marilyn Horne's illness, she replaced the American singer in the role of Lucrezia Borgia in Gaetano Donizetti's opera of the same name ( concert performance at Carnegie Hall). Caballe's triumph was so great that the audience gave the singer a 20-minute ovation. The New York Times headlined its review “Callas + Tebaldi = Caballe” and wrote:

“Miss Caballe had only to sing the first romance... and it became clear that she not only has pure and in a wonderful voice, but also has excellent vocal skills... She can soar on pianissimo in the highest register, completely controlling every note, and at the highest volume her voice does not lose clarity and precision of contour... "

The Herald Tribune also wrote:

In the same 1965, Caballe, at the personal invitation of Rudolf Bing, made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera (New York), where she performed the role of Margarita in Faust. After that, she performed on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera until 1988. Among the best roles performed on the stage of the famous theater: Louise in “Louise Miller”, Leonora in “Il Trovatore”, Violetta in “La Traviata”, Desdemona in “Othello”, Aida, Norma in the opera of the same name by Vincenzo Bellini.

On January 24, 1970 she made her debut at La Scala, also in the role of Lucrezia Borgia. In subsequent years, she performed Mary Stuart, Norma, Louise Miller, and Anne Boleyn at the La Scala Theater.

In the 1970s, she came to the USSR for the first time, met relatives here - members of her mother’s family, who in the 1930s during Civil War in Spain emigrated to the Soviet Union.

Since 1972 she has performed on the stage of Covent Garden in London (debut as Violetta in La Traviata).

Caballe's creative career lasted 50 years. She has performed around the world with such masters of the operatic stage as Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo, performing almost 90 roles and about 800 chamber works. The singer received international recognition thanks to the beauty of her voice and dramatic interpretation of roles. Her fans called her La Superba - “excellent”.

To the outstanding vocal achievements Caballe include:

• the role of Norma in the opera of the same name by Vincenzo Bellini - video recording from the ancient Roman theater in the city of Orange, made on July 20, 1974; also 3 performances of “Norms” as part of the tour of the La Scala theater in Moscow in the summer of 1974, where Caballe was a huge success (recording was made Central television THE USSR);
• the role of Imogene in Vincenzo Bellini’s opera “The Pirate” - a role from the repertoire of the bel canto era and, as Caballe herself admits, the most difficult in her repertoire in her entire career; recording from a broadcast from Florence from the Florentine festival musical may"(June 1967);
• the role of Queen Elizabeth in Gaetano Donizetti's opera Roberto Devereux - Caballe performed it repeatedly and in different periods your career; in particular, a recording was made from a broadcast from New York on December 16, 1965 (concert performance at Carnegie Hall);
• the role of Leonora in Il Trovatore by Giuseppe Verdi - recording broadcast from Florence in December 1968, conducted by Thomas Schippers; also a 1972 video from Orange, where Montserrat Caballe performed with Irina Arkhipova.

When the play was successfully shown in Paris, Maria Callas called Caballe two days after the premiere and congratulated her. In Italian (the singers usually spoke this language among themselves), Callas remarked: “The greatness of your service to both music and role.”

In 1964, she married Bernabe Marti. In 1966, a son, Bernabe, was born, and a daughter, Montserrat, in 1972.

The song "Barcelona", recorded five years before the 1992 Olympics, was planned to be presented to the public by Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballe, but in November 1991 the singer died, and the song was performed in the recording.

In November 2000, she participated in a charity concert-action of the World of Art Foundation, “Stars of the World for Children,” held in Moscow.

On June 4, 2013, during a visit to Armenia, Caballe visited the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. President Bako Sahakyan received the opera singer. Caballe's arrival in Karabakh caused discontent on the part of Azerbaijan, since its authorities consider the NKR as an occupied territory. In connection with Caballe's trip to the NKR, the Azerbaijani Embassy presented a note of protest to the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The note stated that Caballe would not receive an Azerbaijani visa, as he would become persona non grata. On June 7, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan signed a decree awarding Caballe the Order of Honor.

Name: Montserrat Caballe (Maria de Montserrat Viviana Concepcion Caballe y Folk)
Date of Birth: April 12, 1933
Zodiac sign: Aries
Age: 85 years
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 days. Today her name is known even to those who are far from opera. The widest range of her voice, unsurpassed skill and bright temperament of the diva conquered the main stages of the world's leading theaters. Caballe is a winner of various awards. He is an Ambassador for Peace and a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador.

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 Concepcion 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 wherever she could. Montserrat with childhood was partial to music; she spent hours listening to opera arias on records. At the age of twelve, the girl entered the Lyceum of Barcelona, ​​where she studied until her twenty-fourth birthday.

Since money was tight in the family, Montserrat helped her parents, first working in a weaving factory, then in a store and in a sewing workshop. Simultaneously with studying 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. A Hungarian by nationality, a former swimming champion, singer, Kemmeni came up with her own breathing system, the basis of which was strengthening the muscles of the torso and diaphragm. To this day, Montserrat uses her teacher’s breathing exercises and her chants.

Having earned the highest score in her final exams, the girl begins her professional career. Patronage famous philanthropist Beltran Mata helped the young girl find herself in the troupe of the Basel Opera House. The debut of the aspiring singer was the performance main party in the opera La bohème by Giacomo Puccini.

The young artist began to be invited to opera groups in other European cities: Milan, Vienna, Lisbon, and her native Barcelona. Montserrat masters the musical language of romantic, classical and baroque operas. But she is especially good at parts from works by 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 role 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. The interesting thing is that just this year ended Solo career opera diva Maria Callas. Thus, the predecessor, as it were, handed over the palm to Montserrat Caballe, as the best soprano on the planet.

The next peak in creative biography singer was her role in Bellini's opera Norma. This part appeared in the Montserrat repertoire in 1970. The premiere of the play took place at the La Scala theater, and 4 years later the Italian ensemble came on tour to Moscow. For the first time, Soviet listeners had the opportunity to enjoy the sound of the voice of the talented Spaniard, who shone so much in the aria “Norma”. In addition, the diva performed on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in leading roles in the operas Il Trovatore, La Traviata, Othello, Louise Miller, and Aida.

During her career, Montserrat Caballe managed to collaborate with orchestras of such star 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. The diva was friends 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 the People's Republic of China. For the whole creative life The legendary artist sang in more than one hundred and twenty operas, and hundreds of discs were released with her participation. In the seventy-sixth year, at the eighteenth Grammy ceremony, Caballe was awarded an award for performing the best classical vocal solo.

Montserrat Caballe is interested not only in opera. She tries herself in other projects. The opera diva performed for the first time with rock star Freddie Mercury, leader musical group Queen, late eighties. Together they recorded compositions for the album “Barcelona”.

The composition of the same name was performed by the 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 also of the entire autonomous community of Spain.

In the late 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 is experimenting with electronic music: She records compositions with the Greek author Vangelis, who is one of the founders of the new New Age style.

Among fans of the opera singer, the ballad song “Hijodelaluna” (“Child of the Moon”), which was performed for the first time by the group from Spain “Mecano,” became very popular. Montserrat at one time allocated 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 famous opera"Ave Maria".

At the age of thirty-one, Montserrat Caballe married fellow opera baritone Bernabe Marti. They met when Marty was asked to perform in place of a sick performer in Madama Butterfly. This opera contains a kissing scene. And then Marty kissed Montserrat so sensually and passionately that the woman almost fainted right on stage. The singer no longer hoped to find love and start a family.

After the wedding, she and her husband 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 said that, finding himself in the shadow of Caballe’s popularity, he decided to devote himself to his family. Be that as it may, the loving spouses maintained their marriage throughout their lives. Soon after the wedding, Montserrat gave her beloved two children: a son, Bernabe, and a 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. At the end of the nineties, mother and daughter performed in joint program“Two Voices, One Heart”, which opened the next opera season in Europe.

Caballe and Marty's happiness was not hampered by either Montserrat's popularity or her excess weight, which began to increase rapidly after the accident. She got into a car accident when she was young; after a head injury, the receptors in the brain 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 ate a piece of pie.

With a height of 161 cm, Montserrat Caballe began to weigh more than 100 kg; over time, her figure 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 adhere to specific diets, and from time to time she manages to lose weight. overweight. The woman has not drunk alcohol for a long time; for the most part, her diet consists of fruits, vegetables, herbs and grains.

The singer had more serious difficulties than extra pounds. Back in 1992, at a concert in New York, she felt unwell, she was hospitalized, and doctors gave Montserrat 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, surgery was not necessary. After some time, Caballe felt better, but decided to limit herself to solo concert activities, because on opera stage She is very worried and worried, and the doctors recommended avoiding stress.

On the eve of the New Year 2016, a scandal occurred with the name of the singer Montserrat Caballe. The Spanish tax authorities accused the celebrity of hiding part of his taxes starting in 2010. For this purpose, Caballe has been indicating the state of Andorra as her place of residence for several years.

For non-payment of taxes, the court sentenced the 82-year-old opera diva to six months' imprisonment and a fine. However, this measure was applied conditionally due to Montserrat disease. At the age of 80, the singer suffered a stroke, which greatly undermined her health.

By the beginning of last year, the conflict between the authorities and Caballe had already been resolved.

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 I came to visit Ivan Urgant on the program “ Evening Urgant", where she announced the upcoming performance.

The concert was a family affair, with Montserrat's daughter Marty and granddaughter Daniela appearing on stage with her. Of the sixteen numbers, the opera singer performed only seven. The prima sat in the entire concert wheelchair. IN Lately Caballe has problems with her legs and finds it difficult to move.

On October 6, 2018, information about the singer’s death appeared. She passed away in Barcelona, ​​in a hospital where she was admitted due to bladder problems.

Parties

• The role of Mimi in the opera La bohème by D. Puccini
• The role of Lucrezia Borgia in the opera of the same name by G. Donizetti
• The part of Norma in the opera of the same name by V. Bellini
• Pamina's part in " Magic flute» W. Mozart
• Marina's role in "Boris Godunov" by M. Mussorgsky
• Tatiana's role in P. Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin
• The role 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
• Isolde's part in R. Wagner's Tristan and Isolde
• Ariadne's part in "Ariadne auf Naxos" by R. Strauss
• Part of Salome in the opera of the same name by R. Strauss
• The role of Tosca in the opera of the same name by G. Puccini

The date of birth of Maria de Montserrat Viviana Concepcion Caballe y Folk (full name of the singer) is April 12, 1933. Montserrat's father was a simple worker at a chemical fertilizer production plant, and his mother had no permanent job, and she was forced to work part-time for a pittance salary.

When little Montserrat went to school, the children immediately disliked her for her silent and secretive character; moreover, they laughed at her for always going to class in one modest dress. The Caballe family was already living on the brink of poverty, and now the father had to leave his job due to a serious illness. However, no everyday difficulties not only did not frighten Montserrat, but on the contrary, they strengthened her character. In order to somehow help the family, the girl went to work at a handkerchief factory.

Introduction to Montserrat opera art happened when she was only seven years old. The little girl was so amazed by what she heard and saw that she cried bitterly over the whole way back from the theater. fatal fate Madame Butterfly. Little Montserrat really liked opera: listening to an old gramophone record, she learned the main character’s aria, and, as a seven-year-old child, she swore that she would definitely become a rich and famous opera singer.

And, a few years later, fate smiled at Montserrat, introducing the Beltran Mata philanthropist spouses into her life, helping young talents. It was thanks to them that the girl ended up at the famous Barcelona conservatory Liceo, with the Hungarian teacher Eugenia Kemmeni, who turned a rare nugget into a priceless diamond. By the way, even now the great Montserrat Caballe begins her day with special breathing exercises, once developed by her teacher Kemmeni.

The path to the opera

Montserrat studied at the Philharmonic Dramatic Lyceum of Barcelona for 12 years and graduated with honors in 1954. Beltran Mata's patrons advised the future singer to start her career in Italy: they paid all travel expenses and provided her with a letter of recommendation to the famous opera singer Raimundo Torres, who, in turn, recommended Montserrat to the director of the Florentine theater "Maggio Fiorentino" - Siciliani. After the audition, Siciliani accepted Caballe into his theater.

Her first performance at the Maggio Fiorentino Theater in Montserrat brought her another piece of luck in the person of the director of the Basel Opera, who came to the performance - he was so fascinated by the debutante’s voice that he offered her a contract for three years.

Montserrat accepted the offer and left for Switzerland. The date of the singer's professional debut is considered to be November 17, 1956, when she performed the role of Mimi in Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème on the stage of the Basel Theater. The success was stunning!

When in 1959 Caballe was already working in Opera House in Bremen, she received an invitation to perform at her native Barcelona Lyceum. Montserrat happily agreed and captivated the audience with the role of Arabella Strauss.

The singer gained international fame in 1965, and quite unexpectedly. She was offered to perform in New York at Carnegie Hall in place of an ill woman. American singer Marilyn Horne as Lucrezia Borgia.

The American public, spoiled by the performances of real opera stars, listened to Montserrat's first aria with bated breath, after which it exploded with a 20-minute ovation. In the morning, the front pages of all newspapers were devoted to the incredible performance of the Spanish singer - this was the ticket to world recognition.

From that day on, Caballe's theatrical fate was sealed: all her performances on the most famous stages of the world's capitals were a stunning success. Wherever she performed: in the Great Hall of Columns of the Kremlin, and in the White House in Washington, and in the New York Auditorium of the UN General Assembly, and in the Hall of the People in Beijing, and in many other famous places.

In 1974, Montserrat Caballe received the status of Honorary UN Ambassador and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador.

Life in Montserrat off stage

Being a true Catholic, the opera diva always put her family first. In 1964, she became the wife of Bernab Marti, who at that time was a fairly famous opera singer, and Montserrat has been happily married for decades. The singer has two, now adult children - son Bernabe Marty and daughter Montserrat Marty, who also chose a career as an opera singer.

Montserrat Caballe is an excellent car driver and loves swimming and walking. Another long-time hobby of the singer, which grew into real passion, is painting. According to Montserrat herself, at first she painted in watercolors, then in pencil, and as she acquired skill, she even dared to paint in oils. And although the singer herself calls her works “naive painting,” she still wields a brush no worse than her magical voice.

The majestic Montserrat has learned to “get along” with her solid physique. Once she received a serious head injury in an accident, as a result of which the part of the brain responsible for normal metabolism in the body atrophied, therefore, no matter how little the singer ate, she could not lose weight. The same accident also strengthened Montserrat’s will: even being in a cast and on crutches, the singer continued to perform.

Caballe has a broad soul and is not indifferent to the grief of others - opera star quite often gives charity concerts on various “non-prestigious” stages. Despite world fame, the singer is convinced that the main thing is not the hall in which she performs, but the people for whom she sings.

Montserrat Caballe considers faith in God to be the basis of her work. This faith helps her to be above all behind-the-scenes passions and intrigues, to be wise and strong, and to serve people, giving them her magic voice and your talent.

Freddie Mercury & Montserrat Caballé