Montserrat Caballe - the unsurpassed diva of the opera

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:47

It's hard to imagine the modern opera scene without its main soprano - Montserrat Caballe. The story of her life and creative path is an example of how an ordinary girl from a working-class family can reach unprecedented heights of world fame. How did this unsurpassed woman achieve all this? More on this later in the article.

Early years

Little Maria de Montserrat Viviana Concepción Caballe and Volk was born in the capital of Catalonia, Barcelona in 1933, on April 12th. Her father worked as a simple worker at a chemical plant, and her mother was a housekeeper who took on any part-time job so that the family would have a little more money.

Love for music manifested itself in the girl from an early age. She listened to records with recordings of various operas for hours to holes. When she was 12 years old, she went to study at the Lyceum of Barcelona, from which she graduated only at the age of 24.

The family was poor, and young Montserrat had to look for work to help her with money. The girl was not afraid of working speci alties. She also worked onweaving factory, and in a sewing workshop, and in a store. But the hard work didn't stop her from finding time to attend French and Italian classes.

On the road to glory

Love for music never left the young Montserrat Caballe. She studied at the Liceo Conservatory for four years. Her teacher was the singer Eugenia Kemmeni, who gave the future diva her unsurpassed voice.

After graduating from the conservatory, she came under the patronage of the philanthropist Beltran Mata, who helped her get a job in the troupe of the theater in Basel. And she made her debut on his stage in the opera La bohème by Giacomo Puccini, where she performed the main role. After that, popularity comes to her: Montserrat Caballe, by invitation, sings in the troupes of the best European opera houses. All the beauty of her voice is best revealed in the works of Bellini and Donizetti.

Global popularity

By coincidence, in 1965, the young singer enters the American Carnegie Hall, where she is asked to replace opera star Marilyn Horne in a performance, performing the part of Lucrezia Borgia instead. After this performance, the opera diva was talked about on all continents.

Already in 1970, Montserrat made its debut on the stage of the famous theater "La Scala". Here she gets a role in Bellini's opera "Norma". With this production, the singer traveled all over the world. In 1974 the troupe arrived in Moscow. Here for the first time our compatriots could enjoy allfacets of her voice live.

In addition, Montserrat Caballe conquered all the famous world opera venues. She was invited to the White House in the USA, and to the Hall of Columns in the Kremlin, and to the Metropolitan Opera, and to the UN Auditorium.

Bold experiments

As you know, classical music goes well with rock. The first experiment in this genre were several songs recorded together with the lead singer of Queen. In 1988 they released a small music album called "Barcelona". It was unusual, because before that they tried to separate rock music from the classics. But the composition "Barcelona" by Montserrat Caballe showed how these two styles of music complement each other.

The title song was played at the opening of the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. Montserrat Caballe and Freddie Mercury performed it with such inspiration that the work became the unofficial anthem of the capital of Catalonia. Almost immediately they began to sing it on all the streets of the city, making it truly popular. And this speaks of the unprecedented popularity and weight in the cultural life of any performer.

In the late 90s of the last century there were new experiments. And it was again rock music, which sounded together with the Swiss band Gotthard.

Next, the Greek composer Vangelis proposes to Montserrat a joint project in the "new age" style, and she agrees to record several compositions with him. Then there were othersjoint projects. Diva also turned her attention to Nikolai Baskov, noticing the potential of a real opera singer in him and offering to give some lessons.

Recent years

Now the diva is 85 years old, her he alth is not in the best condition, but she continues to perform on world stages. Millions of connoisseurs of real music still adore her, and young artists try to cover the songs of Montserrat Caballe. All this suggests that this extraordinary woman not only left the greatest mark on world culture, but also changed it, making opera popular again.