Opera singer Montserrat Caballe has died. Photo gallery

06.10.2018 21:00

The opera singer was 85 years old.

World famous opera singer Montserrat Caballe has died at the age of 85 in Barcelona.

Caballe's funeral will take place on Monday, October 8. The day before, a farewell ceremony will take place at the funeral ritual center of Les Corts in Barcelona.

The cause of death of Montserrat Caballe became known to the media

It is known that several years ago Caballe struggled with cancer. A tumor in her head, under the cerebral cortex, appeared after an accident, which is why the artist once lost consciousness on stage in Japan. There she was later operated on by a local professional, removing the formation. After surgery, the performer learned to speak, sing and walk again.

The exact cause of Caballe's death will be announced later.

Biography of Montserrat Caballe

Maria de Montserrat Viviana Concepcion Caballe y Volk was born on April 12, 1933 in Barcelona, ​​into a family of ordinary people. The girl was given a name in honor of the monastery and the sacred mountain on which it is located. Among the Catalans the mountain is called Saint Mary of Montserrat.

Little Montserrat loved to sing and she was very good at it. At first she performed songs of her favorite artists. Later, he began studying with the best music teachers.

Since the family lived poorly, the girl decided to get a job, she had to work as a seamstress and cutter, she also worked as a salesperson, all this was in conjunction with her studies.

Another hobby of Caballe is learning foreign languages. Studying was easy; after graduating from the Lyceum in 1954, she received a gold medal.

Even during her studies, noticing her talent, her teachers recommended that she visit Italy to audition for the theater. But the modest family did not have such funds and moving was impossible. Only thanks to the participation of patrons of the arts, Caballe was able to get into the theater and was given a job.

At one of her performances, she was noticed by the director of the Basel Opera, he was fascinated by her unique voice. After the performance there was an invitation to work at the Basel Theater.

In 1956, the singer agreed and moved to Switzerland for a year. Career of an opera diva Once in New York, Caballe was offered to perform the part of Lucrezia Borgia with a performance at Carnegie Hall. The performance went great, the audience was captivated by her extraordinary voice and gave her a standing ovation for almost half an hour.

Almost instantly, Caballe became famous and the most famous stages in the world opened up for her.

The singer did not want to stop there and continued to improve her voice. One can envy and be surprised at her efficiency and perseverance. The opera diva's repertoire is complex and multifaceted; it consists of 40 full-length operas, as well as 130 opera roles.

Caballe is one of the few opera singers whose pop recordings have charted. In 1988, she and Queen leader Freddie Mercury recorded the album Barcelona, ​​the title song from which, created for the 1992 Olympic Games, eventually became a symbol of Barcelona and the whole of Catalonia.

For many years in a row, the singer was the best in the world. By the way, she even once gave singing lessons to Nikolai Baskov at her home, teaching him the correct breathing technique, since this is very important for opera singers.

The singer has won many prestigious international awards. She was awarded orders and medals from various countries, including the Spanish Order of Isabel, the French Order of the Commander of Arts and Letters, the gold medal of the Italian Academy of Literature, Science and Art, and the Russian Order of Friendship.

Family and personal life of Montserrat Caballe

In 1964, Montserrat married opera singer Bernabe Marti. The singer says she is happy in her family life.

Since childhood, she learned a lesson about equality between spouses in marriage, how important it is to maintain respect for each other and to raise their children correctly. There are two of them in the family. Son - Bernabe (1966) and daughter Montserrat (1976).

The singer always took her fame and celebrity calmly and tried to prevent the “star sickness” from affecting the children.

Caballe was fond of painting, was a great car driver and loved to eat. Her zodiac sign is Aries, height is 1.61 m, weight is 100 kg.

Montserrat Caballe is a famous opera singer from Spain. She has a beautiful feminine soprano timbre. She collaborated with the famous Russian opera and pop singer Nikolai Baskov.

Biography

We must admit that the biography of the singer is quite interesting. Her full name is very long - Maria de Montserrat Vivianna Concepcion Caballe y Volk. As soon as she started performing on stage, the girl replaced her long name with a shorter and more memorable one.

Montserrat Caballe was born in the difficult thirties into a poor working-class family. Her life in her youth cannot be envied. They didn’t live well: their father worked at a factory that produced chemical fertilizers, and their mother worked part-time in a variety of places. In addition to the daughter, there were also boys in the family.

The girl grew up gloomy and withdrawn, had little contact with her peers, and art became her only outlet.

With the help of family friends - wealthy patrons of the arts - young Montserrat managed to get a job at the local conservatory. As she grew older, she began performing in Barcelona's best theaters and leading concert venues. Her charming voice quickly brought her to the first roles in the theater, and they began to give her many solo roles.

In the seventies, the popularity of Montserrat Caballe in Spain, Italy, and throughout the world reached unprecedented, cosmic heights. The fees quickly made her rich, and aspiring singers were ready to tear each other to pieces for the opportunity to perform a duet with her.

The singer was awarded many orders and medals, for example:

• Order of Friendship (from the government of the Russian Federation).
• Order of Arts and Letters (from the French government).
• Order of Princess Olga (from the government of Ukraine).

This list is far from complete. In total, the singer has about ten different awards and titles.

The great opera diva also had some problems with the law: in particular, she was tried for fraud (tax evasion) in her home country. In court, the singer admitted her guilt, and, most likely, she will have to serve a suspended sentence (after all, the woman is over eighty years old). The opera actress may also have to pay a large fine to the state.

Montserrat Caballe was married and has two children. It is interesting that her daughter Montserrat followed in her mother’s footsteps in choosing her life path: she is also a popular opera singer in her native Spain.

Contribution to art

Montserrat Caballe is fluent in the technique of performing “bel canto”, thanks to which she was able to take part in many performances of the classical repertoire.

According to numerous listeners, her voice sank deep into the soul as soon as she began to sing.

The singer’s contribution to art is incredibly great:

• During her life, she played more than 88 roles in operas, operettas and musical performances.
• She performed approximately 800 chamber works.
• She released the album “Barcelona” together with Freddie Mercury, the famous lead singer of the group “Queen”.

The last fact is especially interesting, since it is clear that rock was not the most convenient and familiar style for the Spanish singer. Nevertheless, the album sold out very quickly and almost immediately brought both outstanding musicians a lot of money.

Nikolai Baskov also sang with the singer.

Montserrat's song, which is dedicated to her "small homeland", Barcelona, ​​became one of the two official anthems of the Olympic Games held there in the summer of 1992.

Montserrat Caballe can rightfully be called a great man; a woman who changed the world through her songs and music. This singer has become a kind of singing symbol of her native Spain, glorifying her homeland throughout the world. Author: Irina Shumilova

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. During her school years, she had to work 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. At the same time, work activity in no way affected 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, saying that such overweight people had no place on stage. Then she found support in her 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 atrophied and, no matter what Montserrat did, the excess weight did not go away.

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 the hit “Barcelona” at the opening of the 1992 Olympic Games.

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 any quarrels in the struggle for creative primacy, since her husband understood that if necessary, she was 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.

This is not the last time in Caballe's life that 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 for the 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.

Montserrat Caballe is the most famous Spanish opera singer, the greatest soprano of our time. Today even people far from opera know her name. The widest range of her voice, unsurpassed skill and bright temperament of the diva conquered the main stages of the leading theaters on the planet. She is a winner of various awards. He is an Ambassador for Peace and a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador.

Childhood and youth

On April 12, 1933, a girl was born in Barcelona, ​​who was given the name Montserrat Caballe. You can hardly pronounce her full name without practice - Maria de Montserrat Viviana Concepcion Caballe y Folk. Her parents named her in honor of the sacred mountain of St. Mary of Montserrat.

In the future, she was destined to become the greatest 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 was forced to earn extra money wherever she had to. Since childhood, Montserrat has been partial to music; she spent hours listening to opera arias on records. At the age of 12, the girl entered the Barcelona Lyceum, where she studied until her 24th birthday.

Since money was poor in the family, Montserrat helped her parents, working first in a weaving factory, then in a store and in a sewing workshop. In parallel with receiving an education and earning additional income, the girl took French and Italian lessons.

She studied for 4 years at the Liceo Conservatory in the class of Eugenia Kemmeni. A Hungarian by nationality, a former champion swimmer, singer, Kemmeni developed her own breathing system, the basis of which was strengthening the muscles of the torso and diaphragm. Until now, Montserrat uses her teacher’s breathing exercises and her chants.

Music

Having received the highest score in her final exams, the girl begins her professional career. The patronage of the famous philanthropist Beltran Mata helped the young girl get into the troupe of the Basel Opera House. Young Montserrat made her debut performing the title role in the opera La Bohème.

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 successful in 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 world success came to her after performing the role 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 about half an hour. It is noteworthy that just this year the solo career of the opera diva ended. Thus, the predecessor, as it were, handed over the palm to Montserrat Caballe as the best soprano in the world.

The next peak in the singer’s creative biography 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 four years later the Italian ensemble came on tour to Moscow. For the first time, Soviet listeners could enjoy the sound of the voice of the talented Spaniard, who shone so much in the aria “Norma”. In addition, the singer 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:, and. Montserrat was friends with Marilyn Horne.

In addition to the leading 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. Throughout her creative life, the great artist sang in more than 120 operas, and hundreds of discs were released with her participation. In 1976, at the 18th Grammy Awards, Caballe was awarded the award for performing best classical vocal solo.

Montserrat Caballe is fascinated not only by the art of opera. She tries herself in other projects. For the first time, the opera diva performed with a rock star, the leader of a musical group, in the late 80s. Together they recorded songs for the album “Barcelona”.

The composition of the same name was performed by the famous duet at the 1992 Olympic Games, which took place in Catalonia. The hit broke all world chart records and became the anthem not only of the Olympics, but also of the entire autonomous community of Spain.

In the late 90s, Montserrat Caballe recorded with the rock band Gotthard from Switzerland, and also gave a joint performance with an Italian pop singer in Milan. In addition, the singer is experimenting with electronic music: the woman is recording compositions with the Greek author Vangelis, who is one of the creators of the new New Age style.

Among fans of the opera singer, the ballad song “Hijodelaluna” (“Child of the Moon”), which was first performed by the group from Spain “Mecano,” gained considerable popularity. Montserrat at one time celebrated the Russian performer. She recognized a great singer in the young tenor and offered him vocal lessons. Subsequently, Montserrat and Basque sang together a duet from the musical “The Phantom of the Opera” and the famous opera “Ave Maria”.

Personal life

At 31, Montserrat Caballe married her colleague, opera baritone Bernabe Marti. They met when Marty was asked to replace a sick performer in Madama Butterfly. There is a kiss scene in this opera. And then Marty kissed Montserrat so sensually and passionately that the woman almost fainted right on stage. The singer no longer hoped to meet love and get married.

After the wedding, she and her husband sang on the same stage more than once. But after a few years, 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. One way or another, 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 parents. Today she is one of the best vocalists in Spain. In the late 90s, mother and daughter performed in the 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 rapidly increase after a car accident. She got into a car accident when she was young; after a head injury, the receptors in her brain that are responsible for lipid metabolism were switched off. In an interview, the opera diva explained this as follows: when she drinks a glass of water, her body reacts to it as if she had eaten 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 extra pounds. The woman has long given up alcohol; for the most part, her diet consists of fruits, vegetables, herbs and grains.

The singer had more serious problems than being overweight. Back in 1992, at a concert in New York, she became ill, she was hospitalized, and doctors gave Montserrat a disappointing diagnosis - cancer. They insisted on an urgent operation, but her friend Luciano Pavarotti advised not to rush, but to contact the Swiss doctor who treated his daughter.

In the end, surgery was not needed. After some time, Caballe felt better, but decided to limit herself to solo concert activities, since she was very worried and worried on the opera stage, and the doctors advised her to avoid stress.

On the eve of the New Year 2016, a scandal erupted around the name of the singer Montserrat Caballe. The Spanish tax authorities have accused the opera diva of concealing part of her taxes since 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 vocalist to 6 months and a fine. But this measure was applied conditionally in connection with Montserrat disease. At the age of 80, the singer suffered a stroke, which greatly undermined her health.

By the beginning of 2017, the conflict between the authorities and Caballe had already been resolved.

Montserrat Caballe now

In 2018, the opera diva celebrated her 85th birthday. Despite her age, she continues to perform. In June, the singer came to Moscow to give a concert at the Kremlin Palace. And the day before I came to visit the “Evening Urgant” program, where I talked about the upcoming performance.

The concert turned out to be a family affair; Montserrat's daughter Marti and granddaughter Daniela came along with her. Of the 16 numbers, the opera singer performed only 7. The prima spent the entire concert in a wheelchair. Lately, Caballe has had problems with her legs and has difficulty walking.

On October 6, 2018, it became known about the singer. She passed away in Barcelona, ​​in a hospital where she had been 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 The Magic Flute by 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