Montserrat Caballe: biography of an opera singer. Opera singer Montserrat Caballe dies

Childhood

Anna Caballe made her husband happy by giving birth to his daughter, who was named Maria de Montserrat Viviana Concepción Caballe and Folk is full name singers.

There were no nobles, intellectuals in the Montserrat family. She grew up in a working class environment. The father was associated with the production of chemical fertilizers, worked as a worker at the plant. The mother of the singer worked where she had to.

It is also known that relatives on the mother's side were deported to the USSR. They still live in St. Petersburg. And every time Caballe comes on tour to Russia, she is a frequent guest of Peter, her kindred spirits. He brings them foreign gifts.

Since childhood, Caballe gravitated toward music and singing. She constantly listened to the performance of her favorite artists. IN early age future diva was already a student of the lyceum in Barcelona. Further, Montserrat learns to sing from the best teachers. To help her parents, she gets a job. Whoever the star was: a saleswoman, a seamstress, a cutter. She combined everything with her studies. At the same time studied foreign languages French and English.

Brilliant Caballe completed her studies at the Lyceum. The gold medal was in her pocket.

creative path

While still studying at the Lyceum, Montserrat was noticed. Her voice, manner of performance. She was recommended to go to Italy to audition for the theater. But she did not have the finances to go and live there. Then the Beltrán Mata family of patrons, who treated talented young artists with condescension, wrote her a letter of recommendation, for the then-famous baritone Raimundo Torres. Beltrán Mata pays all travel expenses. According to all the recommendations, Caballe is accepted into the theater.

During her performance in the theater, the director of the Basel Opera House was a spectator in the hall. He was simply fascinated by her voice, her appearance. After the performance, she was offered a job in Bezel. Of course, Caballe agrees, leaving for Switzerland for a year.


Somehow Montserrat was offered the part of Lucrezia Borgia in New York's Carnegie Hall, which was originally performed by the American singer Merlin Horne. It was something unreal. Hall standing applauded for half an hour Caballe. And now she becomes famous all over the world. She begins performing around the world:

Montserrat Caballé & Nikolay Baskov

In the Great Pillar Hall of the Kremlin, in the White House of Washington, in the Hall of the People in Beijing and in many other famous places.

Caballe performs on the same stage with outstanding artists: Placido Domingo, Merlin Horne, Alfredo Kraus, Luciano Pavarotti.

Montserrat is very purposeful. She understands that one cannot show weakness, one cannot be unprofessional.

At La Scala, Montserrat performed one of her beautiful roles in Bellini's Norma. The theater tours all over the world. They did not ignore the USSR either. Caballe performed the legendary role in Moscow.


The singer's repertoire includes more than 130 opera parts, more than 40 full-fledged operas. In her honor, the song "Exercises in Free Love" was written, which was performed by rock musician Freddie Mercury. And in 1992, the Olympics were held in Barcelona. So, Caballe, along with Freddie, sang the song "Barcelona", which later became a hit.

The singer was constantly among the performers of the pop charts. Caballe even performs with our Nikolai Baskov. They met in St. Petersburg. Caballe teaches Baskov to sing, and first of all, to breathe correctly, because this is very important in opera. She did not take money from Baskov for the lessons that took place at her own home.

Montserrat Caballe and Freddie Mercury. Barcelona

She just enjoyed the process. She passed on her skills. She prophesied a great future for Nikolai. And she even joked, saying: “My dogs didn’t like any of the singers who came to me, they had never sung along with anyone like that.”

Personal life of Montserrat Caballe

The husband of the legendary singer is Bernaba Marty.

Imagine legendary singer V real life altogether different. She is characterized by delays, lack of assembly. She was even late for her wedding. The singer has two beautiful children. Caballe is happy in family life and talks about her with lyrics: “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. IN parental home, watching the relationship between mom and dad, I realized that equality in family relationships. It has been a habit with us since my childhood that no one dominates anyone.

And that's how my husband and I try to raise our children. Each child, person has its own individuality, its own character, which must be respected. And I can proudly say that our family is harmonious. 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, of course, I have other interests and responsibilities. And above all, this is my family. I hope that my family and friends still need me more 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. Life itself is beautiful, the main thing is not to spoil it with your own mistakes.

Caballe is a great car driver, loves swimming, and is fond of painting. Since childhood, I have had a craving for delicious food. She loved the pastries that her mother cooked. Apparently, this was inherited, Montserrat often indulges his family with a variety of pies.

Somehow she had concerts planned. All tickets were already sold by the organizers in advance. Nothing foreshadowed trouble, when suddenly, Caballe finds out that her son is ill. Without hesitation, she flies to Spain to her son. For a long time, the theater sued Montserrat, but eventually lost. My son got better, of course. In Caballe's life, family comes first.

Awards

Of course, Montserrat Caballe has public recognition. She was awarded the Order of Isabella the Catholic, the Order of Merit for the Italian Republic, the Order of Arts and Letters in France, and in Ukraine, Caballe was awarded the Order of Princess Olga, I degree. Montserrat Caballe has honorary title Kammersenger" of the Vienna State Opera.

(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 there is a monastery named after Our Lady, whom 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).

International recognition came to Montserrat Caballe in 1965 when she replaced American singer Marilyn Horn 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. Vincenzo Bellini.

Montserrat Caballe organizes projects for young vocalists: holds his own vocal competition, patronizes the project "Voices of Montserrat Caballe".

The singer is actively involved in charity work. She is an Honorary Ambassador of the United Nations and a Goodwill Ambassador of 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 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.

The singer has many prestigious international awards to her credit. She has been awarded orders and medals from various countries, including the Spanish Order of Isabel, the French Order of the Commander of Arts and Letters, Golden medal Academy of Literature, Science and Art of Italy.

Montserrat Caballe is married to opera singer Bernabe Marty. They have two children: a son, Bernabe Marty, and a daughter, Montserrat Marty, who also became an opera singer.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources

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

Maria de Montserrat Viviana Concepción Caballé y Volk was born on April 12, 1933 in Barcelona in a family of ordinary workers. The name of the girl was chosen by the parents not by chance, since childbirth was fraught with difficulties. The doctors managed to save the child, whose neck was entwined with 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 found refuge.

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

The money received from part-time work, Montserrat spent on studies, music lessons and the study of French and Italian. Wherein, labor activity did not affect performance in any way. After graduation, she intended to go to Italy for an audition. But the parents did not have the means to send their daughter to another country. Fortunately, the Meltran Bata family of patrons was found, who took on all the expenses and wrote a letter of recommendation to the well-known baritone Raimundo Torres in those years.

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

By the way, Caballe never coped with being overweight 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 part of Lucrezia Borgia, which was beautifully performed by the American opera singer Marilyn Horn before her. After Montserrat's performance at New York's Carnegie Hall, the audience stood up and applauded her for over half an hour. The performer fascinated not only the audience, but also critics. After this fateful performance, her career began to take off. rapidly and the whole world knew about it.

Bellini's opera Norma, which premiered at the Teatro alla Scala, was the next pinnacle in Montserrat's career. With this and many other leading roles, the singer performed 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: José Carreras, Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavorotti. Throughout her life, she took part in more than 120 operas, hundreds of discs were released with her participation.

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

Despite tremendous success in musical creativity, the family for Montserrat was above all. She did not hide the fact that if circumstances require, she will leave the stage. They met her husband Martinez Bennabe when he was invited to replace a sick tenor in Madama Butterfly. Having kissed on stage, the young people fell in love with each other for life.

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

Is not last time in the life of Caballe, when she sat in the dock. In 2015, Montserrat received a suspended sentence and a fine of more than 250,000 euros for avoiding taxes for five years by transferring royalties from performances to Andorran banks. When the scheme was exposed, she was sentenced to six months in prison. Fortunately, she managed to appease the prosecutor, and prison term has been replaced by conditional.

Caballe performed on stage until the end of her life, but she never felt like a world-class star. She said that she did not like to pretend to be something, because only full zeros. She believed that one should not 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 her bladder or gallbladder. At the request of the family, the cause of death will not be released. On October 7, a farewell ceremony with the opera prima took place. The funeral will take place on October 8th. The singer's niece said that Montserrat would be buried next to the graves of her parents.

Opera singer Montserrat Caballe has died in Barcelona at the age of 86. She gained fame for her roles in classical operas Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini. Experts considered her technique of singing bel canto to be unique. She is also known to the general public for her duet with the leader Queen Freddie Mercury - they recorded the hit song Barselona, ​​which was supposed to be played at the opening of the 92 Olympics. ABOUT creative way singers - in the RBC photo gallery.

Montserrat Caballé was born in 1933 in Barcelona. In 1954, she graduated with honors from the Philharmonic Drama Lyceum of Barcelona. At the beginning of her career, she worked in the opera houses of Basel and Bremen, performed in the theaters of Lisbon, Milan and Barcelona.

In 1965, she replaced the suddenly ill Marilyn Horne (pictured left) at New York's Carnegie Hall, performing the well-known for its complexity main party in the opera Lucrezia Borgia by Gaetano Donizetti. The performance brought Caballe international recognition. The American mezzo-soprano called Caballe the next day with congratulations: “You sang and showed such Lucrezia that I would never sing!”

Montserrat Caballe on stage Bolshoi Theater

In 1974, Caballe performed with the La Scala troupe in Moscow, performing the role of Norma from the opera of the same name by Vincenzo Bellini. Sharing impressions from his first performance in Russian capital, she said: "I never thought that Big - so beautiful theater absolutely unique, there are no others like it in the world. The acoustics are perfect. You can sing very quietly, and you can be heard in the very last rows. Since then, the singer has repeatedly visited Russia

In 1987, the artist, together with the leader of the Queen group Freddie Mercury (pictured), recorded the song Barcelona, ​​which a year later was included in the duo's self-titled album. “If I was crazy about the Beatles in my youth, then why not sing with Mercury now? ..” — said Caballe. The artists were supposed to perform the song at the opening of the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, ​​but the lead singer of Queen died in November 1991, and the prima donna refused to perform the hit with anyone else.

From left to right: Frank Sinatra, Diana Ross, Luciano Pavarotti and Montserrat Caballe

In 1992, the singer's health deteriorated, she was diagnosed with cancer. After undergoing therapy, Caballe managed to avoid surgery, but she had to leave the opera stage, because doctors advised her to avoid stress. Nevertheless, the singer continued to give solo concerts, and in 2002 she returned to opera, performing in her native Barcelona on the 40th anniversary of her debut at the Liceo Theater

Montserrat Caballe and her daughter Montserrat Marti

In 1964, Caballe married the Italian operatic baritone Bernabé Marti. Together they sang in several operas until the singer's husband left the stage. The couple had two children: a son, Bernabe, and a daughter, Montserrat, who also became an opera singer. They performed together with Caballe more than once

The singer was actively involved in charity work, since 1994 she has been a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. In 2012, she was going to give a charity concert in Yekaterinburg, but on the night before the performance she lost consciousness and fell. In one of the clinics in Yekaterinburg, she was diagnosed with a microstroke and a fracture of the humerus. She continued her treatment in Spain.

In 2013, before a concert in Yerevan, Caballe visited Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory that official Baku considers to be occupied by Armenia. As a result, the singer is persona non grata in Azerbaijan

In September 2018, the media reported that the singer was undergoing treatment in a hospital in Barcelona. On October 6, she died at the age of 85. The funeral is scheduled for October 8th.

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. different eras and styles.

In 1959, Caballe joined the troupe of the Bremen opera house(Germany).

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, Placido Domingo, Marilyn Horne, Alfredo Kraus and Luciano Pavarotti.

She sang in such historical places as the Great Hall of Columns of the Kremlin, The White house in Washington, United Nations General Assembly Auditorium in New York, 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". Barcelona song created for Olympic Games 1992, eventually became the symbol of Barcelona and all of Catalonia.

Montserrat also collaborated with the Greek composer, performer electronic music Vangelis in two musical works(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.


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