Montserrat Caballé

From Hispanopedia
Montserrat Caballé
Montserrat Caballé in Milan (1971)
Born(1933-04-12)April 12, 1933
Barcelona
DiedOctober 6, 2018(2018-10-06) (aged 85)
Barcelona
OccupationSinger
Years active1956–2018
SpouseBernabé Martí (1964–2018)
ChildrenBernabé, Montserrat Martí
Voice typeLyric soprano
GenreOpera
InstrumentVoice
Associated actsBernabé Martí
Montserrat Martí Caballé
Luciano Pavarotti
Plácido Domingo
José Carreras
Alfredo Kraus
Freddie Mercury
Bruce Dickinson
Maria Callas

María de Montserrat Bibiana Concepción Caballé Folch (Barcelona, April 12, 1933 – ibid., October 6, 2018[1]) was a Spanish lyric opera singer with a soprano vocal range. Considered one of the greatest sopranos of the 20th century, she was especially admired for her vocal technique and for her performances of the bel canto repertoire.[2]

On one occasion, Maria Callas was asked which singers could succeed her, and she replied: "Only Caballé..."[3]

Biography

The daughter of Carlos Caballé Borrás (1907–1995), from Tarragona,[4] and of Ana Folch, from Valencia, Montserrat Caballé was a woman of humble origins who lived through the Spanish postwar period and who, thanks to her mother, who taught her the basic concepts of solfège, and to a wealthy Barcelona family, the Bertrand i Mata,[5] managed to enter—at the age of 11—the Conservatory of Music of the Liceu in Barcelona, at first on a scholarship, and later with the financial support of her first patrons.[6]

In 1955 she stepped onto a stage for the first time, singing the title role of La serva padrona, by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, at the Teatre Fortuny in Reus, which she repeated ten days later at the Teatro Principal of Valencia.[7]

She joined the company of the Municipal Theater of Basel in 1956, where she made her operatic debut outside Spain on November 17 of that same year, singing Mimì in La bohème, in addition to a large repertoire of roles, which included Tosca, by Giacomo Puccini; Aida, by Giuseppe Verdi; and Arabella and Salome, both by Richard Strauss.

She was engaged by the Bremen Opera for the 1960–1961 season, where she specialized in bel canto roles. In 1962, she returned to Barcelona and made her debut at the Liceu on January 7, with Arabella.[citation needed]

Plaque on the building where she was born

Peak

Her first international success could be said to have come in 1965, when on April 20 she replaced Marilyn Horne, who, being indisposed, was unable to sing in the concert version of Lucrezia Borgia at Carnegie Hall in New York. It is said that several spectators returned their tickets, disappointed by Horne's replacement; but upon being told how Caballé was singing, they hurried back to the theater. Her performance caused a sensation and made her famous in the opera world. A New York newspaper ran the headline the following day: "Callas + Tebaldi = Caballé".[8]

That same year, she made her debut at the Glyndebourne Festival and at the Metropolitan Opera House in the role of Marguerite in Faust, by Charles Gounod.[citation needed] In 1972, she made her debut at La Scala, with Norma, by Vincenzo Bellini, and as Violetta at the Royal Opera House in London.[citation needed] In 1974, she recorded with great success a performance regarded as historic of the opera Norma at the Ancient Theater of Orange.[citation needed] In 1980, she sang Semiramide, by Gioachino Rossini, at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, under the baton of Jesús López Cobos.[9][10]

In 1986, she played a small role in Romanza final (Gayarre), a biographical film about Julián Gayarre, directed by José María Forqué and starring José Carreras.[11]

With Freddie Mercury and Sara Montiel

Between 1986 and 1988, Caballé performed the album Barcelona together with the lead singer of Queen, Freddie Mercury, with whom she forged a close friendship. In the project, in which Freddie Mercury and Mike Moran took part in composing the songs, Tim Rice and Montserrat Caballé also took part. Its title track, "Barcelona", was chosen by the Spanish Olympic Committee as the official anthem of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. They performed it live on two occasions. The first was at the Ku club in Ibiza on May 29, 1987, and the second was during the "La Nit" concerts in October 1988, where they presented three songs live: "How Can I Go On", "The Golden Boy" and "Barcelona". They were unable to appear at the opening ceremony of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games because of the death of Freddie Mercury eight months earlier.[12]

In 1988, Caballé took part in the successful album Purísimo Sara, by Sara Montiel, and recorded with her a duet of the classic "La violetera".[13]

Worldwide prestige

Montserrat Caballé went on to perform more than eighty operatic roles: from Baroque opera to Giuseppe Verdi, Richard Wagner, Giacomo Puccini and Richard Strauss. She played roles as different as Norma, Salome, Violetta, the Marschallin, Semiramide or Isolde, a breadth of repertoire reflected in her many recordings. She also performed Spanish songs of the pop genre, such as "Hijo de la luna" by the group Mecano. She likewise performed several musical pieces with the renowned Greek composer Vangelis Papathanassiou, most notably a performance given in 1997 at the Panathinaikos stadium in Athens at the opening of the 6th World Championships in Athletics, where, together with her daughter, Montserrat Martí Caballé, she sang the pieces "The pray of the World" and "March with me", composed by Vangelis in allusion to world peace.

Problems with the Spanish Treasury

In 2010, she attempted to defraud the Spanish Treasury of half a million euros by pretending to be a resident of Andorra, a fraud she later admitted before the prosecutor's office, and for which she accepted a sentence of six months in prison.[14]

Health problems and death

On October 20, 2012, she suffered a mild stroke in Yekaterinburg during a tour of Russia; she was transferred to the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau in Barcelona, and was discharged from the hospital eleven days later.[15]

She died on Saturday, October 6, 2018, at the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau (Barcelona), due to gallbladder problems that had grown worse in recent years.[1]

Family

On August 14, 1964, she married the Aragonese tenor Bernabé Martí (1928) at the Monastery of Santa María de Montserrat (Monistrol de Montserrat, Barcelona), with whom she had two children: Bernabé (1966)[16] and Montserrat Martí (soprano) (1972).[17]

She was the grandmother of Daniela Faidella Martínez (2011), born of the relationship between her daughter Montserrat and the businessman Daniel Faidella.[18]

Awards and honors

Among the many musical awards she received, the following stand out:

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Muere Montserrat Caballé a los 85 años en Barcelona". europapress.es (in español). October 6, 2018. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
  2. ↑ Alier, Roger (2007). Diccionario de la Ópera (in español). Ma non troppo. Ediciones Robinbook. Prefaced by Montserrat Caballé
  3. ↑ "Spanish opera singer Montserrat Caballe dies at 85". Washington Post. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
  4. ↑ "Carlos Caballé, padre de Montserrat Caballé". El País (in español). May 6, 1995. Retrieved August 3, 2014.
  5. ↑ "Convocan a concurso Montserrat Caballé". Noroeste (in español). NTX. April 13, 2010. Retrieved August 3, 2014.
  6. ↑ Montserrat Caballé (2009). "En noches como ésta". rtve.es (Video) (in español). Retrieved August 4, 2014.
  7. ↑ Teatre Fortuny, més d'un segle. Vol. II, 1939-1988. Reus : Consorci Teatre Fortuny, 1998.
  8. ↑ Amón, Rubén (October 6, 2018). "Un respeto a la divina "gorda"". El País (in español). Madrid: Prisa. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
  9. ↑ "Gioacchino Rossini - Semiramide - Opernaufnahmen 1980-1989". www.esdf-opera.de (in Deutsch). Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  10. ↑ "ROSSINI - Lopez-Cobos - Semiramide (live Aix-en-Provence 1980) live Aix-en-Provence 1980". Melomania, la passion du classique (in français). Archived from the original on October 11, 2018. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  11. ↑ "Romanza final (Gayarre) (1986)". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  12. ↑ Geli, Carles (October 6, 2018). "La historia de 'Montsy' y Freddie". El País (in español). Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  13. ↑ Fidalgo, Feliciano (July 10, 1988). "Purísima Sara". El País (in español). Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  14. ↑ "Montserrat Caballé, condenada a seis meses de cárcel por defraudar a Hacienda". ABC.es (in español). EFE. December 15, 2015. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
  15. ↑ Meléndez-Haddad, Pablo (October 23, 2012). "Montserrat Caballé, en observación tras sufrir un ictus reversible". ABC (in español). Retrieved August 3, 2014.
  16. ↑ 20Minutos. "Montserrat y Bernabé Martí, los hijos de Montserrat Caballé". 20minutos.es (in español). Retrieved October 11, 2018.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  17. ↑ "Una nota de mujer". El tiempo (in español). EFE. October 3, 1992. Retrieved August 3, 2014.
  18. ↑ Montserrat Martí, hija de Montserrat Caballé, presenta a su hija Daniela, Bekia, 07/09/2011
  19. ↑ Fundación Príncipe de Asturias. "Victoria de los Ángeles, Teresa Berganza, Montserrat Caballé, José Carreras, Pilar Lorengar, Alfredo Kraus y Plácido Domingo" (in español). Retrieved August 3, 2014.
  20. ↑ Ruiz Morales, José Miguel (1966). Gran Teatro del Liceo (ed.). La cantante Montserrat Caballe : condecorada con el lazo de dama de Isabel la Católica (in español). Madrid: Gráficas Reunidas. p. 15.
  21. ↑ "Documentació sobre la medalla d'or del Liceu entregada al tenor A. Turp en 1963 i a Montserrat Caballé en 1966". Societat del Gran Teatre del Liceu (in català). 1966. Retrieved October 11, 2018. See the third image
  22. ↑ "Grammy recording award winners" in The Montreal Gazette, March 13, 1969. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
  23. ↑ "11th Annual GRAMMY Awards". GRAMMY.com. November 28, 2017. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  24. ↑ "BOE.es - Índice por secciones del BOE del día 18/07/1973". www.boe.es (in español). Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  25. ↑ Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (July 18, 1975). "DECRETO 1710/1975 por el que se concede la Gran Cruz de Orden Civil de Alfonso X El Sabio a doña Montserrat Caballé" (PDF). Boletín Oficial del Estado (in español) (171): 15514. Retrieved August 3, 2014.
  26. ↑ Cuartas, Javier (April 13, 1991). "Siete cantantes líricos obtienen el Príncipe de Asturias de las Artes". El País (in español). Oviedo. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  27. ↑ "Montserrat Caballé". El País (in español). November 6, 1982. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  28. ↑ Franco, Enrique (May 13, 1988). "La artista autofabricada y el creador precoz". El País (in español). Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  29. ↑ "BOE.es - Documento BOE-A-1988-16832". www.boe.es (in español). Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  30. ↑ Cuartas, Javier (April 13, 1991). "Siete cantantes líricos obtienen el Príncipe de Asturias de las Artes". El País (in español). Oviedo. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  31. ↑ "Montserrat Caballé y Andrés Corchero, premios nacionales de Cultura". El País (in español). Barcelona. July 4, 2003. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  32. ↑ "Caballé recibe la Legión de Honor de Francia" (in español). Retrieved October 6, 2018.
  33. ↑ "Montserrat Caballé: 'Soy española de pura cepa, pese a quien pese'". El Mundo (in español). July 6, 2008. Retrieved August 16, 2011.
  34. ↑ Ceremony presenting the Gran Croce
  35. ↑ "Montserrat Caballé, investida doctora 'honoris causa'" (in català). Avui. February 8, 2011. Retrieved February 9, 2011.
  36. ↑ "Montserrat Caballé rep el doctorat 'honoris causa' per la Universitat de Barcelona" (in català). El Periódico de Catalunya. February 8, 2011. Archived from the original on November 26, 2011. Retrieved February 9, 2011.
  37. ↑ "Montserrat Caballé celebra los 50 años de su debut en El Liceo con Josep Carreras y Montserrat Martí" (in español). Retrieved October 6, 2018.
  38. ↑ "Montserrat Caballé recibe el máximo galardón de Armenia". www.canarias7.es (in español). Retrieved October 11, 2018.
  39. ↑ 20Minutos. "Montserrat Caballé recibe la Medalla de Madrid, que irá "al lugar de más honor" de su casa". 20minutos.es - Últimas Noticias (in español). Retrieved October 11, 2018.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  40. ↑ LaInformacion. "Montserrat Caballé, entre los Premios Ópera Actual 2014". La Información (in español). Archived from the original on October 6, 2018. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
  41. ↑ "Montserrat Caballé, Medalla de Oro del Real Círculo Artístico de Barcelona". La Información (in español). March 22, 2017. Retrieved October 11, 2018.
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