It is difficult to imagine a modern opera scene without its main soprano - Montserrat Caballe. The story of her life and career 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 about this later in the article.
early years
Little Maria de Montserrat Viviana Concepcion Caballe and Folk was born in the capital of Catalonia, Barcelona in 1933, April 12. Her father worked as a simple worker in a chemical plant, and her mother was a housekeeper who took on any part-time job so that the family had a little more money.
The girl showed her love for music from an early age. For hours before the holes she listened to records of various operas. When she was 12 years old, she went to study at the Lyceum of Barcelona, which she graduated only at 24 years old.
The family was poor, and young Montserrat had to look for work to help her with money. The girl was not afraid of working specialties. She worked in a weaving factory, in a sewing workshop, and in a store. But the hard work did not stop her from finding time to attend French and Italian classes.
On the road to fame
The love of music never left young Montserrat Caballe. She studied at the Liceo Conservatory for four years. Her teacher was the singer Eugenia Kemmeni, who put the future diva her unsurpassed voice.
After graduating from the conservatory, she came under the patronage of philanthropist Beltran Mata, who helped her get into the troupe of the Basel Theater. And she made her debut on his stage in the opera Giacomo Puccini's "Bohemia", where she played 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 revealed best in the works of Bellini and Donizetti.
World popularity
By coincidence, in 1965, the young singer ends up in the American Carnegie Hall, where she is asked to replace the opera star Marilyn Horn in her performance, performing instead her part of Lucretia Borgia. After this performance, an opera diva was talked about on all continents.
Already in 1970, Montserrat debuted on the stage of the famous La Scala Theater. Here she gets a role in Bellini's opera Norma. With this production, the singer traveled the whole world. In 1974, the troupe came to Moscow. Here, for the first time, our compatriots could enjoy all the facets of her voice live.
In addition, Montserrat Caballe obeyed all the famous world opera venues. She was invited to the White House in the United States, the Hall of Columns in the Kremlin, the Metropolitan Opera, and the UN Audience.
Bold experiments
As you know, classical music goes well with rock. The first experiment in this genre was several songs recorded together with the lead singer of Queen. In 1988, they released a small music album called Barcelona. This 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 track was played at the opening of the 1992 Olympic Games, which took place in Barcelona. Montserrat Caballe and Freddie Mercury performed it with such inspiration that the work became an unofficial anthem of the capital of Catalonia. Almost immediately, they began to sing her on all the streets of the city, making her truly popular. And this speaks of the unprecedented popularity and weightiness in the cultural life of any artist.
In the late 90s of the last century there were new experiments. And it was again rock music, which was performed together with the Swiss band Gotthard.
Further, the Greek composer Vangelis offers Montserrat a joint project in the style of "new age", and she agrees to record several songs with him. Further there were other joint projects. Diva also turned her attention to Nikolai Baskov, noting in him the potential of a real opera singer and offering to give several lessons.
