(b Barcelona, 12 April 1933 ). Spanish soprano. She studied at the Barcelona Liceo and made her concert début in 1954. After opera engagements at Basle and Bremen, and guest appearances in Milan, Vienna and Lisbon, she sang Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia in a New York concert performance. Thereafter her pure legato, long-breathed phrases and ability to float soft, high notes have made her a leading Verdi and Donizetti soprano. She sang Gounod's Marguerite at the Met in 1965; her Covent Garden début was in 1972, as Violetta.
Caballé, Montserrat (mōnsĕrät' käbälyā'), 1933-, Spanish soprano, b. Barcelona. After voice study with Eugenia Kemeny and Conchita Badia in Barcelona, she made her operatic debut in Basel, Switzerland, in 1956, singing Mimi in Puccini's La Bohème. She became an overnight success with American audiences in 1965 after singing in Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia at Carnegie Hall in New York City. That same year she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Marguerite in Gounod's Faust. Her voice is noted for its purity, precise control, and power. Remarkably active during her long career, Caballé has sung over 80 operatic roles, including the Marschallin in Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier and the title role in Salomé; recorded more than 30 roles; and sung in all of the world's major opera houses. A superb interpreter of songs, particularly those of her native Spain, she is also noted for her recital performances.
Spanish coloratura soprano noted for her ability to suspend pianissimo high notes. She is best known for performing lead roles in operas by Bellini and Donizetti.
Montserrat Caballé's career, which began with a legendary lucky break, would eventually make her one of Spain's greatest sopranos -- equaled in status and reputation only by her fellow Barcelonian, Victoria de los Angeles.
Her full birth name is Maria de Montserrat Viviana Concepción Caballé i Folch. She is named after the famous Catalan monastery of Montserrat. It is said that her parents feared that they would lose her and vowed that if she were born alive and well they would christen her with the monastery's name.
She learned singing at her convent school; at the age of eight, she entered the Conservatorio del Liceo in Barcelona. Her most important teachers were Eugenia Kenny, Conchita Badea, and Napoleone Annovazzi. When she graduated in 1954, she won the Liceo's Gold Medal.
Caballé made her professional debut in Madrid in the oratorio El pesebre (The Manger) by the great Catalan cellist Pau (Pablo) Casals. She then went to Italy, where she received a few minor roles at various houses.
In 1956, she joined the Basle Opera; she was working her way through the smaller roles when one of the principal singers took ill and she took over the role of Mimì in Puccini's La Bohéme. Her unqualified success in that part led to promotion to starring roles, including Pamina (The Magic Flute), Puccini's Tosca, Verdi's Aïda, Marta in Eugene d'Albert's Tiefland, and the Richard Strauss roles of Arabella, Chrysothemis (Elektra), and Salome.
She steadily gained a European reputation, singing in Bremen, Milan, Vienna, Barcelona, and Lisbon, taking such diverse roles as Violetta (La Traviata), Tatiana (Yevgeny Onegin), Dvorák's Armida and Rusalka, and Marie in Berg's Wozzeck. She debuted at La Scala in 1960 as a Flower Maiden in Parsifal. She sang in Mexico City in 1964 as Massenet's Manon.
In April 20, 1965, on extremely short notice, she substituted for the indisposed Marilyn Horne in a concert performance in Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia, achieving a thunderous success and "overnight" super-stardom. She became one of the leading figures in the revival of interest in the bel canto operas of Bellini and Donizetti, many of which were staged especially for her. Caballé's performances as Elizabeth I (Roberto Devereaux) and that monarch's rival Mary Queen of Scots (Maria Stuarda) are legendary. In 1971, she sang a memorable concert performance of Maria Stuarda in which her fellow Barcelonian José Carreras made his London debut, and after that she helped advance his career. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1965 as Marguerite in Faust.
Caballé's career has centered around Verdi's important dramatic roles, but has also embraced the Marschallin (Rosenkavalier), the Countess (Marriage of Figaro), and Queen Isabella (in the premiere of Leonardo Balada's Cristobál Colón in Barcelona in 1989).
Caballé has had unusual crossover success. In addition to singing on two tracks on an album by New Age composer Vangelis, she is famous for collaborating with the late Freddie Mercury of the rock group Queen, who wrote Exercises in Free Love for her. She appeared on his hit album Barcelona. That album and its primary single rose high on the pop charts.
In 1964, she married Spanish tenor Bernabé Marti. They have two children, Bernabé Marti, Jr. and Montserrat Marti, who is herself a succesful soprano. In 1997, Caballé co-founded an important annual vocal competition in the Principality of Andorra, the Concurs Internacional de Cant Montserrat Caballé. She conducts master classes in conjunction with that competition. ~ Joseph Stevenson, All Music Guide
