Montserrat Caballe has passed away.

[cubanmiamiboy]

I learned Opera listening to her voice. The world has lost its truly last Operatic Diva.

Rest in peace, eternal Norma.

Viva La Superba!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/world-europe-45769808

Edited October 6, 2018 by cubanmiamiboy

[Helene]

She continued to sing smaller roles and cameos, including in new and rarely performed operas well after she stopped singing her larger, signature roles around the world.

I am privileged to have heard her live, and from the very top of the Met: what a voice.

Rest in peace, Monserrat Caballe. 

 

[Mashinka]

A beautiful voice, will be playing one of her CDs tonight.

[JamesonBW]

3 hours ago, Helene said:

I am privileged to have heard her live, and from the very top of the Met: what a voice.

Rest in peace, Monserrat Caballe. 

 

An absolute privilege indeed. Have had my old records on repeat this morning.

RIP.

[Drew]

May she rest in peace....

[dirac]

The ultimate cancellation. RIP.  

She was surely responsible for some of the most beautiful sounds ever made.

NYT obit here.

Quote

Over nearly half a century, critics invoked adjectives to describe Ms. Caballé’s sound that would read as staggering hyperbole for almost anyone else: “limpid,” “liquid,” “shimmering,” “quicksilver,” “celestial,” “unearthly,” “velvety,” “voluptuous,” “lustrous,” “ravishing.”

Thanks for posting, cubanmiamiboy. I hadn't heard.

 

 

[PeggyR]

My mother studied voice when she was young, and had her own unfulfilled aspirations to be an opera singer.  She was very critical of most singers (Callas absolutely drove her up a wall), but there were two sopranos about whom she refused to hear a word of criticism:  Tebaldi and Caballé.  I never heard Caballé live, but even in recordings the purity of her voice was astonishing.  

Rest in peace.

[Birdsall]

I love Caballe and saw her live on the tail end of her career, where she began to use her famed piannissimi even when the score said, "forte" (she even admitted that she really didn't have the high notes for the bel canto repertoire, so her forte notes were often screamy but occasionally fine, and she relied on her floated pianissimi more and more, but I couldn't complain. Her piannissimi were so gorgeous. One of my all-time favorite moments is when she holds a piano note forever in Maria Stuarda during the preghiera, and just when she SHOULD run out of breath she credscendos instead. I don't think any other soprano has done that. The very end of Don Carlo had her holding a piano note until the orchestra stops. Her studio Norma is mediocre, but her video of Norma at the antique theatre in L'Orange is amazing! She's totally on fire! And the wind that night helps to create a turbulent atmosphere.

She is one of the greats! 

[dirac]

Thank you for those recollections, Birdsall. I remember hearing Caballe as Norma for the first time on the studio recording and wondering what all the fuss was about. That video from 1974 explains it all and demonstrates what a beast of the theater Caballe could be when she was on.  

Callas and Caballe got to know each other in the 70s, and Callas gave Caballe a pair of earrings that Visconti had given her when she first sang Norma at La Scala.

[Birdsall]

This is why bootleg audio recordings are traded, bought, and sold. Many opera singers are much better "live" rather than on studio recordings. Callas sings with such intensity with her words even more than her studio recordings. Caballe proves that she could be "a beast of the theater" as you say on live recordings. Even Dame Joan Sutherland, usually thought of as a technically incredible voice but lousy at the drama, has even shown more acting on her bootlegs.

[Barbara]

I must admit that I've never heard her sing but have always thought she had the most beautiful sounding name. RIP. 

[dirac]

17 hours ago, Birdsall said:

This is why bootleg audio recordings are traded, bought, and sold. Many opera singers are much better "live" rather than on studio recordings. Callas sings with such intensity with her words even more than her studio recordings. Caballe proves that she could be "a beast of the theater" as you say on live recordings. Even Dame Joan Sutherland, usually thought of as a technically incredible voice but lousy at the drama, has even shown more acting on her bootlegs.

I have a Sutherland Lucia from the early sixties that would knock your socks off (her live recordings really demonstrate how BIG that voice was ) and of course Maria’s Norma was best caught live, although the first studio recording is a good representation. Still, the microphone loved Caballe.

The internet has made all these bootlegs more accessible than ever before, which is a Good Thing, particularly in terms of improved sound quality, although it means that new fans are denied the pleasures of the hunt for rare recordings. 

[Birdsall]

4 hours ago, dirac said:

I have a Sutherland Lucia from the early sixties that would knock your socks off (her live recordings really demonstrate how BIG that voice was ) and of course Maria’s Norma was best caught live, although the first studio recording is a good representation. Still, the microphone loved Caballe.

The internet has made all these bootlegs more accessible than ever before, which is a Good Thing, particularly in terms of improved sound quality, although it means that new fans are denied the pleasures of the hunt for rare recordings. 

I have a Lucia from her debut run from February 1959 at the Royal Opera......I don't think it was Opening Night. I would have to research, but it was from the first run (her first Lucias ever) that really made her an overnight sensation, and it is proof that Sutherland could be very effective in the drama department. Her amazing technique was what carried her through her career and kept her fame alive, but she could be more than just a wind up doll also.

Without the bootlegs we would not have Callas in Anna Bolena (on fire in the final scene) or her wild Medea in Dallas after being fired by Bing at the Met. She sings like she has a score to settle.  You are right about her Normas and the first studio recording (I disagree with John Ardoin who wrote that her 2nd studio Norma was better due to more dramatic insight and a better supporting cast......to me the 2nd studio shows how here voice had declined and her first one shows so much power and ENOUGH or PLENTY of incisive drama.......nobody has come close to creating so much drama in Norma, although Caballe comes very close in the L'Orange video).

Her bootleg from 1958 of Traviata makes me weep when she sings after Alfredo throws the money at her as well as her "Addio del passato....."

All three of these greats (Callas, Sutherland, Caballe) ruined Norma for us all......no one else has measured up, imho. It continues to be the Mount Everest role for sopranos and no one has knocked those three off their pedestals.