Montserrat Caballé masterclass in 1992

[BigBassValbisentine]

dunque:per quanto riguarda la respirazione non mi piace,non è corretto spingere con la parte bassa del diaframma,non serve a niente e fà male,magari quel sistema può andar bene per i soprani,la vera respirazione è diaframmatico-costale,si deve gonfiare il diaframma e la parte bassa della gabbia toracica (3 o 4 diti sotto i capezzoli),l'immascherazione mi sembra buona e giusta

[rockandbluesboy]

@BigBassValbisentine guarda che la Caballe non li sta parlando di respirare dal basso, ma di apoggiare bene il suone ed è ben distinto!!!.. poi se nella storia della musica c'è una cantante che de la respirazione ha fatto una perla, è senza ombra di dubbio la Caballe!!!



[DesAbends]

@DoktorNgKepiyas

LOL this was too funny!!!! :)

[lakritzeslena]

wow, this was so helpful

[dancewiththedeath]

What is that song? 1: 35

[pierreaar]

@dancewiththedeath It's a piece from "Winterreise", Schubert.

[johndlabella]

Ian

I meant to reply to your kind message, but accidentally hit the "This is spam" link. So sorry; I hope it doesn't cause you any harm.

[garconfrancais01]

@DoktorNgKepiyas haha im totally guessing you are joking? haha

[williamsimpson4]

she is his mom?

[mc0558]

I disagree with you about Schwarzkopf. She believed in absolute honesty--if the person doesn't have it. Tell her. Don't let her go on and on for something she can never have. Btw, I don't know if you ever heard any of Schwartzkopf's pre 1948 recordings. You'd hardlly recognize her voice. Awful. But she had it, and a good teacher transformed it completely. Schwartzkopf could tell if the makings of a great voice was there.

[SENAFOREVER]

@WiseMonkey888 Perhaps you should try on Yoga, dear.

Wish you a nice day.

[Eximius]

Oh, my God. She was touching so near to his cock (which doesn't seem to look bad, hahaha).

[mc0558]

@Eximius She is checking his stomach muscles, idiot!

[Operaddict]

This is hopeless for that poor guy. She wants him to sing like a woman...not a good choice for him, unfortunately. He is not a woman. These female teachers LOVE to work with young male singers...flirt with them...touch them...and try to get them to sing like they do. I see it ALL THE TIME. She was a great soprano...and she should ONLY work with sopranos.

[urgrad03]

@Operaddict: Did you have a bad experience? You sound a little bitter.

[Operaddict]

Caballe sang very beautifully with a great technique. But trying to teach that same technique to a man is useless. I had several female teachers at the beginning, and what they wanted did not help me at all. I learned to sing by working with a baritone like myself. He knew the correct approach for a man, and because of that, I have had a wonderful singing career. You can hear me on You Tube if you wish to. Jason Stearns

[ian1856]

@Operaddict Interesting what you say, Jason. Most of the female teachers I had were "size queens." Get the voice big and beefy. Pardon my bluntness, but I felt like they were only satisfied once they were wet! Happily, after years of both male and female singers who didn't what to do with my voice, I came across Glenys Linos in Vienna (a di Hidalgo student) who has performed miracles in the last 22 months. I'm a tenor, so perhaps we'll wind up singing together.

[mc0558]

@ian1856 Traditionally, it was believed the resonnance of a great voice revirberated through fat tissue. Callas proved the nonsense of that viewpoint. Yet even with her the greatness of the voice didn't endure long after she last all that weight. Whether it was because she neglected her work or the voice just faded, I can't say.

[victorvei]

es una mujer adorable y coo cantante nohay palabras

[federricoilgrande]

Mon petit Vincent, tu étais vraiment mignon!!!

[rovingdesertfox]

@dompedrodecristo Was Caballe saying he should pull in with the lower

abdomen to support? It certainly seemed so, as she was pushing in there.

Thank you.

[haranoe]

The lesson was cute but, although I totally hate Vivaldi, what they have done with that aria goes from disgusting to ridiculous and then to revolting again.

XIXth century music and classical music (XVIIIth century music) are totally different in character and technique, and if you blur one sensibility into the other (more often than not the baroque and classical into the romantic and verist) you may be doing something very legitimate, beautiful and all that, but you made it wholly different.

[bodiloto]

Brava  La Caballé parole sante !

[Jeanne90275]

Thank you...I got the gist of most of what she was saying...but not everything .Your translation was

most appreciated.

[uniqueattack]

Did he go to the School of Nostril Singing? Weird!

[Operaddict]

In this video, this young man sounds very nasal and at the same time "hooty". I know that many young singers adopt this approach to singing. But it is not classic technique, and is only applicable to light Lieder singing and some Mozart. There is no appoggio in this kind of singing. He is a handsome young man, and appears to have feeling...but he needs to keep looking for a better role model, vocally. Sopranos, even if great singers, generally do not understand what a male voice is all about.

[seapie]

Dear dompedrodecristo ... lying flat will allow the abdominal muscles to move freely. Never push down (can give you pile) and never expand (can stiffen your body). Abdominal muscles are coming in and in and in with the phrase like running out of breath. The trick is the body muscle such as upper front chest, lower/upper back must expand flexible with the phrase also. This is to stretch the vocal cord and disallow it to rise. Please, check out Dome Songwish sing Linden Lea. Nice talking.

[GeorgiNM]

Well the applause she gets is comparable to what Bartoli gets after an Agitata so I guess that's that...

[Verdilover13]

Hello! Can someone please post or send me the translations as well? THanks=)

[Aeysatawat]

She seems very kind:))

[bchainz]

We really need a word for word translation please!

[maiaplisetzkaia]

I sent you a message with the translation. thanks.

[allstatebass]

young singers who sing like that do not impress me. when i hear that, i hear a singer that needs to take all of the melodrama out of the voice and go back to the basics of support and pure vowel sounds. because, ugh.....

[ElisabettaVS]

Which song is he singing? After the practise?

[ElisabettaVS]

she is so cute xD

[oseznomad]

she is marvellous but that vivaldi.... ufff. Cecilia Bartoli, that´s vivaldi

[896423658]

cecilia bartoli is ridiculous compared to Sara Mingardo

[Operaddict]

This guy hasn't got the first thing right vocally. It is sad really. No technique after a million lessons. What the hell are people teaching these days?

[tena2]

I cannot agree more with you, Diafragm position is basic and does not seems to be that well used buy many.

[Operaddict]

Not too sweet, soprano. This guy can't sing worth spit.

[KirstyGriffiths]

Was interested up until she sang agitata da due venti ...... pretty shitty...... did not respect what the composer wrote, dropped notes etc. On the other hand, she is a singer I greatly respect sooooo much. I just think that at her age it is now time to shy away from this sort of Vivaldi coloratura music if you can't sing all the notes as the composer wrote them ....

[suffisance]

The Arie Antiche disc is wonderful, however.

[ElisabettaVS]

Let her sing what she wants to sing and when she wants. It is up to her, no one is ever to old to sing anything.

[Jeanne90275]

Thank you for your comment...how refreshing!

[lamusicahera]

Her singing has been wonderful...

Such free emission on every tone

not like Bartoli who is not focussed or sustained ....

Caballe has been aware

WHAT TO DO AND WHEN IN WHICH REPERTOIRE...

I dont like her singing on the big spinto /dramatic Verdi and Puccini and verismo (not enough volume and power) but her Donizetti Mozart Bellini Rossiniinterpretations as well as her Scarlatti etc. are not better to do!

BRAVA!

[seapie]

What she is doing is to show him that the diaphragm needs to rise up and up, right after the phrase even. As it moves up and up, it helps to reduce the body tension and most importantly allows other singing muscles e.g. whole back, chest bone and all the rest to move freely. The guy is pulling the diaphragm down - this is NO NO as it stiffs everything and stops the production of sound moving.

[antfreire]

Kraus is not a good example when talking about singing techniques. As Corelli said "I don't agree with the way he does it, but it has worked for him" Which means enjoy his singing but "don't try that yourself"

[Operaddict]

She is trying to teach him to sing like a woman. That doesn't work for men. Women place their voices high above the mouth and behind the nose. Men must sing from the upper teeth down. This female attempt to teach men to sing "in the masque" always brings confusion and failure...women teaching men. No less than Pavarotti himself said that men don't do this. He said that he never felt his voice in the masque. I'll believe the Pav.

[33blueberries]

And Bonynge and Sutherland have stated in interview that the voice should be, feel low, because otherwise, ascending the scale, "you have nowhere to go". Sensations during singing are highly subjective, even when the results are similar. To my ears and eyes, she is simply trying to fix a current technical problem of his.

[tena2]

I am sorry but I dont agree at all. Lets take Kraus example, his tecnique was based on holding the air in the cost-diafragm and proyected upwards king of luke montserrat states here but not quite yet, that tecnique of Alfredo has been criticised but It actually kept his voice in good result for over 40 years unlike the diclination that Luciano suffered after 1980. And I can challenge anyone on this. Results like the masque you will no find anywhere else,

[Operaddict]

You sound as confused about singing as she is.

[Operaddict]

This young fellow is struggling, and she is not helping. Maybe it is the language. Caballe had a great technique and was a great artist. But in my opinion, women do not understand men's voices. They try to get us to sing like they do. Men do not sing just in the head voice. We do not place our voices in the mask, except for the highest notes in our range. Our voices are, for the most part, a mix of head and chest voice. This is not true of women's voices, which are primarily always in the head.

[tena2]

I agree on that male voice a mixture of head and chest but we can also sing head and singing in the masque is a very healthy way to sing as keep the voice features last longer convined with the right opera roles of course. I am a lyric tenor and been studying singing for over 8 eyears now so If you dont agree with my singing taste the dont blame my luck of knowledge, Its just a choise of singing which has given excellent results to the some tenors like Kraus, Perfile, Schipa, Volpi etc.

[PonselleLover]

I understand what you mean but if you're right to say that our men's voices also resound in chest, they obviously resound in the mask all throughout the range, and this is the only placement we can control, the chest one being automatic. And Tena is right to say that the high placement is the healthiest one :)

[thehix]

A soprano almost destroyed my voice even though she has a really good technique and she was well intended. She let me sing with a high larynx and it wasn't going in the great direction. Now I'm studying with a tenor and boy has he made a difference!! In my opinion high placement basically means half-yawned neck : low larynx and open pharynx. It must stay there unforced without the gritty bad chestyness.

[zafireh]

well, but the mask should be there always!! it's not a question of the voice! the anatomie is the same... And there are many "singer" or students who shouldn't be, because they are just untalented.

[bigdigger87]

For any singer it is a blend of a lot of space in the throat and a consistent forward placement. When those things are aligned correctly, the voice has a strong, warm color, and the "ping" or carry to resonate over an orchestra.

[pega17pl]

@Operaddict not at all woman are unable to teach singing - please watch at YT Jack Swanson singing "Ecco Ridente in Cielo" In Marilyn Horne's Spring of 2011's masterclass at OU

[rockandbluesboy]

@Operaddict hope you are kidding me!!! the tecnique is the same for man/woman first of all, 2nd it is up to you to put the things together when a teacher teaches show you how to sing!! I'd trained with a tenor and didn't get much of it!! my vocal trainer now is a soprano and in a matter of months I've grown all I never did in 2 years with my last vocal teacher!! I used to think that having a man as a teacher was the right thing!! now i realise that you recognise your teacher when U find him/her

[rodrigoruiz1988]

@Operaddict I know plenty of cases where the teacher is the opposite sex of the student, and that is perfectly normal and works well. It all depends on the individual case and how you work together. So, I don't see how your comment applies to this. Plus, she was showing him how to have every tone you create sustained by a plush column of air, which is why she is pushing his abdomen.

[SENAFOREVER]

She is so kind,gentle and motherly. And actually gets an improvement more certainly than bashing and humiliating in the Schwarzkopf way.

[33blueberries]

Different personalities, different approaches. No big deal.

[tuadolcefanciulla]

@SENAFOREVER Ever since I first heard her speak about visiting Carreras in the hospital, I was struck by the magnificent SWEETEST of this lovely woman. I'd already adored her magnificent singing.. Now I'm always struck by the multi-multi-lingual prowess of so many opera starts. They seem to be fluent

in at least 4 languages. I so envy that. In the US, we are at a disadvantage as we are surrounded by English. Can't take a quick spin to Germ, Fr. or It. And Eng. is spoken around the world.

[SENAFOREVER]

@tuadolcefanciulla, I suggest you buy a Berlitz/ Assimil method with cds, and work on it 15 minbutes a day every day. It works very well.

[LucaYune]

how much do people usually pay to get lesson from her? approximately .

[SangpourPlaisir]

I don't know but I would EASILY fork out $300 for an hour lesson with her! I know that Catherine Malfitano charges $150 an hour.

[tena2]

how lucky montserrat caballe´s daughter is to have a free high quality opera singer at home every day of her life to taech her the correct way to sing and breath support. Unfortunatelly those who cant pay cant get this kind of advantage.

[33blueberries]

But there are enough teachers who are good enough to be a help, and there are books, and scores, and even more than all these, there are recordings, videos and interviews! If a person has to be taught by Montserrat Caballe to learn how to sing, then opera is finished.

[tena2]

Yes there are plenty I dont deny that But I was talking about the fact that in her case, She is lucky as the daughter did have a profesional help from a very young age, at home, without the need of paying a high qualified vocal couch etc, I did not mean that Caballé is the best teacher, only referred as an easy accesable one for her daughter.

[DivaDeb1234]

I would freeze to have her so close and touching me like that. How awful. Yikes

[eliasbb]

puerile comment

[birgitnilsson]

Yes, Cadenza. And know she would have loved it....

[sopranoms]

that would be a very professional behavior=)

[foropera]

Merveilleux. "Le même, mieux";-) C'est adorable et intelligentissime son approche d'un élève. Et bravo à Vincent Pavesi aussi!

[johndlabella]

I would like to differ with the near universal praise given the talented Bartoli on YouTube. To quote Alfredo Kraus, "I have emough support for a voice three times my size, but I don't have that voice!" Bartoli, in contrast, throws all her body onto her lyric instrument, putting pressure on it. As a consequence, she *rarely* has a pitch center and she "skates over" fast runs (as opposed to "singing through them"). I don't believe her's is a sound baroque audiences would have accepted.

[33blueberries]

Uh..why are we talking about Bartoli?

[CountertenorJ]

@johndlabella The lack of decline, but rather the growth in her voice declares otherwise. As far as a lack of pitch center, you're either biased and trying to make something up ('cause I defy you to find proof) or there are hearing problems. The coloratura not being legato is rather accurate for most of the staccati present in Baroque music.  Zacconi gives a wonderful idea of the sound present in Baroque times in his Prattica di Musica where vibrato is a consistent habit to be practiced.

[ian1856]

@johndlabella Couldn't agree more!

[devastaticon]

@johndlabella the kraus comment is awesome but you are confusing bartoli's technique for the timbre of her voice. she never sings the way you are saying, you just think you hear it because of how unique the timbre of her voice is...

[SangpourPlaisir]

@johndlabella totally agree with you

[MisterPapageno]

@johndlabella I totally agree!

[ian1856]

@johndlabella The most intelligent observation about Bartoli that I've read so far. Thanks, John.

[kngiht84]

I would pay $20,000 just to have her pianissimo

[Liwah]

Only?

[noncondition]

I would kill ...

[emalag999]

I think you don't have to pay, you have to work! That is practice!

In the beginning, she had to breath during 2 years, without sing. Just air excercise.

Do it! I'm on that :P

[MaximumPressure]

Can someone please please translate this for me. What is saying about the breathing? Every word.

[courtneybaritone01]

I'm sorry, I'm confused. What's wrong with her singing of this aria? She sounds fine to me. I don't much care for the piece, but she doesn't sound bad at all!

[lospazio]

This is an aria that requires a great agility which she doesn´t have. The tempo is too slow, the style is wrong. She doesn't even follow the score. Maybe if you hear Cecilia Bartoli or Emma Kirkby on this site singing it you wouldn't be so confused.

[senilangakali]

I think if you properly understood what she just said in French in the interview that each artist has his or her proper expression then we could hear this as HER way of serving the music proper to herself and not necessarily copying any other...its then up to personal preference for the discerning listener..

[GoldenAwakening]

To Courtney and Senilangakali:

Yes I agree that artists do have the right to interpretations, but I think there is also the respect for the original score. Of all music genres classical music require the most adherance to form, and particular so in the baroque genre. We not only look for the the artists to sound "nice," we also want them to sound authentically baroque.Iospazio is right on that her tempo is way too slow...and her singing is way too heavy for this agility piece.

[senilangakali]

One mustn't forget that she is singing this in concert, and that Caballé is a Bel cantist first above all else.She hardly ever sings or sang baroque.This clip is an exception, her trying her hand at a repertoire that has come back into popularity thanks to singers like Bartoli.I believe she sang this here to entertain and 'divertissement' from her otherwise very well established repertoire.And she approaches it from the position she knows best, a bel canto singer first.

[bwaywrestler3564]

What is the song that Vincent was singing?

[Hjadlowker]

Erstarrung, 7th song from Schubert's Winterreise

[newhotmailit]

winterreise - schubert nr. 7 auf dem fluss

[bwaywrestler3564]

Great video I can glean some info from it, but I wish I could understand the French, anyone care to translate?

[lospazio]

Es inexplicable que una profesional como ella haya decidido cantar un aria que indiscutiblemente no le va bien. Es realmente un papelón.

I find it quite inexplicable that a professional like her has chosen an aria that is completely unsuitable for her voice.

[htshoward]

He has a remarkable voice.

[Contratenor18mlg]

Logico que su Agitata sea pobre... Montserrat es soprano lirica, no posee grandes coloraturas!!

Pero en su genero, de las mejoress!!

[pyt82]

She also speaks italian almost perfectly!! She's really really smart.

[vocux]

Her Agitata da due venti is very poor in my opinion.

[Njamh]

Great video!!!! thanks

[Italia1987]

i wish i understood french for this!!

[lumpylumps579]

diddo!

[kafkakinder]

She is a great soprano, but her performance of Agitata da due venti is quite flat.

[ClaudiaSwann]

yeah, its not a very good video either :/

well quality like.

i still say cecilia bartolli PWNS @ agitata da due venti

[FABRIZIO82]

Yes, she is learning him to sing sul fiato,with head armonics enclosing and carrying the sound,that's Bel Canto production-and may I say that it is very humble and gentle from such a diva to consent and give technical advice.

[galehout]

c'est appuyé d'une facon qui n'est pas mal mais c'est "pas porté", "pas soutenu" elle trasmet un très grand secret

[mochitagu]

Though though think that the voice of caballe is very sweet, think that a tempo is late a little to sing this agitata da due venti; ...

[helendonath]

Sarebbe stato un sogno, avere la Caballé come insegnante!!!!

...è come scoprire una millesima parte del suo segreto; della sua inossidabile tecnica e del suo immenso talento!!!

Splendido!!!

[sonqualnave]

Thanks so much for that!!