100 Greatest Singers: MONTSERRAT CABALLÉ

THIS PROJECT IS RESERVED ONLY FOR THE GREATEST! What´s your opinion to find Caballé in this list? Please comment!

Montserrat Caballé, Soprano (born 1933)

Gioacchino Rossini - Armida
D´amore al dolce impero
(Recorded 1966/1967)

My personal opinion: Montserrat Caballés success began when she walked "through the doors Maria Callas opened before", so Caballé herself once said. The old belcanto repertoire was her profession, and in that she attained her very best. Who would deny she was one of the best lyric sopranos in the last half of the 20th century? Her singing was ethernal beautiful, the voice silvery gleaming, her pianissimo like a breeze from heaven.
I choose the difficult coloratur aria from Rossinis Armida, that a young Caballé (around 1966) decorated with fine ornaments. One of the last immortal sopranos the world know!

THE COMPLETE OVERVIEW: GO TO "ALL SINGERS IN THIS LIST"

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Montserrat
• Caballé
• Maria
• Callas
• Belcanto
• Rossini
• Donizetti
• Bellini
• Norma
• Traviata
• Armida
• Spain
• José
• Carreras

[100Singers]

To magicflute3: Well, everything is allowed. I´ve also included some singers here, I don´t like, but I have to overcome my personal antipathys, when it is a great "artist". So, your public opinion is a brave one I think.

[aldoguionbajomanuel]

She's simply amazing. Nobody has done what she can do. Remember those fiatos, larguettos and sustain notes that she use to sing. There's something magical in her voice and i think is just pureness....

[suffisance]

I'd be a little worried if you HADN'T put MC on this list. Thanks for posting!

[singerjoann444]

In my next life I hope to be a true artiste the calibre of Montserrat Cabballe...she was born in the year I was and she has been a study in true, complete artistry....I hope she's still singing well in 10 more years....because she has used her voice without abusing it, it is still serving her. We're the grateful audience who marvel over her magnificent technique. Keep singing, dear Montserrat....I am!

[paulostroff99]

Superb.TY 100 SINGERS FOR POSTING.

[CharlotteinWeimar]

She has a wonderful voice & huge natural talent but uses her vocal splendour ahead of creating a specific character. When fired up she is compelling & exquisite, as in Norma from Orange. Yet she can be over-indulgent & surprisingly rough (Liu in concert). Sometimes in one breath she'll go for an extra phrase just because she can & then be left gasping, & here I lose interest. 100 Greatest? Undoubtedly, but as a sublimely gifted singer who puts voice before interpretation

[mizofan]

Hers is still my favourite O Mio Babbino Caro (e.g posted by 30yearoldvirgin on youtube)

[federricoilgrande]

@troppofiato you're right, but you have forgotten Leyla Gencer ::))

[Nacidodelmar]

@suffisance Mee too! I am so happy to see her here I growed up loving her to find out little by little here and there that some people make fun of me I mean people that you should consider their opinions regarding sopranos. I just love Montserrat!

[Svedina80]

Magnifico!

[troppofiato]

Caballe was an incredibly versatile singer who could pretty much sing anything. Wish you had chosen instead an aria with slow, long, drawn out phrases which she could spin with the most incredible legato and fiato like no one else. Who else sang pianissimos like her? I know, Ponselle, Milanov, the young Tebaldi, etc., all had beautiful pianissimi, but not like Caballe.

[bellini7verdi]

SOBERBIA.INCREIBLE Y BELLA.ASI ES COMO ME GUSTA A MI CABALLE CON TODO SU PODER Y ELLA LO TENIA.INTELIGENCIA NO LE FALTABA Y VOZ TAMPOCO.LA PASION HUMANA LA LLEVABA DENTRO.POR ESO ESTABA EN LA CUSPIDE.EL CIRCULO DE LOS ELEGIDOS.

[Moegiust]

Not a personal favorite but an appropriate choice both for her technical skills and her role as a voice teacher - several singers have told me that they learn a lot about breath control fom what she has said and from listening to her recordings.