{"id":2365,"date":"2026-10-29T17:57:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T00:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/?p=2365"},"modified":"2026-10-29T17:57:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T00:57:19","slug":"montserrat-caballe-an-extremely-brief-profile-of-an-operatic-powerhouse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/2026\/10\/29\/montserrat-caballe-an-extremely-brief-profile-of-an-operatic-powerhouse\/","title":{"rendered":"Montserrat Caball\u00e9: an Extremely Brief Profile of an Operatic Powerhouse"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Cada generaci\u00f3n tiene sus mitos, y en el mundo de la \u00f3pera &#8230; hablar de Montserrat Caball\u00e9 &#8230; es hablar de una aut\u00e9ntica leyenda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Every generation has its myths, and in the world of opera \u2026 to speak of Montserrat Caball\u00e9 \u2026 is to speak of a true legend. [1, translated from Spanish by me]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>With a rafter-shaking voice, Caball\u00e9 was one of a small handful of opera singers whose fame extended out beyond the world of opera into the public sphere. Born in Barcelona in 1933, she broke out in 1965 at Carnegie Hall to wide-ranging operatic acclaim. [1]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more Continue Reading-->\n\n\n\n<p>Her tremendous vocal prowess, \u201cstirring for its quality, warmth, and expressivity,\u201d worked alongside a curiosity for those works that laid forgotten in dusty libraries, and enabled her to adapt those works to her style. This begot an unusually wide repertoire. This repertoire was not strictly operatic, either: Freddie Mercury\u2019s \u201cfavorite singer,\u201d the pair went on to perform their duet \u201cBarcelona\u201d at the 1992 Olympic Games, in a moment that cemented her to many as an icon of Catalonia more broadly. [1]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She also had an energetic personality on stage:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Montserrat Caball\u00e9 - O mio babbino caro\" width=\"525\" height=\"394\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RxZSP1Dc78Q?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Transcription and translation of German introduction by fellow LangLabbie Annie:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Ja, das ist ein ganz kleine Liedchen von Puccini. Man nennt das Liedchen, aber das ist wirklich von Gianni Schicchi. Und das ist halt [das Publikum st\u00f6ht] \u2013 Moment! [Lachen] \u2013 das ist ja ganz kurz\u2026 weil das muss so sein jetzt. [weiteres Lachen]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is a short little song by Puccini. People call it a little song, but it\u2019s actually from Gianni Schicchi [a hugely popular opera based on Dante\u2019s Inferno]. And this is basically [sigh from audience] \u2013 hold on! [laughter] \u2013 it\u2019s because it just has to be short right now. [more laughter from audience]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>It was fairly unique, this ability to elicit quite a few laughs from a Munich crowd (with a significantly different taste in humor than that of her native Barcelona) and then transition smoothly into an emotionally charged aria. This combination of broad confidence and vocal mastery is, I suspect, much of why she ended up being as well-known and loved as she was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While opera remains a secluded (and often highfalutin) art form, it retains unique technical and artistic merits, and Caball\u00e9\u2019s repertoire will continue to be an exemplar of these merits, for those whose ears are so inclined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Work Cited\/Further Reading<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>[1] P\u00e9rez Sanz, Javier. &#8220;Caball\u00e9, la \u2018Superba\u2019.&#8221; <em>El Pa\u00eds<\/em>, 6 Oct. 2018, <a href=\"http:\/\/P\u00e9rez Sanz, Javier. &quot;Caball\u00e9, la \u2018Superba\u2019.&quot; El Pa\u00eds, 6 Oct. 2018, elpais.com\/cultura\/2018\/10\/06\/actualidad\/1538818098_527924.html.\">elpais.com\/cultura\/2018\/10\/06\/actualidad\/1538818098_527924.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cada generaci\u00f3n tiene sus mitos, y en el mundo de la \u00f3pera &#8230; hablar de Montserrat Caball\u00e9 &#8230; es hablar de una aut\u00e9ntica leyenda. Every generation has its myths, and in the world of opera \u2026 to speak of Montserrat Caball\u00e9 \u2026 is to speak of a true legend. [1, translated from Spanish by me] &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/2026\/10\/29\/montserrat-caballe-an-extremely-brief-profile-of-an-operatic-powerhouse\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Montserrat Caball\u00e9: an Extremely Brief Profile of an Operatic Powerhouse&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3077,"featured_media":2388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[93,73,70,211,97,89,79,72],"tags":[212,214,213,215,216],"class_list":["post-2365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-levels","category-general","category-german","category-history-and-linguistics","category-media","category-music","category-other-langs","category-spanish","tag-catalan","tag-humor","tag-opera","tag-spain-spanish","tag-theater"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3077"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2365"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2421,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2365\/revisions\/2421"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/langlabbies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}