Montserrat Caballe’s secret
The week before last the opera diva Montserrat Caballe sang in concert with the Ukrainian tenor Volodymyr Hryshko.
“This is my third visit to Kyiv,” Ms. Caballe told a press conference last Wednesday. “I like your capital and wonderful audiences very much. Volodymyr Hryshko and I have prepared a surprise for this program: we are going to sing a Ukrainian duet. I am now busy learning the lyrics, while Hryshko is correcting my pronunciation. You know, when my husband (tenor Bernabe Marti) and I first heard his voice, I said to my husband, ‘Look, in this spot his voice resembles yours in timbre and shadings.’ Bernabe immediately quipped, ‘Be careful, don’t fall in love!’ This happened to me before. I first fell in love with Bernabe’s voice and then with him as a man. It is pity that my husband, who is now 77, could not come to Kyiv because of illness and see your beautiful city.”
“What is the secret of your long singing career?”
“This year marks the 50 th anniversary of my stage debut. Several generations of opera-goers have grown up during this time. Still, looking at myself in the mirror, I am not happy with what I see. Of course, I am a grande dame now. My mind tells me that I am 73, but the heart refuses to accept this fact. I feel 20 years younger. It is important for a singer to feel good — then the voice sounds splendid. On stage, I forget about my age. Music and singing is the best elixir of youth. I am a happy woman, for I met the love of my life, my husband Bernabe, we have a wonderful family (a daughter, a son, and nephews), and God bestowed on me the gift of singing.”
“You have an enormous repertoire, but do you have a favorite opera?”
“I adore Madame Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini. This is the opera that helped me meet, fall in love with, and eventually marry my future husband. But this opera also brought me suffering. When I was singing the part of Cio-Cio-san in New York in 1960, I was in a car accident when I was returning from the opera house. My legs were injured. The doctors managed to heal my right knee, but I still have problems with the left one, and since the action is dynamic and Cio-Cio-san has to kneel several times according to the plot, I have never sung in this opera since then. I have only recorded a CD.”
“You have sung with many outstanding singers. Who was your best partner?”
“That’s a difficult question. It’s worth mentioning the ‘Three Tenors.’ I have sung with the great Luciano Pavarotti many times in various theaters and countries (Aida, Giovanna d’Arco, Il Trovatore, La Boheme, and others). Luciano is a superb partner. He is considerate not only on stage but behind the scenes. We were performing at the Metropolitan Opera, and I was feeling sick and I was coughing. Pavarotti tried to calm me down, saying that everything would be OK, and he forced me to drink a glass of ice-cold water before going on stage. I didn’t want to but he insisted, and a miracle happened: my voice sounded splendid.
“Jose Carreras is completely different. He is ‘a tenor of tenors.’ How he sings is important for Jose. When he’s on stage, he should be the center of the universe. After taking a high note, he asks, ‘How’s that? Did you like it? Was I good?’ He is a superb vocalist.
“Placido Domingo is, above all, a great actor. He literally becomes part of his characters and flies into passions. I said to Placido: ‘You shouldn’t act this way: you’ll rupture your aorta. Then you won’t be able to control your voice.’ He becomes so carried away that you can’t stop him, and at that moment he is not Placido but, say, Cavaradossi (from Tosca). You know, if all these three tenors were put ‘into one bottle,’ the mix would be an ideal partner and singer.
I really like singing with Volodymyr Hryshko. He is a very affectionate partner and has a beautiful voice. Incidentally, when we were rehearsing in Italy, the director of the Barcelona Opera came especially to meet Volodymyr and invite him to sing in Spain.”
“You are one of the first female opera singers who made an experiment by performing with Freddy Mercury, and your duet ‘Barcelona’ was a hit. This even launched a new trend-the crossover of operatic arias and art rock. Which pop singers would you like to record with?”
“The idea of singing “Barcelona” was Freddy’s. He persuaded me, and I am glad that listeners liked our duet. Freddy knew that he was incurably ill, and this recording became a memento of this splendid singer and musician. I would like to record a pop duet with Nikolai Baskov (the Russian tenor calls Caballe his “vocal mother” — Author). I think that duets with pop singers tend to enlarge audiences. I still think that if people hear an opera just once, they will never forget.
“I hope that the Kyiv concert does not disappoint the audience. Volodymyr and I, the musicians of the National Philharmonic of Ukraine’s Symphony Orchestra, and the conductor Jose Collado will do our best.”
The tour organizers assured us that Montserrat Caballe does not make any special requests and is not known for her whims. She does not like strong-smelling flowers, such as lilies and hyacinths, which can cause an allergic reaction, but she adores roses. Although the singer has performed in Kyiv before, she could not see many famous sights owing to her tight schedules. This time she was going to visit churches and cathedrals, the future museum “Ukrainian Arsenal,” and taste some genuine Ukrainian dishes — borshch and varenyky (stuffed dumplings — Ed.) — at Hryshko’s home. She was received by Spain’s Ambassador to Ukraine and met with President Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine after the concert.
