Montserrat Caballé

Born María de Montserrat Bibiana Concepción Caballé i Folch in 1933, she trained as an operatic soprano and spent years working through Verdi and the bel canto repertoire — Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti. The break came in 1965 when she stepped in for a performance of Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia at Carnegie Hall; the notices went international, and the leading opera houses followed. Her voice was called pure but powerful, with superb control of vocal shadings and an exquisite pianissimo. In 1987 she recorded "Barcelona" with Freddie Mercury — mutual admiration turned into close friendship, and th…