World-renowned Spanish opera soprano

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BARCELONA, Spain —

Montserrat Caballe, a Spanish opera singer renowned for her bel canto technique and her interpretations of the roles of Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti, has died. She was 85.

Caballe died early Saturday at Hospital San Pau in Barcelona, hospital spokesman Abraham del Moral said. Caballe’s family requested the cause of death not be released, del Moral said, adding that she had been in the hospital since September.

Spanish media outlets said that Caballe entered the hospital last month because of a gallbladder problem.

Condolences poured in from the world of opera and Spain’s highest authorities.

King Felipe VI tweeted that Caballe was “the great lady of opera, legend of universal culture, the best of the best” and that “her personality and unequaled voice will accompany us forever.” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said a “a great ambassador of our country has died.”

For tenor Jose Carreras, opera lost its “best soprano” with the passing of Caballe.”

Barcelona’s Liceo opera house, where Caballe performed more than 200 times, and Venice’s Teatro La Fenice also published tweets lamenting her loss. Madrid’s Teatro Real said it would dedicate Saturday’s performance of Faust to the memory of Caballe, lauding the “singular beauty of her voice” and her prodigious technique.

Born into a working class family in Barcelona, Caballe unveiled her musical talents early on, singing Bach cantatas at the age of 7.

In her almost unlimited repertoire, she starred in 90 opera roles with nearly 4,000 stage performances. Opera singer Maria Callas is once said to have answered “Only Caballe …” when asked once who she considered a worthy successor.

In 1965, on short notice, Caballe stood in for indisposed American soprano Marilyn Horne in a concert performance in Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia at New York’s Carnegie Hall and achieved a thunderous success. It opened the doors to all the major opera venues around the world.

In a brief excursion into pop music, Caballe’s duet “Barcelona” with Freddie Mercury of the rock group Queen was a hit single in 1987, accompanied by an album of the same name. The title track later became the anthem of the 1992 Summer Olympics in the city.

Caballe performed the song live, accompanied by a recording of the late Mercury, at the 1999 UEFA Champions League soccer final in Barcelona’s Camp Nou stadium.