Barcelona (Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé song) peaking at number two in the UK, the Netherlands and New Zealand. In 2004, BBC Radio 2 listed Barcelona at number 41 in its "Sold On Song Top 100". Mercury had been a long-time fan of opera, especially favouring Montserrat Caballé. In 1986, he mentioned on Spanish television that he would be glad to see her in person. They had a friendly initial meeting in Barcelona in February 1987. Later, when the city had been chosen for the 1992 Summer Olympics, Caballé, a native of the city, was asked to help with producing a song for the games. She summoned
Llibre Vermell de Montserrat songs it contains. The monastery holds the shrine of the Virgin of Montserrat, which was a major site of pilgrimage during the time it was compiled. The purpose of the compilation is made clear by its anonymous compiler himself: The songs, therefore, were written for the pilgrims to have something appropriately "chaste and pious" to sing and dance to (round-dance). The songs are in Catalan, in Occitan and in Latin. While the collection was written near the end of the 14th century, much of the music in the collection appears from its style to originate earlier; the motet " Imperayritz