Pau Casals
Background information
Birth name	Pau Casals i Defilló
Born	December 29, 1876(1876-12-29) El Vendrell, Catalonia, Spain
Died	October 22, 1973 (aged 96) San Juan, Puerto Rico
Genre(s)	Classical
Occupation(s)	Cellist, conductor, pedagogue
Instrument(s)	Cello
Notable instrument(s)
Violoncello Matteo Goffriller 1700 Matteo Goffriller 1710 Carlo Tononi 1730

Pau Casals i Defilló (December 29, 1876 – October 22, 1973), best known during his professional career as Pablo Casals, was a Spanish Catalan cellist and later conductor. Events 1170 - Thomas Becket: Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury is assassinated inside Canterbury Cathedral by followers of King Henry II Year 1876 ( MDCCCLXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year El Vendrell is a town located in Catalonia, Spain, in a wine-growing region Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Events 202 BC - Hannibal Barca, leader of the Carthaginians, is defeated by the Roman legions under Scipio Africanus Year 1973 ( MCMLXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the 1973 Gregorian calendar. San Juan (saŋ hwaŋ (from the Spanish San Juan Bautista, " Saint John the Baptist " is the Capital and largest municipality in A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other Classical music is a broad term that usually refers to mainstream music produced in or rooted in the traditions of Western liturgical and Secular music The violoncello (abbreviated to cello, or 'cello, plural cellos or celli —the c is tʃ Conducting is the act of directing a Musical performance by way of visible gestures In Education, a teacher is one who helps Students or pupils often in a School, as well as in a Family, religious or A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified for the purpose of making Music. The violoncello (abbreviated to cello, or 'cello, plural cellos or celli —the c is tʃ Matteo Goffriller (1659 – 1742 was an Italian Luthier, particularly noted for the quality of his Cellos Although it is known that Goffriller was Matteo Goffriller (1659 – 1742 was an Italian Luthier, particularly noted for the quality of his Cellos Although it is known that Goffriller was Carlo Annibale Tononi (1675-1730 was a Luthier who trained and worked with his father in the Tononi family workshop in Bologna Italy until his father Events 1170 - Thomas Becket: Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury is assassinated inside Canterbury Cathedral by followers of King Henry II Year 1876 ( MDCCCLXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year Events 202 BC - Hannibal Barca, leader of the Carthaginians, is defeated by the Roman legions under Scipio Africanus Year 1973 ( MCMLXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the 1973 Gregorian calendar. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. The Catalans are the people from Catalonia, an Autonomous community of Spain, including people originating in that region but living elsewhere The violoncello (abbreviated to cello, or 'cello, plural cellos or celli —the c is tʃ He made many recordings throughout his career, of solo, chamber, and orchestral music, also as conductor, but Casals is perhaps best remembered for the recording of the Bach: Cello Suites he made from 1936 to 1939. WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section.2 This article is written in British English including maximised use of "-ise" The Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello by Johann Sebastian Bach are acclaimed as some of the greatest works ever written for solo Cello.

Biography

Casals was born in El Vendrell, Catalonia, Spain. El Vendrell is a town located in Catalonia, Spain, in a wine-growing region Catalonia (Cataluña Catalunya Aranese: Catalonha) is an Autonomous Community in the northeast part of Spain. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. His father, Carles Casals i Ribes (1852-1908), was a parish pipe organist and choirmaster. The pipe organ is a Musical instrument that produces sound when pressurized air (wind is driven through a series of pipes, controlled by a keyboard Conducting is the act of directing a Musical performance by way of visible gestures He gave Casals instruction in piano, violin, and organ. At age four Casals could play the violin, piano and flute. When Casals was eleven, he first heard the cello performed by a group of traveling musicians, and decided to dedicate himself to the instrument. In 1888 his mother, Pilar Defilló de Casals, who was born in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico of Catalonian ancestry, took him to Barcelona, where he enrolled in the Escola Municipal de Música. Mayagüez redirects here For the US ship of the same name see ''SS'' Mayagüez. Puerto Rico (ˌpwertoˈriko officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ("Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico" {{lang-en|"Associated Free State of Puerto Rico"}} Barcelona ( Catalan bəɾsəˈlonə Spanish baɾθeˈlona is the capital and most populous city of the Autonomous Community of Catalonia ^[1] There he studied cello, theory, and piano. He made prodigious progress as a cellist; on February 23, 1891 he gave a solo recital in Barcelona at age of fourteen. He graduated from the Escola with honours two years later.

In 1893, the Spanish composer Isaac Albéniz heard him playing in a trio in a café and gave him a letter of introduction to the private secretary to María Cristina, the Queen Regent, in Madrid, Spain. Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz i Pascual (iˈsak alˈβeniθ ( May 29, 1860 &ndash May 18, 1909) was a Spanish Pianist Maria Christina, Princess Imperial and Archduchess of Austria - Teschen, Princess Royal of Hungary and Bohemia ( Maria Christina Madrid (pronounced in English in Spanish and colloquially in Spain) is the Capital and largest city of Spain. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Casals was asked to play at informal concerts in the palace, and was granted a royal stipend to study composition at the Conservatory de Musica y Declamacion in Madrid with Víctor Mirecki. Víctor Alexander Marie Mirecki Larramat ( July 21, 1847 &ndash April 7, 1921) was a Spanish cellist and music teacher of He also played in the newly organized Quartet Society.

In 1895 he went to Paris, where, having lost his stipend from Catalonia, he earned a living by playing second cello in the theater orchestra of the Folies Marigny. In 1896, he returned to Catalonia and received an appointment to the faculty of the Escuela Municipal de Música in Barcelona. He was also appointed principal cellist in the orchestra of Barcelona's opera house, the Liceu. In 1897 he appeared as soloist with the Madrid Symphony Orchestra, and was awarded the Order of Carlos III from the Queen. The Madrid Symphony Orchestra ( Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid) founded in 1903 is the oldest existing symphony Orchestra not linked to an opera house (as Barcelona The Royal and Distinguished Spanish Order of Carlos III was established by the King of Spain Carlos III by means of the Royal Decree of September 19

International career

In 1899, Casals played at The Crystal Palace in London, and later for Queen Victoria at her summer residence at Cowes, Isle of Wight. The Crystal Palace was a cast-iron and Glass building originally erected in Hyde Park, London, England, to house the London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901 was from 20 June 1837 the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The Isle of Wight is an English Island and county in the English Channel between three and five miles (8 km from the south coast of the On November 12, 1899, he appeared as a soloist at a prestigious Lamoureux Concert in Paris, and played at Lamoureux again on December 17, 1899, with great public and critical acclaim. Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city He toured Spain and the Netherlands with the pianist Harold Bauer in 1900-1901; in 1901-1902 he made his first tour of the United States; and in 1903 toured South America. The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands Harold Bauer ( April 28, 1873 - March 12, 1951) was a noted Pianist who began his musical career as a Violinist. South America is a Continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a

On January 15, 1904, Casals was invited to play at the White House for President Theodore Roosevelt. See also Executive Office of the President of the United States The White House, formerly known as the Executive Mansion, is the Official residence Theodore Roosevelt (ˈroʊzəvɛlt October 27 1858 January 6 1919 also known as T On March 9 of that year he made his debut at Carnegie Hall in New York, playing Richard Strauss's Don Quixote under the baton of the composer. Carnegie Hall (generally ˌkɑrnɨgi ˈhɔːl is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east Richard Georg Strauss (11 June 1864 &ndash 8 September 1949 was a German Composer of the late Romantic era and early modern era particularly noted Don Quixote, op 35 is a composition by Richard Strauss for Cello, Viola and Large orchestra. In 1906 he became associated with the talented young Portuguese cellist Guilhermina Suggia, who studied with him and began to appear in concerts as Mme. Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic (República Portuguesa is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. Guilhermina Suggia ( June 27 1885 &ndash July 30 1950, full name Guilhermina Augusta Xavier de Medim Suggia Carteado Mena) P. Casals-Suggia, although they were not legally married. Their liaison was dissolved in 1912; in 1914 Casals married the American socialite and singer Susan Metcalfe; they were separated in 1928, but did not divorce until 1957.

Back in Paris, Casals organized a trio with the pianist Alfred Cortot and the violinist Jacques Thibaud; they played concerts and made recordings until 1937. Alfred Denis Cortot ( Nyon, Switzerland September 26, 1877 &ndash Lausanne June 15, 1962) was a Franco-Swiss Pianist Jacques Thibaud ( September 27, 1880 - September 1, 1953) was a French Violinist. Casals also became interested in conducting, and in 1919 he organized, in Barcelona, the Orquesta Pau Casals and led its first concert on October 13, 1920. With the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, the Orquesta Pau Casals ceased its activities. The Spanish Civil War was a major conflict in Spain that started after an attempted Coup d'état committed by parts of the army against the government of Casals was an ardent supporter of the Spanish Republican government, and after its defeat vowed not to return to Spain until democracy was restored. The Second Spanish Republic was the system of government in Spain between April 14 1931, when King Alfonso XIII left the country

He settled in the French village of Prada de Conflent, on the Spanish frontier; between 1939 and 1942 he made sporadic appearances as a cellist in the unoccupied zone of southern France and in Switzerland. Prades ( Prada de Conflent in Catalan) is a commune and a Sous-préfecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales département Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation So fierce was his opposition to the Francisco Franco dictatorial regime in Spain that he declined to appear in countries that recognized the authoritarian Spanish government, making an exception when he took part in a concert of chamber music in the White House on November 13, 1961, at the invitation of President John F Kennedy, whom he admired. Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco y Bahamonde (born December 4, 1892 in Ferrol, died November 20, 1975 in Madrid Chamber music is a form of Classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber See also Executive Office of the President of the United States The White House, formerly known as the Executive Mansion, is the Official residence John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy (May 29 1917&ndashNovember 22 1963 often referred to by his initials JFK, was the thirty-fifth President of

Throughout most of his professional career, he played on a cello that was labeled and attributed to "Carlo Tononi . . . 1733" but after playing it for 50 years it was discovered to have been created by the Venetian luthier, Matteo Goffriller around 1700. Matteo Goffriller (1659 – 1742 was an Italian Luthier, particularly noted for the quality of his Cellos Although it is known that Goffriller was It was acquired by Casals in 1913. ^[2]

Later years

Presidential Medal of Freedom

In 1950 he resumed his career as conductor and cellist at the Prada Festival in Conflent, organized in commemoration of the bicentennary of the death of Bach; he continued leading the Prades Festivals until 1966. Prades ( Prada de Conflent in Catalan) is a commune and a Sous-préfecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales département Conflent is a historical Catalan comarca of Northern Catalonia, now part of the French Département of Pyrénées-Orientales Casals made his permanent residence in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where his mother was born when the island was under Spanish rule. The annual Casals Festival was inaugurated there in 1957. The Casals Festival is a classical music event celebrated every year in San Juan, Puerto Rico in honor of world renowned Musician Pablo Casals

On August 3, 1957, at 80, Casals married Marta Montañez Martínez, a young student of his from Puerto Rico. Marta Casals Istomin (born 1937 is the former president of Manhattan School of Music. They settled in the town of Ceiba and lived in a house called "El Pesebre".

In the 1960s, Casals gave many master classes throughout the world in places such as Zermatt, Tuscany, Berkeley, and Marlboro. Zermatt (Praborgne is a municipality in the district of Visp in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. Tuscany (Toscana is a region in Italy. It has an area of 22990 km² and a population of about 3 Berkeley is a city on the east shore of San Francisco Bay in Northern California, in the United States. Marlboro is a town in Windham County, Vermont, United States. Several of these events were televised.

Casals was also a composer; perhaps his most effective work is La sardana (The Sardana), for an ensemble of cellos, which he composed in 1926. The sardana (Catalan plural sardanes) is a type of Circle dance typical of Catalonia. His oratorio El pesebre (The Manger) was performed for the first time in Acapulco, Mexico, on December 17, 1960. Acapulco (Officially Acapulco de Juárez) is a City and major sea port in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific coast The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. One of his last compositions was the Himne a les Nacions Unides (Hymn of the United Nations); he conducted its first performance in a special concert at the United Nations on October 24, 1971, 2 months before his 95th birthday. The United Nations ( UN) is an International organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in International law, International security

Casals had his memoirs recorded by Albert E. Kahn: Joys and Sorrows; Reflections (1970). Albert Eugene Kahn ( May 11, 1912 &ndash September 19, 1979) was an American Journalist, and nephew of modernist industrial

Casals died in 1973 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, at the age of 96. San Juan (saŋ hwaŋ (from the Spanish San Juan Bautista, " Saint John the Baptist " is the Capital and largest municipality in In 1979 his remains were laid to rest in his hometown of El Vendrell, Catalonia. He did not live to see the end of the Franco dictatorial regime, but he was posthumously honoured by the Spanish government under King Juan Carlos I, which issued in 1976 a commemorative postage stamp in honour of the centenary of his birth. Early life Juan Carlos was born in Rome, where his grandfather Alfonso XIII of Spain lived in exile after the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic A century (from the Latin centum, meaning one hundred is One hundred consecutive Years Centuries are numbered ordinally (e

In 1989, Casals posthumously received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award is awarded by the Recording Academy to "performers who during their lifetimes have made creative contributions of outstanding

Legacy

A centenary statue at Montserrat. A century (from the Latin centum, meaning one hundred is One hundred consecutive Years Centuries are numbered ordinally (e This is the mountain in Catalonia For other uses see Montserrat (disambiguation.

The International Pau Casals Cello Competition is held in Germany under the auspices of the Kronberg Academy once every four years, starting in 2000, in order to discover and further the careers of the future cello elite, and is supported by the Pau Casals Foundation, under the patronage of Marta Casals Istomin. One of the prizes is the use of one of the Gofriller cellos owned by Casals.

The first top prize was awarded in 2000 to Claudio Bohórquez.

See also

• C-32 (highway), a highway in Catalonia named after Casals
• List of Catalans
• List of famous Puerto Ricans

References

Further reading

• Joys and Sorrows; Reflections, Pau Casals, (1973) ISBN 0-671-21774-7
• Song of the birds, Julian Lloyd Webber, (1985) ISBN 0-86051-305-X

External links

• Pau Casals Foundation
• Pablo Casals at Allmusic
• Pau Casals' home town of El Vendrell
• Pau Casals remarks at the 24 October 1971 concert at United Nations and video
• Pau Casals Orchestra (1920 - 1938), in Catalan
• Casals Festival, San Juan, Puerto Rico
• Festival Pau Casals Prades Prada de Conflent, Catalonia
• Historic 26min video of Pau Casals exiliat a Prada 1939-1942 - J.S.Bach Suite n.1 in Sant Miquel Cuixà Prada de Conflent, Catalonia