Pablo (Pau) Casals

Pablo (Pau) Casals , 1876-1973, Spanish virtuoso cellist and conductor. Casals is considered the greatest 20th-century master of the cello and a distinguished composer, conductor, and pianist. A prodigy, he began his concert career in 1891. In 1905 he formed a chamber trio with Jacques Thibaud (1880-1953) and Alfred Cortot. His career as a conductor began in 1919, when the Orquestra Pau Casals, Barcelona, gave its first concert. Casals gained an international reputation for brilliant expressive technique that remains unsurpassed. His superb interpretations of the Bach unaccompanied cello suites brought him worldwide adulation. In 1939, Casals settled at Prades in S France, a voluntary exile in protest against the Spanish government. In 1950 he began to conduct annual music festivals in Prades. In 1956 he moved to Puerto Rico, where the following year he inaugurated annual music festivals at San Juan. He married his third wife, his student Martita Montañes, in 1957. He performed at the United Nations (1958) and the White House (1961), and conducted a celebrated concert of some 80 cellists at Lincoln Center (1972).

Bibliography: See his memoirs (1970); biography by H. L. Kirk (1974); L. Littlehales, Pablo Casals (rev. ed. 1948).

Casals, Pablo ( Pau) (1876–1973) Spanish (Catalan) cellist and conductor. He formed (1919) his own orchestra in Barcelona and organized the annual Casals Festival in Puerto Rico from 1957. Casal's immaculate tone and intellectual rigour are best heard on Bach's cello suites.

Casals, Pablo (Pau, in the Catalan form) (b Vendrell, Catalonia, 1876; d Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, 1973). Sp. cellist, conductor, composer, and pianist. Began career in Barcelona cafés and Paris ths. Prof. of vc., Barcelona Cons. 1897–9. Soloist at Lamoureux Concerts, Paris, and Crystal Palace, London, 1899. First US tour 1901. Thenceforward brilliant career as world's foremost cellist. Formed notable trio with Cortot and Thibaud. Founded Casals Orch., Barcelona 1919. Went into voluntary exile from Sp. 1939 in protest against Franco régime, vowing never to return while Spain was under totalitarian rule (a vow he kept). In 1950 founded Prades Fest. in French Pyrenees. Settled in Puerto Rico, 1956, founding fest. there. Played in United Nations Assembly 1958 and at White House for President Kennedy 1961. In Oct. 1971 cond. his Hymn to the United Nations (Auden) at the U.N. headquarters, NY. Comp. vc. pieces, orch. works, and oratorio El pessebre (The Manger).