The musician and composer Pablo Casals 1876 - 1973

All visitors to this website will be more than likely to have heard of Pablo Casals. Pablo Casals was a Spanish Catalan cellist and conductor. He was born in 1876 and died in 1973. He is regarded as the pre-eminent cellist of the early 20th century, and one of the greatest cellists of all time. His mastery of the cello was probably immortalised by his recordings of the Bach Cello Suites he made in the late 1930's. Prior to Casals' recitals of these pieces they were regarded as mundane examples of Bach's work, and were not really discovered until Casals' intrepitation showed their brillance. He also made some arrangements for choral music, which is the reason he features on this website.

As with many great composers and musicians his father was a significant influence to him in his early life. His father was a parish organist and choirmaster and gave his son his early instruction in piano, song , violin and organ. Casal's great love however was for the cello which he studied at The Royal Conservatoire in Barcelona, where he later taught.

In 1895 he became cello soloist of the Paris Opera, after having spent some time studying in Paris. His International career began in 1898 when he played as a soloist with Lamoureux Orchestra in Paris and at the Crystal Palace in London. In 1904 he was invited to the White House to play for President Rosevelt, and in March of that year made his debut at Carnegie Hall. Later in 1911 Casals also performed at the London Music Festival at the Queens Hall.

Casels embarked on a conducing career in 1919 when he formed the Barcelona Orchestra. His debut as a conductor however was in London in 1925 with the London Symphony Orchestra. He subsequently conducted some of the Beethoven Centenary Festival concetrs in Vienna. He continued to conduct the Barcelona Orchestra in Paris until the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936.

He was a staunch supporter of democracy in Sapin and refused to appear in Spain with the advent of a dictatorship after the civil war, then living in France. In 1961 he accepted an invitation from John F. Kennedy to play at the White House, and in December 1963 Casals was awarded the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom. This was in recognition of his fierce opposition to the current dictatorship in Sapin and the way in which he tried to support democracy in Spain. This was by refusing to perform his music inside the country, and in countries sympathetic to the Franco regime, of which of course the U.S.A was one.

The photograph above is of a statue of Casals sculpted to celebrate the centenary of his birth. It is located in the Monserratt mountain range, close to Barcelona, where he was origionally born. The statue was sculpted by Joseph Viladomat, a Spanish Sculptor, who is also known for a 30 metre high metal monument called La Republica, which is loacted in a suburb of Barcelona.

Sanderstead Singers have performed an arrangement of O vos omnes, by Casals. This is a responsory, origionally sung as part of Roman Catholic liturgies for Holy Week. It is now often sung as a motet and the arrangement by Casals was for a mixed choir. It was origionally published in 1932, and is sung here by Sanderstead Singers at Wells Cathedral in August 2009.

The following is an excerpt from a recording of Casal's arrangement of O vos omnes sung at Wells Cathedral during August 2009. The conductor was Fred Irvine and the Organist was Dan Soper. The recording is a Dartworth recording.