His parents argued about his future – his father wanted him to study carpentry, but his mother would not hear of it and enrolled him in the Municipal School of Music in Barcelona. Upon returning home, he would play two Johann Sebastian Bach works on the piano.Ĭasals became interested in the cello after hearing the instrument in a recital he attended at age eleven – he must have had a passionate reaction to the instrument, for soon after, his father built him one. At ten years old, Casals began his life-long practice of starting each day with a walk, taking inspiration from nature. By six, he was composing songs with his father, and by the age of nine, he could play both violin and organ. By the age of four, Casals was playing the piano, and at five he joined the church choir. Casals’s father, Carlos, was a carpenter and the local church organist, and would play the piano while baby Pablo rested his head against the instrument and sang along. He was the second of eleven children of Carlos Casals and Pilar Defillo de Casals. Pablo Casals was born on December 29, 1876, in Vendrell, in the Catalonian region of Spain. PABLO (PAU) CASALS: ARTIST AND HUMANITARIANīy LLUIS C LARET (Barcelona Trio “Victoria dels Angels” Music School at Sant Cugat and Toulouse Conservatory) with Paul Katz Casals sought to inspire harmony among people, using both the voice of his cello and the power of his self-imposed silence. In 1971, at the age of ninety-five, he performed his “Hymn of the United Nations” before the United Nations General Assembly. Kennedy (1917–1963), a man he greatly admired. Until his death in 1973, he made only one exception: in 1961 he performed at the White House for U.S. Following the brutal Spanish Civil War and Franco’s consolidation of power, Casals refused to perform in countries that officially recognized the Franco government, a decision that included a refusal to play in the United States. He dedicated his life and used the power of his career to oppose the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. He is generally regarded as the pre-eminent cellist of the first half of the 20th century, and one of the greatest cellists of all time.Ĭasals was also an internationally renowned political figure, a voice for human rights, and an activist against oppressive governments.
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Pau Casals i Defilló, known during his professional career as Pablo Casals, was born in Catalonia, Spain, December 29, 1876.