Editorial de Música BOILEAU - Since 1913

CASALS, Pau

El Vendrell (Tarragona) 1876 - San Juan de Puerto Rico 1973

http://www.paucasals.org

Pau Casals has been one of the best cellists of the 20th century, internationally renowned as one of the best performers and conductors of his time.

Born in El Vendrell on December 29, 1876, he has shown great sensitivity to music since childhood. His father, also a musician, transmitted his first musical knowledge, which Pau Casals expanded with studies in Barcelona and Madrid. With only twenty-three years, he began his professional career and acted as an interpreter in the best auditoriums in the world. As an interpreter, he brought innovative changes in the execution of the cello, introducing new technical and expressive possibilities in this field. As a director, he also sought expressive depth, the musical essence he reached with the cello. In addition, Pau Casals worked as a teacher and was a great composer, whose works include the oratorio El Pesebre, which became a true song for peace.
The outcome of the Spanish Civil War forced him to march to exile and reside, first, in Prada de Conflent (France) and then in San Juan de Puerto Rico.

Parallel to his extraordinary career as a musician, Pau Casals always maintained an untiring dedication to the defense of peace and freedom. His numerous charity concerts, his involvement in humanitarian actions and his various interventions in the United Nations characterized him as a man of peace.

Pau Casals died in 1973 at the age of ninety-six in San Juan de Puerto Rico. His rests are in the cemetery of El Vendrell, where he was born.