Pablo Casals was born in Catalonia in Spain. (1876-1973) He lived for almost a century and made lots of recordings. He started on flute and violin and changed to cello when he was 11 or so. He made his debut in 1891 in Barcelona. His first job was in the opera house Le Liceu in Barcelona. He lived much of his life in the South of France. He was a very good tennis player. In his early career, his mother used to travel with him. He was fine when he got on stage there but needed a bit of a push from his mother to get there.
He was the first cellist to play the Bach cello suites in a concert and he sparked a lot of interest in them and every virtuoso cellist since aspires to play them. Listen to Pablo Casals perform The Song of the Birds (‘El cant dels ocells’), a traditional Catalan carol.
Casals made the song famous with his version for cello, which he would play as an encore. He performed it on 24 October 1971 at the General Assembly of the United Nations when he received the UN Peace Medal. He was 94. Before he began playing he said:
‘I have not played the cello in public for many years, but I feel that the time has come to play again. I am going to play a melody from Catalan folklore: El cant dels ocells - The Song of the Birds. Birds sing when they are in the sky, they sing: “Peace, Peace, Peace”, and it is a melody that Bach, Beethoven and all the greats would have admired and loved. What is more, it is born in the soul of my people, Catalonia.’
Casals made the song famous with his version for cello, which he would play as an encore. He performed it on 24 October 1971 at the General Assembly of the United Nations when he received the UN Peace Medal. He was 94. Before he began playing he said:
‘I have not played the cello in public for many years, but I feel that the time has come to play again. I am going to play a melody from Catalan folklore: El cant dels ocells - The Song of the Birds. Birds sing when they are in the sky, they sing: “Peace, Peace, Peace”, and it is a melody that Bach, Beethoven and all the greats would have admired and loved. What is more, it is born in the soul of my people, Catalonia.’
