Cant dels ocells pau casals biography
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In his birthday month, we remember the iconic Pau Casals (29 December – 22 October ).
When did you first encounter the works of the great Casals? I was nine years old when my parents gave me a 3-LP boxed set of his recordings. This was my introduction to both Casals and the Bach Suites.
With a musical career spanning nine decades, Casals was one of the most influential musicians of the twentieth century. Most of us know him as Pablo Casals, but
“His first name was Pau, the Catalan form of Paul; but professionally he generally used the Castillian form, Pablo, outside of Catalonia.” Virtuoso by Harvey Sachs, p.
Whether you first encountered him as Pau or Pablo Casals, here are seven ways his legacy lives on today.
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Pablo Casals, from the George Grantham Bain collection at the Library of Congress. Public Domain.
1. Casals Modernized Cello Technique
From his f
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Pablo Casals and the United Nations
I am a Catalan. Catalonia today is a province of Spain. But what has Catalonia been? Catalonia has been the greatest nation in the world. I will tell you why. Catalonia had the first parliament, a long time before England. Catalonia had the beginnings of the United Nations. All the authorities of Catalonia met in what was then a Catalan city in France in the 11th century to speak about peace… in the 11th century! Peace in the world, against wars, against the inhumanity of wars. This was Catalonia.
During the same concert, Casals conducted the Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor by J.S. Bach, with the violinists Isaac Stern and Alexander Schneider, as well as the Concerto for Three Keyboards in C Major by J. S. Bach, with the pianists Mieczysław Horszowski, Rudolf Serkin and Eugene Istomin.
After an hour and a half of concert and in a totally improvised manner, Pablo Casals played before the entire chamber El Cant dels Ocells (The Song
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El cant dels ocells
El cant dels ocells
Cançó de nadal
Al veure despuntar
el major lluminar
en la nit més ditxosa,
els ocellets cantant,
a festejar-lo van
amb sa veu melindrosa.
L’àguila imperial
se’n vola cel adalt,
cantant amb melodia,
dient: Jesús és nat,
per treure’ns de pecat
i dar-nos alegria.
Repon-li lo pardal:
Avui, nit de Nadal,
és nit de gran contento!
El verdum inom el lluer
diuen cantant, també&#;:
"Oh, quina alegria sento!
Cantava el passerell&#;:
Oh, que hermós inom que bell
és l’infant de Maria!
I li respon el tord&#;:
Vençuda n’és la mort,
ja naix la vida mia&#;!
Refila el rossinyol&#;:
És més bonic que el sol
més brillant que una estrella!
La cotxa i el bitxac
festegen al manyac
i a sa Mare donzella.
Cantava el reietó
per glòria del Senyor,
inflant amb biçarria;
el canari segueix:
llur música pareix
sektion Cel gran melodia.
Ja n’entra el cotoliu
dient: Ocells veniu
a festejar l’aurora!
inom lo merlot, xiulant,
anava fes