«Siñir Din Pibli Chisils»: Pau Casals, through his letters

Ispiri qui ni siri istid tirpi piri tridicir isti kirti y li idvirti qui li K is kimi ini Ci.

I did michi kilir and ispirindi si kintisticiin sibi kinti li quiri si büin imigi,

GUILLIRMI MIRPHI

Midrid vintitris Jinii

This humorous letter, dated June 23, 1893, and signed by the earl of morphyis the first of the four hundred writings that are gathered in ‘Dear Master. Correspondence from Pau Casals‘ (Acantilado), which covers from that year until 1973, the date on which the Catalan musician died. It is, as its editors say, Anna Dalmau and Anna Mora, “the first epistolary of Pau Casals that embraces his entire life” and “the biographical account of a century of history through the eyes of Pau Casals and those of so many witnesses who participated or were part of his life.”

These two musicologists and researchers have spent almost five years delving into the correspondence of the legendary cellist, and the result of this work has been three books, which collect their epistolary relationship with Andreu Claret, Joaquim Pena and Josep Tarradellas, Antoni Rovira i Virgili, Ventura Gassol and Adrià Gual respectively. «There is a lot of material about Pau Casals, several biographies have been written, but the best is his correspondence – Anna Dalmau explains to ABC -; In it it is shown through its own words, although there are also opacities. Our work has been to contextualize the texts, review the dates…»

Pau Casals was born in the Tarragona town of El Vendrell on December 19, 1876 and died in San Juan de Puerto Rico – where he had been exiled since 1956; Before that he was in Prades, France – on October 22, 1973. At the age of twelve he discovered the sound of the cello and decided to dedicate himself to this instrument, of which he was, without a doubt, its greatest interpreter in the 20th century. “The cello, mon petit Pablo, is born with you,” the violinist told him. Jacques Thibaudwhile Mstislav Rostropovichanother of the great cellists of our time, referred to him as “the most relevant artist of the 20th century.”

But the book especially reveals the thoughts of Pau Casals, a man, says Anna Dalmau, a “very coherent man, who always behaved in accordance with what he said; who was against all revolutions and dictatorships: in 1919 he decided not to play in Russia as long as freedoms were not respected in that country and after leaving Spain he did not return to our country except for the burial of his wife in El Vendrell, Francesca Vidalin 1955. He was, with his defects, like all human beings, a good person, very humanitarian; From his exile in Prades he helped all the Spanish refugees, for whom he organized several charity concerts.

The volume includes 401 letters. The first is that already mentioned of the Earl of Morphy; William Morphypersonal secretary of Alfonso And the last one is the one that Josep and Amèlia Trueta sent on October 24, 1973, two days after the death of the musician, to his widow, Marta Casals. The authors have consulted more than twenty collections – the largest supplier is the National Archive of Catalonia – and the list of the hundred correspondents includes composers, performers, intellectuals and politicians of the stature of Béla Bartók, Max Bruch, Francesc Cambó , Gaspar Cassadó, Lluís Companys, Alfred Cortot, George Enescu, Manuel de Falla, Gabriel Fauré, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Robert Gerhard, Enrique Granados, Ernesto Halffter, Queen Elizabeth of Belgium, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Wanda Landowska, Thomas Mann, Joan Maragall , Yehudi Menuhin, Pablo Picasso, Arnold Schönberg, Albert Schweitzer, Isaac Stern, Leopold Stokowski, Josep Tarradellas, Harry Truman, Joaquín Turina or Bruno Walter.

«Pau Casals kept and answered all the letters he received – says Anna Dalmau -: ‘How is it possible to receive a letter and throw it in the trash? It’s like I’m throwing away a feeling,’” he said. He was helped in this work by his wife, Marta, and Josep Maria Corredor. “We would need at least seven or eight people who write constantly to keep up with the thousands of letters that I have right now, and that are arriving little by little,” he wrote to his former student. Milly Stanfield on February 2, 1968. And, whenever he could, he wrote by hand. «The letters must be autographs. There is none like it. “A word of understanding, of hope, of consolation… that’s what counts!” he once said.

The almost one hundred years that Pau Casals lived make him an exceptional witness, says Anna Dalmau, of the history of the 20th century. He lived very closely great events such as the two world wars, the Russian Revolution, the Spanish Civil War and the assassination of the American president. John Fitzgerald Kennedyfor whom he played at the White House in an unforgettable concert on November 13, 1961 and for whom he had great admiration. “For hours I couldn’t say a word,” he said regarding the politician’s murder. “It was as if suddenly a beautiful, irreplaceable part of the world had been destroyed.”