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Pau Casals: from a Catalan Choirboy to an Artist of Peace a Qualitative Exploration of Casals’ Thought As Shown in His Piano and Choral Compositions

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Pau Casals: from a Catalan Choirboy to an Artist of Peace a Qualitative Exploration of Casals’ Thought As Shown in His Piano and Choral Compositions City Research Online City, University of London Institutional Repository Citation: Rovirosa Cabre, R. (2020). Pau Casals: from a Catalan choirboy to an artist of peace A qualitative exploration of Casals’ thought as shown in his piano and choral compositions. (Unpublished Doctoral thesis, Guildhall School of Music and Drama) This is the accepted version of the paper. This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent repository link: https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/25376/ Link to published version: Copyright: City Research Online aims to make research outputs of City, University of London available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the author(s) and/or copyright holders. URLs from City Research Online may be freely distributed and linked to. Reuse: Copies of full items can be used for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge. Provided that the authors, title and full bibliographic details are credited, a hyperlink and/or URL is given for the original metadata page and the content is not changed in any way. City Research Online: http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/ [email protected] Pau Casals: from a Catalan choirboy to an artist of peace A qualitative exploration of Casals’ thought as shown in his piano and choral compositions RICARD ROVIROSA CABRÉ SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF MUSIC GUILDHALL SCHOOL OF MUSIC AND DRAMA JUNE 2020 Table of contents: Table of contents 2 Abstract 4 Acknowledgments 5 Introduction 11 Chapter I: Casals’ General Framework 14 a. Biographical introduction to Pau Casals 14 b. Historical Context 20 i. Catalan Roots 20 ii. The Spanish Civil War 30 c. Biographies and Doctoral theses 43 Chapter II: A study of Casals’ Thought 53 a. Casals’ social and political understanding of society 54 i. Casals’ human-centred beliefs 56 a. Two specific Catalan projects: the Pau Casals Orchestra and the Working Men's Concert Association 61 ii. Casals’ pacifism 67 a. The Prades Festival 74 b. Casals’ Aesthetics of Music 77 i. Casals’ Education 77 ii. Casals’ Musical Aesthetics 86 a. Beauty and humanism: a religious perspective 87 b. Emotion: metaphor and sublime 91 c. Dalhaus principle 96 d. The universality and ineffability of music as language 96 2 Chapter III: Casals’ Music 102 a. A selection of Casals’ works 106 i. Piano Works 108 ii. Montserrat Motets 110 iii. El Pessebre 112 b. Approaches to Casals’ compositions 114 i. The centrality of the piano in Casals’ music 114 a. Bach’s influence 122 b. Improvisation and intuition as a compositional process 129 ii. Simplicity as a means for understanding 133 a. Sacred Music 141 b. Folk music 147 Chapter IV: Conclusion 167 Bibliography 171 Appendix 182 3 ABSTRACT Pau Casals (1876-1973) is well known as a cellist, but his facet as a composer is not widely known, especially the fact that he composed piano music. Taking into consideration that Casals was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, a case can be made for a reassessment of Casals’ place not only in the history of the twentieth century music but also in the struggle against totalitarianism – specifically with regard to the Spanish Civil War but also the Cold War following the new political dispensation after the Second World War. Casals saw his activities both as a composer and as a performer as a means of lobbying for world peace. My methodology will include a qualitative analysis of the biographical and cultural context; an examination of unpublished archival material and live performances of Casals’ music to present my findings and to test the experience of his music in performance. As a concert pianist, and moreover, one who shares Casals’ culture, I have a strong and appropriate interest in bringing my experience of his music into the public domain. It is through the eyes of performance-led research and autoethnography that one can fully grasp what Casals’ compositions are about; through the interpreting of Casals’ music, one becomes an ‘agent of culture’ and, consequently, one creates a dialogue between the culture at the time of Casals’ life and the culture that surrounds a performance of Casals’ works now. Casals’ music is still valid today insofar as it attempts to touch the core of our humanity. 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank everyone who has been involved in this thesis and also who have helped me become the person and pianist that I am today, without them I would not be here. To Mercè Salietti for planting the seed of music in me; to Fr. Ireneu Segarra for showing me the sublime in music; to Vicenç Prunés for being an understanding teacher who instilled in me the love for music; to Bernat Cabré for believing in me; to Abbot Cassià M. Just for showing me what it means to play the organ; to Fr. Xavier Poch for showing me how to be patient; to Fr. Lluís Juanós for encouraging me at all times; to Pep Falcó for being a good teacher and for instilling the love for hiking in me; to Escolania de Montserrat for being a unique environment where beauty permeated every aspect of daily life. I would also like to thank Maria Luisa Reñaga for being a wonderful teacher; to Albert Attenelle for being the one who made me leap into becoming a pianist; to Escola de Música de Barcelona for being a wonderful place where human beings are taught what it means to make music; to Casp’s Jesuit School for being a place where one is taught how to be a good student but also a good human being; to all Casp’s teachers for being amazing and committed human beings; I would like to thank specially the late Fr. Raimon Algueró: his support, example and friendship was second to none. I would also like to thank Fr. Ignatius Harrison for being the first person who believed in me in London; to Fr. Peter Gee for being a very good friend; to Fr. Ugo Nnaji for his friendship; to the Holy Family sisters for being a great help and especially to Sister Bertilla Piantino for her unwavering support; to the people of the parish of Saint Francis de Sales in Stockwell for being a wonderful and supportive community at all times; to Ralph Gothóni for showing me 5 what I could do; to Escuela Reina Sofía for being a supportive and amazing music school; to Fr. Joe Evans for being a role model; to Fr. Gerard Sheehan for always being able to say the right thing; to Peter Brown for being the best leader I have ever met; to Álvaro Tintoré for being a great friend and show me what it means to persevere; to Netherhall House for being a place where true friendships are sewn and also for being my home in London for seven wonderful years; to Tom Dowle for being a good friend and a good example; to Ginés García for being a good friend and for sharing our ‘ironman’ training sessions; to Juan Pablo Luna for our shared love of Palestrina and his wonderful friendship; to Simon Hardman for his great help and friendship; to Violeta Barreña for her marvellous friendship; to Paul Carroll for his friendship and for showing me what it means to be a true gentleman; to Sally Shebe for trusting me; to Eric Wang for his friendship and musical comradery; to the Commonwealth Youth Orchestra for their support; to all the families whom I taught piano in London and Barcelona for being amazing people who supported me at all times. I would also like to give special thanks to the Montserrat Abbey for their support and help throughout this process and especially to Abbot Josep Maria Soler for his help and support. I would also like to thank brother Josep Galobart, the librarian at the Montserrat Abbey’s Archives and Fr. Josep Maria Sanromà for their help. I would also like to thank the community of monks at the Abbey of Poblet for their unique and special support throughout my life. I would like to thank Fr. Lluc Torcal for his amazing support and guidance; to Abbot José Alegre for believing in me and helping me to become a better artist and human being and to Abbot Octavi Vilà for his true friendship as a close companion. I would also like to thank the Tarradellas’ Archive 6 for their support throughout all these years; to Montse, Dolors, Judith and Rosa Mari for being amazing people. I would also like to give special thanks to the Oratory of Gràcia for their unbelievable support throughout my life; to Fr. Ferran Colàs for his friendship and for opening the doors of the Oratory as wide as I could have ever wished for; to Fr. Joan Esteve for his encouragement at all times; to Víctor Barrallo for being a great friend at all times; to the community of the Oratory who have been an important part of my life. I would also like to give special thanks to the Catalonia’s National Archive for their help and support throughout the doctorate. Their help has been very important; to my uncle Ramon Sòria and my aunt Maite Cabré for their continued help, especially in regards to the Spanish Civil War chapter and to my uncle Esteve Cabré and my aunt Àngels García for their continued help, especially with the preparation for the viva voce. I would like to thank my uncle Joaquim Aguadé and my aunt Mercè Tarragó for their love and support. I would also like to thank my godfather Jaume Martí and my aunt Maria del Carme Rovirosa for their beautiful exemplar and love.
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