Casals, Pablo (orig. Pau Carlos Salvador Casals)

1876 – He was born on the 29th day of December in El Vendrell, Catalonia (Spain).

1888 - He enrolled in the Escola Municipal de Música.

1891 - He made prodigious progress as a cellist on February 23 of this year.

1890 - He gave a solo recital in Barcelona.

1892 - He graduated from the Escola with honors.

1893 - He was asked to play at informal concerts in the palace, and was granted a royal stipend to study composition at the Conservatory de Musica y Declamacion in Madrid with the master Víctor Mirecki.

1895 - He went to Paris, where, having lost his stipend from Catalonia, he earned a living by playing second cello in the theater orchestra of the Folies Marigny.

1896 - He returned to Catalonia and received an appointment to the faculty of the Escuela Municipal de Música in Barcelona.

1897 - He appeared as soloist with the Madrid Symphony Orchestra. He was awarded the Order of Carlos III from the Queen.

1899 – He played at The Crystal Palace in London, and later for Queen Victoria at her summer residence at Cowes, Isle of Wight.

1901 - He made his first tour of the United States.

1903 - He toured to South America.

1904 - He was invited to play at the White House for President Theodore Roosevelt.

1906 - He became associated with the talented young Portuguese cellist Guilhermina Suggia.

1937 - He organized a trio with the pianist Alfred Cortot and the violinist Jacques Thibaud; they played concerts and made recordings until this year.

1919 - He organized, in Barcelona, the Orquesta Pau Casals and led its first concert on the 13th day of October in 1920.

1926 - He was also a composer; perhaps his most effective work is La sardana (The Sardana), for an ensemble of cellos, which he composed this year.

1939 - He made sporadic appearances as a cellist in the unoccupied zone of southern France and in Switzerland

1961 - He took part in a concert of chamber music in the White House at the invitation of President John F Kennedy, whom he admired.

1950 - He resumed his career as conductor and cellist at the Prades Festival in Roussillon.

1966 - He continued leading the Prades Festivals until this year.

1956 - He made his permanent residence San Juan, Puerto Rico, where his mother had been born (when the island was still under Spanish rule).

1970 - He gave many master classes throughout the world in places like Zermat, Tuscany, Berkeley, and Marlboro Several of these events were televised.

1971 - He conducted its first performance in a special concert at the United Nations.

1973 - He wrote a memoir, Joys and Sorrows; Reflections in this year.

1973 - He died on 22nd day of October this year in San Juan, Puerto Rico.