Gaspar Cassadó
Encyclopedia
Gaspar Cassadó i Moreu was a Spanish
cellist
and composer
of the early 20th century. He was born in Barcelona
to a church musician father and began taking cello lessons at age seven. When he was nine, he played in a recital where Pablo Casals
was in the audience; Casals immediately offered to teach him. The city of Barcelona awarded him a scholarship so that he could study with Casals in Paris.
He was also the author of several notable musical hoax
es.
Spanish people
The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....
cellist
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
of the early 20th century. He was born in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
to a church musician father and began taking cello lessons at age seven. When he was nine, he played in a recital where Pablo Casals
Pablo Casals
Pau Casals i Defilló , known during his professional career as Pablo Casals, was a Spanish Catalan cellist and conductor. He is generally regarded as the pre-eminent cellist of the first half of the 20th century, and one of the greatest cellists of all time...
was in the audience; Casals immediately offered to teach him. The city of Barcelona awarded him a scholarship so that he could study with Casals in Paris.
He was also the author of several notable musical hoax
Musical hoax
A Musical Hoax is a piece of music composed by an individual or group who intentionally misattribute it to someone else.- Musical hoaxes ascribed to historical figures :Henri Casadesus...
es.
Concertos
- Cello Concerto in D minor (1926)
- This piece, like the Suite for Cello Solo, is influenced by Spanish and Oriental folk music, and ImpressionismImpressionismImpressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
. Cassado studied composition with Maurice RavelMaurice RavelJoseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
, and a Ravel-influenced "carnival music" appears in the second theme of the first movement. The second movement is a theme and variations which leads directly to a pentatonic Rondo.
Solo cello works
- Suite for Cello SoloSuite (Cassado)This Suite, like the Cello Concerto and the Piano Trio, came from one Cassadó's most prolific periods, in the mid-1920s. The Suite consists of three dance movements: Preludio-Fantasia - a Zarabanda; Sardana; and Intermezzo e Danza Finale - a Jota...
- The SuiteSuiteIn music, a suite is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral pieces normally performed in a concert setting rather than as accompaniment; they may be extracts from an opera, ballet , or incidental music to a play or film , or they may be entirely original movements .In the...
, like the Cello Concerto and the Piano Trio, came from one Cassadó's most prolific periods, in the mid-1920s. It consists of three dance movements: Preludio-Fantasia (a ZarabandaZarabandaThe zarabanda is an old Spanish dance related to the sarabande especially popular in the 16th and 17th centuries. It is believed to have originated in Native American dances. In its time it was rather controversial since it was thought too indecent – Miguel de Cervantes once said it was...
); SardanaSardanaThe sardana is a type of circle dance typical of Catalonia, Spain. The dance was originally from the Empordà region, but started gaining popularity throughout Catalonia during the 20th century....
; and IntermezzoIntermezzoIn music, an intermezzo , in the most general sense, is a composition which fits between other musical or dramatic entities, such as acts of a play or movements of a larger musical work...
e Danza Finale (a JotaJota (music)The jota is a genre of music and the associated dance known throughout Spain, most likely originating in Aragon. It varies by region, having a characteristic form in Valencia, Aragon, Castile, Navarra, Cantabria, Asturias, Galicia and Murcia. Being a visual representation, the jota is danced and...
). The first movement includes quotations from Zoltán KodályZoltán KodályZoltán Kodály was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. He is best known internationally as the creator of the Kodály Method.-Life:Born in Kecskemét, Kodály learned to play the violin as a child....
's Sonata for Cello Solo, Op.8, and the famous fluteFluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
solo from Maurice RavelMaurice RavelJoseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
's ballet Daphnis et ChloéDaphnis et ChloéDaphnis et Chloé is a ballet with music by Maurice Ravel. Ravel described it as a "symphonie choréographique" . The scenario was adapted by Michel Fokine from an eponymous romance by the Greek writer Longus thought to date from around the 2nd century AD...
. The sardana of the second movement is a traditional dance from Catalonia and dear to Catalan nationalists.- Fugue in the Style of Handel
Solo guitar works
- Canción de Leonardo
- Catalanesca
- Dos Cantos Populares Finlandeses, (Two Finnish Folk Songs)
- Leyenda Catalana
- Préambulo y SardanaSardanaThe sardana is a type of circle dance typical of Catalonia, Spain. The dance was originally from the Empordà region, but started gaining popularity throughout Catalonia during the 20th century....
- Sardana Chigiana
Works for cello and piano
- Allegretto Grazioso "After Schubert"
- Archares 1954
- Danse du diable vert (Dance of the Green Devil) for violin or cello 1926
- La Pendule, la Fileuse et le Galant 1925
- Lamento de BoabdilBoabdilAbu `Abdallah Muhammad XII , known as Boabdil , was the twenty-second and last Nasrid ruler of Granada in Iberia. He was also called el chico, the little, or el zogoybi, the unfortunate...
1931 - Minuetto "After Paderewski"
- Morgenlied 1957
- Partita 1935
- Pastorale "After CouperinCouperinThe Couperin family were a musical dynasty of professional composers and performers. They were the most prolific family in French musical history, active during the Baroque era...
" - Rapsodia del Sur
- Requiebros 1934
- SerenadeSerenadeIn music, a serenade is a musical composition, and/or performance, in someone's honor. Serenades are typically calm, light music.The word Serenade is derived from the Italian word sereno, which means calm....
1925 - Sonata in a minor 1925
- Sonata nello stile antico spagnuolo (Sonata in an "Old Spanish Style") 1925
- Toccata "After FrescobaldiGirolamo FrescobaldiGirolamo Frescobaldi was a musician from Ferrara, one of the most important composers of keyboard music in the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. A child prodigy, Frescobaldi studied under Luzzasco Luzzaschi in Ferrara, but was influenced by a large number of composers, including Ascanio...
" 1925
Chamber works
- Piano TrioPiano trioA piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in classical chamber music...
in C major 1926/1929 - String Quartet No. 1 in f minor 1929
- String Quartet No. 2 in G Major 1930
- String Quartet No. 3 in c minor 1933
Concerto transcriptions
- Cello Concerto in F major, based on C.P.E. Bach'sCarl Philipp Emanuel Bachright|250pxCarl Philipp Emanuel Bach was a German Classical period musician and composer, the fifth child and second son of Johann Sebastian Bach and Maria Barbara Bach...
Concerto No.3 in A major, Wq.172 - Cello Concerto in D Major, based on Mozart'sWolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
Horn Concerto No.3 in E flat major, K.447 - Cello Concerto in A minor, based on Schubert'sFranz SchubertFranz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
Sonata for Arpeggione and Piano, D.821 - Cello Concerto in E majorCello Concerto in E Major (Cassado-Tchaikovsky)The Cello Concerto in E major was not written by Tchaikovsky. It was created by the cellist Gaspar Cassadó, who took about nine of Tchaikovsky's piano pieces , and orchestrated them as, collectively, a concerto....
, based on Tchaikovsky'sPyotr Ilyich TchaikovskyPyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
Piano Pieces, Op.72 (1940)
- Cassadó transformed nine of Tchaikovsky's pieces into a concerto. He used No.18 Scene dansante (Invitation au trepak), No.3 Tendres Reproches and No.14 Chant Elegiaque in the first movement; No.5 Meditation and No.8 Dialogue in the second and No.4 Danse Caracteristique, No.2 Berceuse, No.17 Passe Lointain and No.1 Impromptu in the third. This concerto was a favorite of Cassadó's. It was published in 1940 by Edition Schott No.3743.
- Cello Concerto in D Major, based on Weber'sCarl Maria von WeberCarl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber was a German composer, conductor, pianist, guitarist and critic, one of the first significant composers of the Romantic school....
Clarinet Concerto No.2, in E flat major, Op.74 - Cello Concerto in E minor, based on Vivaldi'sAntonio VivaldiAntonio Lucio Vivaldi , nicknamed because of his red hair, was an Italian Baroque composer, priest, and virtuoso violinist, born in Venice. Vivaldi is recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread over Europe...
Cello Sonata No.5, RV.40 - Guitar Concerto in E Major, based on Boccherini'sLuigi BoccheriniLuigi Rodolfo Boccherini was an Italian classical era composer and cellist whose music retained a courtly and galante style while he matured somewhat apart from the major European musical centers. Boccherini is most widely known for one particular minuet from his String Quintet in E, Op. 11, No...
Concerto No. 2 in D majorCello Concerto No. 2 (Boccherini)Boccherini's Cello Concerto No. 2 in D major, G. 479 naturally takes the back seat to the Friedrich Grützmacher ever-famous arrangement of the B-flat Concerto. But no less attention was given to the D Major Concerto. This Concerto was arranged and reorchestrated by at least a half a dozen hand:...
, G.479
- Cello Concerto in D Major, based on Weber's
- Cassadó completely rewrote the Concerto for his colleague Andrés SegoviaAndrés SegoviaAndrés Torres Segovia, 1st Marquis of Salobreña , known as Andrés Segovia, was a virtuoso Spanish classical guitarist from Linares, Jaén, Andalucia, Spain...
. The transcription features a solo string quartet, and trumpet fanfares make it reminiscent of Rodrigo.
Transcriptions for solo cello
- J.S. BachJohann Sebastian BachJohann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
- Cello Suite no.4, BWV 1010
- Cassadó transposed the suite to F major from its original key of E flat major.
- Frédéric ChopinFrédéric ChopinFrédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
- Etude, Op. 25, No. 1 - George Frideric HandelGeorge Frideric HandelGeorge Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
- The Harmonious Blacksmith (from the Harpsichord Suites Vol.1 No.5 "Air and Variations")
- Frédéric Chopin
Transcriptions for cello and piano
- Isaac AlbénizIsaac AlbénizIsaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual was a Spanish Catalan pianist and composer best known for his piano works based on folk music idioms .-Life:Born in Camprodon, province of Girona, to Ángel Albéniz and his wife Dolors Pascual, Albéniz...
:- Cadiz (Serenata española)
- MalagueñaMalagueñaOriginally the sixth movement of the Suite Andalucia by Ernesto Lecuona, who also provided it with Spanish lyrics, the song "Malagueña" has since become a popular, jazz, marching band, and drum corps standard and has been provided with lyrics in several languages.-Notable vocal performances:A...
Op. 165, No. 3
- Martin BerteauMartin BerteauMartin Berteau , cellist, cello teacher and composer, is generally regarded as the founder of the French school of cello. He numbered among his pupils Jean-Pierre Duport, "the Elder" ....
- Studio - Luigi BoccheriniLuigi BoccheriniLuigi Rodolfo Boccherini was an Italian classical era composer and cellist whose music retained a courtly and galante style while he matured somewhat apart from the major European musical centers. Boccherini is most widely known for one particular minuet from his String Quintet in E, Op. 11, No...
- Minuetto - Alexander BorodinAlexander BorodinAlexander Porfiryevich Borodin was a Russian Romantic composer and chemist of Georgian–Russian parentage. He was a member of the group of composers called The Five , who were dedicated to producing a specifically Russian kind of art music...
- Serenata all spagnola (from String Quartet B-La-F) - Jean-Baptiste BrévalJean-Baptiste BrevalJean-Baptiste Sebastien Bréval was a French cellist and composer. He wrote mostly pieces for his own instrument, and performed many world premières of his own pieces.-Life:...
- Sonata in G major (realization of figured bass) - Frédéric ChopinFrédéric ChopinFrédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
- Minute Waltz, Op.64 no.1 - Constantino de Crescenzo - Prima Carezza
- Claude DebussyClaude DebussyClaude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
:- Clair de lune
- Golliwog's Cakewalk
- Minstrels
- Antonín DvořákAntonín DvorákAntonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
- Sonatine in G major, Op. 100 (Indian Lament) - Gabriel FauréGabriel FauréGabriel Urbain Fauré was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th century composers...
- Nocturne No. 4 - Enrique GranadosEnrique GranadosEnrique Granados y Campiña was a Spanish pianist and composer of classical music. His music is in a uniquely Spanish style and, as such, representative of musical nationalism...
- Intermezzo (from the opera Goyescas) - Ernesto HalffterErnesto HalffterErnesto Halffter Escriche was a Spanish composer and conductor. He was the brother of Rodolfo Halffter....
- Canzone e Pastorella - Blas de LasernaBlas de LasernaBlas de Laserna Nieva was a Spanish composer.-Biography:Laserna was one of the most prolific and popular songwriters of late eighteenth and early nineteenth century Spain....
- TonadillaTonadillaTonadilla was a Spanish musical song form of theatrical origin; not danced. The genre was a type of short, satirical musical comedy popular in 18th-century Spain, and later in Cuba and other Spanish colonial countries. It originated as a song type, then dialogue for characters was written into the... - Franz LisztFranz LisztFranz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
- Liebestraum (Notturno) No. 3 - Benedetto MarcelloBenedetto MarcelloBenedetto Marcello was a Venetian composer, writer, advocate, magistrate, and teacher.-Life:...
:- Sonata No. 1 in C major
- Sonata No. 4 in A minor
- Federico MompouFederico MompouFrederic Mompou i Dencausse was a Catalan Spanish composer and pianist. He is best known for his solo piano music and his songs.-Life:...
- Chanson et DanseCançons i DansesCançons i Danses is the title of a collection of 15 pieces by Federico Mompou, written between 1918 and 1972. All were written for the piano, except No. 13 for guitar and No... - Federico Moreno TorrobaFederico Moreno TorrobaFederico Moreno Torroba was a Spanish composer, born in Madrid.-Biography:Moreno Torroba is often associated with the zarzuela, a traditional Spanish musical form. Directing several opera companies, Moreno Torroba helped introduce the zarzuela to international audiences...
- Fandanguillo - W.A. MozartWolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
:- Rondo alla turca (from Piano Sonata K.331)
- Serenata de Don GiovanniDon GiovanniDon Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
[Deh vieni alla finestra] - Sonata K. 358 (from Sonata for Piano Four Hands)
- Georg MuffatGeorg Muffat-Life:He was born in Megève, Savoy, , and of Scottish descent. He studied in Paris with Jean Baptiste Lully between 1663 and 1669, then became an organist in Molsheim and Sélestat. Later, he studied law in Ingolstadt, afterwards settling in Vienna...
- Arioso - Ignacy Jan PaderewskiIgnacy Jan PaderewskiIgnacy Jan Paderewski GBE was a Polish pianist, composer, diplomat, politician, and the second Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland.-Biography:...
- Minuet in GMinuet in G (Paderewski)The Minuet in G, Op. 14/1, is a short piano composition by Ignacy Jan Paderewski, which became world-famous, overshadowing his more major works such as the Symphony in B minor "Polonia", the Piano Concerto in A minor, and the opera Manru.... - Manuel Maria PonceManuel Maria PonceManuel María Ponce Cuéllar was a Mexican composer active in the 20th century. His work as a composer, music educator and scholar of Mexican music connected the concert scene with a usually forgotten tradition of popular song and Mexican folklore...
- Estrellita (Little Star) - David PopperDavid PopperDavid Popper was a Bohemian cellist and composer.-Life:He was born in Prague, and studied music at the Prague Conservatory. He studied the cello under Julius Goltermann , and soon attracted attention...
- Elfentanz - Johann Strauss IIJohann Strauss IIJohann Strauss II , also known as Johann Baptist Strauss or Johann Strauss, Jr., the Younger, or the Son , was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas...
- An der schonen Blauen Donau