Pablo Casals, The Second Greatest Influence in my Life
Pablo Casals was considered the greatest cellist of the
first half of the 20th Century. He married my cousin, Marta Casals
Istomin, when I was a child.
One summer, I got to spend a few days with them at their
beach house in Puerto Rico. I would listen for hours as he practiced the piano
and the cello. I would sit in their listening room to their extensive
collection of classical music albums. That summer began to shape my musical ear
and tastes. I would be in awe and world class musicians just stopped by to chat
with him and play music.
However, what became life changing was when Don Pablo would
take the time to sit and talk to this snotty nosed kid about life, philosophy,
and music. He would light his pipe and talk at length about Bach and Beethoven.
He would talk so long that his pipe would go out, and he would have to light it
again and then go off on another monologue about his philosophy of life. I
still remember the smell of his pipe.
It was just a few times that we talked, but it changed my
life forever. He was slow and measured in his speaking as he shared what was
the distilled knowledge of a lifetime. He had suffered much in his lifetime and
even then, he was living in self-exile from his beloved Spain. He was
protesting the dictatorship Generalissimo Francisco Franco, who was a fascist,
until 1975. He was a man of principle.
Don Pablo instituted the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico,
which runs to this day. For a week, the most gifted musicians and conductors
from all over the world come and share their talents for classical music.
He taught me through the eyes of Bach that music was a gift
from God and that we as humans should offer it back as a gift to God. Without
knowing it, he was teaching me the basics of worship.
I will forever be indebted to him for taking the time to
talk to that young boy. Second only to my mother, he was the most influential
person in my early development, and partly responsible for whom I am today.
He was a man of principle and deep faith. He helped form,
not only my musical tastes, but my worldview. He showed me that all music should
de done in the name of God and to glorify Him. He didn’t use this language, but
he was teaching me worship
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