Gaspar Cassadó

Gaspar Cassadó i Moreu (September 30, 1897 – December 24, 1966) was an influential 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 hoaxes.

In 1932 he commissioned Arnold Bax to write a cello concerto for him. Bax obliged, dedicating the work to Cassadó. However, it never entered the repertory, and Bax said "The fact that nobody has ever taken up this work has been one of the major disappointments of my musical life".^[1]

Compositions

Original works

Cassadó's many transcriptions are listed below his original works.

Concertos

• Cello Concerto in D minor (1926)

This piece, like the Suite for Cello Solo, is influenced by Spanish and Oriental folk music, and Impressionism. Cassado studied composition with Maurice Ravel, 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 Solo

The Suite, 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 Zarabanda); Sardana; and Intermezzo e Danza Finale (a Jota). The first movement includes quotations from Zoltán Kodály's Sonata for Cello Solo, Op.8, and the famous flute solo from Maurice Ravel's ballet Daphnis et Chloé.

• 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 Sardana
• 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 Boabdil 1931
• Minuetto "After Paderewski"
• Morgenlied 1957
• Partita 1935
• Pastorale "After Couperin"
• Rapsodia del Sur
• Requiebros 1934
• Serenade 1925
• Sonata in a minor 1925
• Sonata nello stile antico spagnuolo (Sonata in an "Old Spanish Style") 1925
• Toccata "After Frescobaldi" 1925

Chamber works

• Piano Trio 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

Transcriptions

Concerto transcriptions

• Cello Concerto in F major, based on C.P.E. Bach's Concerto No.3 in A major, Wq.172
• Cello Concerto in D Major, based on Mozart's Horn Concerto No.3 in E flat major, K.447
• Cello Concerto in A minor, based on Schubert's Sonata for Arpeggione and Piano, D.821
• Cello Concerto in E major, based on Tchaikovsky's 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's Clarinet Concerto No.2, in E flat major, Op.74
• Cello Concerto in E minor, based on Vivaldi's Cello Sonata No.5, RV.40
• Guitar Concerto in E Major, based on Boccherini's Concerto No. 2 in D major, G.479

Cassadó completely rewrote the Concerto for his colleague Andrés Segovia. The transcription features a solo string quartet, and trumpet fanfares make it reminiscent of Rodrigo.

Transcriptions for solo cello

• J.S. Bach - Cello Suite no.4, BWV 1010

Cassadó transposed the suite to F major from its original key of E flat major.

• Frederick Chopin - Etude op.25 no.1
• George Frideric Handel - The Harmonious Blacksmith (from the Harpsichord Suites Vol.1 No.5 "Air and Variations")

Transcriptions for cello and piano

• Isaac Albeniz:
  • Cadiz (Serenata española)
  • Malagueña Op. 165, No. 3
• Martin Berteau - Studio
• Luigi Boccherini - Minuetto
• Alexander Borodin - Serenata all spagnola (from String Quartet B-La-F)
• Jean-Baptiste Bréval - Sonata in G major (realization of figured bass)
• Frédéric Chopin - Minute Waltz, Op.64 no.1
• Constantino de Crescenzo - Prima Carezza
• Claude Debussy:
  • Clair de Lune
  • Golliwog's cakewalk
  • Minstrels
• Antonín Dvořák - Sonatine in G Major op.100 (Indian Lament)
• Gabriel Fauré - Nocturne No.4
• Enrique Granados - Intermezzo (de opera Goyescas)
• Ernesto Halffter - Canzone e Pastorella
• Blas de Laserna - Tonadilla
• Franz Liszt - Liebestraum Notturno Nr.3
• Benedetto Marcello:
  • Sonata No.1 in C major
  • Sonata No.4 in A minor
• Federico Mompou - Chanson et Danse
• W.A. Mozart:
  • Rondo Alla Turca (from Piano Sonata K.331)
  • Serenata de Don Giovanni [Deh vieni alla finestra]
  • Sonata K.358 (from Sonata for Piano Four Hands)
• Georg Muffat - Arioso
• Ignacy Jan Paderewski - Menuett
• Manuel Maria Ponce - Estrellita (Little Star)
• David Popper - Elfentanz
• Johann Strauss II - An der schonen Blauen Donau
• Federico Moreno Torroba - Fandanguillo

References

External links

• Brief biography from the International Cello Society
• Nathaniel J. Chaitkin's doctoral thesis on Gaspar Cassadó: His Relationship with Pablo Casals and His Versatile Musical Life (2001)
• His Profile at The Remington Site