Pablo Casals

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Pau Casals i Defilló (Pablo Casals) (born El Vendrell, Catalonia, 29 December 1876; died San Juan, Puerto Rico, 22 October 1973) was a Spanish Catalan cellist. He made the cello popular as a solo instrument to the younger generation. In his later years he was also a conductor as well as a composer.

Casals made many recordings of solo, chamber, and orchestral music. Perhaps his best known recordings are the ones he made between 1936 and 1939 of the Cello Suites by Bach. When the dictator General Franco started to rule Spain he felt very strongly about the political situation. When the democratic party was defeated in 1939 he said that he would never go back to Spain until democracy had been restored. He did not live long enough to see the end to Franco’s rule, which happened two years after his death, with the death of Franco.