Pau Casals

Casals reinvented cello playing and its repertoire. Albéniz heard the teenage musician playing in a café, was deeply impressed, befriended him and gave him a key introduction. Granados, a lasting friend, played in a Barcelona trio with him. In Paris he befriended Fauré (transcribing one of his songs), Ravel, Saint-Saëns, Degas and Bergson: Dufy was especially close, Casals often playing while Dufy painted. On visits to Russia he visited Scriabin, met Glazunov and Rimsky-Korsakov, and often played under Rachmaninoff’s direction. Both Schoenberg and Glazunov corresponded and wrote cello pieces for him.