Nearly 20,000 archive units make up – for the moment – ??the Pau Casals documentary collection, something unique and an international reference to learn about the career of the great musician. Since the Foundation that bears the teacher’s name deposited the material in the National Archive of Catalonia in 1997, 85% of the documents have been catalogued, now with the support of the Barcelona Provincial Council and the La Caixa Foundation. 12,000 of which are textual and the rest, graphic and audiovisual.
This was stated yesterday by those responsible for the foundation during the institutional closing ceremony of the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of Casals’ death, at the Palau Moja. The Minister of Culture, Natàlia Garriga, who presided over the event and congratulated the director of the National Archive of Catalonia, Francesc Balada, who is retiring – “he has made it possible for the heritage of Pau Casals to be the heritage of all” – observed how the artist and activist was aware of generating an important archive, as he dated and made handwritten notes on each document.
Casals kept everything. Among other things, personal documentation, handwritten compositions, press clippings, concert programs, photographs and sound and audiovisual recordings. And also, an extensive correspondence with more than 50,000 letters, testimony of the relationships that Pau Casals maintained in the various fields of music, culture, politics and contemporary society.
“There are personalities like Albert Einstein, Thomas Mann or J.F. Kennedy”, indicated the director of the foundation, Jordi Pardo. “Casals wrote 200 letters every day; “He would sit for two hours answering all the correspondence,” added Ballester, who has just found one that shows that as early as 1905, Casals was part of international peace organizations.
“The more than 19,000 cataloging units are already searchable and in fact the fund has already registered more than 500 in-person users and up to 6,000 digital queries throughout this year. Now it is time to communicate and disseminate the fund,” Balada concluded before Barcelona cellist Sara Chordá will perform Bach and an emotional Cant dels ocells.
