Cassadó, Gaspar

Born Sept. 30, 1897, in Barcelona; died Dec. 24, 1966, in Madrid. Spanish cellist and composer.

Cassaó first studied with his father, Joaquin Cassadó, the organist, conductor, and composer. At the age of seven he began to learn the cello under D. March in Barcelona, and he gave his first public performance at the age of nine. Between 1908 and 1914, Cassado lived in Paris; in 1910 he became a pupil of P. Casals. He was influenced by Debussy, Ravel, and de Falla.

Cassadó began his successful tours of the musical capitals of the world in 1918 and continued giving concerts until his death. He settled in Florence in 1934; in 1947 he began giving master classes at the Chigiana Academy in Siena (Italy) and in 1958 at the school of music in Cologne. In 1962 and in 1966 he was a jury member at the International Tchaikovsky Competition. He toured the USSR in 1963 and 1965.

Cassadó composed a number of works, chiefly for cello solo, for cello and piano, and for string ensemble. Among his manytranscriptions is a cello concerto based on piano pieces by Tchai-kovsky.