Legendary Cellist Pablo Casals, 93, on Creative Vitality and How Loving Collaboration Extends Your Life – The Marginalian

Long before there was Yo-Yo Ma, there was a Catalan cellist and conductor from Spain Pablo Casals (December 29, 1876–October 22, 1973), considered by many – including Yo-Yo Ma – to be the greatest cellist of all time. Recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the UN Peace Medal for his unwavering commitment to justice and his lifelong stance against oppression and tyranny, Casals was an extraordinary artist as he was an extraordinary person – a generous and kind man with an extraordinary compassion and beauty of heart, a passionate spirit in an impeccable love for life, a reasonable spirit in love.

However, like many exceptional people, he developed his character through early shock and suffering. In his early teenage years, already a legendary figure, he faced a tragic spiritual crisis similar to the kind Tolstoy faced in his later years and came close to suicide. But with his mother's loving support, he regained his center and became a man of great talent, great success, and great power.

To celebrate his ninetieth birthday, Casals began a collaboration with photographer Albert E. Kahn that would become the autobiography-of-type of the 1970s. Joys and Sorrows (public library) — one of the most beautiful views of creative life ever put to words.

From the beginning, Casals unlocks the essence of his remarkable character and the source of his energy for an abundant life with a beautiful case of how meaningful work is a true source of youth:

On my last birthday I was ninety-three years old. That's not new, of course. In fact, it is older than ninety. But age is a relative matter. If you continue to work and take the beauty of the world with you, you will find that age does not necessarily mean getting old. At least, not in the conventional sense. I feel more things than ever before, and for me life is becoming more interesting.

Narrating the delight and dismay of the subject in London Sunday Times about an orchestra in the Caucasus made up of over a hundred musicians, he considers the spring of their vitality:

Despite their age, these artists have never lost their passion for life. How does one explain this? I don't think the answer lies in their physical resources or in something unique about the climate they live in. It has to do with their attitude towards life; and I believe that their ability to work is due in no small part to the fact that they do work. Work helps a person not grow old. I, for one, cannot dream of retirement. Not now or ever. Retire? The word alien is an unimaginable concept to me. I don't believe in retirement for anyone in my line of work, not while the spirit lasts. My job is my life. I can't think of one without the other. “Retirement” means to me the beginning of death. A person who works and doesn't get tired never gets old. Work and interest in important things is the best antidote for years. Each day I am reborn. Each day I have to start again.

For the past eighty years I have started each day the same way.

With great beauty, he contrasts the dullness of a mindless lifestyle with the joy of a rational culture – something that many great artists developed in their day. In a sentiment Henry Miller would agree on just two years later in his memorable meditation on the secret of staying young forever, Casals writes about his daily practice:

It is not a mechanical practice but something important in my daily life. I go to the piano, and play two preludes and fugues of Bach. I can't imagine doing it any other way. It is a kind of house blessing. But that is not its only meaning to me. It's a rediscovery of the world that I'm happy to be a part of. It fills me with an awareness of the miracle of life, with a sense of the incredible wonder of being human. Music is not the same for me, never will be. Each day is something new, delicious, incredible. That's Bach, like nature, a miracle!

Casals, indeed, finds great strength in proving that nature's ability to renew itself is very important to the human spirit over time:

I don't think a day goes by in my life when I fail to gaze in awe at a natural wonder. It is everywhere. It could be just a shadow on a mountain, or a spider's web glistening with dew, or sunlight on the leaves of a tree. I have always had a special love for the beach. Whenever possible, I live near the beach… It has long been my habit to walk along the beach every morning before I start work. Of course, my walk is shorter than before, but that does not diminish the amazingness of the beach. How mysterious and beautiful is the sea! infinitely variable! It is not the same, it never is, it does not change from one moment to another, it is always in the process of transformation, becoming something different and new.

In the same way, Casals says, we renew ourselves with meaningful work. But he adds an admonition about the luxury of talent, echoing Jack Kerouac's striking distinction between talent and intelligence. Casals offers aspiring artists of all stripes a word of advice about humility and hard work as a surefire way to become a reality:

I don't see any merit in the fact that I was an artist at the age of eleven. I was born with talent, I have music in me, that's all. No special credit was due to me. The only credit we can claim is for the use of the gifted talent. That's why I urge young musicians: “Don't be vain because you have talent.

Yes, it is a gift that we should value above all life itself. Man's work should be contempt for life.

Hence Ray Bradbury's famous declaration that he never worked a day in his life – further proof of the magic made possible by realizing your calling.

Casals lived and worked for another four years, dying eight weeks before his ninety-seventh birthday. Joys and Sorrows it remains a refreshing read – a rare insight into the source of this powerful and spiritual life of unparalleled proportions.