Presentation ceremony

The book launch took place on International Archives Day. (This day was established in 2008 at the proposal of the International Council on Archives (ICA). The date chosen was 9 June because on this day in 1948, the ICA was created at the proposal of  UNESCO. (The United Nations Organization that promotes cooperation in education, science, culture and communication to foster peace worldwide). The presentation ceremony was attended by Kenneth Martínez, Mayor of El Vendrell; Josep Ràfols, General Councillor for Culture of the Baix Penedès Regional Council; Albert Solé author of the foreword; Nativitat Castejon, director of the Baix Penedès Regional Archive and host of the event, and Lluís Sintes, author of the musical editions and the book. 

The ceremony included a concert featuring several musical compositions by Benvingut Socias. The concert was performed by Jordi Joan Pascual (piano), Joan Urpí (tenor), Griselda Ramon (soprano) and Àlex Jordi (piano).  This was the concert programme:

From left to right: Àlex Jordi and Jordi Joan Pascual

• Jordi Joan Pascual (piano)

• Jordi Joan Pascual (piano) y Àlex Jordi (piano)

From left to right: Àlex Jordi, Jordi Joan Pascual and Joan Urpí (tenor)

• Joan Urpí (tenor) accompanied on the piano by Jordi Joan Pascual 

Àlex Jordi (piano) and Griselda Ramon (soprano)

• Griselda Ramon, soprano, accompanied on the piano by Àlex Jordi 

A video about Benvingut Socias Mercadé by Lluís Sintes

Lluís Sintes has also made a vídeo about Benvingut Socias. (It is in Catalan and has no subtitles. It lasts 3'52")

Further information

Who was Benvingut Socias?

Benvingut Socias Mercadé (1877 – 1952)  was an internationally renowned pianist. He was also a composer and teacher. Like Pablo Casals (1876 - 1973), and the cellist, tenor and music teacher Bonaventura Dini (1876 - 1936), he received his first music lessons from Carles Casals Riba, Pablo Casals' father. (Socias, Casals and Dini were friends since childhood).

In 1887, Socias joined the Montserrat Choir School (Escolania de Montserrat). His teacher was the religious father Manuel Guzmán (1846 - 1909). Guzman was a composer, chapel master and organist, and directed the "Escolania" between 1890 and 1909. He carried out a comprehensive reform.   

In 1893, he began his training at the Municipal School of Music in Barcelona. He was a student of Joan Baptista Pellicer (1862 - 1930). 

Socias won two composition awards. The first one was at the Lugo Artistic-Literary Competition, with the work "Santísima Trinidad" (1896). The second was at the Literary-Musical Competition of the Ateneo León XII in Santiago de Compostela with the "Mass for four voices, choir, orchestra and organ" (1897).  

In 1898, he was appointed assistant piano teacher at the Barcelona Music School, in his teacher's class, and worked there until 1903. 

 He married Blanca Bonastre Jiménez (1875 - 1944) in 1899,

In 1903, he performed with the Barcelona Musical Association Orchestra, conducted by Joan  Lamote de Grignon (1872 - 1949) (Lamote was a composer, conductor, teacher and founder of the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra. He was also a guest conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and, in particular, a highly successful conductor of the Barcelona Municipal Band. Pablo Casals and Richard Strauss were admirers of Lamote).

Pablo Casals opened the door to international concerts for Benvingut Socias, who when on to perform in Paris in 1906. In 1908, both performed at the Palau de la Música Catalana to great acclaim. That same year, both participated in the "Collas Sardanisticas" Competition in El Vendrell. Socias presented the sardana "Planyivola", an adjective meaning an expression of pain or sorrow that moves one to compassion; Casals presented "Festivola", an adjective meaning festive. In autumn Socias embarked on a European tour of Germany, Belgium, France and England. 

In 1909, Benvingut Socias travelled to the United States to give concerts and also worked as an accompanist pianist at the Corning Conservatory of Music, with the violinist and conductor Frank Kneisel (1865 - 1926) and with Fran Keneisel (1865 - 1926) at the New York  Institute of Musical Art[1], now known as The Juilliard School. 

Between 1910 and 1913, Socias toured Germany and England with Pablo Casals and baritone Bogea Oumiroff (1864 - 1929) and violinists André Mangeot (1883 - 19170)  and Tara Vallace. (Some musicians were very well known in their day, but today they are almost forgotten, and we have some references, particularly from the archive of press clippings and magazines in the Music Division of the New York Public Library and in some cases in clipping from The General Press Cutting Association Ltd in London, which this company requested from individuals or institutions and can now be found in public or private archives, but no sources have been found that indicate the dates of birth and death. It is the case of Tara Wallace or the case of the cellist Paulo Gruppe, who performed with Socias and left a recording on a wax cylinder that can be heard at this link.) 

During the First World War (1914 - 1918), Benvingut Socias was unable to give concerts in Europe. 

In 1918, Benvingut Socias gave two concerts in Barcelona at the Sala Mozart (Mozart Hall). A review in the Gaceta de Barcelona (25 May 1918) said that, beneath Socias' modesty, he was:

Between 1919 and 1935, he held the chair of advanced piano studies at the Liceu Conservatory of Music  (Conservatori de Música del Liceu) in Barcelona

In 1919, he performed at the Palau de la Música Catalana in two concerts for the members of the Da Camera Music Association of Barcelona (Associació de Música 'Da Camera' de Barcelona). The orchestra was conducted by Josep Rabentós i Canals (1887 - 1932), and violinist Mathieu Crickboom (1871 - 1947) also performed in the concert. (Josep Rabentós was also born in El Vendrell and had been a pupil of Bonaventura Dini (1876 - 1936) and Pablo Casals). 

The First Penedès Art Exhibition was held in 1926,  and Benvingut Socias and Pablo Casals gave a concert at the Teatro Principal in Vilafranca del Penedès. That same year, both returned to the Palau de la Música, and Socias returned to England to give a series a concerts. In 1927, he performed again with Casals at the Second Penedès Art Exhibition, this time in El Vendrell, their hometown. 

In 1935, he gave a single concert in Barcelona with Pablo Casals' orchestra. The following year, the Spanish Civil War broke out. Socias went into exile in London, where he gave concerts and lessons. When the Civil War ended, he returned to El Vendrell. 

In 1941, he participated in a concert to celebrate the restoration of the organ and was appointed honorary organist. 

En 1951, hid hometwon paid a tribute to Benvingut Socias.  (You will find more information about this tribute in the section dedicated to documents related to tributes to Benvingut Socias.) 

Benvingut Socias died on 4 March 1952, in El Vendrell

(Sources: Research conducted by Nativitat Castejón, director of the Arxiu Comarcal del Baix Penedès (Baix Penedès Regional Archive), published in various articles, books and on the panels of an exhibition dedicated to Benvingut Socias. )

Books

Exhibition 'Benvingut Socias Mercadé: life and work'

In Catalonia, the cultural event RECERCAT is held annually in the city or municipality chosen as the Catalan Cultural Capital. In 2020, El Vendrell was the chosen city. The exhibition 'Benvingut Socias Mercadé:life and work' was part of the events. However, due to the pandemic, the celebration became a digital event. The exhibition was organised by the Baix Penedès Regional Archive (Arxiu Comarcal del Baix Penedès), the Vendrell Organ Association (Orgue del Vendrell), and the Vendrell Nativity Scene Group (Grup Pessebrista del Vendrell). The curator was Nativitat Castejón. In fact, this exhibition was organised in 2017 to celebrate the 140th anniversary of the birth of Benvingut Socias. Its presence at RECERCAT aimed to raise awareness of  Benvingut Socias in other Catalan-speaking areas. Finally, in 2022, the exhibition was presented at the García Lorca Centre of Andalusia del Vendrell (Centro Cultural Andalucía García Lorca del Vendrell), to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the musician's death. (RECERCAT is organised by the Ramon Muntaner Institute with the support and participation of cultural organisations and institutions and public administrations.) 

One of the panels in the exhibition

The concert [1] was organised by the 'El Vendrell Sports Club, Conference and Concert Group' (Club Deportivo, Grupo de conferencias y conciertos del Vendrell) and took place at the Tivolí Theatre. (The programme is in Spanish and was printed by Impremta Barnadas. It is now part of the El Vendrell Digital Library.  

Tribute programme. The tribute was held between 19 and 21 January 1951 in the Tívoli Theatre. Enric Casals (brother of Pablo Casals) conducted the 'De Camera Professional Orquestra', the tribute also included a mass in memory of Blanca Bonastre de Socias, wife of Benvingut Socias. The El Vendrell Town Council named Benvingut Socias an honorary citizen of the town and placed a bust of Benvingut Socias,  a work by Joan Borrull Soler (1880 - 1960), in the plenary hall. In addition, it changed the name of  Plaza de la Paja (Straw Square) to Plaza Benvingut Socias. 

The tribute was proposed by a group of music lovers from El Vendrell and the Societat Coral La Lira Vendrellenca (Lira Vendrellenca Choral Society), and the Town Council. 

The concert on the 24nd 

The programme for the concert on the 24nd 

The project ‘The Sound of Pau Casals’

The project ‘The Sound of Pau Casals’ was presented on 5 February at the Complutense University of Madrid.

This project is a pioneering work that seeks to uncover the secrets of ‘Pau Casals' sound’.

The investigation began on 9 September 2022 and will end on 31 August 2025. It has the financial support of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. The grant amounts to €43,076.

The basis of the work is that they consider Pau Casals as the father of the modern cello and one of the greatest musicians of the 20th century.

The research is being conducted by the Complutense Institute of Musical Sciences (ICCMU), and is directed by Ana Llorens, who is a professor and cellist.

The ICCMU is a centre dedicated to scientific research and the preservation of Hispanic musical heritage. It is a centre affiliated with the Complutense University of Madrid.

The project has also benefited from the collaboration of the Pau Casals Foundation.

One of the objectives of the research is to present the key elements of the research on stage, with cellists and chamber musicians, and to attempt to recreate the sound of Pau Casals.

To understand the characteristics of Pau Casals' sound, researchers studied nearly a hundred recordings. They used digitisation and sound analysis techniques, as well as comparing different editions and remastering, as they believed that technology could influence human perception of sound.

With all this information, it is possible to assess Pau Casals' musical thinking and sound aesthetics. The final and equally important objective is to promote the creation of a community for the study of musical performance and to promote it as a scientific discipline in Spain.

Finally, on 6 and 7 February, a series of sessions were held at the Faculty of Geography and History of the Complutense University of Madrid, featuring recitals and lectures, as well as a combination of both, with the participation of renowned specialists.

The topics covered in the sessions and the musicians and researchers who participated

Casals at Marlboro

Dr. Bernard Meillat. (Pau Casals Foundations)

Pianist and Doctor of Musicology. His doctoral thesis was entitled ‘Debussy and the Symbolist Poets’. He also has a background in Humanities (French Literature and Ancient Languages). He is an advisor to the Pau Casals Foundation. He was a member of the music department for the film about Pau Casals, ‘Pablo, the Power of Silence’ (2017). Member of the Scientific Committee for these conferences.

Pau in Paris

Laura Granero

Pianist, fortepianist, harpsichordist, and researcher. She is currently working on her PhD at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, focusing on historical piano rolls and the connections between Clara Schumann's former students. She is pursuing her scholarship with a grant for excellence awarded by the La Caixa Foundation. She studied piano with Claudio Martínez-Mehner and harpsichord with Pilar Montoya and Jorge García and later studied fortepiano and harpsichord at the Schola Cantorum Basilensis. She is co-director of the project ‘La Nouvelle Athènes, Centre des pianos romantiques’. This entity offers classes and concerts as part of its objectives. She has performed in concert at the Santander International Festival, the San Sebastián Music Fortnight, and the Juan March Foundation, among others. She has also given lectures at the University of Sydney, the Hochschule der Künste Bern, and the conservatories of Paris and Lyon, as well as at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Madrid.

Dr. Aldo Mata

Cellist. He studied at the Reina Sofía School and received master classes from Rostropovich and Greenhouse, among others. Doctor of Music. His doctoral thesis was on Mozart's Prussian Quartets. He is a professor at the Manuel Castillo Conservatory in Seville and a teacher at the Katarina Gurska Higher Music Centre in Madrid (CSKG). He has won several competitions, such as the Fulbright, Popper, and the permanent national competition of Juventudes Musicales. He has participated in festivals in Brazil, Japan, the United States, and elsewhere.

Pau Casals and Catalan and Spanish composers in exile

Dr. Eva Moreda Rodríguez. (University of Glasgow)

Professor of Musicology at the University of Glasgow. She received her doctorate from Royal Holloway College, University of London. Her studies focus on the political and cultural history of Spanish music in the 20th century in exile and under the Franco regime. Among the books she has published is Music and Exile in Francoist Spain. She has also written an essay on the recording of Bacarisse's concerts by the Trío Arbós. She has been a member of the Organising Committee of the Spanish Art Song and Zarzuela Festival in London since 2014. Member of the Scientific Committee of these conferences.

The Belgian network of Pablo Casals

Jan Dewilde

Musicologist from the University of Leuven. Librarian at the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp (Belgium) since 2004. Since 1998, he has been the coordinator of the Study Centre for Flemish Music (Belgium). He is an expert in Flemish music. He is a research assistant at the Centrum voor Teksteditie en Bronnenstudie of the Royal Academy of Dutch Language and Literature (Belgium) and at the Orpheus Institute (Belgium).

As if he were not the same person: Schenker on Casals as cellist, conductor, and businessman

Dr. Shanti Nachtergaele

He graduated from Shenandoah Conservatory and earned a master's degree in early music from the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. He received his doctorate from McGill University. His doctoral thesis focused on the socio-material history of the double bass (c. 1760–1890). He plays the double bass and the violone (an instrument that could be described as a Baroque double bass).

Edward Klorman

Violist. He has given concerts at venues such as the Berkshire Bach Society. He specialises in tonal music and the relationship between musical analysis, interpretation, and historical musicology. Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Mead Witter School of Music. He has also taught at the Juilliard School in Manhattan (New York). His books include Bach's Cello Suites and Mozart's Music of Friends. Social Interplay in the Chamber Works.

From Barcelona to Madrid: New reflections on Pablo Casals' stay in the capital (1893-1895)

Dr. Miguel Ángel Ríos Muñoz. (Complutense Institut of Musical Sciences)

He holds a degree in musicology of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Madrid (graduation award and honours for ‘Casimiro Espino (1845 - 1898): melodies for orchestra, a song without words’). He also holds a master's degree in Spanish Music and Spanish and Latin American Music from the Complutense University of Madrid. He has a PhD in musicology also from the Complutense University of Madrid. His doctoral thesis is entitled ‘El Teatro Felipe (1885 - 1891): Dramatic and musical practices of the theatre by the hour’. He participated in the concerts held at the Pau Casals Museum from 22 to 24 May. He has published numerous articles and book chapters. He has participated in several conferences. Member of the Organising Committee of these conferences.

"Le maître et le centimaître" - Pau Casals and Rudolf von Tobel in Switzerland

Helga Váradi

He studied harpsichord at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna; he has also studied at the Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique et de Danse in Lyon and at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis Hochschule für Alte Musik. He won the Gianni Bergarmo Prize for his harpsichord performance (2014). He has carried out various research projects, one of which focused on Rudolf von Tobel and Pau Casals, based on von Tobel's archives preserved in Bern. One of his books is ‘La Maître et le centimaître. Rudolf von Tobel the devoted student in service to the Maestro Pablo Casals’ (Rudolf von Tobel was a student of Casals and remained loyal and admiring of the Maestro throughout his life). Since 2022, Váradi has been Head of Events and Special Projects at the Lucerne Theatre and a member of the Rudolf von Tobel Foundation (Graffenried, Bern). She is deeply committed to cultural exchange in Europe.

The origins of the 1950 Prades Festival

Andrea Bravo Serrano. (Complutense University of Madrid)

Cellist. Musicologist. She has participated in research for the project ‘The Sound of Pau Casals’. She has focused particularly on the humanistic and musical career of Pau Casals and on the Prada Festival that bears his name.

Casals' Beethoven and Enbodied Responses

Dr. Inja Stanović. (University of Surrey)

Pianist and musicologist. Specialist in early music recordings. Her research focuses on historically informed performance practice and the study of wax cylinders and early gramophone records. She participated in the concert at the Museu Pau Casals on 23 May. Member of the Scientific Committee for these conferences.

From Casals to Morell: Comparison of Goltermann's Cantinella between the begining and the middle of the 20th century

Nieves María Pelejero Ibáñez

Graduated in History and Music Sciences from the University of La Rioja (2016). Advanced Cello degree from the Joaquín Rodrigo Conservatory of Music (2017). Master's degree in Cultural Project Management and Entrepreneurship from UNIR (2023).

Pau Casals' recording of Bach's cello suites: micro-scale shaping in the sarabandes

Dr. Ana Llorens. (Complutense University of Madrid)

PhD in music from the University of Cambridge. Professor of Music Theory and Analysis at the Complutense University of Madrid. Specialist in large-volume analysis. Member of the board of directors of the Spanish Society of Musicology. Principal investigator of the project "The Sound of Pau Casals." Member of the Scientific Committee for these conferences.

Evolution of stereophonic sound in Pau Casals' recording

Dr. Marco Antonio Juan de Dios Cuartas.  (Complutense University of Madrid)

PhD in Musicology. He holds a degree in History and Music Sciences from the University of Oviedo and a first-class honors degree in Recording Arts from Middlesex University, London. He is a member of the Spanish Society of Musicology (SEdeM), and of the Society of Ethnomusicology, and a member of the Society for Music Production Research (SMPR). He is currently an engineer in the Spanish section of the Audio Engineering Society (AES). He participates in conferences at the Complutense University of Madrid and is a member of the Scientific Committee for these conferences.

The Pau Casals Fund, a fund to be explored

Dr. Isaura Solé Boladeras

She holds a degree in Art History from the University of Barcelona (UB). She also holds a Master in Libraries and Heritage Collections from the UB. She also holds a Master in Analysis and Evaluation of Works of Art from the University of Lleida. She holds a PhD in Information and Communication from the UB, with the thesis: "Ex fumo dare lucem. The configuration of the graphic industry in Barcelona during the second half of the 19th century (1845–1900)." She is a documentalist at the Pau Casals Foundation, where she manages the documentary collections held at the National Archive of Catalonia and the collections of the Pau Casals Museum.

Casals and the concept of music as living heritage

Dr. Tiago de Oliveira Pinto

Musician, anthropologist, and curator. He holds a PhD in musicology from the Free University of Berlin (1990). He is a professor at the UNESCO Chair in Transcultural Music Studies at the Franz Liszt University of Music in Weimar, Germany. Since 2024, he has represented the Krongert Academy in its programs and projects on musical heritage. This institution is guided by the humanistic ideas of Pau Casals. He was a visiting professor at Harvard University, Kent State University (Ohio), and Fort Hare University (South Africa), among others.

Music as propaganda: The reception of Pablo Casals in Japan and the Sinophone World during the Cold War

Dr. Min-Erth Wang

A PhD holder from the University of Oxford, his research focuses on East Asian responses to Western art music during the 20th century. His thesis examines the reception of this same Western music in Japan, Taiwan, China, and Hong Kong; and the study of the reception of the music and thought of Pau Casals.

Latvian cultural reception of Pau Casals (1912 - 1977)

Dr. Zane Prëdele

She holds a bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree in musicology from the Jāzeps Vitols Latvian Academy of Music (Latvia). Her doctoral thesis was "Jāzeps Vitols, His Dynamics in Cultural Memory: Canons and Archives." Since 2009, She has been an archivist at the aforementioned School of Music. In 2015, She joined the Centre for Scientific Research, also at the same music school, as a researcher, and later directed the centre from 2017 to 2019. She is currently a visiting professor at the same school.

Presentation of the edition of Enric Casals' suite for cello

Dr. Iagoba Fanlo. (Alfonso X El Sabio University)

He holds a PhD in Arts and Humanities from the Rey Juan Carlos University. As a cellist, he is a Golden Melómeno Award winner and was chosen to perform the Elgar Concerto under Yehudi Menuhin with the Royal Academy in London. In 2009, the Pau Casals Foundation asked him to perform an unpublished cello work by Pau Casals, together with the Casals Quartet. He is a cello tutor for the European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO). He is the president of the Luigi Boccherini Association.

Other members of the Scientific Committee without presentation of communications at the conference

Dr. José Luis Besada. (Complutense University of Madrid)

Doctoral thesis on cognition and the methodology of analysis of contemporary musical composition (extraordinary award). He holds a degree in Music from the Royal Conservatory of Music of Madrid (RCSMM). He holds a degree in Mathematical Sciences from the Complutense University of Madrid. He also holds a Master of Arts and an extraordinary doctorate award from the Université Paris 8 des Créations. Among many other degrees, he was an associate professor at the Sorbonne in 2016. He is the author of numerous works, including the monograph "Metamodels in Compositional Practices: The Case of Alberto Posadas' Liturgia Fractal". His articles include "Organized Sound Tempo" and "Perspectives of New Music". Between 2020 and 2023, he was a member of the Societé Française d'Analyse Musicale. A founding member of the Society for Musical Analysis and Theory (SATMUS), created in 2020, he is currently secretary and director of the entity's journal Súmula. Between 2020 and 2023, he was editor of the art section of the Journal of Mathematics and Music. He has been a contributor to Radio Clásica since 2017. His research interests include: History and analysis of Western art music since 1970; Cognition of the creative act in contemporary musical practices; and Cognitive and mathematical aspects of music theory. He belongs to various research groups and participates in several projects. One of the projects he has participated in is DeepMusic: Digitizing the Musical Heritage Ecosystem. Spain: TED 2021-131738B-100 (2022-2024); IPs: Álvaro Torrente and Judith Ortega.

Dr. Adam Beham (Maynooth Univesity)

Musicologist. Specializing in 20th-century Western music, he has studied different forms of performance from a critical and empirical perspective. He is working on a project on Irish popular music and liberalism during the late 20th century, linking musicology, social history, and gender.

 

Other members of the Organizing Committee:

Dr. María Álvarez Villamil (Complutense Institute of Musical Sciences)

Since 2020, she has been part of the R&D Project Manager team at the Complutense University of Madrid.

Carlota Martínez Escamilla (Complutense Institute of Musical Sciences)

Member of the research group "Spanish Music of the 19th and 20th Centuries."