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Lot 314
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Composer and Cellist Pablo Casals Advises Vice Admiral on How to Preserve Sister’s Opera
Composer and Cellist Pablo Casals Advises Vice Admiral on How to Preserve Sister’s Opera
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Description:

Pablo Casals
Santurce, Puerto Rico, August 1, 1967
Composer and Cellist Pablo Casals Advises Vice Admiral on How to Preserve Sister's Opera
TLS
PABLO CASALS, Typed Letter Signed, to M. L. Deyo, August 1, 1967, Santurce, Puerto Rico. 1 p., 8" x 10.5". On Casals's stationery; includes a 4.125" x 6.5"photograph of Casals; bold signature in blue ink; very good.

"It is indeed a sad moment for music...."

Renowned Catalan cellist and composer Pablo Casals writes from Puerto Rico to advise Vice-Admiral M. L. Deyo on the best place for the preservation of Deyo's sister's opera. Deyo had written to Casals to seek his advice on what to do with the manuscript of The Diadem of the Stars, Ruth Lynda Deyo's massive Egyptian-themed opera that she wrote in Egypt before her death there in 1960. While lamenting the current state of music, Casals suggested that Deyo donate the opera to the Library of Congress.

Deyo's opera, The Diadem of the Stars, featured historically accurate Egyptian sets and fashion designs for its many characters, and the musical score spanned 700 pages.

Excerpt
"It is good to know that you have taken such meticulous care in preserving Ruth Deyo's work and particularly her opera. I remember well when she spoke to me about it and she explained to me her ideas and I am pleased to know that she finished the work and that it is complete and in order.
"Unfortunately, as you know, the times are quite inauspicious for new works – unless they are the avant-garde compositions of the day. All the great composers of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th have been completely disregarded since the new trend in music has taken over – and not so much by the public, but by the critics and others personally concerned. It is indeed a sad moment for music, and I am sure it will change. All the works of these great composers will be then heard again, or for the first time.
"You asked about my compositions and where they would be kept. They will be kept together with all my papers and mementoes in my home in Barcelona, where they will make a sort of museum. But I think that for your particular case, I would suggest to leave Ruth Deyo's Opera at the Library of Congress. It is the most reliable place and I think that when the time comes, the first place where they will look for unknown works will be at the Library."

Pablo Casals (1876-1973) was born in Catalonia and received musical instruction from his father, a parish organist and choirmaster. At age eleven, he first heard a cello and decided to dedicate himself to that instrument. In 1888, his mother took him to Barcelona and enrolled him in a music school from which he graduated five years later. He became a renowned cellist, and in 1893 began to play informal concerts at the royal palace. He also received a royal stipend to study at the Madrid Royal Conservatory. In 1896, he taught at the music school he had attended in Barcelona and was principal cellist in the orchestra of Barcelona's opera house. From 1899 to 1903, he toured internationally to great critical and public acclaim. In 1904, he played for President Theodore Roosevelt at the White House and debuted at Carnegie Hall in New York. In 1914, he married American socialite and singer Susan Metcalfe, and they separated in 1928 but did not divorce until 1957. From 1920 to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, he conducted an orchestra he organized in Barcelona. A supporter of the Spanish Republican government, Casals left Spain in 1938 and settled for a time in a French village in the Pyrenees. In 1950, he resumed his career as a conductor and began traveling in Puerto Rico in 1955. He inaugurated the annual Casals Festival there in 1956, founded the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra in 1958, and the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico in 1959. He performed in the White House again in 1961 at a dinner in honor of the governor of Puerto Rico. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963.

Morton Lyndholm Deyo (1887-1973) was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, and was the younger brother of Ruth Lynda Deyo. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1911. In 1916, he married Maria Ten Mayo (1882-1979), and they had one child. During his 38-year naval career, he served in both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets. He commanded destroyers in the Atlantic to escort allied convoys to England. During the Normandy Invasion in June 1944, he commanded naval gunfire support at Utah Beach and commanded a task force in the bombardment of Cherbourg later that same month. Transferred to the Pacific fleet, Deyo assumed command of Cruiser Division 13, which provided covering gunfire for the Battle of Okinawa in the spring of 1945, for which he received the Navy Distinguished Service Medal. Deyo accepted the Japanese surrender of Sasebo, Kyushu, and directed the Allied Occupation of Western Japan. From 1946 to 1949, Deyo was commandant of the First Naval District with headquarters at the Boston Navy Yard. He retired in 1949 with a promotion to vice-admiral and lived in Maine during retirement.

Ruth Lynda Deyo (1884-1960) was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, and as a musical child prodigy began composing as early as 1892. She began her public music career as a pianist at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. She studied in New York City and Germany and performed throughout Europe and the United States. In 1906, she appeared in a concert at Carnegie Hall as a featured soloist. In 1924, she traveled to Egypt to study Egyptian history and art. A mystic, Deyo told others she could converse with the Egyptian sun god, Ra, and received guidance from Ra to compose her opera entitled The Diadem of the Stars. In Egypt, she also met the English violinist and World War I veteran Charles Dalton (1877-1955). They married in 1932 and spent the rest of their lives in Egypt. She created smaller versions of portions of her opera that were performed for several different audiences, including Egypt's King Farouk I. She died in the city of Giza and was buried with her husband in the British Protestant cemetery in Cairo.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 8" x 10.5"
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