Description:

Casals Pablo 1876 - 1973 Pablo Casals photo and TNS two years before receiving Presidential Medal of Freedom award

Archive consists of card, envelope, and postcard. Bifold "Pablo Casals" cream stock card signed "Pablo Casals" in black fiber tip pen at bottom right of typed 5.375" x 3.375" note dated January 3, 1962. With 3.5" x 2.5" Kodachrome color photo print of cellist and columnist attached by paperclip at top, dedicated "To Leonard Lyons, souvenir of his kind visit. Pablo Casals" around three of four photo margins. The photo depicts the world-celebrated musician in pale blue dress shirt at left and New York Post arts journalist in blue blazer crouching at right. Card contained in cream air mail envelope stamped with Casals's return address "Pablo Casals, Isla Verde K2 H3, Santurce, Puerto Rico" at back, bearing three canceled 3 cent postage stamps and postmarked from San Juan, Puerto Rico. A TNS postcard from Pablo Casals's wife Marta dated November 27, 1963 is also included, this last signed "Marta M. Casals" in black fiber tip pen at bottom right. All pieces are in fine to very fine condition. There are scattered ghost paperclip impressions throughout including one running through the "a" and "s" of "Casals".

Pablo Casals writes: "Dear Mr. Lyons, Thank you very much for your nice letter, and the enclosures. The photos are quite good although not very clear. Next time they will be better. With best wishes for the New Year and with cordial greetings, Pablo Casals".

Pablo Casals (1876-1973) is best known for his considerable contributions to performing, conducting, and composing music. His first cello was a home-made instrument that incorporated a gourd as a sound-box. Casals showed so much talent with the cello that he performed solos as a teenager, and by the turn-of-the-century, he was touring the world giving performances to presidents and royalty.

In addition to exploring music, Casals was also a political protester. He condemned the harsh policies of the Francisco Franco regime and went into a self-imposed exile during the late 1930s. In November 1961, Casals relaxed his usual prohibition of performing for governments that recognized the Franco regime when he visited the Kennedy White House. This note was penned by Casals just a month and a half after accepting the presidential invitation and about two years before receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in late 1963. The postcard is signed by Pablo's third wife Marta Casals Istomin (born 1936), who was one of Casals's musical protégées and sixty years his junior; the two had married five years before. The Casals lived in Puerto Rico, where they founded the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra in 1958.

Leonard Lyons (1906-1976) was a popular serial columnist who produced 12,000 mostly arts-related newspaper columns over a forty-year period published in the New York Post under the heading "The Lyon's Den". Leonard knew dozens of actors, musicians, writers, and Hollywood personalities through his work as a journalist.

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June 14, 2017 10:30 AM EDT
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