Joaquim Cassadó began his musical studies in Mataró, his native town, with Manuel Blanch, Salvador Puigsech and Julià Vilaseca. At the age of fourteen he entered the Seminari Conciliar to pursue an ecclesiastical career. There he continued to cultivate his music as choirmaster – a post he held until the age of 20, when he decided to leave the Seminary. In 1887 there began a new stage in his life in Barcelona as composer, studying with the teacher Bonaventura Frigola and developing his artistic talent as organist and choirmaster of the Church of the Mercè. During this period Cassadó composed more than three hundred religious works, including the symphonic poem La Mort de San Josep and the Requiem Mass. In 1896 he formed and directed the orchestral group “Capella Catalana”, dedicated to the performance of sacred music of all periods. His stay in Paris from 1907 to 1914 gave him the opportunity to very successfully promote many of his works, including Hispania, Spanish fantasy for piano and orchestra, which won an award from the Société Musicale Indépendente de Paris, and was performed at the London Proms by José Iturbi and Sir Henry Wood. During this period, he also performed as a pianist alongside his two talented sons Agustí (violinist) and Gaspar (cellist) in the then famous Trio Cassadó. From 1915, after his return to Barcelona, he dedicated a large part of his time to composition and teaching, training important musicians. His last works include Cançons dels Mesos for voice and piano, the Quartet “El Alcazar de las Perlas”, the Simfonia Macarena, the Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, dedicated to Gaspar Cassadó, and, above all, his masterpiece, the opera “El Monjo Negre”, first performed in 1920 at Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu.
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Joaquim Cassadó Archive in the Biblioteca de CatalunyaSheet music on Edicions Musicals Nausic
