Song of the Birds (book)
Song of the Birds is a 1985 collection of sayings, stories, and impressions of the Catalan cellist Pablo Casals. It is edited by British cellist Julian Lloyd Webber. The title refers to "El cant dels ocells", a traditional Catalan song which was frequently played by Casals. Casals was one of the world's most respected cellists. He was a legend in his own lifetime, one so powerful that when, in protest at Franco's regime, he began a self-imposed exile in the tiny Catalan French Pyrenean village of Prades just north of the  Spanish border, the world's leading musicians refused to allow Casals' genius to remain unheard and flocked there, creating the Pablo Casals Festival in the heart of the mountains. Casals' sayings and witticisms were as legendary as his musical interpretations, and he was revered by the world's great statesmen and musicians alike. His amazing career spanned well over half a century: he played before Queen Victoria in 1899 and was invited by two Presidents of the United States (Theodore Roosevelt in 1904 and John F Kennedy in 1961) to play at the White House. Above all else, Casals was  driven by a faith in the innate goodness of mankind. 'I am a man first, an artist second,' he declared, and in "Song of the birds" Julian Lloyd Webber has collected, as an act of homage, sayings, impressions and stories of the 'little Catalan maestro' which illustrate his indomitable spirit as both artist and man.