When we play an unaccompanied Bach suite we may compare ourselves to an actor in Shakespeare's day, creating scenery which did not exist at all, through the power of declamation and suggestion. So in Bach. There is but one voice -- and many voices have to be suggested.
Interpretation
The quote illustrates the creative interpretation involved in performing music, similar to acting without a complete set.
Pablo Casals draws a parallel between performing a solo Bach suite and acting in Shakespeare's time. In both scenarios, the performer must evoke imagery and emotion from a limited framework, using their skill and imagination to suggest richness and depth beyond what is overtly present. This reflects the artistry involved in music and performance, where single voices or instruments can convey an entire spectrum of expression, much like an actor brings a scene to life.
In practice
During a music class, to emphasize the interpretive nature of the performance.
Bach is the supreme genius of music... This man, who knows everything and feels everything, cannot write one note, however unimportant it may appear, which is anything but transcendent. He has reached the heart of every noble thought, and has done it in the most perfect way.
In music, in the sea, in a flower, in a leaf, in an act of kindness... I see what people call God in all these things.
The love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border?
The child must know that he is a miracle, that since the beginning of the world there hasn't been, and until the end of the world there will not be, another child like him.
I am an old man but in many senses a very young man. And this is what I want you to be, young, young all your life.
To the whole world you might be just one person, but to one person you might just be the whole world.
Finally, everything that has been part of my life, whether I wanted it to or not, has expressed itself in my dresses.
I don't want people to look at my menu and see just the ingredients. I want to take them on a journey.
I don't paint to live, I live to paint.
If the urge to write should ever leave me, I want that day to be my last.
A year from now, I could go away, and people might say, 'Gosh, what ever happened to that girl who never wore pants?' But how wonderfully memorable 30 years from now, when they say, 'Do you remember Gaga and her bubbles?' Because, for a minute, everybody in that room will forget every sad, painful thing in their lives, and they'll just live in my bubble world.
The best art is political and you ought to be able to make it unquestionably political and irrevocably beautiful at the same time.
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