Throughout his career, Casals was plagued by stage fright. It struck first less than 2 months after his 14th birthday when he made his first real Barcelona concert appearance in 1891.
"My head was going round, fear gripped me fast, and I said, as I got up: What am I going to do? I cannot remember the beginning of the composition I am going to play!"
Stage fright before playing never left him throughout his long career. At each of thousands of concerts, the terror gripped him as it did on that first occassion. In his old age, stage fright often brought on angina attacks, but he was never defeated. He rose from his deathbed at 96 to play the cello one last time for himself and those who kept vigil
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