Assagets - Enric Casasses

This new book by Enric Casasses consists of three essays in verse on three illustrious characters that have attracted Casasses: Antonio Gaudí, Niccolò Paganini and Josep Blanch y Reynalt. Three small works that review three creative universes seen through the eyes of a poet who knows them in depth.
In the first “assaget”, Casasses reviews the only “religious” piece by Paganini, and through the verse he leads us through the various movements of the work, with changes of intensity and melody. At the same time, he reviews the life of the Italian composer and his time.
In the second, we find a very personal vision of Gaudí and the influence he has had on the Catalan poet. Casasses’ verses are punctuated by Gaudí’s notes that bring us closer to the character and reveal creative aspects that are perhaps not so well known.
Finally, the third is a walk through the sardana “con el porrón en fresco” by Josep Blanch y Reynalt, where a reflection on the traditions of the popular classes that are gradually being lost, the figure of the sardanista and the various pieces he composed are intermingled, all accompanied by old photographs and some sheet music.
The book has a peculiar binding: each “assaget” has a different width, so that a scale of three page widths is created, coinciding with the change of “assaget”. Two of the “assagets” are written without capital letters because Casasses declares: “as long as the trial against the jordis cuixart and sànchez is not annulled I will only write in lower case.”