Prince of Asturias Awards 1981–2014. Speeches

4 O viedo | C ampoamor T heatre | 8 th N ovember 1996 Today’s Europe is not only the magnificent project built over the past decades. The plans of the house of Europe that we are currently building go further back in time. The ideas, traditions and history behind this common house unite us all and constitute its pivotal foundations. We know that the economy is very important, as well as the social dimension and security, but we think that the core element is culture. And by saying so I mean not only the masterpieces of literature, music, painting or unique monuments. I am thinking especially of the spirit that pervades these works of art and which grants them their grandeur and beauty over time and across borders. In this same spirit, the philosophy of classical Antiquity and humanism and the rationality of the Enlightenment and, of course, the invigorating mark of Christianity above all converge. From the awareness of these common origins arose the ideal of a united Europe. This ideal also embraces a system of values of enduring validity with which we wish to build a humane future. This value system is based on the uniqueness of human beings, respect for life, respect for human dignity and individual civil liberties. Helmut Kohl was Chancellor of Germany between 1982 and 1998. Until 1990, he was Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany and, subsequent to that date, following its reunification, Chancellor of all Germany until 1998. — Excerpt from the speech given on the occasion of receiving the Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation on 8/11/1996. Helmut Kohl — Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation 1996 The life of a musician is very difficult, just as art itself is difficult. All artistic careers follow difficult paths, but being a musician is good, indeed marvellous, when one has a true vocation. Above all else, one must be loyal and true to oneself. I truly believe that anything of higher value lives on after us. The name it goes under does not really matter; for those of us who spend our lives creating, admitting the opposite, admitting that everything ends at death, would be a particularly bitter pill to swallow and particularly sad. When I compose music I have often had the feeling that everything of beauty —and the spirit is a thing of beauty— must live on. By creating, we influence immortality; we collaborate with it 1 . 1 Joaquin Rodrigo was not able to travel to Asturias due to his advanced age and delicate state of health. His daughter Cecilia Rodrigo received the Award on his behalf. Cecilia Rodrigo, on behalf of her father, Joaquín Rodrigo — Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts 1996 Excerpt from the speech given on the occasion of receiving the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts on 8/11/1996.