Barcelona, 1938 : una ciutat ocupada musicalment. Ponència llegida al Congrés Barcelona, 1938. Capital de tres governs. Política i cultura, organitzat per la Fundació Pi i Sunyer

The author of this article provides a detailed explanation of the unusual vision of a disillusioned Barcelona enveloped in a sense of loss, seized at the end of the civil war and, curiously, dragged to a tremendous cultural prosperity in the field of music, implemented by the authorities of the Republic in the spring of 1938. It was «/…/a constructed story /…/ ignoring the harsh reality experienced on the front line», with the aim of redirecting the public towards reality and of maintaining a cultural space. The renewed brilliance of the operatic repertoire (only in Russian, French and Spanish —no German or Italian), like the creation on 8th April 1938, of the Orquesta Nacional de Conciertos, were the key elements needed to carry out the project, in which the secular and open character of the Catalan music culture disintegrated.