On Identity and Belonging in The Radical Catalan Community of Buenos Aires:

The Esbart Infantil and The Staging of Wagner's Lohengrin (1933).

Abstract

In 1933, fifty years after the premiere of Lohengrin in Buenos Aires, the Catalan playwright Ramón Más i Ferratges created a theatrical adaptation for children, performed by the Esbart Infantil of the Casal Català de Buenos Aires (Children’s Ensemble of the House of Catalans in Buenos Aires). The aim of this article is to identify how the staging of Wagner’s Lohengrin shaped a sense of belonging within the community of radical Catalans, redefining a migrant identity. To do so, I will address the actors, institutions and circumstances that made the staging and the social memory of the event possible, through the study of various press media in Buenos Aires, those related to the Catalan community, as well as chronicles, personal accounts and memoirs. By performing the Lohengrin story, the Esbart Infantil created a sense of belonging when sharing the migrant experience with the younger generations of Catalans in exile. The staging also provides nuance to the sense of belonging (Lems, 2020), a way of drawing borders with non-radical Catalans and Spaniards.