Monument To Frederic Soler
This monument to the Catalan playwright Serafí Pitarra, also known as Frederic Soler i Hubert, considered by many to be the founder of Catalan theater. It is located in the Plaza del Teatro, on La Rambla, and was unveiled on December 26, 1906.
It consists a Montserrat stone pedestal with the coat of arms of Barcelona, on which stands a white marble column in the shape of an Ionic volute that is decorated with garlands, with the inscription “To Frederich Soler (Pitarra), founder of the theater Catalan.”
At the top of the column is a statue of Pitarra, created by sculptor Agustí Querol, sitting on masks of comedy and tragedy , with his head turned and an introspective attitude, as if waiting for inspiration to come to him to start writing, a sensation corroborated by the fact that he is holding a paper in hand.
The style of the work is considered to be modernist, which is more evident in the ornate pedestal than in the statue of the playwright, who is sober and serene, a fact that distances itself from Querol’s usual trajectory, which is usually more prone to monumentalism.
About Frederic Soler
Frederich Soler y Hubert, better known as Serafí Pitarra, was a Spanish poet, playwright and theater entrepreneur who wrote all his work in Catalan and died in 1895. He was born in Barcelona to a family of French origin, but was orphaned at an early age and went to live with his uncle Carles Hubert, a humble watchmaker.
At the age of fifteen he debuted as an actor in an amateur company under the pseudonym that made him famous: “Serafí Pitarra.” His comic works were very popular and well-known, which in the face of bourgeois culture show the skepticism of the less wealthy classes; satire and parody were his main genres. He later wrote romantic dramas, typical of the time, and of a more conservative nature, with the arrival of The Republic he was a supporter of The Restoration.
In addition to his role as a playwright, Soler also practiced poetry and wrote several works of poetry. He won the Floral Games three times and in 1875 he was awarded the title of a master in Joyful knowledge.
Did you know
Soler, or Pitarra, often hosted Informal meetings of young writers and artists in the back room of his uncle’s watch shop. Among them were Anselmo Clavé, Valentín Almirall, Víctor Balaguer, Feliu y Codina and José Zorrilla. King Alfonso XII even paid a visit to him at his watch shop and attended the performance of some of his works on one of his trips to Barcelona.
