Roberto Gerhard’s First Decade of Exile (1939–1949): Rootlessness and Survival

Gerhard’s first decade of exile was a hard period in his life. It was full of economic difficulties, health problems, and feelings of isolation and rootlessness. Nevertheless, he kept his commitment to the Catalan cause. In fact, Gerhard was always coherent in his ideology and his aesthetic tendencies, renouncing neither his Catalan identity nor his Catalanism, even during the continued struggle for Catalonia during his exile in England. This chapter shows that Roberto Gerhard’s exile was not planned. It demonstrates the uncertainty of the first months in exile, his difficult adaptation to England, his activities on behalf of Catalanism, and his role in the reactivation of the Catalan section of the ISCM. The chapter also focuses on Gerhard’s compositions during this period.