House where Esmeralda Cervantes lived
Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Memory · Subcategory: Historic sites · Year: 1918-1926
In a house that once stood on the corner of Calle del El Pilar and Bernab Rodr guez lived the composer, harpist, writer and woman committed to the fight against the inequalities of her time, Esmeralda Cervantes, one of the most important figures of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, now completely forgotten.
This woman was born with the name Clotilde Cerd and Bosh on 28 February 1861 in Barcelona, daughter of Clotilde Bosch (lady-in-waiting to Queen Isabel II) and Ildefonso Cerd , engineer responsible for the expansion of Barcelona, who, although not her natural father, recognised her as such. Clotilde revealed herself from a very young age as a harp prodigy. At nine years old she moved with her mother to Paris during the time of the Commune, and by 12 she was playing in Richard Strauss's orchestra in Vienna.
She soon became known for her ideas, which were too modern and dangerously progressive for her time. She was a declared feminist, anti-slavery, opposed to the death penalty and a protector of the working class, which scandalised the high society with which she mixed and who expected her to dedicate herself to playing the harp.
Already using the stage name Esmeralda Cervantes, in 1875 she travelled to America and performed in Buenos Aires, at the court of the Emperor of Brazil and in Mexico City. In 1881 she joined the Masonic Lodge Lealtad de Barcelona. When she returned to the Catalan capital in 1885, she set up, together with Dr Dolors Aleu i Riera, a high-level female educational institution, the Academy for the Enlightenment of Women (Acad mia per a la Illustraci de la Dona).
She continued giving concerts in different countries. Her repertoire included works by contemporary composers as well as her own creations (she composed a dozen works for harp). Her deep religious convictions led her to practise charity and philanthropy, for which she received the papal blessing in 1875 from Leo XIII. She also wrote religious music such as Invocation to the Virgin of Montserrat (Op. 7) and Salutation Ang lique -Ave Mar a- (Op. 12) . She also published, in 1887, a volume entitled History of the Harp, and directed the magazines El ngel del Hogar and La Estrella Polar .
In 1895 she married the German engineer Oscar Grossman, living thereafter in different places: Barcelona (1901-1902), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (1902-1905) where she was president of a philharmonic society, and Mexico City (1907-1915).
In 1918 she settled permanently in Santa Cruz, in the corner house of Calle de El Pilar with Bernab Rodr guez, where she died on 12 April 1926 aged 65, and was buried in the Santa Lastenia cemetery of the capital.
On the façade of the building that now occupies the site of the old house where Esmeralda Cervantes lived her last years, a small commemorative plaque was installed in 2016, on the ninetieth anniversary of her death, placed there at the initiative of the city council and the Terulia Amigos del 25 de Julio.
This is all that remains of the life of this woman so recognised in her time and now so forgotten. A fascinating figure who represented an advanced model of woman for her time and who has not been sufficiently valued in her varied facets.
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