Translations by Joaquim Ruyra are seen as reflections on the original work of art. The translations have several functions. 1) Ruyra used translation to get closer to an author whom he admired and who would influence him in the future, e.g. Dante or Verlaine. 2) Translation was used for the study and creation of the Catalan literary language which was being established in the first decades of the 20th Century, e.g. Rondalles de poble (1908-1924) a translation of the Alsatian stories by Erckmann and Chatrian which used the language of popular literature, and Fedra by Racine (1913-1926) which used a more cultivated register. The main part of this article is dedicated to these translations. 3) The rhythms and cadences of Bach, Haendel, Civil, Venturi, Mazoni and others were 'translated' into the work of Ruyra and became inseparable from it, e.g. many of the poems in Fulles ventisses (1919).