[1] Luise Goldmann (1858–1914), widow of the publicist and hispanophilian Johannes Fastenrath Hurxthal (1839–1908), at the death of her husband, who occurred in Cologne, on March 18, 1908, wanted to institute with her legacy a series of actions in favor of writers in Spanish and Catalan, having two foundations: a.
(in 1908), he conferred on King Alfonso XIII the power to proceed in the best way he considered, always under a foundation that instituted a prize for Spanish writers, with the requirement that he be named Juan Fastenrath as tribute.
Luise Goldmann addressed a letter to King Alfonso XIII to show the founding objective of the institution and the means it has for the economic support of the same.
[2] In order to carry out Luise Goldmann's task, King Alfonso XIII constituted the Fastenrath Prize Foundation, on May 12, 1909, dependent on the Royal House, with a founding capital of 70,000 pts., assigning to the Spanish Royal Academy the administration of the foundation,[3] and therefore, the faculty to submit to the monarch the proposals for the awarding of said prizes, after discussion and voting, being the monarch the one who would ultimately grant them.
In June 1935, the Fundación Premio Fastenrath became dependent on the Ministry of Public Education and Fine Arts[4] and in September 1935 it was declared "a private charity",[5] under the protectorate of the Government of the Republic, and administrated by the then Spanish Academy.
So, in order to carry out Luisa Goldmann's task, Barcelona City Council arranged for the creation of the Premi Fastenrath, with the income from municipal debt securities acquired with the founding capital provided, and assigned the administration and organisation of the prizes to the Consistori dels Jocs Florals de Barcelona, in accordance with regulations approved by the plenary session of the municipal corporation in November 1908.
The first call for entries for the "Premi Fastenrath" was in 1909, and it remained in force until 1936, during the entire period in which the Barcelona Floral Games were held, before they were interrupted by the Spanish Civil War.