Cástor Méndez Brandón, Baritone and Folk-Song Poet Born in Xinzo
Cástor Méndez Brandón (Xinzo de Limia, 1864 – Celanova, 1920) was a lawyer, baritone at the Teatro Real in Madrid, poet and mayor of Celanova, and promoted Galician song.
Cástor Méndez Brandón was born in Xinzo de Limia in 1864 and died in Celanova on 29 January 1920. He was a lawyer, poet, baritone and politician, and the xinzodelimia.eu page describes him as one of the precursors of Galician music, a distinguished singer and promoter of our music, and a poet of folk songs [1][2].
Life
He studied law in Madrid. He made his debut as a lyric singer in 1892 and as a baritone at the Teatro Real in Madrid in 1895 [1]. He published poems in La Voz de Celanova. He was substitute judge of Celanova (1914), editor of El Eco de Celanova and mayor of Celanova in 1919; he died there the following year [1].
Work
Wikipedia and xinzodelimia.eu list these titles [1][2]:
- Canciones y poesías gallegas (1908).
- Conferencia dada en el Ateneo de Madrid sobre Canciones gallegas (1908).
- Os meus lurciños (1908).
- Frangullas (1910).
- Celanoverías (1913).
A doubt about the year
Wikipedia gives 1864 as his year of birth [1]. The xinzodelimia.eu page reproduces an article by Alfredo Fernández (Nan de Allariz) in which he says that both were born in the town of Xinzo, were baptised at the same font by the same priest, and that Cástor was five years ahead of him; to the quotation it adds the year 1869, which, going by the page devoted to Nan, appears to be Nan’s birth and not Cástor’s [2]. The sum 1864 plus five agrees with 1869, but the other sources on Nan give 1874 or 1875, so the question remains open (see Alfredo Nan de Allariz).
Links
Sources
- «Cástor Méndez Brandón», Galician Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cástor_Méndez_Brandón (references: La Región, 30/01/1920; El Orzán, 04/02/1920; Paz Gago, 2004, Celanova e a escola poética de Curros)
- «Castor Méndez Brandón», xinzodelimia.eu (Wayback capture). http://www.xinzodelimia.eu/castor_mendez_brandon.htm
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