Demófilo
Encyclopedia
Antonio Machado (see Spanish naming customs), better known by his pseudonym Demófilo (Santiago de Compostela, 1848 - Seville, 4 February 1893), was a writer, anthropologist, and Spanish folklorist
.
, author of a collection of Spanish narrative ballads (romanzas) of the 19th century. His father, Antonio Machado, was a university professor of Natural Sciences at the University of Seville
.
Machado spent a large part of his life in Seville, where he studied philosophy and justice. His teacher, Federico de Castro, instilled in him an interest in evolution
and the philospohical ideas of Karl Christian Friedrich Krause
; later he became inclined toward the utilitarist social philosophy of Herbert Spencer
. He temporarily occupied the chair of Metaphysics at the University of Seville and held office as a magistrate. He was appointed professor of Folklore at the Free Institution of Education in Madrid and participated actively in the Monthly Magazine of Philosophy, Literature and Sciences (1869-1874), with his first works on popular literature. Driven by economic necessity, he travelled to Ponce, Puerto Rico
in 1892 where he held the position of Recorder of Property, although he was already in very poor health. He died on his return to Spain, on 4 February 1893, when he was only forty-seven years old.
He and Ana Ruiz had five children, among whom are poets Manuel and Antonio Machado.
. Under the pseudonym Federico de Castro, he published Popular stories, legends and customs in 1872. His interest in folklore helped shape the magazine La Enciclopedia (The Encyclopedia) (1877), published decennially, and in whose pages he created a permanent section on popular literature.
As a result of the creation of the first society of folklore in London in 1878, he conceived the idea of creating something similar in Spain. On 3 November 1881, he published Founding of the Organization for Spanish Folklore, "a society for the compilation and study of popular knowledge and tradition". Thus the society El Folclore Andaluz (The Folklore of Andalusia) came into being, with the creation of regional and local societies based on the linguistic, geographic, and cultural peculiarities of the different regions of Spain. He established a monthly magazine of the same name in 1882, which was renamed El Folclore Bético-extremeño. It is still in print in several facsimile editions.
Machado had a modern conception of the new science folklore. He knew English, and translated some works of the anthropological discipline, such as one by Edward Burnett Tylor
. Machado ventured his own definition of the discipline:
In Madrid, he directed production of a collection of books of and about folklore, the Library of Popular Traditions (1883-1888), that eventually reached eleven volumes. He published a collection of enigmas and riddles, and studied the flamenco
. His collection of flamenco songs was first anthology of this poetic expression.
He translated from English the works of William George Black (Folk Medicine: A Chapter in the History of Culture [Madrid: Editorial Progreso, 1888]); the classic Edward B. Tylor work Anthropology; or Introduction to the Study of Man and Civilization (Madrid: The Publishing Progress, 1887; and from the French, the second edition of the Research on the History and Literature of Spain during the Middle Ages by Reinhart Dozy
(Seville: Administration of the scientist-literary Library and Madrid: Bookstore of D. Victoriano Suárez, 1872, two vols). He maintained a very active correspondence with Hugo Schuchardt
, Teófilo Braga
, and Manuel Murguía
.
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
.
Biography
His mother, Cipriana Alvarez, was the niece of the writer Agustín DuránAgustín Durán
Agustín Durán , Spanish scholar, was born in Madrid, where his father was the court physician.Durán was sent to the seminary at Vergara, whence he returned learned in the traditions of Spanish romance. In 1817 he began the study of philosophy and law at the university of Seville, and in due course...
, author of a collection of Spanish narrative ballads (romanzas) of the 19th century. His father, Antonio Machado, was a university professor of Natural Sciences at the University of Seville
University of Seville
The Universidad de Sevilla or University of Seville, in English, is a top-ranked European university in Seville, Spain. Founded under the name of Colegio Santa María de Jesús in 1505, the University of Seville, with a student body of over 50,000, is one of the top-ranked universities in the country...
.
Machado spent a large part of his life in Seville, where he studied philosophy and justice. His teacher, Federico de Castro, instilled in him an interest in evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
and the philospohical ideas of Karl Christian Friedrich Krause
Karl Christian Friedrich Krause
Karl Christian Friedrich Krause was a German philosopher, born at Eisenberg, Thuringia.-Education and Life:...
; later he became inclined toward the utilitarist social philosophy of Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer was an English philosopher, biologist, sociologist, and prominent classical liberal political theorist of the Victorian era....
. He temporarily occupied the chair of Metaphysics at the University of Seville and held office as a magistrate. He was appointed professor of Folklore at the Free Institution of Education in Madrid and participated actively in the Monthly Magazine of Philosophy, Literature and Sciences (1869-1874), with his first works on popular literature. Driven by economic necessity, he travelled to Ponce, Puerto Rico
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Ponce is both a city and a municipality in the southern part of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government.The city of Ponce, the fourth most populated in Puerto Rico, and the most populated outside of the San Juan metropolitan area, is named for Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, the...
in 1892 where he held the position of Recorder of Property, although he was already in very poor health. He died on his return to Spain, on 4 February 1893, when he was only forty-seven years old.
He and Ana Ruiz had five children, among whom are poets Manuel and Antonio Machado.
Career
From its creation in 1871, he belonged to the Sevillian Anthropological Society, along with his father and founder of this institution, Antonio MachadoAntonio Machado
Antonio Cipriano José María y Francisco de Santa Ana Machado y Ruiz, known as Antonio Machado was a Spanish poet and one of the leading figures of the Spanish literary movement known as the Generation of '98....
. Under the pseudonym Federico de Castro, he published Popular stories, legends and customs in 1872. His interest in folklore helped shape the magazine La Enciclopedia (The Encyclopedia) (1877), published decennially, and in whose pages he created a permanent section on popular literature.
As a result of the creation of the first society of folklore in London in 1878, he conceived the idea of creating something similar in Spain. On 3 November 1881, he published Founding of the Organization for Spanish Folklore, "a society for the compilation and study of popular knowledge and tradition". Thus the society El Folclore Andaluz (The Folklore of Andalusia) came into being, with the creation of regional and local societies based on the linguistic, geographic, and cultural peculiarities of the different regions of Spain. He established a monthly magazine of the same name in 1882, which was renamed El Folclore Bético-extremeño. It is still in print in several facsimile editions.
Machado had a modern conception of the new science folklore. He knew English, and translated some works of the anthropological discipline, such as one by Edward Burnett Tylor
Edward Burnett Tylor
Sir Edward Burnett Tylor , was an English anthropologist.Tylor is representative of cultural evolutionism. In his works Primitive Culture and Anthropology, he defined the context of the scientific study of anthropology, based on the evolutionary theories of Charles Lyell...
. Machado ventured his own definition of the discipline:
- This is, for me, the science that intends to study of undifferentiated or anonymous humanity, to start off from an age that can be considered infantile to the present time.
In Madrid, he directed production of a collection of books of and about folklore, the Library of Popular Traditions (1883-1888), that eventually reached eleven volumes. He published a collection of enigmas and riddles, and studied the flamenco
Flamenco
Flamenco is a genre of music and dance which has its foundation in Andalusian music and dance and in whose evolution Andalusian Gypsies played an important part....
. His collection of flamenco songs was first anthology of this poetic expression.
He translated from English the works of William George Black (Folk Medicine: A Chapter in the History of Culture [Madrid: Editorial Progreso, 1888]); the classic Edward B. Tylor work Anthropology; or Introduction to the Study of Man and Civilization (Madrid: The Publishing Progress, 1887; and from the French, the second edition of the Research on the History and Literature of Spain during the Middle Ages by Reinhart Dozy
Reinhart Dozy
Reinhart Pieter Anne Dozy was a Dutch scholar of French origin, who was born in Leiden...
(Seville: Administration of the scientist-literary Library and Madrid: Bookstore of D. Victoriano Suárez, 1872, two vols). He maintained a very active correspondence with Hugo Schuchardt
Hugo Schuchardt
Hugo Ernst Mario Schuchardt was an eminent linguist, best known for his work in the Romance languages, the Basque language, and in mixed languages, including pidgins, creoles, and the Lingua franca of the Mediterranean.-In Germany:Schuchardt grew up in Gotha...
, Teófilo Braga
Teófilo Braga
Joaquim Teófilo Fernandes Braga ]] 24 February 1843 – 28 January 1924) was a Portuguese writer, playwright, politician and the leader of the Republican Provisional Government after the abdication of King Manuel II, as well as the second elected President of the First Portuguese Republic, following...
, and Manuel Murguía
Manuel Murguía
Manuel Murguia was a Galician journalist and historian who created the Real Academia Galega. He was one of the main figures in Galician Rexurdimento movement. He is also remembered as Rosalía de Castro's husband, publisher and main supporter.-Life:...
.
Works
- Obras Completas, ed. Enrique Baltanás, Sevilla, Biblioteca de Autores Sevillanos, 2005, 3 vols.
- Biblioteca de las Tradiciones Populares Españolas, Sevilla: Francisco Álvarez y Cª, 1883-1886 (Madrid: Est. Tip. de Ricardo Fé) 1882 a 1888, once vols. Contiene: t. I: Introducción / Antonio Machado Álvarez. Fiestas y costumbres andaluzas / Montoto y Rautenstrauch. Cuentos populares / Antonio Machado Álvarez. II: El folk-Lore de Madrid / por Eugenio de Olavarria y Huarte. Juegos infantiles de Extremadura / recogidos y anotados por Sergio Hernández de Soto. De los maleficios y los demonios / de Juan Nyder, trad. del latín por J. Mª Montoto y Vigil. III: El mito del basilisco / Guichot. Continuación de los juegos infantiles de Extremadura / Sergio Hernández de Soto. De los maleficios y los demonios. IV: Folk-Lore gallego / E. Pardo Bazán y otros escritores de Galicia. Conclusión de los maleficios y continuación de fiestas y costumbres andaluzas. V: Estudios sobre literatura popular, primera parte / Antonio Machado Álvarez. VI: Apuntes para un mapa topográfico -tradicional de la villa de Burgillos perteneciente a la provincia de Badajoz / por Matías R. Martínez. Tradiciones de Extremadura / C.A.D. VII: Cancionero popular gallego y en particular de la provincia de La Coruña: tomo I / José Pérez Ballesteros. VIII. A rosa na vida dos povos / Cecilia Schmidt Branco. Folk-lore de Proaza / L. Giner Arivan. IX: Cancionero popular gallego y en particular de la provincia de La Coruña: tomo II / José Pérez Ballesteros. X. Cuentos populares de Extremadura / recogidos y anotados por Sergio Hernández de Soto. XI: Cancionero popular gallego y en particular de la provincia de La Coruña: tomo III / José Pérez Ballesteros. A partir del t. II el ed. pasa a ser Alejandro Guichot y Compañía. Posteriormente, desde el t. VII la colección es editada en Madrid en la Librería de Fernando Fé.
- "El folclore del niño", en España, 1885-1886, tomos CV-CI
- Colección de cantes flamencos, 1881; muy reimpreso, por ejemplo como Cantes flamencos recogidos y anotados M., Ediciones Cultura Hispánica, 1975.
- Colección de enigmas y adivinanzas, 1833.
- Estudios sobre la literatura popular, (tomo V de la biblioteca de Tradiciones Populares") Sevilla: Alejandro Guichot y Compañía, 1884.
- Batallas del libre pensamiento, 1885.
- Artículos varios, 1904, volumen I de sus Obras completas.
- Under the pseudonym "Federico de Castro", Cuentos, leyendas y costumbres populares, (1872)
- Adivinanzas francesas y españolas Sevilla, 1881 (Imp. de El Mercantil Sevillano)
Sources
- Daniel Pineda Novo, Antonio Machado y Álvarez. Vida y obra del primer flamencólogo español. Madrid: Ed. Cinterco y Fundación Andaluza de Flamenco, 1991
- Cartas a Schuchardt. La correspondencia inédita de los folkloristas y otros intelectuales españoles con el romanista y lingüista Hugo Schuchardt. Sevilla: Fundación Machado, 1996.
- Enrique Baltanás, Los Machado. Una familia, dos siglos de cultura española, Madrid: Fundación José Manuel Lara, 2006.