Talk:Alexander von Zemlinsky

Von or not?
It is my opinion that this page's official title should be "Alexander Zemlinsky", rather than "Alexander von Zemlinsky". The reason is simple. The "von" in Zemlinsky's name was spurious. He did not add it--it was taken from his parents. He realized it was spurious, and, after a certain point, stopped using it himself. He did return to its use after the rise of the Nazis, because he felt it might make him seem less Jewish (he was only 1/4 Jewish, and was eager to pass himself off as "Aryan"). So it seems clear to me (after reading Antony Beaumont's biography) that "Alexander Zemlinsky" was the name that the composer himself preferred. Utopian 11:30, 26 February 2006 (UTC)

By the way, I'm a bit of a newbie on Wikipedia, and so am still trying to figure out how to change the name, otherwise I might have already done so. I am happy to hear any counter arguments as to why the "von" should be included in the primary name of the article. Utopian 11:30, 26 February 2006 (UTC)


 * Grove (Alfred Clayton) give 'von' in parenthesis which does rather imply that it is spurious. Perhaps it would be an idea to change the article title? -- Kleinzach 23:42, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

von Zemlinsky
I read the same thing about the "von"....however, the CD I have (James Conlon and Kölner Phil.) is labeled: "Alexander von Zemlinsky", and every time I see his name in print, it's always "von Zemlinsky". I guess people insist on adding the "von" no matter what.


 * I did a quick search on Google. There seems to be a preponderance without "von". Also, for what it's worth: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera leaves out the "von" as does Online Encyclopedia Britannica.So it doesn't seem likey that everything in "print" use the "von". Robert.Allen (talk) 10:04, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

...and became a Freemason
- You've reinstated your edit that conjoins the name change with the Freemason bit, as if to suggest the two are related. Unless I am missing something, there is nothing in the cited sources to support this, so it is WP:SYNTH and should be left as two separate sentences per the previous version. Comments?  SPECIFICO talk 18:05, 26 August 2019 (UTC)

Nazi era
This might be better as a sub-heading under Later Years, IMNSHO. Otherwise it looks, at first glance, as though his life and career ended in 1924. 14.201.107.182 (talk) 00:51, 20 December 2022 (UTC)