Talk:Mstislav Rostropovich

Old comments
Someeone's vandalized the page. Can someone revert?


 * This Needs to be on the Main Page! Jpeob 13:38, 27 April 2007 (UTC)


 * Done Alex Bakharev 15:03, 27 April 2007 (UTC)


 * And reverted. Please see the ITN criteria.  —David Levy 15:07, 27 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Please feel free to discuss at In the news section on the Main Page/Candidates. --PFHLai 15:23, 27 April 2007 (UTC)

"He performed every work for cello that has ever been written" This is somewhat ridiculous and impossible suggestion. He certainly played many, perhaps most, but to say that he performed (not even just played) every work for cello that has ever been written is certainly not true.

Was he born in Azerbaijan or the USSR?
The introduction to the article USSR should settle it.

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics…more commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. It was often incorrectly, and sometimes intentionally, referred to as Russia, its largest and dominant constituent state. From 1945 until its dissolution in 1991 —  a period known as the Cold War—the Soviet Union and the United States of America were the two world superpowers that dominated the global agenda of the communist and capitalist worlds respectively, foreign affairs, military operations, geopolitics, ideological thought, and scientific advancement. The USSR was born and expanded as a union of Soviet republics formed within the territory of the Russian Empire abolished by the Russian Revolution of 1917 followed by the Russian Civil War of 1918–1921. The geographic boundaries of the Soviet Union varied with time, but after the last major territorial annexations of the Baltic states (Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia), eastern Poland, Bessarabia, and certain other territories during World War II, from 1945 until dissolution the boundaries approximately corresponded to those of late Imperial Russia, with the notable exclusions of Poland and Finland.

The Soviet Union became the primary model for future Communist states during the Cold War; the government and the political organization of the country were defined by the only permitted political party, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Initially established as a union of four Soviet Socialist Republics, the USSR grew to contain 15 constituent or "union republics" by 1956: Armenian SSR, Azerbaijan SSR, Byelorussian SSR, Estonian SSR, Georgian SSR, Kazakh SSR, Kyrgyz SSR, Latvian SSR, Lithuanian SSR, Moldavian SSR, Russian SFSR, Tajik SSR, Turkmen SSR, Ukrainian SSR, and Uzbek SSR. The republics were part of a highly centralized federal union that was dominated by the Russian SFSR.

&mdash; $PЯING  rαgђ  23:35, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

Rostropovich was not Jewish

 * The Jewish Chronicle (London) of 4 May 2007 carries an interview on page eight with the impresarios Victor and Lilian Hochhauser, in whose London home the Rostropovich family took refuge for a year after leaving the Soviet Union. Victor Hochhauser describes Rostropovich as "the greatest friend of the Jewish people that I knew." The Chronicle then goes on to say that "so marked was his attention to Jewish causes, Mr. Hochhauser said, that many people had thought he was Jewish." Jinfo 03:57, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
 * He was buried with a cross on his coffin, as well as having the wake at a church. Jews don't do that. Czaikowski 12:20, 11 May 2007 (UTC)


 * I suggest to change that intorductory sentence in bio and mention that he "was born in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, then part of USSR", because he was born in this admintrative unit of USSR, not a region or province of USSR. Azerbaijan SSR was a legal entity in itself.  Secondly, the source of how many years he lived in Baku needs to be verified, because if I remember reading it correcty, his family moved out of Baku, when he was 6 or 7 years old.  Regarding his ethnic origins, he of course was of Jewish, Polish and Slavic desent, but he was buried with Orthodox Russian traditions, because he claimed and presented himself being part of this culture, i.e. Russian or ex-Soviet. --Ulvi I. 18:46, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

So, was he Jewish? From his mother's side? No from the father's, because Rostropovich's father was from Polish nobility... Kowalmistrz 21:42, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Ethnicity
Just to clear things up, Rostropovich was not Jewish in whole or in part. I've looked at the reference links, they are wrong and I'm not sure how or where they got that info. Rostropovich's genealogy is well known, his mother, Sofja Nikolayevna Fedotova was an ethnic Russian|1|2 his father was indeed descended from a minor Polish noble (Szlachta) family, more precisely however they were ethnic Belarusians (Rostropovich's father specifically had both Belarusian and Russian ancestors). The name Rostropovich is in fact an ethnic Belarusian name|1. Above all Rostropovich himself was Russian Orthodox and clearly thought of himself as an ethnic Russian. So unless anyone has any other information or any objections I'm going to change the article.

Just FYI, nothing to do with the Rostropovich family or name, before WWII only Minsk, now capital of Belorus, had more Jewish population than entire territory of France. --Aynabend 10:42, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

Multiple Instances of Composers
There are three different points in the article where composers are mentioned, who composed for Rostropovich. I believe they should be integrated. I will try to do so. If someone disagrees with what I've done, they can revert without second thoughts.--Atavi (talk) 18:19, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

No mention of cellos?
Does anybody know what kind of cellos Rostropovich owned and how expensive they were? Usually well-known classical musicians have their instruments listed. Wikipediarul e s 2221 17:03, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

About his so-called Polish origin
I checked all sources presented and couldn't find anything related to it so I removed it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Torebay (talk • contribs) 19:25, 22 January 2010 (UTC)


 * That is correct, Rostropovich was an ethnic Russian, but his father's family also descended, in part, from ethnic Belarusian Polish nobility. The name Rostropovich is Belarusian. Sotnik (talk) 07:49, 11 February 2010 (UTC)


 * For those who aren't able to read Russian,
 * По Унбегауну белорусская фамилия от прозвища, происходящего от слова со значением растрепа.
 * [Rostropovich] A Belarusian surname likely originating as a nickname for 'ruffled' [1]Sotnik (talk) 06:50, 17 February 2010 (UTC)
 * As I said before there is still No sources about his Polish origin. Why do people keep mentioning his non-existent Polish nobility bullcrap. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Torebay (talk • contribs) 16:12, 23 February 2010 (UTC)
 * If you are asking me, I have no idea. Although based on his father's given name, seems likely. Just to clarify though, no one is saying Rostropovich was of Polish origin. Polish nobility or Szlachta were not ethnically Polish as a whole. They were quite multiethnic, very many were ethnic Lithuanians, ethnic Belarusians, some were even converted Tatars and Jews. Their culture was also not Polish, they actually though of themselves as ethnic "Sarmatians". Sotnik (talk) 08:13, 5 March 2010 (UTC)

Some sources and a little start of a serious talk
Well, I don't know how and where you were looking for a source of his Polish origin. Here's what I found in about five minutes:

In Polish:
 * An article from gazeta.pl, one of the Poland's top websites and the web arm of Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland's second largest daily newspaper
 * Rostropovich's profile at the website of Wprost, a weekly magazine with a circulation of 150,000
 * Another biography from wiolonczelistyka.com, a Polish website dedicated for cellists
 * Another article from gazeta.pl. The mentioned source of the news is PAP, the Polish News Agency

In English:
 * link title
 * link title
 * link title

The sources clearly say that his father Leopold Rostropovich was of Polish origin, among some other descent.

''The Rostropovich family lineage is very old and famous. It originated in Lithuania and Poland, where the family was known as Rostropovichyus. Russian, Polish, Lithuania and Czech nationalities were represented in the family blood. Many of them were recognized for their musical talent in singing and playing musical instruments. In 1851, Mstislav Rostropovich Iosif Rostropovichyus was awarded with the title of Nobleman, at the General Assembly of Warsaw deputies.'' (http://azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/ai112_folder/112_articles/112_rostropovich.html).

The Wprost source also mentions his Russian, Polish, Lithuanian and German descent.

http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/Wiadomosci/1,80708,4094680.html says Leopold Rostropovich was of Polish-Lithuanian descent.

It is also written that Mstislav Rostropovich's great-grandfather Józef Rostropowicz (or Roztropowicz) is buried at the Powązki cemetery in Warsaw. I'm sure everyone can find his grave at Powązki ;-). We can be also sure that his family seat was the Rostropovich palace in Skotniki near by Sochaczew, Poland. It can be proved. They say also that in Mikołajewo or Mikołajów is the family mausoleum. But it's not clear which village or town named Mikołajów or Mikołajewo they mean.

Polish nobility  Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth   Polish people Melting_pot - please, read these articles before starting a talk about Rostropovich's origins. His case is the best example of how complicated and difficult is the question of nationality and ethnicity in our (Eastern European) region. Kowalmistrz (talk) 20:52, 9 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the sources, but I'm not sure there is anything here that I haven't said before (although I obviously don't read polish). I don't think its really too complicated. Rostropovich was an ethnic Russian, that's his self-identification, majority of his blood, culture and religion, in addition some of his ancestors on his paternal grandfather's side came from the nobility of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, who where ethnic Belarusians. So, if when you say "Polish origin", if you mean connected in some way to the historical multi-ethnic Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, I agree that's the case. If you mean, ethnically Polish, that's not the case. That is why, what the article currently says is correct, Rostropovich was born in Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, USSR, to ethnic Russian parents who moved there from Orenburg.[2]  His father, Leopold Vitoldovich Rostropovich, was also partly of Belarusian-Polish noble descent. Sotnik (talk) 01:25, 9 May 2010 (UTC)

Infobox
with the coming forward of wikidata, and widespread scraping of infoboxes, is there a reason not to have an infobox? 198.24.31.118 (talk) 18:46, 2 January 2013 (UTC)


 * I believe there should be one. It's strange that they don't, and I feel like the main debate is on composers, not really musicians, on whether to have infoboxes. Pacamah (talk) 14:13, 28 June 2023 (UTC)

More images
I have added more images to illustrate the many dimensions of Mstislav Rostropovich's personality. He was a great man! --Murus (talk) 19:19, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

External links modified
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Pronunciation
Hi all, just wondering how to pronounce his first given name? The article presently offers no help on this. Mstislav Leopoldovich "Slava" Rostropovich, KBE (Russian: Мстисла́в Леопо́льдович Ростропо́вич, Mstislav Leopol'dovič Rostropovič, pronounced [rəstrɐˈpovʲɪtɕ]; … Is the initial "m" syllabic, or is "ms" some kind of coarticulation? – if that's even possible!

yoyo (talk) 01:48, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

External links modified
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External links modified (February 2018)
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Rostropovich wasn't Jewish
I don't quite understand why this completely false claim of Jewish heritage keeps appearing; Rostropovich was paternally from Polish nobility (mixed Polish, Belarusian and Russian Origin) and his mother was ethnically Russian. He was also Russian orthodox and identified himself as ethnically Russian, also both he and his parents have Russian orthodox crosses on their graves;(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ru/4/4e/%D0%9C%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B0_%D0%9C.%D0%A0%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87%D0%B0.JPG, https://ru.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A0%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87,_%D0%9B%D0%B5%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%B4_%D0%92%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87#/media/%D0%A4%D0%B0%D0%B9%D0%BB%3A%D0%9C%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B0_%D0%BC%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B8_%D0%B8_%D1%81%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D1%8B_%D0%9C%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%81%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B0_%D0%A0%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87%D0%B0.JPG) Unbrokenlink6 (talk) 19:39, 17 November 2021 (UTC)

Infobox
I’m unsure as to why the page doesn’t have an infobox and why it’s considered consensus to not put one? I think it would make bits of info like where he was born, died, family etc. easier to find without having to scour the article. If others agree I think we should add an infobox here. AetherialPolaris (talk) 18:22, 6 September 2022 (UTC)