Talk:Sergei Bortkiewicz/RFC on Ethnicity

RFC: Ethnicity of Sergei Bortkiewicz
How should the ethnicity/nationality of Sergei Bortkiewicz be characterized in the lede sentence of this article and the short description? Please choose one of the options listed below. Robert McClenon (talk) 06:56, 7 November 2023 (UTC)

Please provide your answer, of Option 1 through Option 4, with a brief statement in the Survey section. Do not reply to other editors in the Survey. That is what the Discussion is for.

Option 1:
Pros
 * Sergei Bortkiewicz; – 25 October 1952) was a Russian and Austrian Romantic composer and pianist of Polish origins/heritage/parentage/descent.
 * Presents birth and naturalized citizenships, as well as ethnicity, which are all facts cited in reliable sources on the composer and his music.
 * Subject referred to himself as Russian and a member of Russia's aristocracy. He identified strongly with Russian culture and viewed his birthplace as an appendage of Russia. Surviving personal documents attest to his disdain for the political, cultural, and linguistic independence of Ukraine from Russia. According to him, the Ukrainian language was a "dialect" of Russian, their difference from each other comparable to that between High and Low German.
 * Subject was also referred to as Russian by Hugo van Dalen, his best friend and most important exponent during his lifetime; Hans Ankwicz-Kleehoven, the founder of the Bortkiewicz Gemeinde, a society that advocated for the composer's music; and Bhagwan N. Thadani, who translated the composer's memoirs, and was the first pianist to record all of his music.
 * Secondary sources repeatedly referred to subject and his music as Russian and Austrian during his own life,    at his funeral, and have continued to do so in the 21st century.
 * Although a number of theses and articles have been written about Bortkiewicz in the last 20 years, only two so far—by Ishioka Chihiro and Jeremiah A. Johnson—investigate the composer's nationality and self-identification. Both cite evidence from the composer's own memoirs, letters, and interviews affirming that he regarded himself as Russian and a product of Russian musical culture.
 * There is no evidence that subject was ever under duress to identify as Russian. He continued to do so after the Russian Revolution; and despite his repeated rebukes of the Bolsheviks, whom he blamed for the destruction of Russian culture.
 * Stating that subject's birth nationality was other than Russian is potentially confusing. It also contradicts usage in similar composer articles. For example, Béla Bartók, Karol Szymanowski, and Richard Wetz are correctly respectively referred to as Hungarian, Polish, and German, despite that the birthplaces for each are now part of Romania, Ukraine, and Poland.

Cons
 * Lead sentence neither takes into account that subject's birthplace has since become part of independent Ukraine, nor that some modern sources claim him as Ukrainian.
 * Although subject identified as Russian and his music part of the development of Russian musical culture, his music was also influenced by elements of Ukrainian culture, which he did not acknowledge.

Comment-There are no scholarly sources that refer to Bortkiewicz as a Russian composer. Different musicologists interpret and stress the composer’s Russian affiliations and sentiments to various degrees but stop short of calling him a Russian composer.

Option 2:
Pros
 * Sergei Bortkiewicz; – 25 October 1952) was a Romantic composer and pianist.
 * Presents the essential facts about the subject and leaves potentially contentious matters of nationality to be discussed later.
 * Compromise to prevent future edit-warring over nationality. (See Copernicus and Maxim Berezovsky for similar solutions.)

Cons
 * Potentially confusing to readers unaware that subject's nationality is a contentious matter.
 * Omits facts which ought to be presented.

Option 3:

 * Sergei Bortkiewicz (28 February 1877 [O.S. 16 February] – 25 October 1952) was a Ukrainian Romantic composer and pianist.

Pros
 * Reflects a shift in the Western world to recognize Ukrainian people as a separate nation from Russia and refer to people from Ukraine as such.


 * As Bortkiewicz comes from a Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, which predates the Russian Empire and has remained one of the strongest centers of Ukrainian Culture throughout the centuries, he is considered “one of the most prominent representatives of the Ukrainian musical culture” by Ukrainian scholars.


 * The most comprehensive and wide range of research on the composer comes from Ukraine, with scholars addressing his music, its performance practices and its belonging to Ukrainian heritage    as well as the fact that “Europeans largely did not yet distinguish Ukrainian musical culture separately.”
 * The only extended biography of the composer available as a book “Sergei Bortkiewicz. A score of Life” is written by Mykola Sukach, conductor of Chernikhiv Philharmonic Orchestra, who has performed all printed scores of Bortkiewicz. The book draws from the composer’s letters and describes Bortkiewicz’s life in great detail. The book draws from the composer’s letters and describes Bortkiewicz’s life in great detail. It introduces the composer to the reader as “the undeservedly forgotten Ukrainian composer” and “ outstanding Ukrainian composer of the first half of the 20th century”
 * Reflects a worldwide practice of musicians, music publishers

presenters, and news organizations     to present the subject to the public as such.

Cons
 * Potentially confusing to the reader as older sources refer to the subject as Russian
 * As separation of Ukrainian nation from Russia remains incomplete in certain spheres of western political and cultural discourse, some readers may interpret referring to Bortkiewicz as Ukrainian as simplifying the issue.

Comment - Characterizes him as born in Ukraine rather than as Ukrainian.

Option 4:

 * Sergei Bortkiewicz (28 February 1877 [O.S. 16 February] – 25 October 1952) was a Ukrainian-born Romantic composer and pianist.

Pros
 * While various sources give more weight to particular national influences and associations of the composer, most agree that the place of origin of the subject is Ukraine.
 * Acknowledges composer’s place of origin using its modern name.
 * Takes into consideration sources that view Ukraine as part of Imperial Russia while still specifying subject’s place of origin

Cons
 * doesn’t acknowledge the subject as belonging to Ukrainian cultural heritage
 * leaves room for further disputes

Comment - Characterizes him as Ukrainian, not merely born in Ukraine.