Talk:Václav Jindřich Veit

The information on this page is inaccurate. In the first place his name is Wenzel not Vaclav. He was born to ethnic German parents living in what was then the German town of Repnitz in Bohemia, then part of the Habsburg Empire. He was baptized Wenzel by his German parents. He attended the German division of Carls University in Prague. He was known all his life as Wenzel. His music was published under the name of Wenzel Veit and his gravestone reads Wenzel Veit.

He was a German speaker who as an adult taught himself Czech. He supported Czech nationalism and wrote some songs in Czech. However, he was ignored by the Czechs until recently because 1. He was an ethnic German and 2. His music was not deemed Slavic enough. And now he has been rebaptized by the Czechs as Vaclav, but it is not his name and he was never known by it but as Wenzel Heinrich Veit.

It is justifiable, if not entirely accurate, to call Franz Krommer (Frantisek Krammar) or Paul Wranitzky (Pavel Vranicky) both of whom were ethnic Czechs and who voluntarily Germanized their names by which they became known.

But to call Veit, Vaclav Jinrich is wrong and the entry should be changed. And even giving the Czech version is not justifiable or historically accurate. It would be like saying Kant was born in Kalingrad as it is now known rather than Konigsberg as it was known until 1945.

The German Wikipedia entry is correct. For reference see their sources:    * Eitner, Robert: Veit, Wenzel Heinrich. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Band 39, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1895, S. 551 f.   * Lachmann, Emanuel: W.H.Veit als Musikdirektor von Aachen. Eine Episode aus seinem Künstlerleben, nach Originalbriefen an seine Braut mitgeteilt von Emanuel Lachmann, Selbstverlag des Verfassers. [selten, mit Werkverzeichnis im Anhang] * Constantin von Wurzbach: Veit, Wenzel Heinrich. In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Österreich. Band 50, 1884, S. 95–101. * Josef Weinmann: Egerländer Biografisches Lexikon mit ausgewählten Personen aus dem ehemaligen Regierungs-Bezirk Eger, Männedorf/ZH 1987, Band 2, Gesamtherstellung Verlagsgesellschaft m.b.H. Bayreuth, ISBN 3-922808-12-3, S. 275 Santo Neuenwelt (talk) 23:32, 14 October 2015 (UTC)