User talk:Smerus/Archive Jun 2007

German opera
Hi, Smerus. Thanks for adding information about Meyerbeer to the German opera article. The problem as I see it though is that this article is supposed to be a brief (and rather superficial) overview of the entire history of German and Austrian opera (it should probably be renamed "Opera in German" to clarify things). The new Meyerbeer section throws the article out of balance somewhat. Meyerbeer was not really that famous for writing German operas (Handel only gets a brief mention for similar reasons). Because of the size of the subject, even composers like Mozart only get a paragraph or two at most. I think Meyerbeer is worth maybe a sentence or two here but no more otherwise it gives him undue weight in an area for which he is not really that famous. Thanks. --Folantin 08:03, 2 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the reply. There is a section on German grand opera, with particular reference to Meyerbeer, in the main Grand opera article. Maybe the bulk of your information should go there for the time being and we can link to it from a mention of Meyerbeer in the German opera article. I think it would be best to rename the "German opera" as "Opera in German" to avoid confusion and I'll try to fix this as soon as possible. "Opera in Germany" sounds like a good idea for an article (and of course there could be a sister article "Opera in Austria"). I know one editor is interested in music in Berlin at the moment. Maybe we could contact him too if you want to start the article. Who knows? Eventually we could have detailed sub-articles on opera in the major centres like Berlin, Dresden and Hamburg. I'll try to fix the current issues over the next 24 hours. All the best. --Folantin 19:25, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

Adolf Martin Schlesinger
Hi Smerus, whether you are editing bios out of ethnic pride or anti-semitism really doesn't matter to me. What matters is standardization of bios/manual of style. Unless there is a REALLY good reason, I'm open to discussion, ethnicity should NOT be included in the lead sentence of bios. It seems that it dosen't do these folks a service to say that their ethnicity is their most notable achievement. Anyways, --Tom 18:23, 4 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Tom, thank you for your message. Schlesinger is an interesting guy for many reasons. One of them -not necessarily the most important - is that he was Jewish, known to be so, and provoked reactions from notable people (including Beethoven) as a consequence. I don't have any agenda in pushing this, it just happens to be a fact. I get the message that you don't like this fact, although I have not yet understood your reasons. But then I am just a WP editor, not a sociologist or psychiatrist. Actually to be perfectly honest I have enough on my plate without even wanting to understand your reasons.  It just happens that I know a fair amount about Schlesinger and I had a desire to put in on WP. When I have time I will fill out more stuff about him, which is nothing to do with his Jewishness. But that won't stop him from having been Jewish, and relevantly so for WP purposes. --Smerus 22:36, 4 May 2007 (UTC)
 * I see you have unfortunately come across this user's crusade against anyone mentioning that anyone anywhere was Jewish. He very annoyingly got 100s of my edits reverted in making a Category:Jewish converts to Christianity. Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 23:43, 5 May 2007 (UTC)
 * I would appreciate also your looking at Articles for deletion/List of notable converts to Christianity (3rd nomination) as it needs a bit of sensible input. Thanks, Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 00:07, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

Music publishing categories
Hello David, there is a bit of a spaghetti like mess in Category:Music publishing and it's subcategories- I'd appreciate you could have a look at them and see whether you think the structure is as good as it could be (Category:Publishers of sheet music and Category:Music print publishers would seem to overlap most obviously). Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 23:24, 5 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks David, I think you made the right move- if possible the Category:Music print publishers should be merged to Category:Publishers of sheet music if you know how to do that. Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 23:19, 6 May 2007 (UTC)
 * I have informed the person who created the category- should there be a tag on the category that is to be merged? Also can you confirm whether Adolf Martin Schlesinger was a practicing Jew or had he converted (Jewish origins seems vague)? Thanks Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 16:51, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
 * David, it appears that the article History of music publishing began as a transcription of a speech made by Nicholas Firth, Chairman and CEO of BMG Music Publishing - the speech is actually quite informative - you can find the unaltered version here. Perhaps we should as Matthias Rï¿½der suggests, merge these two articles? Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 10:19, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

Nancy Storace
Hi David I just noticed a duplication here Anna Storace do you know how to fix this ? Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 18:54, 10 May 2007 (UTC)


 * done. --Smerus 18:15, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks I realised how to do it eventually but you beat me to it! I don't know whether you are much interested in the 18th C. music scene but this article which I have just created- Marylebone Gardens may be of interest (please improve upon it if you can!). Thanks Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 00:21, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your additions. I was looking for an article on the 18th century music/theatre scene in England but I can't really find anything (here at least). Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 18:43, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
 * BTW do you think this guy Jimmy Weng is notable enough to have a Wikipedia article? Thanks Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 18:44, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

Pinto
David, I have a note that Nicolas Mori studied under Pinto- I assume this must be George Pinto unless you know of another? Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 15:12, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your reply- I assume he received his general musical education from him as Pinto had no specialisation in the Violin? Re:Salomon and Pinto- were they Jewish? Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 18:16, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your reply- I usually think of those names being Jewish so perhaps one of their forebears was originally? Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 19:04, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Don't you think it is likely that Thomas Pinto was of Sephardic Jewish origin as his name is surely Spanish in origin yet he resided in Italy? Also is there any evidence Salomon was a surname used by many non Jewish Germans? Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 19:29, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Thinking about it again, perhaps Salomons could be of Huguenot descent as I know there were Huguenots with that name- his name Johann-Peter (Jean-Pierre) may also suggest it. Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 20:30, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Looking at wills on Documents Online I'd say the majority of Salomon/Salomons there are Jewish- Salomons is listed as John Peter Salomon - Salomon is a common name in France, Salmon being the more common spelling. Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 20:45, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
 * I've finally got access to http://www.familysearch.org (it has been blocked for a few days) - it appears Salomon is actually a common name amongst German Christians as well as French so J P's surname may well not have been Jewish in origin. I suppose the reason why Jewish Salomons/Pintos are over represented in U.K. wills is that more Jewish Germans and Jewish Sephards came over here than Christian Germans/Portuguese. Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 16:23, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

Music publishing categories
Hello David, there is a bit of a spaghetti like mess in Category:Music publishing and it's subcategories- I'd appreciate you could have a look at them and see whether you think the structure is as good as it could be (Category:Publishers of sheet music and Category:Music print publishers would seem to overlap most obviously). Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 23:24, 5 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks David, I think you made the right move- if possible the Category:Music print publishers should be merged to Category:Publishers of sheet music if you know how to do that. Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 23:19, 6 May 2007 (UTC)
 * I have informed the person who created the category- should there be a tag on the category that is to be merged? Also can you confirm whether Adolf Martin Schlesinger was a practicing Jew or had he converted (Jewish origins seems vague)? Thanks Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 16:51, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
 * David, it appears that the article History of music publishing began as a transcription of a speech made by Nicholas Firth, Chairman and CEO of BMG Music Publishing - the speech is actually quite informative - you can find the unaltered version here. Perhaps we should as Matthias RÃ¶der suggests, merge these two articles? Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 10:19, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

Nancy Storace
Hi David I just noticed a duplication here Anna Storace do you know how to fix this ? Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 18:54, 10 May 2007 (UTC)


 * done. --Smerus 18:15, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks I realised how to do it eventually but you beat me to it! I don't know whether you are much interested in the 18th C. music scene but this article which I have just created- Marylebone Gardens may be of interest (please improve upon it if you can!). Thanks Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 00:21, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your additions. I was looking for an article on the 18th century music/theatre scene in England but I can't really find anything (here at least). Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 18:43, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
 * BTW do you think this guy Jimmy Weng is notable enough to have a Wikipedia article? Thanks Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 18:44, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

Pinto
David, I have a note that Nicolas Mori studied under Pinto- I assume this must be George Pinto unless you know of another? Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 15:12, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your reply- I assume he received his general musical education from him as Pinto had no specialisation in the Violin? Re:Salomon and Pinto- were they Jewish? Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 18:16, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your reply- I usually think of those names being Jewish so perhaps one of their forebears was originally? Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 19:04, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Don't you think it is likely that Thomas Pinto was of Sephardic Jewish origin as his name is surely Spanish in origin yet he resided in Italy? Also is there any evidence Salomon was a surname used by many non Jewish Germans? Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 19:29, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Thinking about it again, perhaps Salomons could be of Huguenot descent as I know there were Huguenots with that name- his name Johann-Peter (Jean-Pierre) may also suggest it. Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 20:30, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Looking at wills on Documents Online I'd say the majority of Salomon/Salomons there are Jewish- Salomons is listed as John Peter Salomon - Salomon is a common name in France, Salmon being the more common spelling. Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 20:45, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
 * I've finally got access to http://www.familysearch.org (it has been blocked for a few days) - it appears Salomon is actually a common name amongst German Christians as well as French so J P's surname may well not have been Jewish in origin. I suppose the reason why Jewish Salomons/Pintos are over represented in U.K. wills is that more Jewish Germans and Jewish Sephards came over here than Christian Germans/Portuguese. Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 16:23, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

Edits to check
David could you have a look at the edits of this editor and amend/advise as necessary http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Rjeffcoat Thanks Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 13:53, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks- he appears to be - could you also possibly check the Britten, Stravinsky, and Bach edits which have yet to be reverted. Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 22:13, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
 * I don't have the expertise to judge their merit or lack of so I've requested citations, if no one provides any presumably they should be deleted (then again a whole section on Bach Johann_Sebastian_Bach has sources requested since October). Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 17:55, 21 May 2007 (UTC)

Bassano
Hi David, do you have access to past issues of the Jewish Historical Society- the Bassano page did state the family originated with a Jewish family named Ben Hassan- but this seems likely to be false given they originated in a place named Bassano which is likely how they got their name, and this would seem to be confirmed in an article that appeared in the Jewish Historical Studies in 2000. Do you know the article I have referenced? Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 19:36, 24 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks David- in case you didn't see it the details are: Ruffatti, Alessio. "Italian Musicians at the Tudor Court--Were They Really Jews?" Jewish Historical Studies 35 (1996-1998): 1-14. ).. Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 23:06, 30 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Actually I think the publication date might have been 2000 but the issue was 35. Gustav von Humpelschmumpel 23:08, 30 May 2007 (UTC)