Indeed on the Ellis Island factor. I had a harpsichord playing colleague whose family was Goldberg because her grandfather had immigrated from Russia alone at 14 years old. He was standing in line behind a man named Goldberg. When they reached the desk, the official assumed he was the man's son. No one argued with him.
On Wed, May 8, 2013 at 12:05 PM, Dan Winheld <[1][email protected]> wrote: For a while (in the Siena book, anyway) Francesco was "da Parigi"- but in the end just a vacation- "Busman's Holiday". And of course, Alberto da Ripa- who stayed in France, but then Francophoned to "de Rippe", like Jean Paul Paladin- "Had lute, would travel". It can get complicated; Ottaviano dei Petrucci- da Fossombrone & Venezia. Some European surnames imposed on the unwilling were less than complimentary- Katzenellenbogen (Cat's Elbow) for example. And in the United States there is a whole class of newly manufactured names based solely on language mangling at Ellis Island by overworked & undereducated immigration officials. My wife's mother's family name "Choderowski" is now "Toder". My own grandfather, fluent in Russian and French, but not yet English, attempted to anglicise the family name from "Winogradski" to Winheld. Swing and a miss; no one to blame but himself- "Winheld" has no meaning in any terrestrial tongue. Danielito de New York, but "da Berkeley" since 1987. On 5/8/2013 5:24 AM, Christopher Wilke wrote: Tobiah, Nothing wrong with calling him "da Milano," although in actually usage he's one of the few, like Michelangelo or Josquin, who are frequently referred to by first name. We do say, "da Vinci." Yes, this literally translates to "of ______," but place names were - and are - common surnames. They happen in most European languages, i.e. the French "de Visee," "de Gaulle," etc. Sometimes, the modifier might be honorific or an indication of noble lineage; sometimes not. Anton von Webern had to drop his "von" because of Austrian government regulation following WWI. The first part may be left off, but this is optional and largely dictated by tradition. We usually refer to Giovanni Pierluigi as "Palestrina" and seldom "da Palestrina," and it is more common to hear of "Beethoven" rather than "van Beethoven" - which is actually a Dutch, rather than German name. (Or you could go with "Ludwig van," like in a Clockwork Orange.) On the other hand, one never hears about "Gogh" without his "van." Chris Dr. Christopher Wilke D.M.A. Lutenist, Guitarist and Composer [2]www.christopherwilke.com --- On Tue, 5/7/13, Tobiah <[3][email protected]> wrote: From: Tobiah <[4][email protected]> Subject: [LUTE] Frank from Milan To: "'Lute Net'" <[5][email protected]> Date: Tuesday, May 7, 2013, 10:43 PM Ok, my last college class was 20 year ago now. I thought that I was told that "Francesco Canova da Milano" basically meant "Francesco Canova from Milan (Italy)". I was reading the surprisingly brief wikipedia article about the aforementioned individual, and I came across this: A composition called "Canzona by Francesco da Milano" (better known as the song "The City of Gold") is commonly misattributed to da Milano. So, if I am not grossly mistaken about my interpretation of the entire handle with which we refer to the beloved 'Frank', then I wonder if it can at all be correct to refer to him as "da Milano". Wouldn't that be like one of you referencing this letter and remarking that it was written by "From California"? I expect much from the ever flowing fount of knowledge and wisdom that is this list! Thanks, Tobiah To get on or off this list see list information at [1][6]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- References 1. [7]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- References 1. mailto:[email protected] 2. http://www.christopherwilke.com/ 3. mailto:[email protected] 4. mailto:[email protected] 5. mailto:[email protected] 6. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html 7. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
