My last name is another Ellis Island story - my husband's family came
from the Russia/Poland area and had a name that was hard to pronounce,
so wanted something that people in the US couple say. They chose Carlin,
no realizing that they had a name from another ethnic group (Irish) that
was no more mainstream than the Jew's were back then (between the 2 wars).
Nancy
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
--
Nancy Carlin
Administrator THE LUTE SOCIETY OF AMERICA
http://LuteSocietyofAmerica.org
PO Box 6499
Concord, CA 94524
USA
925 / 686-5800
www.groundsanddivisions.info
www.nancycarlinassociates.com
