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In Reply to: RE: HIPsters? posted by Amphissa on May 13, 2015 at 08:50:33
Not really a misspelling, as I'm sure you know. Really just a different approximation of the Cyrillic original with Latin letters, like Mao Tse-tung and Mao Zedong. I've read that he preferred the -off ending to the -ov, not surprising given his (understandable) attitude towards any changes that could be associated with the Russia of Lenin and Stalin.
At this point, though, I doubt the spelling carries any political connotations, so I'm not sure why it's such a negative for you. Perhaps because it has modernist connotations? ;)
Follow Ups:
It *is* a misspelling, as you ought to know.
Has nothing to do with how Cyrillic is transliterated. And it has nothing to do with modernism. It has to do with *his* choice regarding how *he* wanted his name spelled.
Legally a person can spell his (or her) name as that person prefers. Every legal document (after leaving Russia) pertaining to Rachmaninoff has the ff spelling, because that is the way he chose to spell it, and that was his name as recognized by the courts -- in Europe and in the U.S. His citizenship papers, his death certificate, his marriage license, his correspondence, his contracts and ownership papers, and every music album he performed on. That was his name: Sergei Rachmaninoff.
He spent time in Europe, his home in Switzerland, time in France, Italy, etc. Everything was signed Rachmaninoff, including his performing/touring contracts.
Just because the Russians decided after his death to reclaim him does not change his name. And the fact that they convinced the German record industry to begin using their preferred spelling does not change his name.
Example, the author Steven King. The spelling for King in German is König. So if Steven King's books are translated into German, do they also translate his name, spelling it König? Of course not. His name is spelled correctly, even after the text is translated into German, because that's his name.
The Russians had a political agenda in trying to force others to adopt their spelling of his name, but the fact is, he lived most of his life in America, signed most of his legal documents in America (though some in Europe), and his wife and children all use the same spelling -- Rachmaninoff.
He was buried at Valhalla in New York, just north of NY City. Here is his gravestone -- spelled correctly.
"Life without music is a mistake" (Nietzsche)
I knew all of that (among other things, you have posted about it accurately and informatively here before, thanks) and I correctly suspected you were making a political point, objecting to Russian efforts to "reclaim" him after he left for the West. And you may be right about that. Today's Russians are very strict about insisting on "true" Russian names and resisting European influence even on that level. As with the change from Peking to Beijing, they may feel the new spelling results in a more Russian pronunciation and less corruption by foreign languages.
However, I doubt current record producers who choose to use some other convention for adapting the Cyrillic spelling to a Latin or English alphabet than the one the composer himself and his family chose when they came to the West are intentionally making a political statement at this point.
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