Posted by Klaus on June 23, 2002 at 02:45:13:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: How do you pronounce "cimbasso"? posted by both are good on June 23, 2002 at 00:28:50:
"but the culturally correct way is "steen" "
Aubrey, if you are founding your concept of yourself being culturally correct on your concept of the pronounciation of "Bernstein", then you will not be happy with the reality.
Bernstein clearly is the German word for amber. The "Stein" component meaning "Stone". As I have been told it, the reason, that some Jewish families carry gemstone names, was part of old Eastern European antisemitism, where governments, most likely the zaristic Russian one, forced names on poor families, which would make for cruel irony. Many of these families fled to the US, a few of them to much smaller Denmark. A prominent newsperson here was a Rubin. One present one is a Rubinstein.
Lennie was US born. But one of the reasons, that he was accepted so well in Europe, was, that he had an extreme command and knowledge of European culture with as well its Christian as its Jewish elements.
One cornerstone in European music is Gustav Mahler, who was a converted Jew. The convertion often thought of as being necessary for making a career in imperial Austria (we were no better in Denmark, which the history of our early-19th century poet Henrik Hertz tells).
One of Lennie's abilities was to compress his knowledge into TV features, that were interesting and accessible to a general public. In one of them he by musical pluckings demonstrated the schism between the internal Jew and the surface Christian in the personality of Mahler. Some of his horn calls simply depict the ritual playing of the Shofar, the ram's horn trumpet.
I have with the greatest interest followed Lennie's TV-broadcasts, whenever they were accessible to me. But even if he certainly knew his own worth, I never have heard him say his own name. However Grolier opens its entry on him this way:
"Bernstein, Leonard
{burn'-styn}
Leonard Bernstein, b. Lawrence, Mass., Aug. 25, 1918, d. Oct. 14, 1990, was a well-known figure in contemporary American music."
So any person on any continent having cultural aspirations should please for his/her own sake forget anything about the "steen"-type pronunciation.
With a smile
Klaus (have brass players any rights at all to use terms alluding to culture?)