Talk:Emanuel Ax

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Where was he born?[edit]

I just noticed that, in different parts of the article, Mr. Ax is described as having been born in Poland and in Ukraine... (?) HMishkoff 15:07, 22 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I always understand he was Polish-born. Is it possible his parents were Polish, even though he was born in Ukraine (or, to be correct, the Soviet Union at the time)? JackofOz 11:39, 8 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Lviv, although the major Cultural city of Western Ukraine has had numerous associations. Before WWI it was part of Austria Hungary. Then during WWI it passed into Russian juristiction and then was the capitol of the Western Ukrainian Republic, and then part of the Ukrainian National Republic. After the Russian Revolution it passed into Polish juristiction. In 1939 it passed into Soviet furistiction with the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. During WWII it was under Nazi juristiction with a 3 day window in which they proclaimed an independant Ukrainian republic. After the War - part of the Ukrainian SSR (and as a result part of the USSR). In 1991 in Independent Ukraine.
Lviv is surrounded by Ukrainian ethnic territory, however the city itself was a multicultural conglomerate which had a significant Polish and Jewish population. Since WWII the Polsih, jewish and Austrian populations have shrunk considerably.
Mr Ax was born in the Ukrainian SSR (One of the founding members of the UN). He is ethnically Jewish. He wasn't born in Poland or in Russia. He may have a had a strong Polish influence in his upbringing but that would be in relation to the dominant culture of his evironment nd time...

What his relationship would be to being catagorized as a Polish Classical pianist is hard to accurately say. He wasn't born in Poland, and he isn't ethnically Polish, however his bios with Sony do (incorrectly) state so. - Go fish. --Bandurist 22:20, 15 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]


To be clear, Lviv has been part of Ukraine, part of Poland (Lvov), and has also been a German speaking city (Lemberg). All three languages have been spoken there (and still are to some extent). Presumably, all three ethnicities have been and still are represented in the population. I don't of any basis for the above claim that Ax is not ethnically Polish. ---Dagme (talk) 09:49, 23 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]


May have a chance to get a firsthand answer this week. News as it happens. Dkazdan (talk) 19:25, 18 January 2016 (UTC) Mr. Ax used my friend's San Diego apartment as practice space last month; friend asked him at my request. It's Ukraine. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dkazdan (talk • contribs) 16:53, 26 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

As Ax states about 17 minutes into this video [[1]], he was born in the Soviet Union.MisterCSharp (talk) 11:43, 10 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

That's a useful find, MisterCSharp. So that could be used as a source? There's no copyright issue, is there? Martinevans123 (talk) 12:29, 10 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
I don't think there would be a copyright issue to merely link to the video in question.MisterCSharp (talk) 16:15, 10 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
You are probably right. I'd looks to me like "Elyria Pictures" has produced that video - No. 56 in their Living the Classical Life series - and so have copyright privilege to publish however they please. But after being blocked indefinitely, byUser:Fram, for unwittingly posting links to videos that might have been copy-vios, I tend to try and err on the side of caution. I'm not 100% how Vimeo works, but I see that at the company vimeo home page they say: "Elyria Pictures is a motion picture production company located in New York." So that looks pretty safe to me.
As you say, his confirmation that he was born "in the Ukraine part" of the Soviet Union, to Polish parents, comes at about 17m 4s into that 41m 29s video. So I wonder if a time code could be incorporated into any url link for the source? Martinevans123 (talk) 17:18, 10 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Major problem with the article[edit]

An anonymous editor has brought up a good point:

"The rest of this article is ripped off from the following website: http://www.schubert.org/concerts-IAS-artists.html"

On the left is the text about Emanuel Ax from the Schubert website, which does have a copyright notice, while the text that was in the article is on the right:

Redacted for copyright reasons --RobthTalk 00:04, 4 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

All of this text was added on March 15, 2006 by the anonymous editor 24.23.194.90; it has since been wikilinked and tweaked, but remains a copy of an apparently copyrighted site. I have reverted the note that was left in the article today, posted a copyright notice, and moved the questionable text here. It is a shame to have to do this, but there seems little doubt that the material was copied. If permission was obtained, then some notification should be included so as to avoid copyright issues. --Ckatzchatspy 09:51, 26 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Musical Style section[edit]

It really does not talk about his musical style. It talks about who he plays with and what types of music he champions. One could do all that regardless of the style. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.180.44.133 (talk) 23:14, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

We would need a cited source for anything about Ax's musical style. Other articles dealing with pianists which have dealt with their "styles" have had the content deleted unless backed up by a solid source. Ax's playing is not idiosyncratic like Richter's or Horowitz', so it might be hard to find a source. I'll check Dubal.MisterCSharp (talk) 13:03, 5 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Pronunciation?[edit]

Is it "ax" or "ahz"? 76.195.220.107 (talk) 03:29, 3 June 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Consistent spelling?[edit]

I've noticed that many WP articles mentioning Ax refer to him as "Emmanuel" (two Ms)---and thus, in addition to spelling his name incorrectly, fail to link to this article. Does anyone want to fix that? I'm afraid I don't have time.

Opening Paragraph[edit]

I have tweaked the opening paragraph so it comforms the Wikipedia manual of style:

The opening paragraph should state:

  1. Name(s) and title(s), if any (see, for instance, also Wikipedia:Naming conventions (royalty and nobility));
  2. Dates of birth and death, if known (see Wikipedia:Manual of Style (dates and numbers)#Dates of birth and death);
  3. Context (location, nationality, or ethnicity);
    1. In most modern-day cases this will mean the country of which the person is a citizen or national (according to each nationality law of the countries), or was a citizen when the person became notable.
    2. Ethnicity or sexuality should not generally be emphasized in the opening unless it is relevant to the subject's notability. Similarly, previous nationalities or the country of birth should not be mentioned in the opening sentence unless they are relevant to the subject's notability.
  4. What the person did;
  5. Why the person is significant.

MisterCSharp (talk) 16:49, 1 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Claim to being considered famous[edit]

I removed the bit in the lead ("He is considered one of the best known concert pianists of the late-20th/early-21st century.") which for a start is too indirect. Who is it who considers that (everyone?) considers that he is famous? The source cited was some local American report saying "Famous", so that people who have never heard of him would know they ought to have. While he is a well-known name to anyone like me who is interested in current performers of classical music, "one of the best known" suggest he would be in the top five names, which I very much doubt. For a source to support him being well-known world-wide, you would need, um, what? Clippings from newspapers? Adverts from artist agencies? Try googling for [emanuel ax performing london], and pick one if you think this sort of fact really needs a "source". Imaginatorium (talk) 13:04, 25 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Birthplace again[edit]

Emanuel Ax was NOT born in Lviv, Ukraine, bu in Lvov, Poland. See the link from his official website.

http://emanuelax.com/about/

98.111.199.65 (talk) 22:19, 19 October 2015 (UTC) Dan Broucek[reply]

See "Where was he born?" above. When he was born (1949), the city known in Polish as Lvov was in the USSR. So he cannot have been born in Poland. If he himself says so, well, who knows what it means? Imaginatorium (talk) 03:38, 20 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

(And again)

The facts are:

Ax's website claims: he was born in Lviv/Lvov, and he was born in Poland. But it is indisputably true that when he was born Lviv/Lvov was in the USSR and not in Poland. WP should not embrace self-contradictory claims. If we believe the claim he was born in Lviv/Lvov, we should say so. If it is really considered notable, WP could observe that Ax's own website makes a self-contradictory claim. (I suggest this is not really notable.) Imaginatorium (talk) 16:44, 18 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

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