IMSLP Forums

What is the correct manner to deal with a composer who published his works under a pseudonym?
In one case (Tellam v. Decourcelle) an Admin deleted my pseudonym category and moved the scores to the real-name category, in another case (Schubert, Camille v. Prilipp, Camille) my pseudonym category was left.

Is it possible to add a pseudonym category that either has a link to the real-name category, or has an automated redirect? It is likely that some users won't be aware of this pseudonym situation, and will
look for the pseudonym category.

Could please an Admin provide a style guide for such a situation?

Hi coulonnus, I assume you're talking about adding new composers who don't already have a Category: page on the site. For example: with Peter Warlock/Philip Heseltine, hopefully someone uploading one of his scores would first check whether there was already an entry for him, sorted under either "H" or "W".

Assuming there isn't a page already for the composer, then I think it best for you to use whichever name you think appropriate: admins can and will fix any resulting disparity, or ambiguity, that needs fixing. (And it seems evident that part of the solution should involve a redirection to the correct link, which again is perhaps best left to the admins or wiki experts.)

There are currently fields in the composer template to include reference to aliases, or alternate names; both are occasionally necessary, either because the composer did use a pseudonym (or more than one), or on the other hand, because the pseudonym is all we actually have – early music is replete with ambiguous composer pseudonyms that lack a corresponding real name.

The issue boils down to the utility in respecting the composer's choice of nom de plume, versus the possible inconvenience of having to find scores under a comparably unfamiliar name: in some cases, the composer's real name can be really quite obscure, which means it is not advisable to draw up a water-tight rule to unthinkingly apply to every case.

Regards, Philip

Here is an example of such a problem:
Maybe someone could help to put the real name into an existing composers page: I tried but got nowhere - cannot find a field that would allow to enter visible text.

Heinrich Molbe (1835-1915)
This is a pseudonym, real name: Heinrich Freiherr von Bach
His estate is housed in the music collection of the Austrian National Library, all in the electronic catalog:
http://aleph.onb.ac.at/F?func=file&file ... l_base=MUS

In his case, I would guess the composer page should remain Heinrich Molbe, as most (all?) of his published output is under this name.

Thanks for that information, and I've added the alias to Molbe's page. ("Freiherr" was an honorary title rather than his birth name, so I've enclosed that in brackets). I've left the blue box there, as we still need exact dates of birth and death, or biography links.

Regarding pseudonyms in general, I'd agree with Philip that this needs to be done on a case-by-case basis, so that the name is generally the one by which the person is most well known. The Library of Congress Authorities database can be very helpful in establishing this http://authorities.loc.gov/.

Including "Alternate Names/Transliterations" on the composer page should guide people to the correct page when they're searching, whichever variant of the name they put in the search box.