Ray Bayles ([log in to unmask]) wrote:

>Deciding on special old or German ways of pronouncing Bach's name only
>adds pretense and exclusivity when we need more commonality to increase the
>acceptance of classical music...  Let the British pronounce Bach their way,
>Germans their way, U.S.  their way...  There is no reason whatever to make
>it more difficult for anyone...  and making people uncertain about how to
>pronounce names and terms is only a negative as far as I am concerned...
>Why do it?

Actually I think it is fair to complain about the BBC getting it wrong,
as they have always pridede themselves on getting it *right* - they always
used to have a Pronunciation Unit (don't tell me it's gone the way of all
flesh) and a friend once told me part of his "interview" for BBC Radio (he
failed BTW) was to read aloud an announcement full of the names of foreign
musicians.

OTOH, I agree with you; my immediate response to anyone who gets pedantic
about pronuncing foreign names is: "what is the capital of France?"

Deryk Barker
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