Steve Schwartz <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>I think it's actually his middle name, but he would like to affect a
>British "double-barrelled" one.  To many middle-class Jewish Americans
>(like me), Britain represents an El Dorado of Refinement and Good Taste
>(we tend to ignore Sidney James and Benny Hill and those mountains of
>stale sandwiches in the shop windows).

Lots of Britons ignore them too!  Actually the first two of your list
are rarely encountered here these days; as for the third, our sandwiches
may curl but we do at least have some interesting cheeses to put in them
(ducks quickly).

The minor English composer Pearsall (composer of the partsong 'Lay a
Garland' and of a popular arrangement of 'In dulci jubilo' for 8 part
choir) added a 'de' before his surname to make it more impressive.  I'm
not sure that this fooled anyone though.

>As long as he's happy.  After all, Leo Stokes was much happier as Leopold
>Stokowski.

Fact: he was once organist at the church of St.  James's, Piccadilly.
I hate to think what he'd make of the standard of music at the services
there now (I once joined the choir one Sunday while staying with friends
who went there), though the church also hosts a festival of baroque
music.

Virginia Knight
Personal homepage: http://www.ilrt.bris.ac.uk/~ggvhk/virginia.html
Blog (mostly about singing): http://edward.ilrt.bris.ac.uk/~cmvhk/blog/