Talk:Róbert Ilosfalvy

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Religion

Not that it is important for this certainly one of the greatest ever Hungarian operatic singers whether he was Jewish or not or what religion he had practiced if any.

Nonetheless, I cannot find any Hungarian references to substantiate the erroneous claim that he had been a "cantor" in a synagogue. In Hungary both protestant and catholic churches have or historically have had cantors. All Hungarian sources agree that Ilosfalvy as a child first started to help out with operating the church organ at the Szentháromság (Holy Trinity) Roman Catholic Church in his native town. Later he became assistant cantor there. After the second world war when the church cantor named Lajos Toth left for Budapest to join the Budapest Opera Ilosfalvy became the cantor (kántor in Hungarian) of his church in his native town.

According to all Hungarian sources Ilosfalvy's father came from generations of teachers. His original family name was IRHÁS which is a fairly common, peasant sounding Hungarian surname. When Ilosfalvy was a child his father changed the family name to the more upper class sounding Ilosfalvy.

I can find no reference to Ilosfalvy's mother's family. It is therefore entirely conceivable that on his mother's side he was Jewish. If Ilosfalvy's mother had indeed been Jewish that fact technically would have made Ilosfalvy Jewish by descent. Religion wise though it would seem highly unlikely that he was anything other than Roman Catholic.

Since this question is open and would need further investigation I think it is best to take out the category "Jewish" till such time as somebody is able to furnish reliable references to that effect.

Eravian (talk) 16:55, 25 November 2015 (UTC)[reply]