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The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Rjjiii talk 02:24, 25 August 2024 (UTC)

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Maxim Berezovsky

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Improved to Good Article status by Amitchell125 (talk). Number of QPQs required: 1. Nominator has 2113 past nominations.

Gerda Arendt (talk) 22:12, 31 July 2024 (UTC).

  • The hook is honestly not very interesting (it was not unusual at all for European artists to study elsewhere in Europe at the time, or even now). Suggesting a preliminary alternate below instead:
ALT1 ... that Maxim Berezovsky is thought to have been the first Russian or Ukrainian to write an opera or a violin sonata?
The article has several interesting facts about him, which can probably be used for hooks too. I'll come back in a bit to propose additional suggestions. Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 00:43, 1 August 2024 (UTC)
Here are some more possible ALTs:
ALT2 ... that after composer Maxim Berezovsky's death, Catherine the Great secretly ordered the papers in his rooms to be burnt?
ALT3 ... that a symphony by 18th-century composer Maxim Berezovsky was only performed publicly for the first time in 2003? (this is not currently directly stated in the article, I'm only proposing this wording for brainstorming purposes)
ALT4 ... that according to conductor Kirill Karabits, both Russians and Ukrainians have equal claims to the legacy of composer Maxim Berezovsky?
ALT5 ... that despite being considered one of the "Golden Three" of 18th-century Ukrainian classical music, much of Maxim Berezovsky's life is unknown for certain?
ALT5a ... that despite being considered one of the "Golden Three" of 18th-century Ukrainian classical music, little is known for certain about Maxim Berezovsky?
ALT6 ... that Maxim Berezovsky is considered one of the "Golden Three" of 18th-century Ukrainian classical music? (currently only mentioned, uncited, in the lede and thus would require a source)
I'm not going to review the article, but I've read it and I've noticed that the tone of the article, particularly in the Works section, may be too laudatory in Wikipedia's voice, and that might need to be resolved. Asking from help from either 4meter4 or CurryTime7-24 in copyediting the article and perhaps fixing the article concerns, as well as further suggestions on hooks. Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 01:24, 1 August 2024 (UTC)
Thank you for the hook suggestions. Do you realise that the article (which is not by me) just passed a GA review? ... was written by an editor who brought composers to FA status, for example Artemy Vedel? I nominated because the author would not do DYK (which I can understand). I was dead tired when I nominated, so grabbed the first idea that hit me as unusual to not miss the deadline. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 09:07, 1 August 2024 (UTC)
I like ALT1 best of the suggestions, but think it should be "and" between symphony and violin sonata, because it's thought for both.
ALT1a ... that Maxim Berezovsky is thought to have been the first Russian or Ukrainian to write an opera and a violin sonata?
I like that it clearly speaks of the claim "Russian or Ukrainian" and still gives an idea about his music. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 09:16, 1 August 2024 (UTC)

Narutolovehinata5: Thanks for inviting me to suggest an ALT for this DYK nom. However, since I'm neither the one who improved the article to GA nor the nominator, I think it would be poor form for me to step on the toes of other editors. If this nomination continues to be at an impasse, though, please let me know and I'll do what I can. What I will mention is that the bit of copy-editing I did revealed some issues that ought to be resolved, especially in a GA article. A few parts raise concerns about WP:SYNTH, for example. An early instance occurs at the the conclusion of the first paragraph in the "Biography" section. Putting aside for the moment that the phrase "victim of the regime" is loaded terminology that should be avoided per MOS:LABEL, WP:IMPARTIAL, and WP:EPSTYLE, I discovered upon reading the cited source (which doesn't include the page number; it's 25) that it doesn't confirm the statement in the article. (Full disclosure: I'm proficient in Russian, but know zero Ukrainian. Even so, the languages are similar enough that I can generally grasp the meaning of Ukrainian; the difference to my eyes and ears being comparable to that between Spanish and Portuguese.) According to Shumilina, surviving evidence "disproves the idea that Berezovsky's lack of work and financial difficulties caused his suicide". She reaffirms this in the final paragraph of page 27: "An untimely death (not the result of suicide!) interrupted his creative work" ("Передчасна смерть (не внаслідок самогубства!) перервала його творчість"). —CurryTime7-24 (talk) 22:11, 1 August 2024 (UTC)

Thank you for looking into this. Perhaps place the concerns on the article talk, because I am not sur that Amitchell is watching here. - Could you perhaps bring your knowledge of Russian also to Template:Did you know nominations/Marina Kondratyeva? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 22:25, 1 August 2024 (UTC)
@CurryTime7-24 and Jaguarnik: Both of you have made edits to the article: are there no further remaining issues? Courtesy ping as well to the second GA reviewer Shushugah if there are also other issues. Given that the article probably needs more copyediting regarding the language used (i.e. to meet WP:IMPARTIAL), also asking Launchballer if they're okay with helping out. Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 02:20, 2 August 2024 (UTC)
I've looked at the article again and fixed anything that I thought needed fixing. I don't think there's anything left to do other than possibly copyedit; I did my best to copyedit as the GA reviewer but I recognize that I missed some parts.Jaguarnik (talk) 03:33, 2 August 2024 (UTC)
@Narutolovehinata5:: I'm bringing up the following because you asked, but let me state once more that I won't be contributing heavily to this article, aside from minor touch-ups. Among other things, there is a bit of a slant to the article. The "Sacred music" sub-section, for example, potentially misleads the reader into thinking that Berezovsky was chiefly or even solely a phenomenon of Ukrainian culture. His influence on Russian music, which for a time must've also been considerable, is never discussed. (It's worth noting that in Berezovsky's time, Russian and Ukrainian cultures were more blurrier and mutually porous concepts than today.) Some aspects are left unexplained as well. Because losses of manuscripts and tangible evidence of his life are recurring themes in this article, it would seem to imply that at some point Berezovsky's legacy experienced a decline into obscurity; a 1947 article by Vera Vasina-Grossman [ru] in Sovyetskaya Muzyka confirms this to be the case. (This is important, because the magazine was not only the preeminent musical academic journal in the RSFSR, but in all of the USSR, including the Ukrainian SSR.) After that, Berezovsky's name is mentioned a few more times in the magazine. In the 1960s, his life and work came to be recognized outside of musicological circles thanks to a book about the composer Josef Mysliveček by Marietta Shaginyan. She mentioned Berezovsky therein, lamenting the fact that his music was widely unknown at the time. This seems to have been the catalyst for a modest revival. By the 1980s, articles and studies on his music increase significantly; there were some first recordings and performances as well. None of this reception history is mentioned in this article. —CurryTime7-24 (talk) 04:24, 2 August 2024 (UTC)
@CurryTime7-24: Thanks for the direction to Vasina-Grossman's article; I've found it and I will add it as a source into the article. I'll also look to see if I can't find something more recent analyzing his contributions to Russian music.Jaguarnik (talk) 04:56, 2 August 2024 (UTC)
On second thought, if I found the correct article (Забытая повесть о русском музыканте, Forgotten Tale of a Russian Musician, Vera Vasina-Grossman, 1947]) then this article is almost useless for analyzing Berezovsky's legacy in Russia, because the great majority of it is devoted to analyzing a fictional tale of his life. Still, I'll try to find something about his contributions to Russian music. Either way, I don't think adding his influence in Russian music is necessary for the DYK hooks, but it is something that future editors can work on.Jaguarnik (talk) 05:08, 2 August 2024 (UTC)
@CurryTime7-24: Given the apparent incompleteness of the article and other issues that were raised, would a GAR be needed, or that shouldn't be necessary and any remaining issues should be surmountable? Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 06:42, 2 August 2024 (UTC)
@Narutolovehinata5: I don't think these issues call the GA itself into question. I think the reviewer did a great job and they also helped to further polish up this article. It was a bit of a mess last year; the work done to get it to this point has been commendable. @Jaguarnik: That is the article, yes, but my point was that it acknowledged Berezovsky's decline into obscurity, which is not mentioned by this article. Rumors and all, it may have been the first serious article on Berezovsky in decades, if not longer; it seems to have served as a starting point for the revival of interest in his music. —CurryTime7-24 (talk) 01:13, 3 August 2024 (UTC)
Ah, I see now, my apologies if I was rude. The article was helpful in that it led me to find another article in Sovetskaya Muzyka that also wrote about Berezovsky, along with an article from 2013; I added those into the article.Jaguarnik (talk) 07:05, 3 August 2024 (UTC)
Just to say I am happy to look at this, however I did promise @Mehedi Abedin: a copyedit of Birthday of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and I should really do that first.--Launchballer 09:51, 2 August 2024 (UTC)
I'm guessing most of the neutrality issues were fixed before I got here, however there is one phrase beginning "He is considered" within the Sacred music section that needs attribution.--Launchballer 13:11, 3 August 2024 (UTC)
Fixed Jaguarnik (talk) 05:44, 4 August 2024 (UTC)
My concerns have been resolved.--Launchballer 12:25, 4 August 2024 (UTC)
General: Article is new enough and long enough
Policy: Article is sourced, neutral, and free of copyright problems
Hook: Hook has been verified by provided inline citation

QPQ: No - Not done
Overall: ALT0 is, as noted, not interesting. Given the current brouhaha around "first" hooks, I think it best to eschew ALT1/ALT1a (the latter is also ungrammatical) because the provided citation is not ultra-reliable. The term "Golden Three" is not used in the article, so ALT5/ALT5a/ALT6 are out. I am not comfortable with ALT4, especially in the current political context, because I would like to see that statement come from a historian, not a conductor. That leaves ALT2 and ALT3, both of which are approved. However, a QPQ has not been provided after nearly two weeks, so that needs to be urgently addressed. ~~ AirshipJungleman29 (talk) 12:22, 12 August 2024 (UTC)

I reviewed Template:Did you know nominations/Liebfrauenkirche, Zurich. - I found it extremely interesting that this person came from Saint Petersburg to study in Italy. I knew of many Germans but not from further east and north. Please excuse my ignorance, you who seem to know that there were many. - I heard his Symphony, and it sounds quite Italian to me, - feel free to listen]. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 15:04, 12 August 2024 (UTC)
In response to the above, the "Golden Three" fact was previously in the article but has since been deleted; I'm not sure when and why. When I proposed ALT3, the article wording did not directly reflect or support it, so if ALT3 is to be used, that needs to be clarified in the article. Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 01:33, 13 August 2024 (UTC)
@AirshipJungleman29: Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 01:34, 13 August 2024 (UTC)
No, ALT3 is in the article. A quick peruse of List of Russian composers, Gerda Arendt, shows Timofiy Bilohradsky who studied in Dresden, Dmitry Bortniansky who studied in Italy, Catterino Cavos who came from Italy to Russia, and Yevstigney Fomin who studied in Bologna—all 18th century composers with surnames from the first six letters of the alphabet. QPQ done, so all approved. ~~ AirshipJungleman29 (talk) 01:45, 13 August 2024 (UTC)
@AirshipJungleman29: I mean, the article does not explicitly state that the symphony was never performed before 2003, only implied. The article wording seems ambiguous to me: it says that the symphony was written in the 18th century but makes no explicit mention if it was performed back then or not. So at best, the accuracy of ALT3 based on the current wording is ambiguous. Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 01:56, 13 August 2024 (UTC)
"Golden three" wasn't deleted, rather rephrased since I couldn't find anything actually calling the trio "Golden Three"; they were consistently called "the three great Ukrainian composers of the 18th century"; hooks can be rephrased to reflect this. Jaguarnik (talk) 02:16, 13 August 2024 (UTC)
Airship, repeating: please excuse my ignorance. I had heard the name of one of the three, and didn't know he studied in Italy, thank you for the education! Our general readers will of course be better informed. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 09:19, 13 August 2024 (UTC)
I don't see how "was first performed" is ambiguous? ~~ AirshipJungleman29 (talk) 10:45, 13 August 2024 (UTC)
@AirshipJungleman29: It wasn't the wording per-se that was ambiguous. Rather, it's ambiguous if it had ever been performed before 2003, as in if it had been performed during Berezovsky's lifetime, or if it was a case of the symphony was written but never performed. Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 11:10, 13 August 2024 (UTC)
Again, "was first performed" seems perfectly clear to me. ~~ AirshipJungleman29 (talk) 11:24, 13 August 2024 (UTC)
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