gg: religion

[Sivan Etedgee <sme@cisunix.unh.edu>]

Juozas -
  I had asked the same question about one year ago on the list.  This
response was
this:
"i think its been quite firmly established that GG's father's name was
Gold and
later changed to Gould. There's something in the GG Society journal
about it.
ergo gg had some jewish blood and was part Scottish I'm proud to say
too. "
However, it is very clear that while he may have had some Jewish blood,
he and his
family were not practicing Jews.  As an interesting aside, an inventory
of GG's
book collection at http://users.erols.com/petalpages/gg/index.htm
indicates a
strong interest in Zen Buddhism and other eastern religion/philosophy.
-Sivan Etedgee

Matthew Harding wrote:

> First of all, nationality means country of origin. Gould was born,
> lived, and died in Canada. Second, the name Gold on the birth
> certificate was a typo (mistake). Finally, he wasn't Jewish. He wasn't

> really anything. He was a musician and a genius. And a genius has no
> nationality, he or she is given to us as a gift of the extraordinary.
>
> Now calm down, stop drinking so much coffee, and listen to some nice
> soothing music. I suggest some Schoenberg or Webern sonatas, or
perhaps
> the Goildberg Variations (any recording, you choose). Hey, it worked
for
> the Count...
>
> Matthew
>
> BONG wrote:
> >
> > Lately I've asked about Gould's nationality, namely, if he was
Jewish, as Mr
> > Lehman mentioned the surname Gold on Gould's birth certificate.
Having
> > received no answer so far, I'm forced to think that my question was
regarded
> > as improper. I cannot see any impropriety in asking about the
nationality of
> > a famous person and I do not understand why such information should
be
> > concealed.
> >
> > Juozas Rimas
> > Lithuania