Talk:Leon Russianoff

Did you know nomination

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. You can locate your hook here. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by HurricaneZeta (talk) 15:59, 5 December 2025 (UTC)

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• Comment or view
• Article history

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• ... that the clarinetist Leon Russianoff had the self-proclaimed record of eleven flop shows in a row on Broadway? Source: Clark 1983, p.19
  • Reviewed:
  • Comment: QPQ not required, willing to give alternate hooks if needed!

Moved to mainspace by UpTheOctave! (talk). Number of QPQs required: 0. Nominator has fewer than 5 past nominations.

UpTheOctave! • 8^va? 23:03, 28 October 2025 (UTC).

• General eligibility:
• New enough:
• Long enough:
• Other problems:

Policy compliance:

• Adequate sourcing:
• Neutral:
• Free of copyright violations, plagiarism, and close paraphrasing:
• Other problems:

Hook eligibility:

• Cited:
• Interesting: - n
• Other problems:

QPQ: Done.

Overall: "flop" is unclear here, but the basis for an interesting hook is there based on what the source says. Can this be clarified? Maximilian775 (talk) 14:40, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

@Maximilian775, I've clarified the hook slightly above. If this isn't enough, maybe one of the following alternatives would suffice? UpTheOctave! • 8^va? 17:51, 31 October 2025 (UTC)

• ALT1: ... that at one point in time, all of the New York Philharmonic's clarinet section had studied under Leon Russianoff? Source: Clark 1983, p.1
• ALT2: ... that Leon Russianoff never took a college music lesson, but was "considered by many to be the Godfather of American clarinetists"? Source: Porter 1990 p.46, Clark 1983, p.3

Hook options look better to me! Maximilian775 (talk)

GA review

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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This review is transcluded from Talk:Leon Russianoff/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Nominator: UpTheOctave! (talk · contribs) 22:56, 28 October 2025 (UTC)

Reviewer: Vanderwaalforces (talk · contribs) 20:16, 17 July 2026 (UTC)

Taking this as part of WT:GARC#104. Vanderwaalforces (talk) 20:16, 17 July 2026 (UTC)

1. Well-written

1a. The prose is clear and concise and is understandable to an appropriately broad audience

I believe we need copyedits here. I listed issues below;

Lead

1. I consider "a bad experience" in "After a bad experience playing for Martha Graham and Fe Alf" as evaluative. Replace "a bad experience" with a factual description, for example, was it "performance difficulties" while working with Martha Graham and Fe Alf?
2. The wording "he tried to save his performing career" is definitely journalistic. Replace it with a factual formulation such as "he studied with Daniel Bonade in 1950 while trying to continue performing professionally".
3. Change "posthumously honoured" to "posthumously honored" because the article uses American English.

Early life and education

1. The sentence "His parents were Jewish immigrants who settled near Hester Street in Manhattan, which provided shelter while Isadore trained to become a dentist" has grammar issues. The relative pronoun "which" refers to Manhattan, thereby saying that Manhattan provided shelter. I even went further to check Clark 1983, p. 6. and it isn't verified. Why not write something like His parents were Jewish immigrants. They settled in a Jewish neighborhood near Hester Street on Manhattan's Lower East Side...?
2. Change "at his mother's persuasion" to "at his mother's urging".
3. "Dominic Tramontano, a vaudeville, film, and fiesta player" is unclear because "vaudeville", "film", and "fiesta" are not instruments. Clark 1983 p. 10. says My first teacher was a wonderful, but elusive moving picture, vaudeville, and fiesta musician. So, player which is the current in the article is just confusing. Why not use "a clarinetist who performed in vaudeville, films, and fiestas"?
4. The sentence "Russianoff never took a college-level music class, potentially due to his experiences with Bellison" presents an author's interpretation in Wikipedia's voice. Please attribute it directly: "McCutchan or whoever suggested that Russianoff's decision not to study music at college may have been affected by his experiences with Bellison".
5. Change "Some time before 1940" to "Sometime before 1940".

Career

1. Change "he would begin to teach Stanley Drucker" to "he began teaching Stanley Drucker".
2. Remove "one of Russianoff's most famous students". I consider "famous" as subjective. Even, the remainder of the sentence establishes Drucker's prominence without that description.
3. Change "became their principal clarinet" to "became its principal clarinetist".
4. Replace "Russianoff's confidence took a further hit" with something more neutral. Let's say "Shortly after leaving the orchestra, Russianoff experienced more performance difficulties while working with Martha Graham and Fe Alf."
5. Change "opened a studio on 1595 Broadway" to "opened a studio at 1595 Broadway".
6. The opening "Now on Broadway" is ambiguous because the preceding sentence refers to the Broadway address. Why not replace the sentence opening with "Russianoff also performed in Broadway productions from about 1946 to 1950."?
7. Remove "with little success", as it is an unattributed evaluative conclusion. The following information about the eleven unsuccessful shows and Song of Norway very much adequately describes the outcome.
8. "However, learning was uncomfortable" is, well, awkward. Replace it with a direct explanation, something like "The lessons ended after less than a year because Russianoff and Bonade held incompatible political and philosophical views."
9. Remove "His career progressed again". Replace the sentence opening with the factual wording "In 1970, Russianoff joined the faculty of the Juilliard School", but then this is subject to the date issue I raised under criterion 2b below, pay attention, please.
10. Replace "after a successful debut in 1972" with "after appearing at the clinic in 1972". "Successful" is unnecessary.
11. The sentence saying that Russianoff described the clinics as "a place of idealism and inspiration", "as well as musical and personal growth", is grammatically incomplete. You might want to rewrite it as "Russianoff described the clinics as 'a place of idealism and inspiration' that encouraged musical and personal growth."
12. Replace "Russianoff resigned in 1976 as the necessary commitment rose higher than the time he had available" with "Russianoff resigned in 1976 because he could not devote the necessary time to the position."
13. Change "Late in his 60s" to "In his late sixties".
14. Change "continued to lecture and give masterclasses further into the decade" to "continued to lecture and give masterclasses during the 1980s".

Teaching method

1. Replace "According to the Russianoff student and former principal clarinetist of the Utah Symphony Orchestra Martin Zwick" with "According to Martin Zwick, a Russianoff student and former principal clarinetist of the Utah Symphony Orchestra".
2. Change "Several of Russianoff's students would have lessons at the same time" to "Several of Russianoff's students attended lessons together".
3. Replace "These involved him playing for and at the same time as his students" with "During these lessons, Russianoff played for and alongside his students."
4. Change "in this thesis on Russianoff's Clarinet Method" to "in his thesis on Russianoff's Clarinet Method".
5. In "Russianoff's teaching methodology was based on the fundamentals of technique, and is exemplified by his Clarinet Method", make the tense consistent. I suggest "Russianoff's teaching methodology was based on technical fundamentals and was set out in his Clarinet Method."
6. Delete the opening "In an exception to the norm" from the sentence about the "fulcrum" and "pyramid" studies. No norm has been identified. State directly that Moreland considered the two studies similar.
7. Change "allusions to the Gallwey's concept of duality" to "allusions to Gallwey's concept of duality".
8. Change "changable" to "changeable".
9. In "Students spoke of his kindly and passionate temperament, a method he adopted", the phrase after the comma incorrectly describes a temperament as a method. I suggest you rewrite it as "Students described Russianoff as kind and passionate; Jungerman contrasted his approach with teaching based on 'harsh criticism of the student by the teacher'."
10. Change "editorialising" to "editorializing".

Personal life and legacy

1. Remove "only" from "worked on Wall Street for only $15 a week". We ca report the amount without editorial emphasis.
2. Change "is recognised" to "is recognized", again, in accordance with American English.
3. In the montage caption, replace "The studies of Cyrille Rose, Carl Baermann, Ernesto Cavallini" with "Études by Cyrille Rose, Carl Baermann, Ernesto Cavallini". The current wording incorrectly describes the composers themselves as studies.

1b. It complies with the applicable Manual of Style provisions

I am actually okay with the overall organisation and section layouts.

The lead states:

"Russianoff is commonly regarded as one of the best, most influential, and most renowned clarinet teachers of his time". Now, this is not only an unattributed collection of superlatives, it is also repeated almost verbatim in the Legacy section. Replace the lead sentence with factual wording.

"his pupils included Stanley Drucker, Charles Neidich, Franklin Cohen, Larry Combs, ..." The present list of nine pupils in the lead may consequently be reduced to a representative selection; the complete list remains available in the Legacy section.

2. Verifiable with no original research

2a. It contains a list of references presented in accordance with the layout style guideline

Aye. The article contains a clearly organised source list divided into dissertations and theses, journals, newspapers, and other sources. The bibliographic information is sufficient to identify the sources. Cool things there.

2b. All material that is challenged or likely to be challenged is directly cited

Most factual claims are cited, true, but I believe the following specific discrepancies must be resolved.

1. The body gives 1970 as the year Russianoff joined Juilliard, citing The New York Times and McCutchan. Porter 1990, p. 46, says that he had taught there since 1972. The article needs to acknowledged this discrepancy. Use "in the early 1970s" in the lead and body, or add a note stating that The New York Times and McCutchan give 1970 while Porter gives 1972. Do not present an undisputed exact year while the reliable sources conflict.
2. The sentence about the Tilden Symphony Society Medal cites Brooklyn Eagle 1933 p. 9., but the bibliography lists the newspaper item as page 93. Please reconcile.
3. Place {{sfn|Markovich|2009|pp=47,49}} immediately after the sentence stating that Russianoff performed "at least seven concerts". The source supports the claim, but the present citation appears only after the following sentence, which makes its scope unclear.

The following is source spot-checks:

• Porter 1990, p. 46 supports Russianoff's Manhattan School of Music position, the memorial scholarship, and Porter's attributed "Godfather" description. It gives 1972, rather than 1970, for Juilliard.
• Fortune 2019, pp. 8–9 supports the description of the Clarinet Method as focused on technical fundamentals, its out-of-print status, and the account of Russianoff's individualised teaching.
• Gibson and Russianoff 1978, pp. 8–10 supports the attributed statements and the quotation about Penelope's influence on Russianoff's teaching.
• Markovich 2009, pp. 47–49 supports the return to performance, at least seven concerts, and the attributed "missing element" quotation.
• McCutchan 1983, p. 30 supports the quoted assessment of the Clarinet Method as "a major contribution to the clarinetist's library".

2c. It contains no original research

Aye.

2d. It contains no copyright violations or plagiarism

Aye. Although Earwig Copyvio tool gives 56.9% similarity for https://shareok.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/b45335c3-de5b-4917-985f-5441ae9a70c0/content they're most quotations.

3. Broad in its coverage

3a. It addresses the main aspects of the topic

Aye.

3b. It stays focused on the topic without going into unnecessary detail

Aye.

4. Neutral

I have already raised this above;

"Russianoff is often cited as one of the best, most influential, and most renowned clarinet teachers of his time". This cannot remain as an unattributed statement in Wikivoice. The Legacy paragraph even adds "Godfather", "master", "pivotal", "most distinguished", "successful", "legend", and a lengthy laudatory ICA quotation. Even though the individual descriptions are attributed, presenting all of them consecutively gives the section a really promotional tone and assigns disproportionate space to praise.

"Joan Waryha Porter remarked in The Clarinet that Russianoff was 'considered by many to be the Godfather of American clarinetists'", while Masiello described him as 'one of the pivotal teachers of clarinet in the United States during the twentieth century'. In 2025, the International Clarinet Association inducted Russianoff as a 'legend'; the World Clarinet Alliance also recognizes him as a 'clarinet pedagogue legend'."

Replace "After having an affair with Russianoff's friend and business partner, Kahn committed suicide in 1963." with an attributed formulation like "Kahn died by suicide in 1963; Clark reports that she had been having an affair with Russianoff's friend and business partner."

5. Stable

Aye.

6. Illustrated, if possible, by media

6a. Media have appropriate copyright status and valid non-free-use rationales where applicable

Speaking of licenses, the three images below from Commons used in the Clarinet Method montage currently say "You must also include a United States public domain tag to indicate why this work is in the public domain in the United States."

• commons:File:Chrysogone-Cyrille Rose 1880.jpg
• commons:File:Carl Baermann.webp
• commons:File:Cavallini.JPG
• Then, also commons:File:HesterStreet (cropped).jpg needs this kind of fixing.

Add an appropriate United States copyright-status tag to each file after determining its publication history, or remove any file whose United States status cannot be established.

• File:Leon Russianoff.jpg is fair use with valid WP:FUG.

6b. Media are relevant and have suitable captions

Aye. But remember the comments I made regarding the street caption above. Also, the montage alt text should also identify the subjects directly. Replace "a Rose", "a Baermann", and "a Cavallini" with "Cyrille Rose", "Carl Baermann", and "Ernesto Cavallini", respectively.

Bottom line

Nice work, to be honest, UpTheOctave!! I hope to see this at FAC when you are able to bring it up. Please ping me when done. Vanderwaalforces (talk) 17:42, 18 July 2026 (UTC)

Vanderwaalforces, this should all be done. Thank you for your extensive comments: the copyedits were very welcome (especially the AmEng ones!), as were the points on tone – I always find it hard to retain neutrality when everyone is so damn positive! Feel free to ping me back if you have any questions or further comments. Definitely intending an FAC run at some point! UpTheOctave! • 8^va? 03:12, 19 July 2026 (UTC)

@UpTheOctave! Good job, congrats! Vanderwaalforces (talk) 11:56, 19 July 2026 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

FAC Prep

Notes for @UpTheOctave!: for a potential future FAC. Article is in great shape, so mostly nitpicks:

Text/Prose/Content:

• So did Leon Russianoff also grow up on Hester Street? The text makes it clear the father settled there ("the former...") but not that the family nor child was raised there. The image only seems warranted if Leon grew up there.
  • Changed to an image of Bellison
• Would recommend linking brass band, possibly orchestra as well since having just one linked may be strange
  • Linked both
• Other links to consider: B-flat clarinet, Bachelor of Science, fingerwork to Fingering (music)
  • Linked all
• Maybe worth a little tag on who Kalman Bloch was, i.e. "alongside Kalman Bloch, later the principal clarinentist..."
  • Added
• "his experiences with Bellison" — this seems like it's missing a word? "Negative experiences?" Or perhaps not, considering he continued lessons (maybe "uneasy experiences"?)
  • Added "negative"
• Graham and Alf are probably worth a descriptor ("choreographers"?). I would say same with Bonade and Kovar, especially since Kovar was a bassoonist (I think readers will assume both are clarinetists)
  • Done
• I typically recommend giving year ranges when someone doesn't have a bio (Fritz Kröpsch), but up to you
  • Left for now for simplicity
• "scales by Carl Baermann" — presumably this is just a scale book, in which Baermann decided how many octaves, the order, differing patterns and such? I would say "scale book/text by Carl Baermann" otherwise unsuspecting readers might think these are some sort of original compositions (as with the previous "études by Fritz Kröpsch")
  • Fair; changed
• Pretty cool that Rose is French, Baermann is German and Cavallini is Italian!
• I was a little worried that the section discussing the Method would be too technical. I think it is largely clear enough, but I'm not sure that "tongue cue" will mean anything to readers unfamiliar with wind instruments
  • Tried to clear up
• No link for Klose? Hyacinthe Klosé. I think a footnote would be worthwhile here: "Hyacinthe Klosé's text was long the standard..." or something
  • Linked
• "his lessons were fluid and changeable" — the latter word is a bit awkward imo. Perhaps "adaptable"?
  • Changed
• "as one of their 2025 inductees" — the inductees of what? Do they have a hall of fame kind of thing?
  • Cleared up

Lead:

• The lead length is the first thing that stands out upon a first reading. Our notoriously vague MOS:LEADLENGTH gives 250–400 as a standard range for FAs. The current lead is above thing (412 words), and given that the article is only ~3000 total, this seems a bit out of place.
• For instance, I don't think Tramontano's name is worth recording, or the Philharmonic society. Simply, "Born in Brooklyn, New York, Russianoff won a scholarship to study with... " would be an improvement.
  • Taken
• A lot of the second paragraph, imo, could do with a similar trimming as the above.
  • Trimmed
• I'm not sure about the quotes in the third paragraph, I would rather see a more prominent summation of his influential status as a pedagogue. Either way, this summation (or the quotes, if wishing to keep them) should ideally be more prominent. Perhaps at the end of the first para, or at the beginning of end of the third paragraph.
  • Moved to start of para three.
• IMO, I would rather see names like Gallwey and Kovar mentioned in the lead, then all of the info about memorials and scholarships and such
  • Added

Sources:

• Ref for Note E?
  • Removed, not really worth explaining on a second look.
• Certainly optional, but I often find that citations within notes (when there are page numbers) are more readable as {{harvtxt}} than {{harvnb}}
  • I prefer the latter ;)
• A (somewhat) common FAC nitpick is the order of citations. Typically it is standard to order multiple citations in numerical order, which is not done consistently here.
  • Done
• Another suggestion, in my personal experience, occasionally things will be moved around by well-meaning editors, making it tricky when citations are given not directly next to a sentence. This probably isn't an issue for something like the "Early life and education" first paragraph, but it may be worth repeating the refs after something like "before settling on the clarinet at age 14."
• Space missing after "Jr." in "McKelway Jr.H.S."?
  • Fixed
• Is Clark, Stephen May–June 1988 the same as Clark, Stephen Lee? I might use the full name both to minimize possible confusion
  • Yes; added
• So did all of the obituaries get his age of death wrong? Seems definitely worth a note
  • Good point
• Masiello 2009, p. 8, 12–13. should be "pp."
  • Done

Other things:

• In the legacy section there are a number of quotes relating his "eccentricities" and the uniqueness of his style. I'm not sure this is made clear in the text above; it may be worth (if RS covers this) trying emphasize the apparent (?) uniqueness of his approach. My suggestion is to incorporate a bit more on what the prevailing pedagogy was like that he rejected. Perhaps more on Bellison's teaching style would help with this.
• Attempted to add a bit more
• As a reader, I'm finding myself impressed with how many clarinetist lives he touched. Makes me wonder about those not mentioned, Richard Stoltzman for instance, whom apparently he wasn't a huge fan of , would be a cool tidbit. Also wondering if there is any connection to Robert Marcellus or Anthony Gigliotti; of course, no need to engage in undue info or OR, but I gather that Marcellus and Russianoff were probably quite different people
  • Very different, but I think this does verge on OR. Also not sure about adding about Stoltzman; I wonder whether it is due in Russianoff's article.
• This online masterclass (fittingly recorded by Stephen Clark) would be a lovely external link:
  • See, I saw this, but I don't think it is certainly recorded by Clark, only edited. Without complete knowledge of the copyright, I wouldn't chance it.
• To my eye, it is strange to separate the Method citation from the other writings. Interested readers may simply be looking for a bibliography, and confused by not having a single, comprehensive one. IMO, it would be beneficial to have just "Writings". Here is one I found perhaps worth including: Hasty, Stanley, Loren Kitt, Robert Marcellus, Louis Paul and Leon Russianoff. “Clarinet Symposium: Tips for Students. Woodwind Anthology: A Compendium of Woodwind Articles from The Instrumentalist.” Vol. 2, (Northfield, Il.: Instrumentalist Publishing), 334-336.
  • Moved. I can't see this article anywhere?
• I feel that you may be missing a number of students: Kari Kriikku, Thomas Piercy, and many others (). I know that ideally we would keep the list on the shorter side, but 1) these people all have WP articles and 2) if you don't add them, someone will probably add them eventually (probably without a source), so I'd say it's better to do so "the right way" before hand. If any of the Biographies have a big list of students, that would be worth a footnote pointing the reader towards
  • Added new section to house more
  • Perhaps it's worth separating jazz clarinetists? A super long list is tricky to read, so anything to separate it would be good.
  • Also, according to Baker's: John LaPorta and Walt Weiskopf
• Apparently he commissioned Eric Ewazen, a fairly important living composer. Did he commission others?
  • There is a footnote about Kupferman; I'm hesitant to add another unless it's completely known what the piece was, and I couldn't find more info

This is quite an excellently written and researched article, congratulations! – Aza24 (talk) 20:16, 19 July 2026 (UTC)

References

References

• Slonimsky, Nicolas; Kuhn, Laura; McIntire, Dennis, eds. (2001). Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Vol. 3 Haar-Levi. New York: Schirmer. ISBN 978-0-02-866091-2. OCLC 712690363.