Jewish-convert composers faced dismissal while Muslim-origin composers embodied Russian authenticity

Evidence

For many of these artists, Jewishness had become much more than a religious identity; indeed it was an indelible aspect, and a negative one at that, of the character of Jews and of their offspring. Viewed through this antisemitic lens, it became more difficult for conversion to erase one’s Jewishness, and some Jewish converts to Christianity never entirely escaped their roots. … By contrast, rival composers whose family names betrayed Tatar (and thus Muslim) origins, including Alexander Borodin and Mily Balakirev, were associated with a more thoroughly authentic Russianness, in both their character and their music. — James Renton, Ben Gidley (eds.), Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe, 539 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Russia gave up converting Muslims but kept hoping to convert Jews; Conversion could not erase Jewishness in the racialized Russian view; In tsarist Russia, a Jewish identity made a subject dangerous regardless of conversion (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Jewish converts retained a stigma that Muslim converts did not carry #corroborates (0.93) — James Renton, Ben Gidley (eds.), Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe, 539