[DONE] New PAN or merge Johannes Kasper Mertz & Kasper Joseph Mertz?

hmmm, his real name seems to have been Caspar Joseph Mertz (which has 4 entries under the guise of an ANV). This is confirmed by German wikipedia citing an apparently reliable source in footnote 1 (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Kaspar_Mertz ) (and there is a brother with similar name)
Complicating matters is that acc. to same source "Soweit bekannt unterzeichnete er niemals mit ausgeschriebenen Vornamen" (meaning with J. or J.C.). These variants don't occur in the dbase.
I would go for the ANV but not sure if that's doable in Discogs

Laszlo23
hmmm, his real name seems to have been Caspar Joseph Mertz (which has 4 entries under the guise of an ANV).

Yes, that's correct. However, he appears most frequently with the first two names reversed, with variations: Johann Kaspar, Joseph Caspar, J. K. Mertz, etc.

We could certainly use an ANV to continue to capture these variations. Rather than create an entirely new PAN, I'd like to use #1 from above as it's far more correct than #2. The Real Name field can contain the truest version of his name, and we can update the profile to explain better the numerous variations.

So, Laszlo23, are you in agreement with my proposal, or are you suggesting an entirely new PAN?

My preference would still be using the ANV "Caspar Joseph Mertz" as the new PAN for the reason given, taking into that the existing PAN Kaspar Joseph Mertz doesn't have any releases under that name.

If a PAN swap is not feasible, I'd your proposal of merging #2 into #1.

Laszlo23
the existing PAN Kaspar Joseph Mertz doesn't have any releases under that name.

The "ANV search" tool is broken when you use the "no ANV option" - so it's quite likely that a fair to large number of releases do in fact use this PAN without ANV.

Pinging a few folks to get some other opinions here:

Dr.SultanAszazin

The question is, do we keep the Clothdrum has persuaded me to create a new, correctly spelled PAN, Johann Kaspar Mertz.

To me, it looks like the only two correct possibilities are Johann Kaspar Mertz (which seems to be kind of a "stage name") and Caspar Joseph Mertz (his birth name).

Both existing PANs have been created with misspellings, so in my opinion a new PAN should be set up anyway.
Since most releases using a full name seem to show him as Johann Kaspar Mertz, I'd go with this spelling for the new to be created PAN.

Clothdrum
Both existing PANs have been created with misspellings, so in my opinion a new PAN should be set up anyway.

That's a great point, which I hadn't considered.

Clothdrum
Since most releases using a full name seem to show him as Johann Kaspar Mertz, I'd go with this spelling for the new to be created PAN.

That one does seem to be the most common: https://www.discogs.sie.com/artist/954508-Kaspar-Joseph-Mertz?anv=Johann%20Kaspar%20Mertz&filter_anv=1

I would creating a new PAN by the name of Johann Kaspar Mertz.

Though not his real name the 'K' seems to be widely used so I'll also go with PAN Kaspar Joseph Mertz

EDIT: .. or, as cross posted I'm OK with 'Johann Kaspar Mertz', if it's the most used.

Cousin_Mosquito
create a new one

Assuming the ANVs are correct:
Johannes Kasper Mertz = total 191 releases
Johannes Kasper Mertz (and various spellings) 117
(K)Casper Joseph Mertz (various spellings) 23
J.K. Mertz 27
Other 24
Most common spelling/ANV by far is "Johann Kaspar Mertz" with over 100
It's also more in line with the alias Johann Kaspar Simon

Johann Kaspar Mertz

is fine

Laszlo23, bringing you back into the discussion. You had mentioned creating a new PAN for the baptized name. It seems like the baptized name would be a good fit for the "Real Name" field while creating the Johann Kaspar Mertz PAN, which is how he appears on the majority of releases. How do you feel about this proposal?

The wiki primary source seems reliable (ref above), so Caspar Joseph Mertz in the real name field would be quite right

new PAN by the name of Johann Kaspar Mertz looks fine

Bumping. Thus far, we have six votes (seven if you count me) in favor of creating the new PAN, with no opposition.

New PAN Johann Kaspar Mertz +1 look good.
n.b. I own no releases with him credited. I corrected the spelling of Pressburg (Bratislava) on the Kaspar Joseph Mertz PAN.
My understanding is that standardizing the spelling of German placenames that started with C (pronounced with a hard K as K is) did not occur until after unification.
("Cassel, , a city in Hesse spelt as Kassel since 1926.")

Cousin_Mosquito
I would creating a new PAN by the name of Johann Kaspar Mertz.

+1

One more bump. We now have 8 unified votes (9 including me) for the new PAN, none in opposition. Without objection, I'll begin these moves in the next couple of days.

This project is complete. In the end, the vast majority (at least 80, maybe closer to 90%) of the credits are for Johann Kaspar Mertz without ANV. Thank you everyone.

There's quite a few early modern artists and composers whom we know under incorrect names because researchers have incorrectly interpreted the records. See also Jacob Jan Van Eyck. If the mistake is so common that it includes most of the credits and most of the references in external sources, I think it's still best to keep the more common name and add a note to the profile.

rdvriese
If the mistake is so common that it includes most of the credits and most of the references in external sources, I think it's still best to keep the more common name and add a note to the profile.

Jacob Jan Van Eyck - yes, I agree with you there.

In the case of J.K. Mertz, neither PAN correctly represented the composer's name as it commonly appears on record. Each was a corruption of German and English first and middle names. And the most correct spelling - now the correct PAN - represents the vast majority of releases without ANV.

Same thing with the Alexander Scriabin mass edit - the soon-to-be former PAN was a hybrid English first name and French surname that in actuality appears on around 1% of releases. In all likelihood, it's one of the 1% of releases that probably generated the incorrect PAN.