My daughter, a musician and library school student, send me a link to variations on spellings of Tchaikovsky, which I quote below, followed by some comments.
If your mean, what is the most common way of spelling the composer's name (which in Russian was ???? ????? ??????????) in the English language, then that would be "Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky". But the composer himself used "Tchaikovsky", "Tschaikovsky" and "Tschaikowsky" when writing in other languages, while "Chaykovskiy" would be a more literal transliteration.
Here are some other versions from the Library of Congress catalog (http://authorities.loc.gov):
- Ciaikovsky, Piotr Ilic
- Tschaikowsky, Peter Iljitch
- Tchaikowsky, Peter Iljitch
- Ciaikovsky, Pjotr Iljc
- Cajkovskij, Petr Il'ic
- Tsjaikovsky, Peter Iljitsj
- Czajkowski, Piotr
- Chaikovsky, P. I.
- Csajkovszkij, Pjotr Iljics
- Tsjai?kovskiej, Pjotr Iljietsj
- Tjajkovskij, Pjotr Ilitj
- C?aikovskis, P.
- Chai?kovskii?, Petr Il'ich
- Tchaikovski, Piotr
- Tchaikovski, Piotr Ilyitch,
- Chai?kovskii?, Petr
- Tchaikovsky, Peter
- Tchai?kovsky, Piotr Ilitch
- Tschaikowsky, Pjotr Iljitsch
- Tschajkowskij, Pjotr Iljitsch
- Tchai?kovski, P. I.
- Ciaikovskij, Piotr
- Ciaikovskji, Piotr Ilijich
- Tschaikowski, Peter Illic
- Tjajkovskij, Peter
- Chai?kovski, P'otr Ilich,
- Tschaikousky
- Tschaijkowskij, P. I.
- Tschaikowsky, P. I.
- Chai?kovski, Piotr Ilich
- Tchaikovsky, Pyotr Ilyich
- C?ajkovskij, Pe?tr Ilic?
- Tschaikovsky, Peter Ilyich
- Tchaikofsky, Peter Ilyitch
- Tciaikowski, P.
- Tchai?kovski, Petr Ilitch
- Ciaikovski, Peter Ilic
- Tschaikowski, Pjotr
- Tchaikowsky, Pyotr
- Tchaikovskij, Piotr Ilic
You can see the original post at: http://www.tchaikovsky-research.net/en/forum/forum0059.html
An impressive list but doesn’t begin to touch the ways Tchaikovsky has been indexed in Russian libraries to say nothing of transliterations of his name in libraries around the world in other languages.
Or how his name has appeared in the literature.
You could search Google Books using all 40 variations listed above, plus variations in other languages.
As could everyone following you.
Or, some enterprising soul could create a topic map that responded with all the actual entries for Tchaikovsky the composer, whichever variation of his name that you used in any language.
Like an index, a topic map is a labor saving device for the user because the winnowing of false hits, addition of resources under variations on search terms and the creation of multiple ways (think spellings) that lead to the same materials, have already happened.
Of course, creation of a topic map, or paying for the use of one created by others, is a line item in the budget.
In a way that paying staff to stare at screen after screen of mind-numbing and quite possibly irrelevant “hits” is not.
Need to find a way to make the same case that is made for indexes, as labor-saving, important devices. For topic maps.