(Encyclopedia) Thomson, Virgil, 1896–1989, American composer, critic, and organist, b. Kansas City, Mo. Thomson studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. Until about 1926 he wrote in a dissonant,…
The Past 20 YearsMovies and FilmItalian Film HistoryTurnin' to TurinRinging the White TelephoneA Few Good FilmsThe Past 20 Years During the 1980s, American movies virtually dominated the Italian…
(Encyclopedia) Almeida, Francisco deAlmeida, Francisco defrənsēshˈk&oobreve; [key]Almeida, Francisco de dĭ älmāˈdə [key], c.1450–1510, Portuguese admiral, first viceroy of Portuguese India. He…
(Encyclopedia) ChampaChampachämˈpä [key], the kingdom of the Chams, which flourished in Vietnam from the 2d cent. a.d. until the 17th cent. At its greatest extent it occupied Annam as far north as…
(Encyclopedia) Grand Canal, Chinese Da Yunhe [large transit river], longest in the world, extending c.1,000 mi (1,600 km) from Beijing to Hangzhou, E China, and forming an important north-south…
(Encyclopedia) GobiGobigōˈbē [key], Mandarin Yintai shamo, great stony desert of N central Asia, c.500,000 sq mi (1,295,000 sq km), extending c.1,000 mi (1,610 km) from east to west across SE…
(Encyclopedia) ParaíbaParaíbapərīēˈbə [key], state (1991 pop. 3,201,114), 21,765 sq mi (56,371 sq km), NE Brazil, on the Atlantic Ocean. The capital is João Pessoa. The state extends inland from the…
(Encyclopedia) Martini, SimoneMartini, Simonesēmôˈnā [key]Martini, Simone märtēˈnē [key], or Simone di MartinoSimone di Martinodē märtēˈnō [key], c.1283–1344, major Sienese painter. His art is…
(Encyclopedia) librettolibrettoləbrĕtˈō [key] [Ital.,=little book], the text of an opera or an oratorio. Although a play usually emphasizes an integrated plot, a libretto is most often a loose plot…
