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Angelou, Maya

(Encyclopedia)Angelou, Maya mīˈə ănˈjəlo͞o [key], 1928–2014, African-American writer and performer, b. St. Louis, Mo., as Marguerite Johnson. She toured Europe and Africa in the musical Porgy and Bess (195...

harmony

(Encyclopedia)harmony, in music, simultaneous sounding of two or more tones and, especially, the study of chords and their relations. Harmony was the last in the development of what may be considered the basic elem...

Las Casas, Bartolomé de

(Encyclopedia)Las Casas, Bartolomé de bärtōlōmāˈ dā läs käˈsäs [key], 1474–1566, Spanish missionary and historian, called the apostle of the Indies. He went to Hispaniola with his father in 1502, and e...

Wilson, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Wilson, Robert, 1941–, dramatist, director, and designer, b. Waco, Tex. He began his arts career as a painter. A leading figure in postmodern theater since 1963, when he arrived in New York City, he...

Brunhild

(Encyclopedia)Brunhild brĭnˈhĭld [key], mighty female warrior of Germanic mythology and literature. In the Nibelungenlied, a medieval German epic poem (see under Nibelungen), she is the warlike queen of Iceland,...

Barzun, Jacques

(Encyclopedia)Barzun, Jacques zhäk bärˈzən [key], 1907–2012, American writer, educator, and historian, b. Créteil, France, grad. Columbia (B.A., 1927; Ph.D., 1932). Barzun moved to the United States in 1919....

Ludendorff, Erich

(Encyclopedia)Ludendorff, Erich āˈrĭkh lo͞oˈdəndôrf [key], 1865–1937, German general. A disciple of Schlieffen, he served in World War I as chief of staff to Field Marshal Hindenburg and was largely respon...

mental hygiene

(Encyclopedia)mental hygiene, the science of promoting mental health and preventing mental illness through the application of psychiatry and psychology. A more commonly used term today is mental health. In 1908, th...

Menuhin, Yehudi

(Encyclopedia)Menuhin, Yehudi yəho͞oˈdē mĕnˈyo͞oĭn [key], 1916–99, British violinist and conductor, b. New York City. Menuhin, an extraordinary prodigy, began playing the violin at four. He made his debut...

Young Plan

(Encyclopedia)Young Plan, program for settlement of German reparations debts after World War I. It was presented by the committee headed (1929–30) by Owen D. Young. After the Dawes Plan was put into operation (19...