Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

elephant bird

(Encyclopedia)elephant bird, extinct, flightless bird of the family Aepyornithidae. Once native to the island of Madagascar, these gigantic birds may have survived until as late as 1649. Today, they are known only ...

Muawiya

(Encyclopedia)Muawiya mo͞oäˈwēä [key], d. 680, 1st Umayyad caliph (661–80), one of the greatest Muslim statesmen; son of Abu Sufyan, a Koreish tribesman of Mecca. He submitted to Islam the year of the surren...

Chávez, Carlos

(Encyclopedia)Chávez, Carlos kärˈlōs shäˈvās [key], 1899–1975, Mexican composer and conductor. In 1928, Chávez established the Symphony Orchestra of Mexico, which he conducted until 1949. He was also dire...

Gilbert, Alan

(Encyclopedia)Gilbert, Alan, 1967–, American conductor and violinist, b. New York City, studied Harvard (B.A., 1989), Juilliard (M.A, 1994), and Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia. After serving as assistant...

New York Pro Musica

(Encyclopedia)New York Pro Musica (New York Pro Musica Antiqua), vocal and instrumental ensemble, founded in New York City in 1952 by Noah Greenberg. One of the earliest groups to attempt historically correct perfo...

Aspen, city, United States

(Encyclopedia)Aspen ăsˈpən [key], city, alt. 7,850 ft (2,390 m), seat of Pitkin co., S central Colo., on the Roaring Fork River; founded c.1879 by silver prospectors, inc. 1881. Decl...

Pfitzner, Hans

(Encyclopedia)Pfitzner, Hans häns pfĭtsˈnər [key], 1869–1949, German conductor and composer, b. Moscow. Pfitzner studied music at Hoch's Conservatory in Frankfurt/ Main. His music, conservative in idiom (Pfit...

temperament

(Encyclopedia)temperament, in music, the altering of certain intervals from their acoustically correct values to provide a system of tuning whereby music can move from key to key without unacceptably impure sonorit...

Bream, Julian Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Bream, Julian Alexander brēm [key], 1933–2020, English guitarist and lutenist. Bream was first taught guitar by his father and studied piano and cello at the Royal College of Music. He made his deb...

Zimbalist, Efrem

(Encyclopedia)Zimbalist, Efrem ĕˈfrəm zĭmˈbəlĭst [key], 1889–1985, Russian-American violinist. Zimbalist was a pupil of Leopold Auer at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. He made his debut in Berlin in 1907,...