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Boieldieu, François Adrien

(Encyclopedia)Boieldieu, François Adrien fräNswäˈ ädrēăNˈ bwäldyöˈ [key], 1775–1834, French composer. He studied with the organist of the cathedral in Rouen and composed one successful opera, Le Calife...

Daudet, Alphonse

(Encyclopedia)Daudet, Alphonse älfôNsˈ dōdāˈ [key], 1840–97, French writer, b. Nîmes (Provence). Daudet made his mark with gentle naturalistic stories and novels portraying French life both in the province...

Rutebeuf

(Encyclopedia)Rutebeuf rütəböfˈ [key], fl. between 1254 and 1285, French poet. He was the author of an early miracle play, Le Miracle de Théophile, and of fabliaux, allegories, saints' lives, and satires. Skil...

Pousseur, Henri

(Encyclopedia)Pousseur, Henri äNrēˈ po͞osörˈ [key], 1929–2009, Belgian composer, b. Malmédy. Considered the leader of the Belgian avant-garde, he studied composition with André Souris and Pierre Boulez an...

Samain, Albert

(Encyclopedia)Samain, Albert älbĕrˈ sämăNˈ [key], 1858–1900, French poet. He was a founder (1890) of the literary periodical Mercure de France. His first collection of verse, Au jardin de l'infante (1893, r...

Pembroke, Aymer de Valence, earl of

(Encyclopedia)Pembroke, Aymer de Valence, earl of pĕmˈbro͝ok [key], d. 1324, English nobleman; nephew of Aymer of Valence, bishop of Winchester. He succeeded his father, William, half-brother of Henry III, as ea...

Desnos, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Desnos, Robert rôbĕrˈ dĕsnôsˈ [key], 1900–1945, French poet. Among the best-known surrealist poets, he was one of the chief proponents of so-called automatic writing. He put himself in a tranc...

Picardy

(Encyclopedia)Picardy pĭkˈərdē [key], Fr. Picardie, region and former province, N France, on the English Channel, part of the French administrative region of Hauts-de-France. It includes the Somme, Oise, and Ai...

Saint-Germain-des-Prés

(Encyclopedia)Saint-Germain-des-Prés săN-zhĕrmăNˈ-dā-prā [key], historic abbey and church of Paris, on the left bank of the Seine. It was founded (6th cent.) by Childebert I; several Merovingian kings were b...

Augier, Émile

(Encyclopedia)Augier, Émile (Guillaume Victor Émile Augier) gēyōmˈ vēktôrˈ āmēlˈ ōzhyāˈ [key], 1820–89, French dramatist. His plays, early examples of realism, satirize the social foibles of his tim...