Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

140 results found

Troy , ancient city, Asian Turkey

(Encyclopedia)Troy, ancient city made famous by Homer's account of the Trojan War. It is also called Ilion or, in Latin, Ilium. Its site is almost universally accepted as the mound now named Hissarlik, in Asian Tur...

Frankfurt Parliament

(Encyclopedia)Frankfurt Parliament, 1848–49, national assembly convened at Frankfurt on May 18, 1848, as a result of the liberal revolution that swept the German states early in 1848. The parliament was called by...

theory

(Encyclopedia)theory, in music, discipline involving the construction of cognitive systems to be used as a tool for comprehending musical compositions. The discipline is subdivided into what can be called speculati...

Papen, Franz von

(Encyclopedia)Papen, Franz von fränts fən päˈpən [key], 1879–1969, German politician. Appointed (1913) military attaché to the German embassy in Washington, he was implicated in espionage activities that le...

Mann, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Mann, Thomas tōˈmäs män [key], 1875–1955, German novelist and essayist, the outstanding German novelist of the 20th cent., b. Lübeck; brother of Heinrich Mann. A writer of great intellectual br...

Schumann, Robert Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Schumann, Robert Alexander sho͞oˈmän [key], 1810–56, German composer. Both as a composer and as a highly articulate music critic he was a leader of the romantic movement. He studied theory with H...

Lübeck

(Encyclopedia)Lübeck lüˈbĕk [key], city (1994 pop. 217,270), Schleswig-Holstein, central Germany, on the Trave River near its mouth on the Baltic Sea. It is a major port and a commercial and industrial center; ...

motet

(Encyclopedia)motet mōtĕtˈ [key], name for the outstanding type of musical composition of the 13th cent. and for a different type that originated in the Renaissance. The 13th-century motet, a creation (c.1200) o...

Hindenburg, Paul von

(Encyclopedia)Hindenburg, Paul von hĭnˈdənbûrg, Ger. poul fən hĭnˈdənbo͝ork [key], 1847–1934, German field marshal and president (1925–34), b. Poznan (then in Prussia). His full name was Paul Ludwig Ha...

oratorio

(Encyclopedia)oratorio ôrətôrˈēō [key], musical composition employing chorus, orchestra, and soloists and usually, but not necessarily, a setting of a sacred libretto without stage action or scenery. The imme...

Browse by Subject