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Nicolai, Otto

(Encyclopedia)Nicolai, Otto ôˈtō nēkōläˈē, nēˈkōlī [key], 1810–49, German composer. His opera Il Templario (1840), after Scott's Ivanhoe, was successful, but his masterpiece was the comic opera The Me...

Sokoloff, Nicolai

(Encyclopedia)Sokoloff, Nicolai nyĭkəlīˈ sōˈkəlôfˌ [key], 1886–1965, American conductor and violinist, b. near Kiev, Russia. After studying at Yale and under Charles Martin Loeffler, he toured France and...

Moussorgsky, Modest Petrovich

(Encyclopedia)Moussorgsky, Modest Petrovich mədyĕstˈ pĕtrôˈvĭch mo͞osôrgˈskē [key], 1839–81, Russian composer. His name is also transliterated as Mussorgsky and Musorgsky. He was one of the first to pr...

Prokofiev, Sergei Sergeyevich

(Encyclopedia)Prokofiev, Sergei Sergeyevich syĭrgāˈ syĭrgāˈəvĭch prōkôfˈēĕf [key], 1891–1953, Russian composer, pianist, and conductor. Prokofiev achieved wide popularity with his lively music, in wh...

Cui, César Antonovich

(Encyclopedia)Cui, César Antonovich tsāzärˈ äntôˈnôvĭch küēˈ [key], 1835–1918, Russian composer and critic, a military engineer by profession. As a music critic in St. Petersburg and Paris, he champio...

Five, The

(Encyclopedia)Five, The, name of a group of late 19th-century Russian composers. They were Balakirev, the leader, Cui, Moussorgsky, Borodin, and Rimsky-Korsakov. These men, united by a nationalistic fervor, tried t...

Chaliapin, Feodor Ivanovich

(Encyclopedia)Chaliapin, Feodor Ivanovich fyôˈdər ēväˈnəvĭch shəlyäˈpyĭn [key], 1873–1938, Russian operatic bass. His powerful and supple voice, together with his tremendous physique, his gusto, and h...

Krylov, Ivan Andreyevich

(Encyclopedia)Krylov, Ivan Andreyevich ēvänˈ əndrāˈəvĭch krĭlôfˈ [key], 1769–1844, Russian fabulist. Some of his more than 200 fables were adapted from Aesop and La Fontaine, but most were original. A ...

Gromyko, Andrei Andreyevich

(Encyclopedia)Gromyko, Andrei Andreyevich grōmēˈkō, Rus. əndrāˈ əndrāˈyəvĭch grəmĭˈkə [key], 1909–89, Soviet diplomat. A member of the Communist party from 1931, he entered (1939) the diplomatic s...

Arakcheyev, Aleksey Andreyevich

(Encyclopedia)Arakcheyev, Aleksey Andreyevich əlĭksyāˈ əndrāˈyəvĭch äräkchāˈyĕf [key], 1769–1834, Russian general, adviser to Czar Alexander I. An exacting officer, he helped organize the bodyguard ...

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