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Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus

(Encyclopedia)Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus mōtˈsärt, Ger. vôlfˈgäng ämädāˈo͝os mōˈtsärt [key], 1756–91, Austrian composer, b. Salzburg. Mozart represents one of the great peaks in the history of music. ...

Vienna, Congress of

(Encyclopedia)Vienna, Congress of, Sept., 1814–June, 1815, one of the most important international conferences in European history, called to remake Europe after the downfall of Napoleon I. Although the territo...

manorial system

(Encyclopedia)manorial system sēnyôrˈēəl [key], economic and social system of medieval Europe under which peasants' land tenure and production were regulated, and local justice and taxation were administered. ...

biography

(Encyclopedia)biography, reconstruction in print or on film, of the lives of real men and women. Together with autobiography—an individual's interpretation of his own life—it shares a venerable tradition, meeti...

drama, Western

(Encyclopedia)drama, Western, plays produced in the Western world. This article discusses the development of Western drama in general; for further information see the various national literature articles. During ...

comic strip

(Encyclopedia)comic strip, combination of cartoon with a story line, laid out in a series of pictorial panels across a page and concerning a continuous character or set of characters, whose thoughts and dialogues a...

Prussia

(Encyclopedia)Prussia prŭshˈə [key], Ger. Preussen, former state, the largest and most important of the German states. Berlin was the capital. The chief member of the German Empire (1871–1918) and a state of t...

photography, still

(Encyclopedia)photography, still, science and art of making permanent images on light-sensitive materials. See also photographic processing; motion picture photography; motion pictures. By the end of ...

opera

(Encyclopedia)opera, drama set to music. In the early part of the 20th cent. the foremost operatic composer was Richard Strauss. Although influenced by Wagner, he composed operas with even richer and more stunnin...