Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

glee

(Encyclopedia)glee, in music, an unaccompanied song for three or more solo voices in harmony. The word glee [Anglo-Saxon, gligge or gliw=music] has been associated with vocal music from the time of the medieval gle...

Girardin, Émile de

(Encyclopedia)Girardin, Émile de də zhērärdăNˈ [key], 1806–81, French journalist. He was editor of La Presse (1836–56, 1862–66), La Liberté (1866–70), and La France (1874). Actively interested in po...

Miaskovsky, Nikolai Yakovlevich

(Encyclopedia)Miaskovsky, Nikolai Yakovlevich nyĭkəlīˈ yäˈkəvlyĭvĭch myəskôfˈskē [key], 1881–1950, Russian composer, b. near Warsaw, grad. St. Petersburg Conservatory, 1911. Professor of composition ...

Kikai Caldera

(Encyclopedia)Kikai Caldera, massive caldera, c.12 mi (19 km) in diameter, Ryukyu Islands, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Located c.30 mi (48 km) from the southern tip of the densely populated major island of Kyushu,...

Bourrienne, Louis Antoine Fauvelet de

(Encyclopedia)Bourrienne, Louis Antoine Fauvelet de lwē äNtwänˈ fōvəlāˈ də bo͞orēĕnˈ [key], 1769–1834, French political figure. He was a friend and for a time (1797–1802) private secretary to Napol...

Bettel, Xavier

(Encyclopedia)Bettel, Xavier, 1973–, Luxembourg political leader. A lawyer, he entered politics in 1999 as a member of both Luxembourg City's communal council and the Chamber of Deputies. In 2011 he was elected m...

ruminant

(Encyclopedia)ruminant, any of a group of hooved mammals that chew their cud, i.e., that regurgitate and chew again food that has already been swallowed. Ruminants have an even number of toes on each foot and a sto...

Rosetti, Constantin

(Encyclopedia)Rosetti, Constantin kŏnstäntēnˈ rōsĕtˈ [key], 1816–85, Romanian statesman, b. Bucharest. A radical editor, he took part in the Revolution of 1848 and subsequently fled to Paris, where he publ...

Carissimi, Giacomo

(Encyclopedia)Carissimi, Giacomo jäˈkōmō kärēsˈsēmē [key], 1605–74, Italian composer. Most of his life was spent in Rome, where he wrote chamber cantatas in a style that lasted for over a century. His La...

Quantz, Johann Joachim

(Encyclopedia)Quantz, Johann Joachim yōˈhän yōˈäkhĭm kvänts [key], 1697–1773, German flutist and composer for the flute. In 1741 he became chamber musician and teacher of the flute to Frederick the Great,...

Browse by Subject