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Eisler, Hanns

(Encyclopedia)Eisler, Hanns häns īsˈlər [key], 1898–1962, German composer, pupil of Arnold Schoenberg. In 1926, he joined the German Communist party, thereafter producing protest songs and other music express...

Schütz, Heinrich

(Encyclopedia)Schütz, Heinrich hīnˈrĭkh shüts [key], 1585–1672, German composer. A pupil of Giovanni Gabrieli, he later worked with Monteverdi. Often considered the greatest German composer of the 17th cent....

rhythm

(Encyclopedia)rhythm, the basic temporal element of music, concerned with duration and with stresses or accents whether irregular or organized into regular patternings. The formulation in the late 12th cent. of the...

Villa-Lobos, Heitor

(Encyclopedia)Villa-Lobos, Heitor āˈtôr vēˈlä-lôˈbôs [key], 1887–1959, Brazilian composer, educated in Brazil but self-taught in composition. He developed an interest in Brazilian folk music, which becam...

Davies, Sir Peter Maxwell

(Encyclopedia)Davies, Sir Peter Maxwell dāˈvĭs [key], 1934–2016, English composer and conductor, b. Salford, studied Royal Manchester College of Music and Princeton with Roger Sessions and Milton Babbitt. He w...

Hammond, John Henry

(Encyclopedia)Hammond, John Henry, 1910–87, American record producer; blues, jazz, and rock promoter; and music critic, b. New York City. A member of the wealthy Vanderbilt family, he entered the music business i...

harmony

(Encyclopedia)harmony, in music, simultaneous sounding of two or more tones and, especially, the study of chords and their relations. Harmony was the last in the development of what may be considered the basic elem...

Bernstein, Leonard

(Encyclopedia)Bernstein, Leonard bûrnˈstīn, –stēn [key], 1918–90, American composer, conductor, and pianist, b. Lawrence, Mass., grad. Harvard, 1939, and Curtis Institute of Music, 1941. A highly versatile ...

Berry, Chuck

(Encyclopedia)Berry, Chuck (Charles Edward Anderson Berry), 1926–2017, American rock music guitarist, singer, and songwriter, b. San Jose, Calif. Berry is widely regarded as one of the leading pioneers of rock mu...

Amherst College

(Encyclopedia)Amherst College, at Amherst, Mass.; founded 1821 as a college for men, coeducational since 1975. A liberal arts institution, Amherst maintains a cooperative program with Smith College, Mount Holyoke C...