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Holcroft, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Holcroft, Thomas hōlˈkrôft [key], 1745–1809, English dramatist and novelist. Sometimes credited with having introduced melodrama to the London stage, he is the author of the sentimental play The ...

Graham, Susan

(Encyclopedia)Graham, Susan, 1960–, American mezzo-soprano, b. Roswell, N. Mex. Known for her vibrant, expressive voice and her superb acting ability, she won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in ...

Manchester, cities, United States

(Encyclopedia)Manchester. 1 Town (1990 pop. 51,618), Hartford co., central Conn.; settled c.1672, inc. 1823. Its sawmills and paper mills date from before the Revolutionary War. The city was also known for its prod...

Boleyn, Anne

(Encyclopedia)Boleyn, Anne bo͝olˈĭn, bo͝olĭnˈ [key], 1507?–1536, second queen consort of Henry VIII and mother of Elizabeth I. She was the daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn, later earl of Wiltshire and Ormonde,...

Brown, Nicholas

(Encyclopedia)Brown, Nicholas, 1769–1841, American manufacturer and philanthropist, b. Providence, R.I., grad. Rhode Island College (renamed Brown Univ. in 1804 for him), 1786. He extended the internationally kno...

Harrison, Lou Silver

(Encyclopedia)Harrison, Lou Silver, 1917–2003, American composer, b. Portland, Oreg. He studied composition in California with Henry Cowell and Arnold Schoenberg. His early work stresses percussion while combinin...

Carter, Elliott Cook, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Carter, Elliott Cook, Jr., 1908–2012, American composer, b. New York City. Carter is considered by many to be the most important late-20th-century American composer. Mentored early in life by Charle...

Hijuelos, Oscar Jerome

(Encyclopedia)Hijuelos, Oscar Jerome ēhwāˈlōs [key], 1951–2013, Cuban-American novelist, b. New York City, grad. City College (B.A., 1975; M.F.A., 1976). The son of Cuban immigrants, he typically wrote about ...

atonality

(Encyclopedia)atonality āˌtōnălˈĭtē [key], in music, systematic avoidance of harmonic or melodic reference to tonal centers (see key). The term is used to designate a method of composition in which the compo...

Robbins, Jerome

(Encyclopedia)Robbins, Jerome, 1918–98, American choreographer and dancer, b. New York City as Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz. Robbins began his career dancing in musicals (1937). In 1940 he joined the Ballet Theatre a...