(Encyclopedia) serenade [Ital. sera=evening], term used to designate several types of musical composition. Opera and song literature yield numerous examples of the serenade sung or played by a lover…
(Encyclopedia) Sheffield, city and metropolitan borough (1991 pop. 470,685), N England, at the confluence of the Don River and four tributaries. Sheffield was one of the leading industrial cities of…
(Encyclopedia) Silva, Antonio José daSilva, Antonio José daəntôˈny&oobreve; zh&oobreve;zĕˈ dä sēlˈvə [key], 1705–39, Portuguese playwright, b. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He belonged to a family…
(Encyclopedia) Walker, Albertina, 1929–2010, African-American gospel singer and composer, b. Chicago. A protégé of Mahalia Jackson, she sang with two gospel groups before founding (1951) the Caravans…
(Encyclopedia) Spontini, GaspareSpontini, Gasparegäsˈpärā spōntēˈnē [key], 1774–1851, Italian opera composer. Spontini studied music in Naples. He went to Paris in 1803, was soon backed by the…
(Encyclopedia) Bialik, Hayyim NahmanBialik, Hayyim Nahmanhīˈyəm näˈmən byäˈlēk [key], 1873–1934, Hebrew poet, publisher in Odessa, Berlin, and Tel-Aviv, b. Volhynia, Russia. As an editor and…
(Encyclopedia) Kellogg, Frank Billings, 1856–1937, American lawyer, U.S. senator (1917–23), and cabinet member, b. Potsdam, N.Y. As a child, he moved to Olmstead co., Minn. He later studied law and…
(Encyclopedia) MacLeish, ArchibaldMacLeish, Archibaldməklēshˈ [key], 1892–1982, American poet and public official, b. Glencoe, Ill., grad. Yale, 1915, LL.B Harvard, 1919. He practiced law for only…
(Encyclopedia) Adams, Abigail, 1744–1818, wife of President John Adams and mother of President John Quincy Adams, b. Weymouth, Mass., as Abigail Smith. A lively, intelligent woman, she married John…
(Encyclopedia) porpoise, small whale of the family Phocaenidae, allied to the dolphin. Porpoises, like other whales, are mammals; they are warm-blooded, breathe air, and give birth to live young,…