(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…
(Encyclopedia) Burns, George, 1896–1996, b. New York City as Nathan Birnbaum, and his wife Gracie Allen, 1906–64, b. San Francisco, American comedy team (1923–58). In vaudeville in the 1920s, on…
(Encyclopedia) Cohen, HermannCohen, Hermannkōˈən [key], 1842–1918, German philosopher. He was a founder of the Neo-Kantian Marburg school and was known for his commentaries on Kant. His own works…
(Encyclopedia) Poissy, Colloquy ofPoissy, Colloquy ofpwäsēˈ [key], 1561, conference of Roman Catholic prelates and Protestant ministers, initiated by Catherine de' Medici and Michel de L'Hôpital in…
(Encyclopedia) saxophone, musical instrument invented in the 1840s by Adolphe Sax. Although it uses the single reed of the clarinet family, it has a conical tube and is made of metal. By 1846 there…
(Encyclopedia) Tartini, GiuseppeTartini, Giuseppej&oomacr;zĕpˈpā tärtēˈnē [key], 1692–1770, Italian violinist, the greatest violin master of his day. In 1728 he founded at Padua a school of the…
(Encyclopedia) ornament, in music, notes added to a melodic line for the purpose of embellishment or decoration, often called graces. Ornamentation was practiced as early as the Middle Ages by the…
(Encyclopedia) Yost, Ed (Paul Edward Yost), 1919–2007, American balloonist, b. Bristow, Iowa, grad. Boeing School of Aeronautics, 1940. The father of modern hot-air ballooning, Yost pioneered the…
(Encyclopedia) viol, family of bowed stringed instruments, the most important ensemble instruments from the 15th to the 17th cent. The viol's early history is indefinite, but it is recognizable in…