Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

ballad opera

(Encyclopedia)ballad opera, in English drama, a play of comic, satiric, or pastoral intent, interspersed with songs, most of them sung to popular airs. First and best was The Beggar's Opera (1728) by John Gay. The ...

Oldfield, Anne

(Encyclopedia)Oldfield, Anne, 1683–1730, English actress. The successor of Mrs. Bracegirdle, she first won acclaim in 1704 for her brilliant portrayal of Lady Modish in Colley Cibber's Careless Husband. She had a...

myrobalan

(Encyclopedia)myrobalan, name for the cherry plum and also for several Asian almond trees. ...

Anatolia

(Encyclopedia)Anatolia ănˌətōˈlēə [key] [Gr.,=sunrise], Asian part of Turkey, usually synonymous with Asia Minor. ...

sun grebe

(Encyclopedia)sun grebe, common name for a tropical, mainly aquatic bird of the family Heliornithidae. Sun grebes, also called finfoots, are remarkable for their colorful, puffy-toed, webbed feet, which may serve a...

Howard, Sir Robert

(Encyclopedia)Howard, Sir Robert, 1626–98, English dramatist. He held several important government posts under Charles II. His introduction to his Foure New Plays (1665) initiated a dispute with his brother-in-la...

dumb show

(Encyclopedia)dumb show, a theatrical pantomime included as part of a drama, especially in Elizabethan works, from the middle of the 16th cent. well into the 17th cent. Whether presented as a spectacle, with music,...

Cabral de Melo Neto, João

(Encyclopedia)Cabral de Melo Neto, João dĭ māˈlü nāˈtü [key], 1920–99, Brazilian poet and dramatist. Raised on his family's sugarcane plantation, he entered the foreign service in 1945 and retired in 1990...

Godfrey, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Godfrey, Thomas, 1736–63, American poet and playwright, b. Philadelphia. The son of Thomas Godfrey, who invented the quadrant, he became apprenticed to a watchmaker after his father's early death. G...

Becque, Henry François

(Encyclopedia)Becque, Henry François äNrēˈ fräNswäˈ bĕk [key], 1837–99, French dramatist. His plays, which portrayed Parisian life in realistic detail, influenced French naturalistic drama. Among them are...