Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

215 results found

Rykiel, Sonia

(Encyclopedia)Rykiel, Sonia, 1930–2016, French fashion designer, b. Neuilly-sur-Seine as Sonia Flis. Rykiel focused on ready-to-wear clothing rather than haute couture, and was especially noted for her “poor bo...

Johnson, Guy

(Encyclopedia)Johnson, Guy, c.1740–1788, Loyalist leader in colonial New York, b. Ireland. He emigrated to America as a boy and married (1763) a daughter of Sir William Johnson, whom he succeeded as superintenden...

Asturias, Miguel Ángel

(Encyclopedia)Asturias, Miguel Ángel mēgĕlˈ ängˈhĕl ästo͞oˈryäs [key], 1899–1974, Guatemalan novelist, poet, and diplomat. Living in Paris in the 1920s, Asturias was influenced by Romain Rolland, Valé...

Lasker, Albert Davis

(Encyclopedia)Lasker, Albert Davis, 1880–1952, American advertising executive, sometimes called the founder of modern advertising, b. Freiburg, Germany. He came to the United States as an infant and entered adver...

Lauren, Ralph

(Encyclopedia)Lauren, Ralph lôrˈən, lərĕnˈ [key], 1939–, American fashion designer, b. New York City as Ralph Lipschitz. He began his career by creating neckties under the name Polo for Beau Brummel. In 196...

La Farge, Oliver

(Encyclopedia)La Farge, Oliver lä färzh [key], 1901–63, American writer and anthropologist, b. New York City, grad. Harvard (B.A., 1924; M.A., 1929). He conducted three archaeological expeditions to Arizona and...

Tune, Tommy

(Encyclopedia)Tune, Tommy, 1939–, American dancer, choreographer, and director, b. Wichita Falls, Tex. An unusually lanky 6 ft 6 in., Tune began his Broadway dancing career in the chorus of several mid-1960s musi...

Tyler, Moses Coit

(Encyclopedia)Tyler, Moses Coit, 1835–1900, American writer on intellectual history, b. Griswold, Conn. He moved to Michigan as a boy. Graduated from Yale (1857) and from Andover Theological Seminary, he entered ...

soprano

(Encyclopedia)soprano [Ital.,=above], female voice of highest pitch. The three basic types of solo soprano are coloratura, lyric, and dramatic. The coloratura has a great range and impressive vocal agility; the lyr...

treble

(Encyclopedia)treble, highest part in choral music, thus corresponding in pitch to soprano, but associated with the voice of a boy or a girl. The term appeared in 15th-century English polyphony, probably as an angl...