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Spontini, Gaspare

(Encyclopedia)Spontini, Gaspare gäsˈpärā spōntēˈnē [key], 1774–1851, Italian opera composer. Spontini studied music in Naples. He went to Paris in 1803, was soon backed by the Empress Josephine, won a pri...

Silva, Antonio José da

(Encyclopedia)Silva, Antonio José da əntôˈnyo͝o zho͝ozĕˈ dä sēlˈvə [key], 1705–39, Portuguese playwright, b. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He belonged to a family of “New Christians” (Jews forced to con...

serenade

(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 at night beneath...

Sheffield, city, England

(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 England. It has ...

Fonda, Peter

(Encyclopedia)Fonda, Peter, 1939–2019, American actor. The son of Henry Fonda and brother of Jane Fonda, he made his screen debut in a forgettable 1963 feature. Several movies later he co-wrote and starred in the...

Montalvo, Juan

(Encyclopedia)Montalvo, Juan hwän môntälˈvō [key], 1832–89, Ecuadorean essayist and political writer. A champion of liberalism and a master of political invective, he showered fiery anathemas on the tyrant G...

Martínez Ruiz, José

(Encyclopedia)Martínez Ruiz, José hōsāˈ märtēˈnĕth ro͞oēthˈ [key], 1873?–1967, Spanish writer. He often used the pseudonym Azorín. A political radical in the 1890s, he moved steadily to the right. In...

Lehn, Jean-Marie

(Encyclopedia)Lehn, Jean-Marie zhäNˈ-märēˈ lĕN [key], 1939–, French chemist, Ph.D. Univ. of Strasbourg, 1963. A professor at Louis Pasteur Univ. (1970–78) and the Collège de France (1979–), Lehn did gr...

Słowacki, Juliusz

(Encyclopedia)Słowacki, Juliusz yo͞olˈyo͞osh slôvätsˈkē [key], 1809–49, Polish writer, one of the foremost Polish romantic poets. A revolutionist, he joined the Polish expatriates in Paris and died there ...

Bedford, Sybille

(Encyclopedia)Bedford, Sybille, 1911–2006, English writer, b. Charlottenberg, Germany, as Sybille von Schoenebeck. She worked as a legal reporter for various publications, covering more than 100 trials including ...