Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Ballanche, Pierre-Simon

(Encyclopedia)Ballanche, Pierre-Simon pyĕr-sēmôNˈ bäläNshˈ [key], 1776–1847, French philosopher. A frequenter of Mme Récamier's salon, he was elected to the Académie française in 1842. He is regarded as...

Plisetskaya, Maya

(Encyclopedia)Plisetskaya, Maya mäˈyä plēsĕtsˈkäyä [key], 1925–2015, Russian dancer. Pliesetskaya became a soloist with the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow on graduating from its school in 1943. She soon gained...

Williams, William, American painter

(Encyclopedia)Williams, William, c.1710–c.1790, American painter, b. England. He probably led a seafaring life before settling (c.1747) in Philadelphia, where he was Benjamin West's first instructor in painting. ...

Wolff, Elisabeth (Bekker)

(Encyclopedia)Wolff, Elisabeth (Bekker) ālēˈzäbĕt bĕkˈər vôlf [key], 1738–1804, Dutch novelist. She wrote satirical articles and poems, but she is most famous for the epistolary novels she wrote in colla...

waltz

(Encyclopedia)waltz, romantic dance in moderate triple time. It evolved from the German Ländler and became popular in the 18th cent. The dance is smooth, graceful, and vital in performance. The waltz in Vicente Ma...

silverwork

(Encyclopedia)silverwork, utilitarian objects and works of art created from silver. Silverwork includes ecclesiastical and domestic plate, flatware, jewelry, buttons, buckles, boxes, toilet articles, weapons, furni...

Dublin, city, Republic of Ireland

(Encyclopedia)Dublin, Irish Baile Átha Cliath, county borough (2021 est. pop. 1,430,000), Leinster, capital of the Republic of Ireland, on Dublin Bay at the mout...

Turgenev, Ivan Sergeyevich

(Encyclopedia)Turgenev, Ivan Sergeyevich ēvänˈ syĭrgāˈəvĭch to͞orgāˈnyĭf [key], 1818–83, Russian novelist, dramatist, and short-story writer, considered one of the foremost Russian writers. He came fr...

copyright

(Encyclopedia)copyright, right granted by statute to the author or originator of certain literary, artistic, and musical productions whereby for a limited period of time he or she controls the use of the product. T...

Addison, Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Addison, Joseph, 1672–1719, English essayist, poet, and statesman. He was educated at Charterhouse, where he was a classmate of Richard Steele, and at Oxford, where he became a distinguished classic...