Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

45 results found

Letteris, Meir ha-Levi

(Encyclopedia)Letteris, Meir ha-Levi mīr hä-lāˈvē lĕtârˈĭs [key], 1800–1871, Austrian-Jewish poet. He wrote about 30 volumes of prose and poetry. The poem called “Yonah Homiyah” [the plaintive dove] ...

Nordica, Lillian

(Encyclopedia)Nordica, Lillian nôrˈdĭkə [key], 1857–1914, American soprano, b. Farmington, Maine, as Lillian Norton. She studied in Milan, where she made her operatic debut in 1879. She sang in St. Petersburg...

Lilith

(Encyclopedia)Lilith lĭlˈĭth [key], female demon of Jewish mythology, originally probably the Assyrian storm demon Lilitu. In Talmudic tradition many evil attributes were given to this supposedly nocturnal creat...

Vischer, Friedrich Theodor

(Encyclopedia)Vischer, Friedrich Theodor frēˈdrĭkh tāˈōdôr fĭshˈər [key], 1807–87, German aesthetic philosopher. He taught at Tübingen, and later at Zürich and Stuttgart. Vischer was not only one of t...

Grabbe, Christian Dietrich

(Encyclopedia)Grabbe, Christian Dietrich krĭsˈtēän dēˈtrĭkh gräbˈə [key], 1801–36, German dramatist and journalist. Critical of “Shakespearomania,” Grabbe strove for a national German drama and wrot...

Taylor, Bayard

(Encyclopedia)Taylor, Bayard, 1825–78, American journalist and author, b. Kennett Square, Pa. His romantic verse in Ximena … and Other Poems (1844) secured him a long-standing assignment as correspondent fo...

Milnes, Sherrill Eustace

(Encyclopedia)Milnes, Sherrill Eustace, 1935–, American operatic baritone, b. Downers Grove, Ill., stud. with Boris Goldovsky and Rosa Ponselle. Famous for his powerful yet lyrical voice and his large, seemingly ...

Nerval, Gérard de

(Encyclopedia)Nerval, Gérard de zhārärˈ də nĕrvälˈ [key], 1808–55, French writer, an early romantic. His real name was Gérard Labrunie. His writings include translations of Faust (1828) and other German ...

Klinger, Friedrich Maximilian von

(Encyclopedia)Klinger, Friedrich Maximilian von frēˈdrĭkh mäkˌsēmēˈlyän fən klĭngˈər [key], 1752–1831, German dramatist. A friend of the young Goethe, he was a playwright for a theatrical troupe and ...

Cornelius, Peter von

(Encyclopedia)Cornelius, Peter von, 1783–1867, German painter. He studied at Düsseldorf and in Rome, where he joined the German Nazarene group and collaborated with other members in the decoration of the Casa Ba...

Browse by Subject