Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Haydn, Michael

(Encyclopedia)Haydn, Michael hīˈdən [key], 1737–1806, Austrian composer, younger brother of Franz Joseph Haydn. Haydn, largely self-taught, was noted especially for his sacred music. He was a friend of Mozart...

Servetus, Michael

(Encyclopedia)Servetus, Michael sərvēˈtəs [key], 1511–53, Spanish theologian and physician. His name in Spanish was Miguel Serveto. In his early years he came in contact with some of the leading reformers in ...

Praetorius, Michael

(Encyclopedia)Praetorius, Michael prētôrˈēəs [key], 1571–1621, German composer and musicographer, whose name originally was Schultheiss. He was a prolific composer, his Musae Sioniae (9 vol., 1605–11) alon...

Hainisch, Michael

(Encyclopedia)Hainisch, Michael mĭˈkhäĕl hīˈnĭsh [key], 1858–1940, president of Austria (1920–28). He was a leading agriculturist and a noted writer. Politically acceptable to all major parties, he was e...

Fisher, John

(Encyclopedia)Fisher, John (Saint John Fisher), c.1469–1535, English prelate, cardinal, bishop of Rochester (1504–34). Known for his scholarship at Cambridge, he was chosen confessor to Margaret Beaufort, mothe...

Dahl, Michael

(Encyclopedia)Dahl, Michael däl [key], 1656–1743, Swedish portrait painter. In 1688, after traveling on the Continent, he settled in England. After the death of Kneller in 1723, Dahl enjoyed an enormous populari...

Bennett, Michael

(Encyclopedia)Bennett, Michael, 1943–87, American dancer and choreographer, b. Buffalo, N.Y. He appeared in West Side Story and Subways Are for Sleeping. During the 1970s, he was one of the most successful direct...

Arlen, Michael

(Encyclopedia)Arlen, Michael, 1895–1956, English novelist, b. Bulgaria as Dikran Kuyumjian. The son of Armenian parents, he was brought to England as a child. In 1922 he became a British subject and changed his n...

Pacher, Michael

(Encyclopedia)Pacher, Michael mĭkhˈäĕl päˈkhər [key], c.1435–1498, German religious painter and probably a wood carver, a native of the Tyrol. He painted figures reminiscent of the art of Mantegna, whose w...

Crichton, Michael

(Encyclopedia)Crichton, Michael krīˈtən [key], 1942–2008, American novelist, screenwriter, and director, b. Chicago, grad. Harvard Medical School (1969). He wrote several thrillers under a pseudonym while a st...

Browse by Subject