Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Eleanor of Castile

(Encyclopedia)Eleanor of Castile kăstēlˈ [key], d.1290, queen consort of Edward I of England and daughter of Ferdinand III of Castile. At her marriage (1254) she brought to Prince Edward the territories of Ponth...

elegy

(Encyclopedia)elegy, in Greek and Roman poetry, a poem written in elegiac verse (i.e., couplets consisting of a hexameter line followed by a pentameter line). The form dates back to 7th cent. b.c. in Greece and poe...

de Larrocha, Alicia

(Encyclopedia)de Larrocha, Alicia (Alicia de Larrocha y de la Calle), 1923–2009, Spanish pianist, b. Barcelona. One of the outstanding pianists of the 20th cent., she gave her first recital when she was five and ...

Filene, Edward Albert

(Encyclopedia)Filene, Edward Albert fīlēnˈ, fĭl– [key], 1860–1937, American merchant, b. Salem, Mass. As president of the Boston firm of William Filene's Sons he pioneered in scientific and ingenious method...

Feld, Eliot

(Encyclopedia)Feld, Eliot, 1942–, American dancer and choreographer, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. As a teenager he danced in musicals, notably West Side Story on Broadway and film, and on television. While a dancer (1963–...

Inns of Court

(Encyclopedia)Inns of Court, collective name of the four legal societies in London that have the exclusive right of admission to the bar. These societies—Lincoln's Inn, Gray's Inn, the Inner Temple, and the Middl...

Harrison, Wallace Kirkman

(Encyclopedia)Harrison, Wallace Kirkman, 1895–1981, American architect and city planner, b. Worcester, Mass. Harrison designed the Trylon and Perisphere, the structures that came to symbolize the 1939 New York Wo...

Hargrove, Roy Anthony

(Encyclopedia)Hargrove, Roy Anthony, 1969–2018, American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer, b. Waco, Tex. In 1986, while in high school, he attracted the attention of Wynton Marsalis, who asked him to sit ...

Gloucester, Robert, earl of

(Encyclopedia)Gloucester, Robert, earl of, d. 1147, English nobleman; illegitimate son of Henry I. Henry created (c.1121) the earldom of Gloucester for him. After his father's death (1135), Robert appeared to accep...

Mielziner, Jo

(Encyclopedia)Mielziner, Jo mēlzēˈnər [key], 1901–76, American theatrical scene designer, b. Paris. Mielziner made his Broadway design debut in 1924 with The Guardsman. He designed sets, and usually the light...

Browse by Subject