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Cage, John Milton, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Cage, John Milton Jr., 1912–92, American composer, b. Los Angeles. A leading figure in the musical avant-garde from the late 1930s, he attended Pomona...

reggae

(Encyclopedia)reggae, Jamaican popular music that developed in the 1960s among Kingston's poor blacks, drawing on American “soul” music and traditional African and Jamaican folk music and ska (a Jamaican and Br...

toccata

(Encyclopedia)toccata təkäˈtə, tō– [key] [Ital.,=touched], type of musical composition. Early examples were written for various instruments, but the best-known form of toccata originated about the beginning ...

Sembrich, Marcella

(Encyclopedia)Sembrich, Marcella sĕmˈbrĭk [key], 1858–1935, stage name of Praxede Marcelline Kochanska, Polish coloratura soprano. She studied piano and violin at the Lemberg Conservatory. Urged by Liszt to tr...

Fétis, François Joseph

(Encyclopedia)Fétis, François Joseph fräNswäˈ zhôzĕfˈ fātēsˈ [key], 1784–1871, Belgian music theorist, historian, and composer. A teacher and librarian at the Paris Conservatory, he became (1833) direc...

Beach, Amy

(Encyclopedia)Beach, Amy, 1867–1944, American composer and pianist, b. Henniker, N.H., as Amy Marcy Cheney. A child prodigy, she received rather meagre training as a pianist in the United States, and toured there...

Basie, Count

(Encyclopedia)Basie, Count (William Basie) bāˈsē [key], 1904–84, American jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer, b. Red Bank, N.J. After working in dance halls and vaudeville in New York City, Basie moved to ...

accordion

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Accordion accordion, musical instrument consisting of a rectangular bellows expanded and contracted between the hands. Buttons or keys operated by the player open valves, allowing air to enter...

Richardson, Henry Handel

(Encyclopedia)Richardson, Henry Handel, pseud. of Ethel Richardson Robertson, 1870–1946, Australian novelist, b. Melbourne. Her years of study at the Presbyterian Ladies' College, Melbourne, were reflected in her...

Gould, Glenn

(Encyclopedia)Gould, Glenn, 1932–82, Canadian pianist and composer. A prodigy, he began study at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto at 12. He was piano soloist with the Toronto Symphony at 14, and by the ...