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Schwarzkopf, Elisabeth

(Encyclopedia)Schwarzkopf, Elisabeth shwärtsˈkôpf [key], 1915–2006, German lyric soprano. After studying music in Berlin she was trained by Maria Ivogün. She sang with the Berlin State Opera (1938–42) and b...

Jordan, Vernon Eulion, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Jordan, Vernon Eulion, Jr., 1935–2021, African-American civil-rights leader and lawyer, b. Atlanta, Ga., DePauw Univ. (BA, 1957), Howard Univ. Law Sch...

Pavlov, Ivan Petrovich

(Encyclopedia)Pavlov, Ivan Petrovich ēvänˈ pētrôˈvĭch pävˈləf [key], 1849–1936, Russian physiologist and experimental psychologist. He was professor at the military medical academy and director of the p...

operetta

(Encyclopedia)operetta ŏpərĕtˈə [key], type of light opera with a frivolous, sentimental story, often employing parody and satire and containing both spoken dialogue and much light, pleasant music. In the earl...

melodrama

(Encyclopedia)melodrama [Gr.,=song-drama], originally a spoken text with musical background, as in Greek drama. The form was popular in the 18th cent., when its composers included Georg Benda, J. J. Rousseau, and W...

totem

(Encyclopedia)totem tōˈtəm [key], an object, usually an animal or plant (or all animals or plants of that species), that is revered by members of a particular social group because of a mystical or ritual relatio...

Jakobson, Roman

(Encyclopedia)Jakobson, Roman rəmänˈ yäkˈôbsən [key], 1896–1982, Russian-American linguist and literary critic, b. Moscow. He coined the term structural linguistics and stressed that the aim of historical ...

Szell, George

(Encyclopedia)Szell, George sĕl [key], 1897–1970, American conductor and pianist, b. Budapest. He moved with his family to Vienna during his childhood and started his piano training at an early age studying at t...

Sills, Beverly

(Encyclopedia)Sills, Beverly, 1929–2007, American coloratura soprano, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., as Belle Silverman. Her childhood career as a radio singer (when she was first nicknamed “Bubbles”) led to voice studie...

Vienna State Opera

(Encyclopedia)Vienna State Opera, opera house and company in Vienna, Austria, founded in 1869 as an expansion of the Vienna Court Opera (Hofoper). Destroyed by wartime bombing in 1945, the elegant building's recons...

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