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Reynard the Fox

(Encyclopedia)Reynard the Fox rĕˈnərd, rāˈnärd [key], the supreme trickster and celebrated hero of the medieval beast epics, works predominantly in verse which became increasingly popular after c.1150. They a...

Ravel, Maurice

(Encyclopedia)Ravel, Maurice mōrēsˈ rävĕlˈ [key], 1875–1937, French composer, b. in the Pyrenees. He entered the Paris Conservatory in 1889, where he was later a student of Fauré. Ravel became a leading ex...

recitative

(Encyclopedia)recitative rĕsˌĭtətēvˈ [key], musical declamation for solo voice, used in opera and oratorio for dialogue and for narration. Its development at the close of the 16th cent. made possible the rise...

Puccini, Giacomo

(Encyclopedia)Puccini, Giacomo jäˈkōmō po͞ot-chēˈnē [key], 1858–1924, Italian composer of operas. He wrote some of the most popular works in the opera repertory. A descendant of a long line of musicians, ...

Belmondo, Jean-Paul

(Encyclopedia)Belmondo, Jean-Paul zhäN-pōl bĕlmôNdōˈ [key], 1933–, French film actor, b. Neuilly-sur-Seine, studied Paris Conservatory. Belmondo made his film debut in 1957, but first gained fame in Breathl...

Cateau-Cambrésis, Treaty of

(Encyclopedia)Cateau-Cambrésis, Treaty of kätōˈ-käNbrāzēˈ [key], 1559, concluded at Le Cateau, France, by representatives of Henry II of France, Philip II of Spain, and Elizabeth I of England. It put an end...

sudoku

(Encyclopedia)sudoku or su doku so͞odōˈko͞o [key] [Jap.,=single number], a number puzzle consisting, in its classic form, of a square divided into nine squares, with each smaller square divided into nine boxes,...

Blaue Reiter, der

(Encyclopedia)Blaue Reiter, der dĕr blouˈə rīˈtər [key] [Ger.,=the blue rider], German expressionist art movement, lasting from 1911 to 1914. It took its name from a painting by Kandinsky, Le cavalier bleu. F...

Boulez, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Boulez, Pierre pyĕr bo͞olĕzˈ [key], 1925–2016, French conductor and composer of modernist classical music. He studied at the Paris Conservatory with Olivier Messiaen (1944–45) and studied twel...

Mondrian, Piet

(Encyclopedia)Mondrian, Piet pēt mônˈdrēän [key], 1872–1944, Dutch painter. He studied at the academy in Amsterdam and passed through an early naturalistic phase. In 1910 he went to Paris, where the influenc...