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Watt, James

(Encyclopedia)Watt, James, 1736–1819, Scottish inventor. While working at the Univ. of Glasgow as an instrument maker, Watt was asked to repair a model of Thomas Newcomen's steam engine. He devised improvements t...

Morley, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Morley, Thomas, c.1557–1603, English composer; pupil of William Byrd. He was gentleman of the Chapel Royal to Queen Elizabeth I and organist of St. Paul's Cathedral. He set to music some of Shakespe...

Miserere

(Encyclopedia)Miserere mĭzərârˈē [key], in the Bible, the 51st (or 50th) Psalm, beginning “Miserere mei, Deus (Have mercy upon me, O God).” It is one of the penitential Psalms. Noteworthy musical settings ...

D

(Encyclopedia)D, fourth letter of the alphabet. It corresponds to the Greek delta. It is a usual symbol for a voiced dental or, as in English, alveolar stop. The capital represents in musical notation a note in the...

Saint-Dizier

(Encyclopedia)Saint-Dizier săN-dēzyāˈ [key], town (1990 pop. 35,558), Haute-Marne dept., NE France, on the Marne River. It is a trading and transportation center; its manufactures include machinery, musical ins...

Thomas, John Charles

(Encyclopedia)Thomas, John Charles, 1891–1960, American baritone, b. Meyersdale, Pa., studied at the Peabody Conservatory, Baltimore. After a successful career in musical comedy he made his operatic debut in Wash...

bass, in music

(Encyclopedia)bass bās [key], in musical harmony, the part of lowest pitch. The term is used for the lowest-pitched male voice and for instruments of low pitch, such as bass clarinet, bass drum, bassoon (bass oboe...

Strauss, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Strauss, Richard rĭkhˈärt shtrous [key], 1864–1949, German composer. Strauss brought to a culmination the development of the 19th-century symphonic poem, and was a leading composer of romantic op...

Qur'an

(Encyclopedia)Qur'an or Koran kōrănˈ, –ränˈ [key] [Arab.,=reading, recitation], the sacred book of Islam. Revealed by God to the Prophet Muhammad in separate revelations over the major portion of the Prophet...

Kazanluk

(Encyclopedia)Kazanluk käˌzänləkˈ [key], town (1993 pop. 60,019), central Bulgaria, in the Kazanluk valley, a region famous for its rose fields. Kazanluk developed in the 17th cent. as a manufacturing center f...