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Kitab al-Aghani

(Encyclopedia)Kitab al-Aghani kētäbˈ äl-ägänēˈ [key] [Arab.,=book of songs], collection of poems in many volumes compiled by Abu al-Faraj Ali of Esfahan. It contains poems from the oldest epoch of Arabic li...

Samain, Albert

(Encyclopedia)Samain, Albert älbĕrˈ sämăNˈ [key], 1858–1900, French poet. He was a founder (1890) of the literary periodical Mercure de France. His first collection of verse, Au jardin de l'infante (1893, r...

A

(Encyclopedia)A, first letter of the alphabet. A is a usual symbol for a low central vowel, as in father; the English long a (ā) is pronounced as a diphthong of ĕ and y. The corresponding letter of the Greek alph...

Day, John, English printer

(Encyclopedia)Day, John, 1522–84, English printer. At his London shop Day designed and made type for himself, but not for sale. His types included musical notes and the first Anglo-Saxon type. He printed the firs...

F

(Encyclopedia)F, sixth letter of the alphabet. The Greek letter corresponding to it, digamma, which probably represented a sound like w, disappeared before the classical period. In Western alphabets f has usually r...

Ferber, Edna

(Encyclopedia)Ferber, Edna, 1887–1968, American author, b. Kalamazoo, Mich. Her novels portray the lives of a wide variety of Americans in a vigorous, colorful, and panoramic fashion. Among her best-known novels ...

Encina, Juan del

(Encyclopedia)Encina or Enzina, Juan del both: hwän dĕl ānthēˈnä [key], 1469?–c.1530, Spanish dramatist, musician, and poet, b. Encino. He served as court musician to the duke of Alba in Italy, and in 1513 ...

Graun, Carl Heinrich

(Encyclopedia)Graun, Carl Heinrich kärl hīnˈrĭkh groun [key], 1704–59, German composer, best known for his oratorio Der Tod Jesu (1755), for many years performed annually in Germany. As musical director to Fr...

Hillingdon

(Encyclopedia)Hillingdon, outer borough of Greater London, SE England. Industries include printing, motion-picture production, and the manufacture of aircraft, food p...

Held, Anna

(Encyclopedia)Held, Anna, 1873?–1918, American musical comedy actress, b. Paris. She is remembered for her beauty and charm and for her tempestuous off-stage life. After she had small singing and dancing parts in...