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weather balloon

(Encyclopedia)weather balloon, balloon used in the measurement and evaluation of mostly upper atmospheric conditions (see atmosphere). Information may be gathered during the vertical ascent of the balloon through t...

Oakley, Annie

(Encyclopedia)Oakley, Annie, 1860–1926, American theatrical performer, b. Darke co., Ohio. Her original name was Phoebe Anne Oakley Mozee. From childhood on she was a “dead shot” with a rifle. She defeated in...

Muti, Riccardo

(Encyclopedia)Muti, Riccardo rēk-kärˈdō mo͞oˈtē [key], 1941–, Italian conductor. Principal conductor of the Maggio Musicale (1969–81) in Florence and of the Philharmonia Orchestra (1973–82) in London, ...

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...

Segovia, Andrés

(Encyclopedia)Segovia, Andrés ändrāsˈ sāgōˈvyä [key], 1893–1987, Spanish guitarist. Segovia studied at the Granada Musical Institute. He is famous for his transcriptions of early contrapuntal music, which...

Barrère, Georges

(Encyclopedia)Barrère, Georges zhôrzh bärĕrˈ [key], 1876–1944, French-American flutist and conductor, grad. Paris Conservatory, 1895. In Paris he was solo flutist (1897–1905) of the Colonne Concerts and th...

cittern

(Encyclopedia)cittern sĭtˈərn [key], stringed musical instrument of the guitar family having an oval body, a flat back, and a fretted neck. Its strings, made of wire and varying in number, were plucked. It was f...

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...