Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Gordy, Berry, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Gordy, Berry, Jr., 1929–, African-American music-industry executive, b. Detroit. After stints in the army and as a professional boxer, Gordy opened a ...

Schubert, Franz Peter

(Encyclopedia)Schubert, Franz Peter fränts pāˈtər sho͞oˈbərt [key], 1797–1828, Austrian composer, one of the most gifted musicians of the 19th cent. His symphonic works represent the best legacy of the cla...

Scofield, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Scofield, Paul, 1922–2008, English actor, b. Hurstpierpoint, Sussex. Scofield joined the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in 1945, and had his first major success in King John. At the Stratford Memorial...

Cornell, Katharine

(Encyclopedia)Cornell, Katharine, 1898–1974, American actress, b. Berlin. Cornell made her debut in 1916 with the Washington Square Players. In 1921 she married Guthrie McClintic, a producer-director. From their ...

Melchior, Lauritz

(Encyclopedia)Melchior, Lauritz mĕlˈkēôr [key], 1890–1973, Danish heroic tenor. He made his debut in Copenhagen in 1913, singing a baritone role in I Pagliacci, and sang regularly at the Bayreuth Festivals f...

Colbert, Claudette

(Encyclopedia)Colbert, Claudette klōdĕtˈ kôlbĕrˈ [key], 1903–96, American movie actress, b. Paris as Lily Chauchoin. Known for her rosy cheeks, velvet voice, hearty laugh, and curly bangs, Colbert distingui...

Fosse, Jon

(Encyclopedia)Jon Fosse, 1959– , b. Haugesund, Norway, Norwegian author and playwright, studied at the University of Bergen (B.A.; M.A, 1987). His work is noted for...

Fleming, Renée

(Encyclopedia)Fleming, Renée, 1959–, American soprano, b. Indiana, Pa. In 1986 she made her professional debut in Salzburg, Austria, in Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio, and has since performed at Covent Gar...

natural rights

(Encyclopedia)natural rights, political theory that maintains that an individual enters into society with certain basic rights and that no government can deny these rights. The modern idea of natural rights grew ou...

reggae

(Encyclopedia)reggae, Jamaican popular music that developed in the 1960s among Kingston's poor blacks, drawing on American “soul” music and traditional African and Jamaican folk music and ska (a Jamaican and Br...