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Watson, Doc

(Encyclopedia) Watson, Doc (Arthel Lane Watson), 1923–2012, American country-music singer and musician, b. Stony Fork, N.C. Blind from infancy, he learned to play the harmonica, banjo, and guitar in…

Hofmannsthal, Hugo von

(Encyclopedia) Hofmannsthal, Hugo vonHofmannsthal, Hugo vonh&oomacr;ˈgō fən hōfˈmänstäl [key], 1874–1929, Austrian dramatist and poet. His first verses were published when he was 16 years old,…

Lerner, Alan Jay

(Encyclopedia) Lerner, Alan Jay, 1918–86, American lyricist and librettist, b. New York City. After two years as a radio scriptwriter, Lerner began an association with the composer Frederick Loewe…

Wace

(Encyclopedia) WaceWacewās [key], c.1100–1174, Norman-French poet of Jersey. King Henry II made him canon of Bayeux. His Roman de Brut (1155) is a long, rhymed chronicle of British history based on…

Forty-seven Ronin

(Encyclopedia) Forty-seven Ronin, Jap. Chushingura, group of Japanese samurai who avenged the disgrace and seppuku (suicide) of their master, Lord Asano, in 1703 by assassinating Lord Kira, the…

Gothic language

(Encyclopedia) Gothic language, dead language belonging to the now extinct East Germanic group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Germanic languages). Gothic has…

Golden Legend, The

(Encyclopedia) Golden Legend, The, collection of saints' lives written in the 13th cent. by Jacobus da Varagine. Originally entitled Legenda sanctorum [readings in the lives of the saints], it soon…

chant

(Encyclopedia) chant, general name for one-voiced, unaccompanied, liturgical music. Usually it refers to the liturgical melodies of the Byzantine, Russian Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Anglican…

Travers, P. L.

(Encyclopedia) Travers, P. L. (Pamela Lyndon Travers), 1899–1996, British author best known for her Mary Poppins children's books, b. Australia as Helen Lyndon Goff. She worked as an actress and…

Partch, Harry

(Encyclopedia) Partch, Harry, 1901–74, American composer, b. Oakland, Calif. Highly individualistic and largely self-taught, Partch rejected many of the traditions of Western music. He developed a…