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Chopin, Kate O'Flaherty

(Encyclopedia)Chopin, Kate O'Flaherty shōˌpănˈ [key], 1851–1904, American author, b. St. Louis. Of Creole-Irish descent, she married (1870) a Louisiana businessman and lived with him in Natchitoches parish an...

Field, John

(Encyclopedia)Field, John, 1782–1837, Irish composer and pianist. In London he studied with Clementi, with whom he later toured Europe. In 1804 he settled in Russia. Field was a successful pianist and his style o...

mazurka

(Encyclopedia)mazurka məzûrˈkə, –zo͝orˈ– [key], Polish national dance that spread to England and the United States at the beginning of the 19th cent. Danced by four or eight couples and characterized by s...

Chopin, Frédéric François

(Encyclopedia)Chopin, Frédéric François frādārēkˈ fräNswäˈ shôpăNˈ [key], 1810–49, composer for the piano, b. near Warsaw, of French and Polish parentage. His lyrical, often melancholy, compositions ...

Pachmann, Vladimir de

(Encyclopedia)Pachmann, Vladimir de vlədyēˈmĭr də päkhˈmän [key], 1848–1933, Russian pianist, studied with his father, a violinist, and at the Vienna Conservatory. He devoted himself almost exclusively to...

étude

(Encyclopedia)étude āˈto͞od [key], a brief musical composition, usually for piano, fashioned to instruct an instrumentalist in a particular technical problem, such as scales or trills. Succeeding the toccata, p...

Rubinstein, Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Rubinstein, Arthur, 1887–1983, Polish-American pianist, b. Łódź. Rubinstein studied in Warsaw and Berlin, making his debut in 1900 with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Joachim. He fir...

Dusek, Jan Ladislav

(Encyclopedia)Dusek, Jan Ladislav yän läˈdēsläf do͞oˈshĕk [key], 1760–1812, Czech pianist and composer; pupil of C. P. E. Bach. One of the earliest piano virtuosi, he was famous for his lyrical touch in s...

polonaise

(Encyclopedia)polonaise pŏlˌənāzˈ, ōˌ– [key], Polish national dance, in moderate 3–4 time and of slow, stately movements. It evolved from peasant and court processions and ceremonies of the late 16th cen...

nocturne

(Encyclopedia)nocturne nŏkˈtûrn [key] [Fr.,=night piece], in music, romantic instrumental piece, free in form and usually reflective or languid in character. John Field wrote the first nocturnes, influencing Cho...
 

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