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Caballé, Montserrat

(Encyclopedia)Caballé, Montserrat mōnsĕrätˈ käbälyāˈ [key], 1933–2018, Spanish soprano. After voice study with Eugenia Kemeny and Conchita Badia in Barcelona, she made her operatic debut in Basel, Switze...

Basel

(Encyclopedia)Basel bäl [key], Fr. Bâle, canton, N Switzerland, bordering on France and Germany. It is bo...

Franche-Comté

(Encyclopedia)Franche-Comté fräNsh-kôNtāˈ [key] or Free County of Burgundy, former province and former administrative region, E France. It is coextensive with Haute-Saône, Doubs, and Jura depts. Dôle was the...

initiative

(Encyclopedia)initiative, the originating of a law or constitutional amendment by popular petition. It is intended to allow the electorate to initiate legislation independently of the legislature. This direct form ...

jade

(Encyclopedia)jade, common name for either of two minerals used as gems. The rarer variety of jade is jadeite, a sodium aluminum silicate, NaAl(SiO3)2, usually white or green in color; the green variety is the more...

La Harpe, Frédéric César de

(Encyclopedia)La Harpe, Frédéric César de frādārēkˈ sāzärˈ də lä ärp [key], 1754–1838, Swiss statesman. He went (1782) to St. Petersburg, Russia, where he became the tutor of the future Czar Alexande...

Rolland, Romain

(Encyclopedia)Rolland, Romain rômăNˈ rôläNˈ [key], 1866–1944, French novelist, biographer, playwright, and musicologist. After studying in Paris he spent two crucial years in Rome, where he was influenced b...

Reformed churches

(Encyclopedia)Reformed churches, in a general sense, all Protestant churches that claim a beginning in the Reformation. In more restricted and more usual historical usage, Reformed churches are those Protestant chu...

Bank for International Settlements

(Encyclopedia)Bank for International Settlements (BIS), international financial institution est. (1930) in Basel, Switzerland, by bankers and diplomats from Europe, the United States, and Japan. It was originally s...

Solothurn

(Encyclopedia)Solothurn zōˈlōto͝orn [key], Fr. Soleure, canton (1993 pop. 234,900), 306 sq mi (793 sq km), NW Switzerland. Very irregular in shape, Solothurn lies mostly in the Jura Mts. It is an important road...
 

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