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Modest Petrovich Moussorgsky
Modest Petrovich Moussorgsky , 1839-81, Russian composer. His name is also transliterated as Mussorgsky and Musorgsky. He was one of the first to promote a national Russian style. A member of the minor aristocracy and an officer in the Imperial Guard until 1858, he was later a government clerk. His ...
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laudanum
laudanum , tincture, or alcoholic solution, of opium , first compounded by Paracelsus in the 16th cent. Not then known to be addictive, the preparation was widely used up through the 19th cent. to treat a variety of disorders. Many literary and artistic figures, including Coleridge, Poe, Moussorgsk...
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Sarah Caldwell
Sarah Caldwell 1924-2006, American opera director and conductor, b. Maryville, Mo. In 1957 she founded the Boston Opera Group, later renamed the Opera Company of Boston, and headed it until its demise in 1990. Under her direction, the company became noted for its innovative productions of a wide ra...
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The Five
The Five name of a group of late 19th-century Russian composers. They were Balakirev, the leader, Cui, Moussorgsky, Borodin, and Rimsky-Korsakov. These men, united by a nationalistic fervor, tried to write music of distinctively Russian character, drawing on the history, literature, and folklore of...
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Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin
Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin , 1873-1938, Russian operatic bass. His powerful and supple voice, together with his tremendous physique, his gusto, and his superb ability as a naturalistic actor, made him one of the greatest performers in the history of opera. Taught by the singer Usatov, he first gaine...
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Boris Godunov
Boris Godunov , c.1551-1605, czar of Russia (1598-1605). A favorite of Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible), he helped organize Ivan's social and administrative system. After Ivan's death (1584), Boris became virtual ruler of Russia, ostensibly as regent for Ivan's young son Feodor I, who was married to Bo...
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Maurice Ravel
Maurice Ravel , 1875-1937, French composer, b. in the Pyrenees. He entered the Paris Conservatory in 1889, where he was later a student of Fauré. Ravel became a leading exponent of impressionism . Along with Debussy, with whom he had an affinity of style, he led French music away from Wagner...
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Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin
Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin , 1799-1837, Russian poet and prose writer, among the foremost figures in Russian literature. He was born in Moscow of an old noble family; his mother's grandfather was Abram Hannibal, the black general of Peter the Great. Pushkin showed promise as a poet during his yea...
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song
song relatively brief, simple vocal composition, usually a setting of a poetic text, often strophic, for accompanied solo voice . The song literature of Western music embodies two broad classifications— folk song and art song.
Apart from the recently discovered cuneiform tablet contain...
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