|
Lorenzo Da Ponte
Lorenzo Da Ponte , 1749-1838, Italian librettist and teacher, b. Ceneda as Emmanuele Conegliano. Born Jewish, he converted to Catholicism at 14, became (1773) a priest, and shortly after ordination moved to Venice. A freethinking liberal and sometime libertine and gambler, he was banished from Venic...
Read more
|
|
cassone
cassone , the Italian term for chest or coffer, usually a bridal or dower chest, highly ornate and given prominence in the home. Major artists such as Uccello and Botticelli painted cassone panels, and prominent sculptors were also employed to carve elaborate chests. The cassone was usually decorate...
Read more
|
|
Bernard Berenson
Bernard Berenson , 1865-1959, American art critic and connoisseur of Italian art, b. Lithuania, grad. Harvard, 1887. An expert and an arbiter of taste, he selected for art collectors innumerable paintings, many of which are now in museums. A testament to his taste may be seen in the Gardner Museum i...
Read more
|
|
Hester Lynch Thrale
Hester Lynch Thrale later Mrs. Piozzi , 1741-1821, Englishwoman, noted for her friendship with Samuel Johnson. Daughter of John Salusbury, she married in 1763 Henry Thrale, a wealthy brewer, whose home at Streatham became a second home to Johnson from 1765 until 1780. Mrs. Thrale's second marria...
Read more
|
|
|
Italian East Africa
Italian East Africa former federation of the Italian colonies of Eritrea and Italian Somaliland and the kingdom of Ethiopia. The federation was formed (1936) to consolidate the administration of the three areas. During the federation's existence, efforts were made to construct road systems and to e...
Read more
|
|
|
Giuseppe Marc'Antonio Baretti
Giuseppe Marc'Antonio Baretti , 1719-89, Italian writer and lexicographer. Baretti held various official positions in several Italian cities while making regular contributions to periodicals. In 1751 he went to London, where he was active in literary and cultural circles and where he wrote an Italia...
Read more
|
|
|
Andrea Appiani
Andrea Appiani , 1754-1817, Italian neoclassical painter and Italian court painter of Napoleon I, active in Lombardy. His frescoes include work in churches and palaces of Milan. In his portraits his style anticipated the romantic approach. Portraits of Napoleon (1796; Bellagio) and Canova are among ...
Read more
|
|
|
Costanzo Festa
Costanzo Festa , c.1490-1545, Italian composer. An early madrigalist, Festa combined Flemish and Italian influences in his works and in turn influenced Palestrina. His Te Deum (1516) is still sung by the pontifical choir at the election of a new pope.
...
Read more
|
|
|
Ruggiero Leoncavallo
Ruggiero Leoncavallo , 1857-1919, Italian composer. The opera Pagliacci (1892), his one outstanding success, is a classic example of Italian verismo, or realism. Of his numerous other operas, only Zazà (1900) had moderate success.
...
Read more
|
|
Giovanni Martinelli
Giovanni Martinelli , 1885-1969, Italian-American operatic tenor. He made his debut in Milan in 1910 and sang (1913-46) at the Metropolitan Opera. His repertoire of about 50 roles included the leading tenor roles in nearly all the principal Italian operas.
...
Read more
|
