Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) López, Vicente Fidel lōˈpās [key], 1815–1903, Argentine historian, journalist, and politician; son of Vicente López y Planes. A member of the group that opposed the dictatorship of Juan Manuel...

(Encyclopedia) Lyric Opera of Chicago, opera company founded 1954 as the Lyric Theatre of Chicago; it was renamed prior to its 1956 season. The company performs at the ornate Lyric Opera House, formerly the Civic Op...

(Encyclopedia) Oradea –mäˈrĕ [key], Hung. Nagyvárad, Ger. Grosswardein, city (1990 pop. 228,956), W Romania, in Crişana-Maramureş, near the Hungarian border. It is the marketing and shipping center for a liv...

(Encyclopedia) Arezzo ärĕtˈtsō [key], city, capital of Arezzo prov., Tuscany, central Italy. It is an agricultural trade center and has machine, clothing, gold, and jewelry industrie...

(Encyclopedia) Kaunitz, Wenzel Anton, Fürst von vĕnˈtsəl änˈtôn fürst fən kouˈnĭts [key], 1711–94, Austrian statesman. He distinguished himself as a negotiator of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) an...

(Encyclopedia) Vigo, Francis vēˈgō, vīˈgō [key], 1747–1836, American frontier trader and merchant, supporter of the American Revolution. He was born at Mondovi, Italy, and originally named Giuseppe Maria Fra...

(Encyclopedia) Scala, La [Teatro alla Scala], one of the world's great opera houses, located in Milan, Italy. It opened in 1778 with a production of Antonio Salieri's Europa Riconosciuta. Built on the site of the Ch...

(Encyclopedia) Porter, Horace, 1837–1921, American soldier and diplomat, b. Huntingdon, Pa. In the Civil War he saw varied service, mostly as an ordnance officer, before becoming (1864) aide-de-camp to Gen. U. S. ...

(Encyclopedia) Frederick II or Frederick the Great, 1712–86, king of Prussia (1740–86), son and successor of Frederick William I. Frederick was tolerant in religious matters, personally professing atheism to h...

(Encyclopedia) Hijuelos, Oscar Jerome ēhwāˈlōs [key], 1951–2013, Cuban-American novelist, b. New York City, grad. City College (B.A., 1975; M.F.A., 1976). The son of Cuban immigrants, he typically wrote about ...