Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) serial music, the body of compositions whose fundamental syntactical reference is a particular ordering (called series or row) of the twelve pitch classes—C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B—t...

(Encyclopedia) Fabius, Laurent lôräNˈ fäbyüsˈ [key], 1946– French politician. After graduating from the École National d'Administration, he became an auditor at the Council of State and has been a Socialist...

(Encyclopedia) Pétion, Alexandre älĕksäNˈdrə pātyôNˈ [key], 1770–1818, Haitian revolutionist. After taking part in the expulsion (1798) of the English from Haiti, he joined (1799) André Rigaud against To...

(Encyclopedia) Du Pont, Eleuthère Irénée do͞o pŏnt, Fr. ālötĕrˈ ērānāˈ dü pôN [key], 1772–1834, American gunpowder manufacturer, b. Paris, France; son of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours. At the age...

(Encyclopedia) Daubigny, Charles-François shärl-fräNswäˈ dōbēnyēˈ [key], 1817–78, French landscape painter. He went to Italy early in life and later studied in Paris with Paul Delaroche. Although usually ...

(Encyclopedia) Clement VI, 1291–1352, pope (1342–52), a Frenchman named Pierre Roger; successor of Benedict XII. His court was at Avignon. He had been archbishop of Sens, archbishop of Rouen, and cardinal (1338)...

(Encyclopedia) Couperin, François fräNswäˈ ko͞opərăNˈ [key], 1668–1733, French harpsichordist and composer, called “le Grand” to distinguish him from the other musicians in his family. His harpsichord ...

(Encyclopedia) Kabila, Joseph käbēˈlä [key], 1971–, Congolese political leader, eldest son of Laurent Kabila. He was educated in Tanzania while his father was in exile there, and after his father became presid...

(Encyclopedia) Vichy vĭshˈē, Fr. vēshēˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 28,048), Allier dept., central France, on the Allier River. Vichy's hot mineral springs made it one of the foremost spas in Europe, with a casino ...

(Encyclopedia) Rouen ro͞oäNˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 105,470), capital of Seine-Maritime dept., N France. Situated on the Seine near its mouth at the English Channel, Rouen functions as the port of Paris, handling...