- Pianissimo (work by Sbarbaro)
Italian literature: The Hermetic movement: …such as Camillo Sbarbaro (Pianissimo [1914], Trucioli [1920; “Shavings”]), cultivated a style purified of unessential elements. Out of those efforts grew a poetry combining the acoustic potentialities of words with emotional restraint and consisting mainly of fragmentary utterances in which words were enhanced by contextual isolation and disruption of…
- Pianist, The (film by Polanski [2002])
Roman Polanski: The Pianist (2002), which tells the true story of Władysław Szpilman’s survival of the Nazi occupation of Poland during World War II, shared much in common with Polanski’s own childhood experience and earned the Palme d’Or at the Cannes international film festival and a best…
- Pianiste, La (film by Haneke [2001])
Michael Haneke: …frustrations in La Pianiste (2001; The Piano Teacher), which Haneke adapted from a novel by Austrian writer Elfriede Jelinek. Both films attracted substantial praise.
- Piankhi (king of Cush)
Piye was a king of Cush (or Kush, in the Sudan) from about 753 to about 723 bce. He invaded Egypt from the south and ended the petty kingdoms of the 23rd dynasty (c. 845–c. 730 bce) in Lower Egypt. According to Egyptian tradition, his brother Shabaka founded the 25th dynasty, but Piye laid the
- piano (musical instrument)
piano, a keyboard musical instrument having wire strings that sound when struck by felt-covered hammers operated from a keyboard. The standard modern piano contains 88 keys and has a compass of seven full octaves plus a few keys. The vibration of the strings is transmitted to a soundboard by means
- piano accordion (musical instrument)
accordion: Among these instruments is the piano accordion, with a piano-style keyboard for the right hand. Its invention in the mid-19th century is credited either to the manufacturer Busson or to M. Bouton, both of France.
- Piano Concertino (concerto by Francaix)
Jean Françaix: …his first important works, the Piano Concertino (1932), a characteristically witty piece, shows the complete mastery of form that distinguishes all of his music. In addition to concerti for the piano and the violin and a double piano concerto, he wrote ballets, chamber music, operas, and the oratorio L’Apocalypse de…
- Piano Concerto (work by Carter)
Elliott Carter: …concerto were mirrored in his Piano Concerto (1965). Carter’s Concerto for Orchestra was first performed in 1970 and the String Quartet No. 3, for which he won a second Pulitzer Prize, in 1973.
- Piano Concerto in A Minor (work by Grieg)
musical criticism: Economy: …toward the end of Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A Minor, in which the “big tune” of the finale returns in full orchestral splendour and obliterates the part of the solo pianist. In the concert hall, it is an extraordinary sight to see the soloist racing up and down the keyboard,…
- Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54 (work by Schumann)
Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54, three-movement concerto for piano by German composer Robert Schumann that premiered in Dresden on December 4, 1845. The work was written for—and premiered by—Clara Wieck Schumann, his wife, who was considered to be one of the great pianists of the day. An early
- Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor, Op. 23 (work by Tchaikovsky)
Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor, Op. 23, concerto for piano and orchestra by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The work is particularly famed for the sequence of pounding chords with which the soloist’s part launches the first movement. The piece premiered in Boston, Massachusetts, on October 25,
- Piano Concerto No. 1 in D-flat Major, Op. 10 (work by Prokofiev)
Piano Concerto No. 1 in D-flat Major, Op. 10, concerto for piano by Russian composer Sergey Prokofiev, which jolted early 20th-century audiences with its unorthodox treatment of melodic and harmonic material as well as with its aggressive—if not percussive—approach to rhythm. The work was completed
- Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18 (musical composition by Rachmaninoff)
Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18, composition for piano and orchestra by Sergei Rachmaninoff. It premiered on November 9, 1901, and contains themes that, throughout the 20th century, would be reborn as the melodies of several popular songs, including Frank Sinatra’s 1945 “Full Moon and Empty
- Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K 467 (work by Mozart)
Elvira Madigan, three-movement concerto for piano and orchestra by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the best known of his many piano concerti. It was completed on March 9, 1785. Its wide recognition is in large part due to the Swedish film Elvira Madigan (1967), in which its lyrical second movement was
- Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 30 (musical composition by Rachmaninoff)
Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 30, composition by Sergei Rachmaninoff. The work premiered on November 28, 1909, in New York City with the composer as soloist. It was the first of many American triumphs for Rachmaninoff, who would ultimately make his home in the United States. In 1909, a few
- Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major, Op. 73 (work by Beethoven)
Emperor Concerto, piano concerto by Ludwig van Beethoven known for its grandeur, bold melodies, and heroic spirit. The work was dedicated to Archduke Rudolf, who was a friend and student of the composer. It premiered in Leipzig, Germany, in 1811, and it remains the best known and most frequently
- piano éolien (musical instrument)
keyboard instrument: Related stringed keyboard instruments: …past them, as in the piano éolien of 1837. The most successful of these other instruments adopted the principle of the hurdy-gurdy—i.e., vibrating the strings by friction.
- Piano Jazz (American radio program)
Marian McPartland: …her National Public Radio program Piano Jazz.
- Piano Lesson, The (play by Wilson)
The Piano Lesson, drama in two acts by August Wilson, produced in 1987 and published in 1990. The play, which was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1990, is part of Wilson’s cycle about African American life in the 20th century. The action takes place in Pittsburgh in 1936 at the house of a family of
- Piano Man (album by Joel)
Billy Joel: Piano Man to The Stranger: His first album for Columbia, Piano Man (1973), featured a hit single of the same name; based on his piano bar experience, it became his signature song. Mixtures of soul, pop, and rock, Piano Man and Joel’s subsequent albums—Streetlife Serenade (1974) and Turnstiles (1976)—earned praise from critics and set the…
- piano nobile (architecture)
piano nobile, (Italian: “noble floor”), in architecture, main floor of a Renaissance building. In the typical palazzo, or palace, erected by an Italian prince of the Renaissance, the main reception rooms were in an upper story, usually the story immediately above the basement or ground floor. These
- Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 47 (work by Schumann)
Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 47, quartet for piano, violin, viola, and cello by Robert Schumann, written in 1842. He wrote it with the gifted pianist Clara Wieck Schumann, his wife, in mind, but he dedicated it to his patron, Count Mathieu Wielhorsky. Because Schumann tended to devote himself
- Piano Quartet in G Minor (work by Brahms)
musical criticism: Economy: …completed an orchestration of Brahms’s Piano Quartet in G Minor, Opus 25. As a young man, he had regularly participated in performances of the quartet. Time and again, he was bothered by its intermittent inaudibility: the piano tended to swamp the strings. Schoenberg’s orchestration, as he himself claimed, attempted to…
- Piano Quintet in A Major (work by Schubert)
Trout Quintet, five-movement quintet for piano and stringed instruments by Austrian composer Franz Schubert that is characterized by distinctive instrumentation and form. In the summer of 1819 Schubert visited the Austrian town of Steyr, about halfway between Vienna and Salzburg, with his friend
- piano roll (musical instrument)
player piano, a piano that mechanically plays music recorded by means, usually, of perforations on a paper roll or digital memory on a computer disc. In its original form as the Pianola, patented in 1897 by an American engineer, E.S. Votey, the player piano was a cabinet called a “piano player”
- Piano Sonata (work by Berkeley)
Sir Lennox Berkeley: …highly polished orchestral piece, and Piano Sonata (1945), which displays his subtle use of harmony. He is also known for his vocal music, much of it religious, such as the Stabat Mater (1947), written for Britten’s English Opera Group. He wrote pieces for specific performers, such as guitarist Julian Bream…
- Piano Sonata (work by Carter)
Elliott Carter: Carter’s Piano Sonata (1945–46) marked a turning point in his stylistic development; in it he used a complex texture of irregularly cross-accented counterpoint within a large-scale framework. In the Cello Sonata (1948) the principles of metric modulation were well established. In a 2002 radio interview, Carter…
- Piano Sonata in B Minor (work by Liszt)
program music: …without written program, notably the Piano Sonata in B Minor and his two piano concerti, similar types of moods are expressed in a style resembling that of the symphonic poems.
- Piano Sonata in B-flat Major (work by Beethoven)
fugue: History of the fugue: …the enormous finale of the Piano Sonata in B-flat Major, Opus 106 (1817–18; Hammerklavier); and in the Grosse Fuge in B-flat Major for string quartet, Opus 133 (1825–26; Great Fugue). In the Hammerklavier fugue Beethoven calls not only for multiple stretti (overlapping entrances; see below), melodic inversion (moving in the…
- Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 22 (work by Ginastera)
Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 22, sonata in four movements for piano and orchestra by Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera that premiered November 29, 1952, in Pittsburgh. Ginastera was commissioned by the Carnegie Institute and the Pennsylvania College for Women to write a piano sonata for the
- Piano Sonata No. 11 in A Major, K 331 (work by Mozart)
Piano Sonata No. 11 in A Major, K 331, three-movement sonata for solo piano by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, written 1781–83. It is best known for its third movement, written “in the Turkish style,” which is often heard in transcriptions for instruments other than the piano. Mozart composed about 20
- Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-Sharp, Op. 27, No. 2: Sonata quasi una fantasia (work by Beethoven)
Moonlight Sonata, solo piano work by Ludwig van Beethoven, admired particularly for its mysterious, gently arpeggiated, and seemingly improvised first movement. The piece was completed in 1801, published the following year, and premiered by the composer himself, whose hearing was still adequate but
- Piano Sonata No. 21 in B-flat Major (work by Schubert)
Franz Schubert: Last years of Franz Schubert: …C Minor, A Major, and B-flat Major, and the great String Quintet in C Major—the swan song of the Classical era in music.
- Piano Sonata No. 4 in F-sharp, Op. 30 (work by Scriabin)
Piano Sonata No. 4 in F-sharp, Op. 30, sonata for solo piano by Russian pianist and composer Aleksandr Scriabin, the fourth in a cycle of 10 sonatas considered to be heir to those of Beethoven in terms of their quality. This sonata dates from 1903, when the composer was in his early 30s. As a
- Piano Sonata No. 6 in A, Op. 82 (work by Prokofiev)
Piano Sonata No. 6 in A, Op. 82, sonata for solo piano by Sergey Prokofiev, known for its passages of electric fury alternating with flowing lyricism. It was completed in February 1940. Prokofiev began to work in 1939 on Piano Sonata No. 6—as well as what would become piano sonatas number 7 and
- Piano Sonata No. 8 in C Minor (work by Beethoven)
Pathétique Sonata, sonata for piano and orchestra by Ludwig van Beethoven, published in 1799. Unlike most of the nicknames given to Beethoven’s works, Pathétique is believed to have been picked by the composer himself to convey the romantic and even sorrowful mood of the sonata. The first movement
- Piano Suite, Opus 25 (work by Schoenberg)
Arnold Schoenberg: Evolution from tonality of Arnold Schoenberg: …just begun working on his Piano Suite, Op. 25, the first 12-tone piece.
- Piano Teacher, The (film by Haneke [2001])
Michael Haneke: …frustrations in La Pianiste (2001; The Piano Teacher), which Haneke adapted from a novel by Austrian writer Elfriede Jelinek. Both films attracted substantial praise.
- Piano Teacher, The (novel by Jelinek)
Elfriede Jelinek: …semiautobiographical novel Die Klavierspielerin (1983; The Piano Teacher, 1988) addressed issues of sexual repression; it was adapted for the screen in 2001. In her writings, Jelinek rejected the conventions of traditional literary technique in favour of linguistic and thematic experimentation.
- piano trio (music)
trio: …in the 18th century, the piano trio (piano, violin, and cello), which makes possible a fuller and more varied texture, attracted the attention of composers. Haydn wrote nearly 40 of them; Beethoven’s piano trios, from the three of Opus 1 (1794–95) through the two of Opus 70 (1808) and the…
- Piano Trio No. 7 in B-flat Major (work by Beethoven)
Archduke Trio, trio for piano, violin, and cello by Ludwig van Beethoven, which premiered on April 11, 1814, in Vienna. The premiere of the Archduke Trio was one of Beethoven’s final concert performances as a pianist, because of his increasing deafness. Dedicated to Archduke Rudolf of
- Piano, Renzo (Italian architect)
Renzo Piano is an Italian architect best known for his high-tech public spaces, particularly his design (with Richard Rogers) for the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. Born into a family of builders, Piano graduated from the Polytechnic in Milan in 1964. He worked with a variety of architects,
- Piano, The (film by Campion [1993])
Jane Campion: …and directed the internationally acclaimed The Piano (1993), for which she won an Academy Award for best original screenplay and was nominated for best director. The movie was also nominated for best picture. The 19th-century love story centers on a mute woman (played by Holly Hunter) who journeys from Scotland…
- pianoforte (musical instrument)
piano, a keyboard musical instrument having wire strings that sound when struck by felt-covered hammers operated from a keyboard. The standard modern piano contains 88 keys and has a compass of seven full octaves plus a few keys. The vibration of the strings is transmitted to a soundboard by means
- Pianola (musical instrument)
player piano, a piano that mechanically plays music recorded by means, usually, of perforations on a paper roll or digital memory on a computer disc. In its original form as the Pianola, patented in 1897 by an American engineer, E.S. Votey, the player piano was a cabinet called a “piano player”
- Pianosa Island (island, Italy)
Pianosa Island, island of the Toscany Archipelago, in the Tyrrhenian Sea, part of Tuscany regione (region), Italy. Situated 8 miles (13 km) southwest of the island of Elba, Pianosa has an area of 4 square miles (10 square km). It is, as its name (Italian piano, “flat”) indicates, low-lying, with
- pianwen (Chinese literary genre)
Han Yu: …elaborate verselike regularity of the pianwen (“parallel prose”) style that was prevalent in Han’s time. His own essays (e.g., “On the Way,” “On Man,” and “On Spirits”) are among the most beautiful ever written in Chinese, and they became the most famous models of the prose style he espoused. In…
- Piar, Manuel (Venezuelan general)
history of Latin America: Mobility and hierarchy: Men such as the mulattoes Manuel Piar in Venezuela and José Padilla in New Granada rose to the rank of general and admiral, respectively, in Bolívar’s forces. In practice, however, the old hierarchies did not fall so easily and continued on informally. Those nonwhites who managed to achieve the status…
- Piarists (Roman Catholic order)
Saint Joseph Calasanz: …the Pious Schools), popularly called Piarists. The Piarists are a religious teaching order that, in addition to the usual vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, practice a fourth vow—the special care of youth.
- Piasa bird (mythical creature)
Piasa bird, mythical monster depicted in a painting on a cliff overlooking the Mississippi River north of Alton, Illinois, U.S. The French explorer Jacques Marquette provided the earliest extant account of figures painted on the bluffs near what is today Alton, which he and Louis Jolliet saw on
- piassava (plant fibre)
brush: …most important of which are piassava obtained from a Brazilian palm and palmyra bassine derived from the palmyra palm of Africa and Sri Lanka. Such plant fibres are converted into brush material by soaking, beating, and drying. Cotton fibres also can be used for brush bristles. They are treated with…
- Piast Dynasty (Polish ruling family)
Piast Dynasty, first ruling family of Poland. According to a 12th-century legend, when Prince Popiel of Gnesen (now Gniezno) died, in the second half of the 9th century, he was succeeded by Siemowit, the son of the prince’s plowman, Piast, thus founding a dynasty that ruled the Polish lands until
- Piast Route (Poland)
Wielkopolskie: Geography: The Piast Route, a tourist track associated with the beginnings of Polish history, runs through Lednica, Gniezno, and Trzemeszno, which is one of the earliest settlements in the region and the site of Poland’s first monastery.
- piastre (African coin)
coin: North Africa: …based its currency on the piastre, with Arabic inscriptions; some gold and silver multiples were produced. Under Fuʾād I (1922–36) and Farouk I (1936–52), the royal portrait was used. The subsequent republic, with its piastres of aluminum-bronze alloy accompanied by rare silver and even rarer gold, has often chosen types…
- Piatigorsk (Russia)
Pyatigorsk, city, Stavropol kray (territory), southwestern Russia. It lies along the Podkumok River in the northern foothills of the Caucasus Mountains. It has long been a spa famous for its gentle climate and mineral springs. In 2010 it was named the capital of the newly created North Caucasus
- Piatra lui Craciun (Romania)
Piatra-Neamƫ, city, capital of Neamƫ judeƫ (county), northeastern Romania. It lies in the valley of the Bistriƫa River and is surrounded by mountains. It is first documented in the 14th century as Piatra lui Crăciun, or Camena, a market town where fairs were held. Stephen the Great of Moldavia
- Piatra-Neamƫ (Romania)
Piatra-Neamƫ, city, capital of Neamƫ judeƫ (county), northeastern Romania. It lies in the valley of the Bistriƫa River and is surrounded by mountains. It is first documented in the 14th century as Piatra lui Crăciun, or Camena, a market town where fairs were held. Stephen the Great of Moldavia
- Piatt, John (American journalist and poet)
Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt: Life and works: … along with the poems of John James Piatt, whom Sarah Morgan Bryan would marry in 1861.
- Piatt, Sarah Morgan Bryan (American poet)
Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt was an American poet whose particular blend of convention and innovation won her praise and censure during her lifetime and whose writing was rediscovered by scholars beginning in the 1980s. Sarah Morgan Bryan was born to a slave-holding family in 1836 and lived a somewhat
- Piauí (state, Brazil)
Piauí, estado (state) of northeastern Brazil, bordered on the east by the states of Ceará, Pernambuco, and Bahia, by a very small part of Tocantins on the south, by Maranhão on the west, and by the Atlantic Ocean on the north. The state capital is Teresina, located at the confluence of the Parnaíba
- Piave River (river, Italy)
Piave River, river in northeastern Italy. It rises on the slopes of Mount Peralba in the Carnic Alps near the Austrian frontier and flows southward to the Belluno basin and its gorge at Feltre, where it turns southeast to meander across the Venetian plain, reaching the Adriatic Sea at Cortellazzo,
- Piave, Francesco Maria (Italian librettist)
La traviata: …Verdi (libretto in Italian by Francesco Maria Piave) that premiered in Venice at La Fenice opera house on March 6, 1853. Based upon the 1852 play by Alexandre Dumas fils (La Dame aux camélias), the opera marked a large step forward for Verdi in his quest to express dramatic ideas…
- Piazetta, Giambattista (Italian painter)
Giovanni Battista Piazzetta was a painter, illustrator, and designer who was one of the outstanding Venetian artists of the 18th century. His art evolved from Italian Baroque traditions of the 17th century to a Rococo manner in his mature style. Piazzetta began his career in the studio of his
- piazza (Italian square)
piazza, square or marketplace in an Italian town or city. The word is cognate with the French and English “place” and Spanish “plaza,” all ultimately derived from the Greek plateia, “broad street.” The most celebrated Italian piazza is that designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini in front of St. Peter’s
- Piazza Armerina (Italy)
Piazza Armerina, town and episcopal see, central Sicily, Italy, west-southwest of Catania. Among the many historic monuments in the town are the 17th-century cathedral, with a 14th-century campanile, the Baroque palace of Trigona della Floresta, the Church of San Rocco (1613), the Civic Museum, the
- Piazza Tales, The (short stories by Melville)
short story: Analysis of the genre: …Grotesque and Arabesque, Herman Melville’s The Piazza Tales). These two terms establish the polarities of the milieu out of which the modern short story grew.
- Piazza, Mike (American baseball player)
Los Angeles Dodgers: …of such popular stars as Mike Piazza and Hideo Nomo in subsequent years, the Dodgers have not won an NL pennant since 1988; the current streak is the franchise’s longest in more than 60 years. In 2008 the Dodgers finished the major league season as one of the hottest teams…
- Piazza, The (sketch by Melville)
The Piazza, first sketch in the collection The Piazza Tales published by Herman Melville in 1856. The sketch describes Melville’s farmhouse, called Arrowhead, in Pittsfield, Mass. Supposedly, the other tales in the collection, including “Bartleby the Scrivener” and “Benito Cereno,” were narrated on
- Piazzetta, Giovanni Battista (Italian painter)
Giovanni Battista Piazzetta was a painter, illustrator, and designer who was one of the outstanding Venetian artists of the 18th century. His art evolved from Italian Baroque traditions of the 17th century to a Rococo manner in his mature style. Piazzetta began his career in the studio of his
- Piazzi, Giuseppe (Italian astronomer)
Giuseppe Piazzi was an Italian astronomer who discovered (January 1, 1801) and named the first asteroid, or “minor planet,” Ceres. Piazzi became a Theatine priest about 1764 and a professor of theology in Rome in 1779, and in 1780 he was appointed professor of higher mathematics at the Academy of
- Piazzolla, Astor (Argentine musician)
Astor Piazzolla was an Argentine musician, a virtuoso on the bandoneón (a square-built button accordion), who left traditional Latin American tango bands in 1955 to create a new tango that blended elements of jazz and classical music. He was a major Latin American composer of the 20th century. In
- Pibor (river, Africa)
Nile River: Climate and hydrology: …headstreams, the Baro and the Pibor) that enters the main stream below Al-Sudd. The annual flood of the Sobat, a consequence of the Ethiopian summer rains, is to a great extent responsible for the variations in the level of the White Nile. The rains that swell its upper valley begin…
- Pibul Songgram, Luang (premier of Thailand)
Luang Phibunsongkhram was a field marshal and premier of Thailand in 1938–44 and 1948–57, who was associated with the rise of authoritarian military governments in Thailand. He was educated at the royal military academy, and in 1914 he entered the Siamese artillery corps. In 1924–27 he took
- PIC (logic)
formal logic: Partial systems of PC: …most fully studied is the pure implicational calculus (PIC), in which the only operator is ⊃, and the wffs are precisely those wffs of PC that can be built up from variables, ⊃, and brackets alone. Formation rules 2 and 3 (see above Formation rules for PC) are therefore replaced…
- pica (eating disorder)
pica, mental health condition, a type of eating disorder, characterized by the compulsive eating of substances that are not food and that have little or no nutritional value. For many people with the condition, pica is short-term and benign, but for some people it is a lifelong condition, and it
- Pica hudsonia (bird)
magpie: The best-known species are the black-billed magpie (Pica hudsonia), a 45-cm (18-inch) black-and-white (i.e., pied) bird, with an iridescent blue-green tail, and the Eurasian magpie (P. pica), which is has similar coloration, but is slightly larger in size with a shorter tail. The geographic range of the black-billed magpie extends…
- Pica pica (bird)
magpie: …iridescent blue-green tail, and the Eurasian magpie (P. pica), which is has similar coloration, but is slightly larger in size with a shorter tail. The geographic range of the black-billed magpie extends across large parts of North America from Alaska’s Aleutian Islands south and east to the Pacific Northwest and…
- Picabia, Francis (French artist)
Francis Picabia was a French painter, illustrator, designer, writer, and editor, who was successively involved with the art movements Cubism, Dada, and Surrealism. Picabia was the son of a Cuban diplomat father and a French mother. After studying at the École des Arts Décoratifs (1895–97), he
- picador (bullfighting)
bullfighting: Performers: …mounted bullfighters), consist of the picadors, the mounted assistants with pike poles who lance the bull in the bullfight’s first act; the banderilleros, the assistants on foot who execute the initial capework and place the barbed darts (banderillas) into the bull in the second act; and of course the matadors,…
- PICALM (gene)
Alzheimer disease: Genetic variants: …protein of the same name; PICALM, which encodes a protein involved in endocytosis (the cellular uptake of substances); and CD2AP, which encodes a protein that interacts with the cell membrane and may have a role in endocytosis.
- Picard’s theorem (mathematics)
Émile Borel: …discovered the elementary proof of Picard’s theorem (see Charles-Émile Picard). This sensational accomplishment set the stage for his formulation of a theory of entire functions and the distribution of their values, a topic that dominated the theory of complex functions for the next 30 years.
- Picard, Barbara Leonie (British author)
children’s literature: Historical fiction: …representatives were Cynthia Harnett, Serraillier, Barbara Leonie Picard, Ronald Welch (pseudonym of Ronald O. Felton), C. Walter Hodges, Hester Burton, Mary Ray, Naomi Mitchison, and K.M. Peyton, whose “Flambards” series is a kind of Edwardian historical family chronicle. Leon Garfield, though not working with historical characters, created strange picaresque tales…
- Picard, Charles-Émile (French mathematician)
Charles-Émile Picard was a French mathematician whose theories did much to advance research in analysis, algebraic geometry, and mechanics. Picard became a lecturer at the University of Paris in 1878 and a professor at the University of Toulouse the following year. From 1881 to 1898 he held various
- Picard, Émile (French mathematician)
Charles-Émile Picard was a French mathematician whose theories did much to advance research in analysis, algebraic geometry, and mechanics. Picard became a lecturer at the University of Paris in 1878 and a professor at the University of Toulouse the following year. From 1881 to 1898 he held various
- Picard, H. F. K. (English metallurgist)
Henry Livingstone Sulman: Picard as metallurgical consultants in London. Sulman was the inventor or co-inventor of several processes for the extraction of gold, including treatment with cyanogen bromide, before introducing, in conjunction with Picard, the froth flotation process.
- Picard, Jean (French astronomer)
Jean Picard was a French astronomer who first accurately measured the length of a degree of a meridian (longitude line) and from that computed the size of the Earth. Picard became professor of astronomy at the Collège de France, Paris, in 1655. His measurement of the Earth was used by Sir Isaac
- Picardie (historical region, France)
Picardy, historical region and former région of France. As a région, it encompassed the northern départements of Oise, Somme, and Aisne. In 2016 Picardy was joined with the région of Nord–Pas-de-Calais to form the new administrative entity of Hauts-de-France. The region belongs to the Paris Basin
- Picardy (historical region, France)
Picardy, historical region and former région of France. As a région, it encompassed the northern départements of Oise, Somme, and Aisne. In 2016 Picardy was joined with the région of Nord–Pas-de-Calais to form the new administrative entity of Hauts-de-France. The region belongs to the Paris Basin
- Picardy sweat (disease)
sweating sickness: …have been those of the Picardy sweat, which occurred frequently in France between 1718 and 1861. In that illness, however, there was invariably a rash lasting for about a week, and the mortality rate was lower.
- Picaresque (album by The Decemberists)
The Decemberists: Their third full-length record, Picaresque (2005), featured a wide-ranging set of songs that tell the stories of a diverse cast of characters, including a widowed peddler, spies who tragically fall in love, a pair of homeless runaways, and two men trapped inside the belly of a whale. The last…
- picaresque novel (literature)
picaresque novel, early form of novel, usually a first-person narrative, relating the adventures of a rogue or lowborn adventurer (Spanish pícaro) as he drifts from place to place and from one social milieu to another in his effort to survive. In its episodic structure the picaresque novel
- Picasso and the French Tradition (work by Uhde)
Wilhelm Uhde: …et la tradition franƈaise (1926; Picasso and the French Tradition), in which he described the works of Picasso’s Cubist period in terms of their “Gothic” attributes of “piling up magnificent arrangements of vertical lines,” thereby casting them as a “complementary antithesis” to the predominantly “Latinate” tradition of French painting, which…
- Picasso at the Lapin Agile (play by Martin)
Steve Martin: …writing endeavours included the plays Picasso at the Lapin Agile, which premiered at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre in 1993 before moving to other cities, and Meteor Shower, a comedy that ran on Broadway in 2017–18 and starred Amy Schumer. He also wrote a series of well-received satiric articles for The New…
- Picasso et la tradition française (work by Uhde)
Wilhelm Uhde: …et la tradition franƈaise (1926; Picasso and the French Tradition), in which he described the works of Picasso’s Cubist period in terms of their “Gothic” attributes of “piling up magnificent arrangements of vertical lines,” thereby casting them as a “complementary antithesis” to the predominantly “Latinate” tradition of French painting, which…
- Picasso Museum (museum, Paris, France)
Picasso Museum, museum in Paris dedicated to showcasing the paintings, drawings, engravings, and sculptures of the Spanish-born artist Pablo Picasso. The Picasso Museum opened in Paris in 1985 with a total of 228 paintings, 149 sculptures, and nearly 3,100 drawings and engravings. The artwork was
- Picasso, Pablo (Spanish artist)
Pablo Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer. He was one of the greatest and most-influential artists of the 20th century and the creator (with Georges Braque) of Cubism. (For more information on Picasso’s name see Researcher’s Note: Picasso’s
- Picasso, Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno Crispín Crispiniano María Remedios de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz (Spanish artist)
Pablo Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer. He was one of the greatest and most-influential artists of the 20th century and the creator (with Georges Braque) of Cubism. (For more information on Picasso’s name see Researcher’s Note: Picasso’s
- Picasso, Pablo Ruiz (Spanish artist)
Pablo Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer. He was one of the greatest and most-influential artists of the 20th century and the creator (with Georges Braque) of Cubism. (For more information on Picasso’s name see Researcher’s Note: Picasso’s
- Picathartes (bird)
rockfowl, either of the two species of western African birds, genus Picathartes, constituting the subfamily Picathartinae, of uncertain family relationships in the order Passeriformes. Both species, with virtually no feathering on the head, have drab, grayish plumage and are thin-necked,
- Piccadilly Circus (area, London, United Kingdom)
Piccadilly Circus, busy London intersection and popular meeting place. Lying between the neighbourhoods of St. James (south) and Soho (north) in the borough of Westminster, it serves as the nexus of Coventry Street, Shaftesbury Avenue, Regent Street, and Piccadilly. The crossroads was formed in