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Francis Marion Crawford
Francis Marion Crawford (August 2, 1854 – April 9, 1909) was an American writer noted for his many novels, especially those set in Italy, and for his classic weird and fantastical stories. Early life Crawford was born in Bagni di Lucca, in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, on August 2, 1854. He was the only son of the American sculptor Thomas Crawford (sculptor), Thomas Crawford and Louisa Cutler Ward. His sister was the writer Mary Crawford Fraser (''aka'' Mrs. Hugh Fraser (diplomat), Hugh Fraser), and he was the nephew of Julia Ward Howe, the American poet. After his father's death in 1857, his mother remarried to Luther Terry, with whom she had Crawford's half-sister, Margaret Terry Chanler, Margaret Ward Terry, who later became the wife of Winthrop Astor Chanler. He studied successively at St. Paul's School (Concord, New Hampshire), St Paul's School, Concord, New Hampshire; Cambridge University; University of Heidelberg; and the Sapienza University of Rome, University of Rome ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bagni Di Lucca
Bagni di Lucca (formerly Bagno a Corsena) is a comune of Tuscany, Italy, in the Province of Lucca with a population of about 6,100. The comune has 27 named frazioni (wards). History Bagni di Lucca has been known for its thermal springs since the Etruscan civilization, Etruscan and Ancient Rome, Roman ages. The place was noted for the first time in an official document of 983 AD as "Corsena", with reference to a donation by the Bishop Teudogrimo of the territory of Bagni di Lucca to Fraolmo of Corvaresi. The area is rich in chestnut forests, as mentioned by the Roman poet Virgil. Some of the earliest accounts of occupation were by the Lombards. Their leader Alboin occupied the whole Serchio Valley for many years, building guard towers that were later converted to churches. One of them is Pieve di Controne. Between the 10th and 11th centuries, the village became a feudal property of the Suffredinghi, then the Porcareschi, and later the Lupari families. In the 12th century, the com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Critic
''The Critic'' is an American Adult animation, adult animated sitcom revolving around the life of New York film critic Jay Sherman, voiced by Jon Lovitz. It was created by writing partners Al Jean and Mike Reiss, who had previously worked as writers and showrunners on the third and fourth seasons of ''The Simpsons''. Twenty-three episodes of ''The Critic'' were produced. The show was first broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC in 1994 and finished its original run on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox in 1995. Episodes featured film parodies with notable examples including a musical version of ''Apocalypse Now''; ''Howard Stern, Howard Stern's End'' (''Howards End (film), Howards End''); ''Honey, I Ate the Kids'' (''Honey, I Shrunk the Kids/The Silence of the Lambs (film), The Silence of the Lambs''); ''The Cockroach King'' (''The Lion King''); ''Abe Lincoln: Pet Detective'' (''Ace Ventura: Pet Detective''); and ''Scent of a Jackass'' and ''Scent of a Wolfman'' (''Scent o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genie
GEnie (General Electric Network for Information Exchange) was an online service provider, online service created by a General Electric business, GEIS (now GXS Inc., GXS), that ran from 1985 through the end of 1999. In 1994, GEnie claimed around 350,000 users. Peak simultaneous usage was around 10,000 users. It was one of the pioneering services in the field, though eventually replaced by the World Wide Web and graphics-based services, most notably AOL. Early history GEnie was founded by Bill Louden on October 1, 1985 and was launched as an ASCII text-based service by GE's Information Services division in October 1985, and received attention as the first serious commercial competition to CompuServe. Louden was originally CompuServe's product manager for Computing, Community (forums), Games, eCommerce, and email product lines. Louden purchased DECWAR source code and had ''MegaWars'' developed, one of the earliest multi-player online games (or MMOG), in 1985. The service was ru ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Tale Of Arabia
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient Greek letter alpha, from which it derives. The uppercase version consists of the two slanting sides of a triangle, crossed in the middle by a horizontal bar. The lowercase version is often written in one of two forms: the double-storey and single-storey . The latter is commonly used in handwriting and fonts based on it, especially fonts intended to be read by children, and is also found in italic type. In English, '' a'' is the indefinite article, with the alternative form ''an''. Name In English, the name of the letter is the ''long A'' sound, pronounced . Its name in most other languages matches the letter's pronunciation in open syllables. History The earliest known ancestor of A is ''aleph''—the first letter of the Phoenician ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seal Of The Confessional And The Catholic Church
In the Catholic Church, the Seal of Confession (also known as the Seal of the Confessional or the Sacramental Seal) is the absolute duty of priests or anyone who happens to hear a confession not to disclose anything that they learn from penitents during the course of the Sacrament of Penance (confession). Even where the seal of confession does not strictly apply – where there is no specific serious sin confessed for the purpose of receiving absolution – priests have a serious obligation not to cause scandal by the way they speak. History Ecumenical councils Canon 21 of the Fourth Council of the Lateran (1215), binding on the whole church, laid down the obligation of secrecy in the following words: Gratian, who compiled the edicts of previous Catholic Ecumenical Councils and the principles of church law, published the about 1151. It includes the following declaration of the law as to the seal of confession: "Let the priest who dares to make known the sins of his penitent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sicilian Mafia
The Sicilian Mafia or Cosa Nostra (, ; "our thing"), also referred to as simply Mafia, is a secret society, criminal society and criminal organization originating on the island of Sicily and dates back to the mid-19th century. Emerging as a form of local protection and control over land and agriculture, the Mafia gradually evolved into a powerful criminal network. By the mid-20th century, it had infiltrated politics, construction, and finance, later expanding into drug trafficking, money laundering, and other crimes. At its core, the Mafia engages in protection racketeering, arbitrating disputes between criminals, and organizing and overseeing illegal agreements and transactions. The basic group is known as a "Crime family, family", "clan", or ''cosca''. Each family claims sovereignty over a territory, usually a town, village or neighborhood (''borgata'') of a larger city, in which it operates its Racketeering, rackets. Its members call themselves "Made man, men of honour", although ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saracinesca
''Saracinesca'' is a novel by F. Marion Crawford, first published as a serial in '' Blackwood's Magazine'' and then as a book in New York ('' Macmillan'') and Edinburgh (''Blackwood'') in 1887. Set chiefly in Rome of twenty years earlier, the novel paints a rich picture of the period, detailing the spiritual and economic problems of the aristocracy at a time when its influence and status were under attack from the emerging forces of modernity. This romance tells the tale of Giovanni Saracinesca and his courting of Corona d'Astradente, complete with intrigue and sword fights (Crawford was an expert fencer). It can be categorized as a work of historical fiction in that it relates a time when the author was only a child, and also in the sense that the particulars of that time and place are carefully delineated. In a sense, Crawford had been researching for this book all his life: his parents had witnessed the brief 1848 revolution, and his cousin, in her memoirs of Crawford, insist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Gissing
George Robert Gissing ( ; 22 November 1857 – 28 December 1903) was an English novelist, who published 23 novels between 1880 and 1903. In the 1890s he was considered one of the three greatest novelists in England, and by the 1940s he had been recognised as a literary genius. Gissing's best-known works have reappeared in modern editions. They include ''The Nether World'' (1889), ''New Grub Street'' (1891) and ''The Odd Women'' (1893). He retains a small but devoted group of followers. Biography Early life Gissing was born on 22 November 1857 in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, the eldest of five children of Thomas Waller Gissing, who ran a chemist's shop, and Margaret (née Bedford). His siblings were: William, who died aged twenty; Algernon Gissing, Algernon, who became a writer; Margaret; and Ellen.Pierre Coustillas,Gissing, George Robert (1857–1903) (), ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', online), Oxford University Press, 2004. Accessed 17 June 2012. His childhood home i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Francis Marion Crawford
Francis Marion Crawford (August 2, 1854 – April 9, 1909) was an American writer noted for his many novels, especially those set in Italy, and for his classic weird and fantastical stories. Early life Crawford was born in Bagni di Lucca, in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, on August 2, 1854. He was the only son of the American sculptor Thomas Crawford (sculptor), Thomas Crawford and Louisa Cutler Ward. His sister was the writer Mary Crawford Fraser (''aka'' Mrs. Hugh Fraser (diplomat), Hugh Fraser), and he was the nephew of Julia Ward Howe, the American poet. After his father's death in 1857, his mother remarried to Luther Terry, with whom she had Crawford's half-sister, Margaret Terry Chanler, Margaret Ward Terry, who later became the wife of Winthrop Astor Chanler. He studied successively at St. Paul's School (Concord, New Hampshire), St Paul's School, Concord, New Hampshire; Cambridge University; University of Heidelberg; and the Sapienza University of Rome, University of Rome ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Macmillan Company
Macmillan Inc. (also known as Macmillan US, and formerly The Macmillan Company) was an American book publishing company originally established as the American division of the British Macmillan Publishers. The two were later separated and acquired by other companies, with the remnants of the original American division of Macmillan present in McGraw-Hill Education's Macmillan/McGraw-Hill textbooks, Gale's Macmillan Reference USA division, and some trade imprints of Simon & Schuster ( Scribner, Free Press, and Atheneum Books) that were transferred when both companies were owned by Paramount Communications. The German publisher Holtzbrinck, which bought the British Macmillan in 1999, purchased American rights to the Macmillan name in 2001 and rebranded its American division with it in 2007. Company history Brett family George Edward Brett opened the first Macmillan office in the United States in 1869. Macmillan sold its U.S. operations to the Brett family, George Platt Bre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boston Symphony Orchestra
The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five (orchestras), Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in 1881, the BSO performs most of its concerts at Boston's Symphony Hall, Boston, Symphony Hall and in the summer performs at Tanglewood. Since its founding, the orchestra has had 17 music directors, including George Henschel, Serge Koussevitzky, Henri Rabaud, Pierre Monteux, Charles Munch (conductor), Charles Munch, Erich Leinsdorf, William Steinberg and James Levine. Andris Nelsons is the current music director of the BSO. Seiji Ozawa had held the title of BSO music director laureate. Bernard Haitink had held the title of principal guest conductor of the BSO from 1995 to 2004, then conductor emeritus until his death in 2021. The orchestra has made gramophone recordings since 1917 and has occasionally played on soundtrack recordings for fil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Henschel
Sir Isidor George Henschel (18 February 185010 September 1934) was a German-born British baritone, pianist, conductor, composer and academic teacher. First trained as a pianist, he was a concert singer who sometimes sang to his own accompaniment. He was a close friend of Johannes Brahms. His first wife Lillian was also a singer. He was the first conductor of both the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. He taught at the Institute of Musical Art in New York City. Biography Georg Isidor Henschel was born at Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland) and educated as a pianist, making his first public appearance in Berlin in 1862. He subsequently took up singing, initially and briefly as a ''bass'' but developing a fine baritone voice. In 1868, he sang the role of Hans Sachs in a concert performance of Wagner's '' Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg'' at Munich. With one minor and unplanned exception, he never sang on stage, confining himself to concert appe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
