Maria

Edgeworth, Maria, 1767-1849, Irish novelist; daughter of Richard Lovell Edgeworth. She lived practically her entire life on her father's estate in Ireland. Letters for Literary Ladies (1795), her first publication, argued for the education of women. She is best known for her novels of Irish life—Castle Rackrent (1800), Belinda (1801), and The Absentee (1812). Although her works are marred somewhat by didacticism, they are notable for their realism, humor, and freshness of style. She also wrote a number of stories for children, including Moral Tales (1801).

Deraismes, Maria, 1828-94, French feminist. She was a founder (1869) of the first French society dedicated to improving conditions and securing greater educational advantages for women. Her complete writings were published in 1895.

Jeritza, Maria, 1887-1982, Austrian-American soprano. b. Brünn (now Brno). After her debut as Elsa in Lohengrin at Olmütz (now Olomouc) in 1910, she was a member (1912-35) of the Vienna State Opera. She created the title role in the opera Ariadne by Richard Strauss. Jeritza sang (1921-32) at the Metropolitan Opera, New York City, where her Tosca was renowned.

Taglioni, Maria, 1804-84, Italian ballerina, b. Stockholm. Taglioni is considered the first and foremost ballerina of the romantic period. She made her debut in Vienna in 1822 in a ballet created for her by her father, the Italian choreographer Filippo Taglioni. Although she danced with the Paris Opéra from 1827, she did not achieve success until 1832, when she interpreted the title role of her father's new work, La Sylphide, which all Europe acclaimed. Taglioni's ethereal style and high elevations and leaps greatly influenced the development of ballet. She danced with the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatre from 1837 through 1839. Having retired in 1848, she was forced by bankruptcy to teach dance in Paris and London in her last years.

Tallchief, Maria, 1925-, American ballerina, b. Fairfax, Okla. Tallchief, of Osage descent, was trained both as a pianist and as a dancer. Deciding on a career in ballet, she studied under Bronislava Nijinska, Ernest Belcher, and George Balanchine, whom she later married. She performed with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo from 1942 to 1947, when she joined the Ballet Society (later the New York City Ballet). Through 18 years as that company's prima ballerina and through her tours and television appearances with the American Ballet Theatre and other companies in the 1960s, Tallchief contributed greatly to the fame and prestige of American ballet.

Her younger sister, Marjorie Tallchief, 1927-, b. Denver Colo., was première danseuse with the Paris Opéra Ballet from 1957 to 1962. She also performed with many other companies, retiring in 1966.

Montessori, Maria, 1870-1952, Italian educator and physician. She was the originator of the Montessori method of education for young children and was the first woman to receive (1894) a medical degree in Italy.

After working with subnormal children as a psychiatrist at the Univ. of Rome, Dr. Montessori was appointed (1898) director of the Orthophrenic School. There she pioneered in the instruction of retarded children, especially through the use of an environment rich in manipulative materials. In 1901 she left the school to embark on further study and to serve (1901-7) as lecturer in pedagogical anthropology at the Univ. of Rome. The success of her program at the Orthophrenic School, however, led her to believe that similar improvements could be made in the education of normal preschool children, and in 1907 she opened the first case dei bambini [children's house] as a day-care center in the San Lorenzo district of Rome. The success of this venture led Montessori and her followers to establish similar institutions in other parts of Europe and in the United States, where the first Montessori school was established (1912) in Tarrytown, N.Y.

In 1929 the Association Montessori Internationale was established to further the Montessori method by sponsoring conventions and training courses for teachers. By this time, however, interest in Montessori education had declined in a number of countries, especially the United States, mainly because of opposition from those who felt that the method was destructive of school discipline. The Montessori method experienced a renaissance in many American schools during the late 1950s, and in 1960 the American Montessori Society was formed.

The Montessori Method

The chief components of the Montessori method are self-motivation and autoeducation. Followers of the Montessori method believe that a child will learn naturally if put in an environment containing the proper materials. These materials, consisting of "learning games" suited to a child's abilities and interests, are set up by a teacher-observer who intervenes only when individual help is needed. In this way, Montessori educators try to reverse the traditional system of an active teacher instructing a passive class. The typical classroom in a Montessori school consists of readily available games and toys, household utensils, plants and animals that are cared for by the children, and child-sized furniture—the invention of which is generally attributed to Dr. Montessori. Montessori educators also stress physical exercise, in accordance with their belief that motor abilities should be developed along with sensory and intellectual capacities. The major outlines of the Montessori system are based on Dr. Montessori's writings, which include The Montessori Method (1912), Pedagogical Anthropology (1913), The Advanced Montessori Method (2 vol., 1917), and The Secret of Childhood (1936).

Goeppert-Mayer, Maria, 1906-72, German-American nuclear physicist, Ph.D. Univ. of Göttingen, 1930. She was a researcher at Johns Hopkins (1931-39), Columbia (1939-46), Argonne National Laboratory (1946-60), and the Univ. of California, San Diego (1960-72). Goeppert-Mayer shared the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physics with Eugene Wigner and Hans Jensen. She and Jensen were cited for their discoveries concerning nuclear shell structure. Working independently, and later collaboratively, the two explained the stability of certain isotopes as a result of the arrangement of the protons and neutrons in the nucleus.

maria: see moon.

Mitchell, Maria, 1818-89, American astronomer and educator, b. Nantucket, Mass. Mitchell taught school in Nantucket, and later became a librarian. On Oct. 1, 1847, Mitchell discovered a comet (1847 VI) not far from Polaris. She was the first woman to be elected (1848) to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1857 a group of Boston area women presented her with a 5-in. Alvan Clark refractor, with which she expanded her studies of sunspots, planets, and nebulae. By taking daily photographs of the sun, she made many discoveries about the nature of sunspots. In 1865 Mitchell became professor of astronomy at Vassar College and taught several distinguished women astronomers. After her death her students continued to visit her birthplace in Nantucket; it is preserved as the Mitchell House. The Maria Mitchell Observatory was built next door, and in 1912 Harvard established a research program there. In 1913 a 7.5-in. (19.1 cm) photographic refractor was added. The Observatory has an archive of over 8,000 photographs of variable star fields, and offers a summer program for young people about to enter college.

Any flat, low, dark plain on the Moon. Maria are huge impact basins containing lava flows marked by ridges, depressions (graben), and faults; though mare means “sea” in Latin, they lack water. The best-known is probably Mare Tranquillitatis (“Sea of Tranquillity”), the site of the Apollo 11 manned Moon landing. Most of the approximately 20 major maria are on the side of the Moon that always faces Earth; they are its largest surface features and can be seen from Earth with the unaided eye. The dark features of the “man in the moon” are maria.

Learn more about mare with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born April 25, 1873, Charlton, Kent, Eng.—died June 22, 1956, Twickenham, Middlesex) British poet and novelist. De la Mare was of French Huguenot descent. He was educated in London and worked for the Standard Oil Co. (1890–1908) before turning to writing, initially under the pseudonym Walter Ramal. He wrote for both adults and children. His collection Come Hither (1923) was especially highly praised. Memoirs of a Midget (1921) was his best-known novel. His Collected Stories for Children appeared in 1947.

Learn more about de la Mare, Walter (John) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born April 25, 1873, Charlton, Kent, Eng.—died June 22, 1956, Twickenham, Middlesex) British poet and novelist. De la Mare was of French Huguenot descent. He was educated in London and worked for the Standard Oil Co. (1890–1908) before turning to writing, initially under the pseudonym Walter Ramal. He wrote for both adults and children. His collection Come Hither (1923) was especially highly praised. Memoirs of a Midget (1921) was his best-known novel. His Collected Stories for Children appeared in 1947.

Learn more about de la Mare, Walter (John) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Aug. 31, 1880, The Hague, Neth.—died Nov. 28, 1962, Het Loo, near Apeldoorn) Queen of The Netherlands (1890–1948). Daughter of King William III, she became queen on his death, under her mother's regency until 1898, and soon gained wide popular approval. She helped maintain her country's neutrality in World War I. After Germany invaded The Netherlands in 1940, she left with her family for London. Throughout World War II she made radio broadcasts to maintain the morale of the Dutch people, becoming a symbol of Dutch resistance to the German occupation. In 1948 she abdicated in favour of her daughter, Juliana.

Learn more about Wilhelmina (Helena Pauline Maria) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Jan. 24, 1925, Fairfax, Okla., U.S.) U.S. ballet dancer of Native American descent. Tallchief studied with Bronislava Nijinska before joining the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo (1942–47). She joined the New York City Ballet in 1948 and became its prima ballerina, creating leading roles in many ballets choreographed for her by George Balanchine (her husband from 1946 to 1952), including Symphonie concertante (1947), Caracole (1952), and Pas de dix (1955). She left the company in 1965, became artistic director of the Lyric Opera Ballet in Chicago, and founded the Chicago City Ballet in 1980.

Learn more about Tallchief, Maria with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. René Maria Rilke

(born Dec. 4, 1875, Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary—died Dec. 29, 1926, Valmont, Switz.) Austro-German poet. After an unhappy childhood and an ill-planned preparatory education, Rilke began a life of wandering that took him across Europe. His visits to Russia inspired his first serious work, the long poem cycle The Book of Hours (1905). For 12 years beginning in 1902 his geographic centre was Paris, where he researched a book on Auguste Rodin, associated with the great sculptor, and developed a new style of lyrical poetry that attempted to capture the plastic essence of a physical object; the results were New Poems (1907–08) and its prose counterpart, the novel The Notebook of Malte Laurids Brigge (1910). After 13 years of writing very little because of writer's block and depression, in 1922 he finally completed the 10 poems of the Duino Elegies (1923), a profound meditation on the paradoxes of human existence and one of the century's poetic masterpieces. Unexpectedly and with astonishing speed, he then composed Sonnets to Orpheus (1923), a superb 55-poem cycle inspired by the death of a young girl, which continues the Elegies' meditations on death, transcendence, and poetry. The two works brought him international fame.

Learn more about Rilke, Rainer Maria with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Erich Paul Kramer

(born June 22, 1898, Osnabrück, Ger.—died Sept. 25, 1970, Locarno, Switz.) German-born U.S.-Swiss novelist. Drafted into the German army at age 18, he served in World War I and was wounded several times. He is chiefly remembered for All Quiet on the Western Front (1929), a brutally realistic account of the daily routine of ordinary soldiers and perhaps the best-known and most representative novel about that war. He moved to the U.S. in 1939 and became a U.S. citizen but settled in Switzerland after World War II. His other works include The Road Back (1931), Arc de Triomphe (1946; film, 1948), and The Black Obelisk (1956).

Learn more about Remarque, Erich Maria with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. René Maria Rilke

(born Dec. 4, 1875, Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary—died Dec. 29, 1926, Valmont, Switz.) Austro-German poet. After an unhappy childhood and an ill-planned preparatory education, Rilke began a life of wandering that took him across Europe. His visits to Russia inspired his first serious work, the long poem cycle The Book of Hours (1905). For 12 years beginning in 1902 his geographic centre was Paris, where he researched a book on Auguste Rodin, associated with the great sculptor, and developed a new style of lyrical poetry that attempted to capture the plastic essence of a physical object; the results were New Poems (1907–08) and its prose counterpart, the novel The Notebook of Malte Laurids Brigge (1910). After 13 years of writing very little because of writer's block and depression, in 1922 he finally completed the 10 poems of the Duino Elegies (1923), a profound meditation on the paradoxes of human existence and one of the century's poetic masterpieces. Unexpectedly and with astonishing speed, he then composed Sonnets to Orpheus (1923), a superb 55-poem cycle inspired by the death of a young girl, which continues the Elegies' meditations on death, transcendence, and poetry. The two works brought him international fame.

Learn more about Rilke, Rainer Maria with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Dec. 22, 1858, Lucca, Tuscany—died Nov. 29, 1924, Brussels, Belg.) Italian composer. Born into a family of organists and choirmasters, he was inspired to write operas after hearing Giuseppe Verdi's Aïda in 1876. At the Milan Conservatory he studied with Amilcare Ponchielli (1834–86). Puccini entered his first opera, Le villi (1883), in a competition; though it lost, a group of his friends subsidized its production, and its premiere took place with immense success. His second, Edgar (1889), was a failure, but Manon Lescaut (1893) brought him international recognition. His mature operas included La Bohème (1896), Tosca (1900), Madam Butterfly (1904), and The Girl of the Golden West (1910). All four are tragic love stories; his use of the orchestra was refined, and he established a dramatic structure that balanced action and conflict with moments of repose, contemplation, and lyricism. They remained exceedingly popular into the 21st century. He was the most popular opera composer in the world at the time of his death; his unfinished Turandot was completed by Franco Alfano (1875–1954).

Learn more about Puccini, Giacomo (Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Aug. 31, 1870, Chiaravalle, near Ancona, Italy—died May 6, 1952, Noordwijk aan Zee, Neth.) Italian educator. Montessori took a degree in medicine (1894) and worked in a clinic for retarded children before going on to teach at the University of Rome. In 1907 she opened her first children's school, and for the next 40 years she traveled throughout Europe, India, and the U.S., lecturing, writing, and setting up Montessori schools. Today there are hundreds of such schools in the U.S. and Canada alone; their principal focus is on preschool education, but some provide elementary education to grade 6. The Montessori system is based on belief in children's creative potential, their drive to learn, and their right to be treated as individuals. It relies on the use of “didactic apparatuses” to cultivate hand-eye coordination, self-directedness, and sensitivity to premathematical and preliterary instruction.

Learn more about Montessori, Maria with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Maria Weston

(born July 25, 1806, Weymouth, Mass., U.S.—died July 12, 1885, Weymouth) U.S. abolitionist. She was principal of the Young Ladies' High School in Boston from 1828 to 1830, when she married Henry Chapman, a Boston merchant. In 1832, with 12 other women, she founded the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society. Later she became chief assistant to William Lloyd Garrison, helping him to run the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society and to edit The Liberator, a widely circulated abolitionist publication. In 1839 she published a pamphlet arguing that the divisions among abolitionists stemmed from their disagreements over women's rights.

Learn more about Chapman, Maria Weston with a free trial on Britannica.com.

German Maria Theresia

(born May 13, 1717, Vienna, Austria—died Nov. 29, 1780, Vienna) Archduchess of Austria and queen of Hungary and Bohemia (1740–80). She was the eldest daughter of Emperor Charles VI, who promulgated the Pragmatic Sanction to allow her to succeed to the Habsburg domains. Opposition to her succession led in 1740 to the War of the Austrian Succession. After Emperor Charles VII died (1745), she obtained the imperial crown for her husband, who became Francis I. She helped initiate financial and educational reforms, promoted commerce and the development of agriculture, and reorganized the army, all of which strengthened Austria's resources. Continued conflict with Prussia led to the Seven Years' War and later to the War of the Bavarian Succession. After her husband's death (1765), her son became emperor as Joseph II. She criticized many of his actions but agreed to the partition of Poland (1772). A key figure in the power politics of 18th-century Europe, Maria Theresa brought unity to the Habsburg monarchy and was considered one of its most capable rulers. Her 16 children also included Marie-Antoinette and Leopold II.

Learn more about Maria Theresa with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Jan. 24, 1925, Fairfax, Okla., U.S.) U.S. ballet dancer of Native American descent. Tallchief studied with Bronislava Nijinska before joining the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo (1942–47). She joined the New York City Ballet in 1948 and became its prima ballerina, creating leading roles in many ballets choreographed for her by George Balanchine (her husband from 1946 to 1952), including Symphonie concertante (1947), Caracole (1952), and Pas de dix (1955). She left the company in 1965, became artistic director of the Lyric Opera Ballet in Chicago, and founded the Chicago City Ballet in 1980.

Learn more about Tallchief, Maria with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Aug. 31, 1870, Chiaravalle, near Ancona, Italy—died May 6, 1952, Noordwijk aan Zee, Neth.) Italian educator. Montessori took a degree in medicine (1894) and worked in a clinic for retarded children before going on to teach at the University of Rome. In 1907 she opened her first children's school, and for the next 40 years she traveled throughout Europe, India, and the U.S., lecturing, writing, and setting up Montessori schools. Today there are hundreds of such schools in the U.S. and Canada alone; their principal focus is on preschool education, but some provide elementary education to grade 6. The Montessori system is based on belief in children's creative potential, their drive to learn, and their right to be treated as individuals. It relies on the use of “didactic apparatuses” to cultivate hand-eye coordination, self-directedness, and sensitivity to premathematical and preliterary instruction.

Learn more about Montessori, Maria with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Jan. 1, 1767, Blackbourton, Oxfordshire, Eng.—died May 22, 1849, Edgeworthstown, Ire.) British-Irish writer. From age 15 she assisted her father in managing his estate, gaining a knowledge of rural economy and the Irish peasantry. Her early children's stories, published as The Parent's Assistant (1796), feature the first convincing child characters since Shakespeare. Castle Rackrent (1800), her first novel, revealed her gift for social observation and authentic dialogue. Other notable works are Belinda (1801); Tales of Fashionable Life (1809–12), a six-volume work including the novel The Absentee, which focused attention on abuses by absentee English landowners; Patronage (1814); and Ormond (1817).

Learn more about Edgeworth, Maria with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born June 21, 1839, Rio de Janeiro, Braz.—died Sept. 29, 1908, Rio de Janeiro) Brazilian poet, novelist, and short-story writer. Machado began to write in his spare time while working as a printer's apprentice. By 1869 he was a successful man of letters. His witty, pessimistic works, rooted in European cultural traditions, include the eccentric first-person narrative Epitaph of a Small Winner (1881) and the novels Philosopher or Dog? (1891) and Dom Casmurro (1899), the latter his masterpiece. Considered the classic master of Brazilian literature, he became the first president of the Brazilian Academy of Letters in 1896.

Learn more about Machado de Assis, Joaquim Maria with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Lydia Maria Francis

(born Feb. 11, 1802, Medford, Mass., U.S.—died Oct. 20, 1880, Wayland) U.S. abolitionist and author. She was raised in an abolitionist family and was greatly influenced by her brother, a Unitarian clergyman. She wrote historical novels and published a popular manual, The Frugal Housewife (1829). After meeting William Lloyd Garrison in 1831, she became active in abolitionist work. Her Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called Africans (1833) was widely read and induced many to join the abolitionist cause. From 1841 to 1843 she edited the National Anti-Slavery Standard. Her home was a stage on the Underground Railroad.

Learn more about Child, Lydia Maria with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Sept. 14, 1760, Florence—died March 15, 1842, Paris, France) Italian-French composer. Born into a musical family, the precocious youth had written dozens of works before he was 20 years old. In 1786 he settled permanently in Paris. He enjoyed operatic successes in the 1790s, and Napoleon expressed his particular admiration. He became co-superintendent of the royal chapel in 1816 and in 1822 director of the Paris Conservatoire, where he would remain the rest of his life. Ludwig van Beethoven called Cherubini his greatest contemporary. His counterpoint text (1835) was used widely for a century. Of his nearly 40 operas, the most popular were Lodoïska (1791), Médée (1797), and Les Deux Journées (1800). His other important works include a symphony (1815), six string quartets, requiems in C minor and D minor (1816, 1836), and nine surviving masses.

Learn more about Cherubini, Luigi (Carlo Zanobi Salvadore Maria) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Oct. 30, 1741, Chur, Switz.—died Nov. 5, 1807, Rome, Papal States) Swiss-born Italian painter. She began studying art in Italy as a child, showing great precocity, and in 1766 her friend Joshua Reynolds took her to London. There she became known for her decorative work with architects such as Robert Adam. Her pastoral compositions incorporate delicate and graceful depictions of gods and goddesses; though her paintings are Rococo in tone and approach, her figures are Neoclassical (see Classicism and Neoclassicism). Her portraits of female sitters are among her finest works. After marrying the painter Antonio Zucchi (1726–95), she returned to Italy in 1781.

Learn more about Kauffmann, (Maria Anna) Angelica (Catharina) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born June 21, 1839, Rio de Janeiro, Braz.—died Sept. 29, 1908, Rio de Janeiro) Brazilian poet, novelist, and short-story writer. Machado began to write in his spare time while working as a printer's apprentice. By 1869 he was a successful man of letters. His witty, pessimistic works, rooted in European cultural traditions, include the eccentric first-person narrative Epitaph of a Small Winner (1881) and the novels Philosopher or Dog? (1891) and Dom Casmurro (1899), the latter his masterpiece. Considered the classic master of Brazilian literature, he became the first president of the Brazilian Academy of Letters in 1896.

Learn more about Machado de Assis, Joaquim Maria with a free trial on Britannica.com.

French Henriette-Marie

(born Nov. 25, 1609, Paris, France—died Sept. 10, 1669, Château de Colombes, near Paris) French-born English queen, wife of Charles I and mother of Charles II and James II. The daughter of Henry IV of France and Marie de Médicis, she was no stranger to political intrigue. By openly practicing Roman Catholicism at court, she alienated many of Charles's subjects. As the English Civil Wars approached, she sought without success to instigate a military coup to overthrow the Parliamentarians. Her further efforts to enlist support for Charles from the pope, the French, and the Dutch infuriated many Englishmen. Deterioration of the Royalist position caused her to flee to France in 1644, and she never again saw her husband, who was executed in 1649.

Learn more about Henrietta Maria with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born May 9, 1914, Barletta, Italy—died June 14, 2005, Brescia) Italian conductor. He studied viola and composition at Santa Cecilia in Rome and, after years as a violist, became a conductor in 1944. That same year he was appointed musical director for Italian Radio. In 1950 he organized the Milan Radio Orchestra. After several years at La Scala in Milan, he left opera at the peak of his international career in 1967; he thereafter devoted his time to conducting symphony orchestras. His recordings of operas and choral works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Giuseppe Verdi were widely acclaimed, and he subsequently held important orchestral posts in Chicago (1968–78), Vienna (1973–76), and, lastly, Los Angeles (1978–84).

Learn more about Giulini, Carlo Maria with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Dec. 22, 1858, Lucca, Tuscany—died Nov. 29, 1924, Brussels, Belg.) Italian composer. Born into a family of organists and choirmasters, he was inspired to write operas after hearing Giuseppe Verdi's Aïda in 1876. At the Milan Conservatory he studied with Amilcare Ponchielli (1834–86). Puccini entered his first opera, Le villi (1883), in a competition; though it lost, a group of his friends subsidized its production, and its premiere took place with immense success. His second, Edgar (1889), was a failure, but Manon Lescaut (1893) brought him international recognition. His mature operas included La Bohème (1896), Tosca (1900), Madam Butterfly (1904), and The Girl of the Golden West (1910). All four are tragic love stories; his use of the orchestra was refined, and he established a dramatic structure that balanced action and conflict with moments of repose, contemplation, and lyricism. They remained exceedingly popular into the 21st century. He was the most popular opera composer in the world at the time of his death; his unfinished Turandot was completed by Franco Alfano (1875–1954).

Learn more about Puccini, Giacomo (Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Feb. 26, 1861, Vienna, Austria—died Sept. 10, 1948, Coburg, Ger.) King of Bulgaria (1908–18). Elected prince of Bulgaria in 1887, he proclaimed Bulgaria's independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1908 and assumed the h1 of king or tsar. He spearheaded the formation of the Balkan League (1912), which led to the first Balkan War. Bulgaria was defeated in the second Balkan War (1913), and Ferdinand's resentments against his former allies determined Bulgaria's participation in World War I on the side of the Central Powers. Following his country's military defeat in 1918, he was forced to abdicate in favour of his son, Boris III.

Learn more about Ferdinand (Karl Leopold Maria) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Erich Paul Kramer

(born June 22, 1898, Osnabrück, Ger.—died Sept. 25, 1970, Locarno, Switz.) German-born U.S.-Swiss novelist. Drafted into the German army at age 18, he served in World War I and was wounded several times. He is chiefly remembered for All Quiet on the Western Front (1929), a brutally realistic account of the daily routine of ordinary soldiers and perhaps the best-known and most representative novel about that war. He moved to the U.S. in 1939 and became a U.S. citizen but settled in Switzerland after World War II. His other works include The Road Back (1931), Arc de Triomphe (1946; film, 1948), and The Black Obelisk (1956).

Learn more about Remarque, Erich Maria with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Jan. 1, 1767, Blackbourton, Oxfordshire, Eng.—died May 22, 1849, Edgeworthstown, Ire.) British-Irish writer. From age 15 she assisted her father in managing his estate, gaining a knowledge of rural economy and the Irish peasantry. Her early children's stories, published as The Parent's Assistant (1796), feature the first convincing child characters since Shakespeare. Castle Rackrent (1800), her first novel, revealed her gift for social observation and authentic dialogue. Other notable works are Belinda (1801); Tales of Fashionable Life (1809–12), a six-volume work including the novel The Absentee, which focused attention on abuses by absentee English landowners; Patronage (1814); and Ormond (1817).

Learn more about Edgeworth, Maria with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Nov. 29, 1797, Bergamo, Cisalpine Republic—died April 8, 1848, Bergamo, Lombardy, Austrian Empire) Italian opera composer. He was tutored and guided by the opera composer Simone Mayr (1763–1845). His opera Zoraida di Granata had a successful premiere in Rome in 1822, but it was Anna Bolena in 1830 that made his name internationally. Later successes included L'Elisir d'amore (1832), Lucrezia Borgia (1833), Lucia di Lammermoor (1835), Roberto Devereux (1837), La Fille du régiment (1840), and Don Pasquale (1843). Enormously prolific, he could produce an entire opera in weeks. He completed almost 70 operas, as well as more than 150 sacred works and hundreds of songs. Infected with syphilis, he suffered a severe four-year decline leading to his death. He was one of the foremost Italian opera composers of the early 19th century and a principal master of the bel canto style.

Learn more about Donizetti, (Domenico) Gaetano (Maria) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Lydia Maria Francis

(born Feb. 11, 1802, Medford, Mass., U.S.—died Oct. 20, 1880, Wayland) U.S. abolitionist and author. She was raised in an abolitionist family and was greatly influenced by her brother, a Unitarian clergyman. She wrote historical novels and published a popular manual, The Frugal Housewife (1829). After meeting William Lloyd Garrison in 1831, she became active in abolitionist work. Her Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called Africans (1833) was widely read and induced many to join the abolitionist cause. From 1841 to 1843 she edited the National Anti-Slavery Standard. Her home was a stage on the Underground Railroad.

Learn more about Child, Lydia Maria with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Sept. 14, 1760, Florence—died March 15, 1842, Paris, France) Italian-French composer. Born into a musical family, the precocious youth had written dozens of works before he was 20 years old. In 1786 he settled permanently in Paris. He enjoyed operatic successes in the 1790s, and Napoleon expressed his particular admiration. He became co-superintendent of the royal chapel in 1816 and in 1822 director of the Paris Conservatoire, where he would remain the rest of his life. Ludwig van Beethoven called Cherubini his greatest contemporary. His counterpoint text (1835) was used widely for a century. Of his nearly 40 operas, the most popular were Lodoïska (1791), Médée (1797), and Les Deux Journées (1800). His other important works include a symphony (1815), six string quartets, requiems in C minor and D minor (1816, 1836), and nine surviving masses.

Learn more about Cherubini, Luigi (Carlo Zanobi Salvadore Maria) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Maria Weston

(born July 25, 1806, Weymouth, Mass., U.S.—died July 12, 1885, Weymouth) U.S. abolitionist. She was principal of the Young Ladies' High School in Boston from 1828 to 1830, when she married Henry Chapman, a Boston merchant. In 1832, with 12 other women, she founded the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society. Later she became chief assistant to William Lloyd Garrison, helping him to run the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society and to edit The Liberator, a widely circulated abolitionist publication. In 1839 she published a pamphlet arguing that the divisions among abolitionists stemmed from their disagreements over women's rights.

Learn more about Chapman, Maria Weston with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born May 9, 1914, Barletta, Italy—died June 14, 2005, Brescia) Italian conductor. He studied viola and composition at Santa Cecilia in Rome and, after years as a violist, became a conductor in 1944. That same year he was appointed musical director for Italian Radio. In 1950 he organized the Milan Radio Orchestra. After several years at La Scala in Milan, he left opera at the peak of his international career in 1967; he thereafter devoted his time to conducting symphony orchestras. His recordings of operas and choral works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Giuseppe Verdi were widely acclaimed, and he subsequently held important orchestral posts in Chicago (1968–78), Vienna (1973–76), and, lastly, Los Angeles (1978–84).

Learn more about Giulini, Carlo Maria with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Feb. 9, 1885, Vienna, Austria-Hungary—died Dec. 24, 1935, Vienna, Austria) Austrian composer. He was largely self-taught musically until he met Arnold Schoenberg at age 19. This would prove to be the decisive event in his life, and Schoenberg would remain his teacher for eight years. Under his influence, Berg's early late-Romantic tonal works gave way to increasing atonality and finally (1925) to 12-tone composition. His Expressionist opera Wozzeck (1922) would become the most universally acclaimed post-Romantic opera. His second opera, Lulu, on which he worked for six years, remained unfinished at his death. Berg's other works include two string quartets, including the Lyric Suite (1926); Three Pieces for Orchestra (1915); and a violin concerto (1935).

Learn more about Berg, Alban (Maria Johannes) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Latin Ave Maria

Principal Roman Catholic prayer addressed to the Virgin Mary. It begins with the greetings spoken to Mary by the Archangel Gabriel and by her cousin Elizabeth in the Gospel of Luke: “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.” A closing petition, “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death,” came into general use by the end of the 14th century. Churchgoers who attend confession are often asked to repeat the prayer as penance for sins.

Learn more about Hail Mary with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Maria Corazon Cojuangco

(born Jan. 25, 1933, Manila, Phil.) President of the Philippines (1986–92). Born into a politically prominent family, she married Benigno Simeon Aquino, Jr. (1932–83), who became the most prominent opponent of Pres. Ferdinand Marcos. Benigno was assassinated in 1983 on his return from exile, and Corazon became the opposition candidate for president in 1986. Though Marcos was officially reported the winner, there were widespread allegations of voting fraud; high officials in the military supported Aquino, and Marcos fled. As president, Aquino introduced a hugely popular constitution. Over time her popularity declined amid charges of corruption and economic injustice.

Learn more about Aquino, (Maria) Corazon with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Feb. 9, 1885, Vienna, Austria-Hungary—died Dec. 24, 1935, Vienna, Austria) Austrian composer. He was largely self-taught musically until he met Arnold Schoenberg at age 19. This would prove to be the decisive event in his life, and Schoenberg would remain his teacher for eight years. Under his influence, Berg's early late-Romantic tonal works gave way to increasing atonality and finally (1925) to 12-tone composition. His Expressionist opera Wozzeck (1922) would become the most universally acclaimed post-Romantic opera. His second opera, Lulu, on which he worked for six years, remained unfinished at his death. Berg's other works include two string quartets, including the Lyric Suite (1926); Three Pieces for Orchestra (1915); and a violin concerto (1935).

Learn more about Berg, Alban (Maria Johannes) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Sint-Maria-Lierde is a small village which makes up part of the municipality of Lierde in the Belgian province of East Flanders.

The village's coat of arms shows a heart of Jesus beneath a crown. The arms were granted in 1818 and confirmed on December 20, 1846.

External links

• Page on Sint-Maria-Lierde from the official Lierde website (only available in Dutch)
• Coat of arms from the International Civic Arms website