AcharyaChanakya/simple-wikipedia huggingface dataset:
Brahms wrote a great deal of vocal music. The greatest of these works is the "German Requiem". There were many works for choirs, and a large collection of songs with piano accompaniment (Lieder). He wrote a lot of piano music which includes sonatas and many shorter pieces such as fantasias, rhapsodies, ballades, intermezzos, capriccios and romances. His chamber music includes string quartets, quintets and sextets and piano trios, quartets and a piano quintet. He wrote four symphonies and four concertos: two for piano, one for the violin and one for violin and cello (the "Double Concerto"). The "German Requiem" is his greatest vocal work.
Brahms was also very interested in old music and helped to edit music by François Couperin as well as the music of his friend Robert Schumann.
Béla Bartók (b. Nagyszentimiklós, Hungary, 25 March 1881; d. New York City 26 September 1945) was a famous Hungarian composer and pianist. He was one of the most important and original composers of the 20th century. He became very interested in folk music and travelled a lot in Hungary and other countries, including Romania, listening to the folk songs which the country people sang. He often used the style of these songs in his music. He is famous for his piano music, string quartets and several pieces for orchestra including one called "Concerto for Orchestra". Bartók’s harmonies and lively rhythms were sometimes quite new to classical music and some audiences found them difficult to understand at first.
Béla Bartók was born in the small town of Nagyszentmiklós. In those days it was in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but today it is in Romania. When he was very small he showed great musical talent, and his mother taught him to play the piano.
Béla was often ill when he was a child. When he was seven his father died, and his mother took him and his sister to live in Nagyszőlős (today it is called Vinogradiv and is in the Ukraine), and then to Pozsony (today it is Bratislava in Slovakia). There he gave his first public recital when he was eleven. He included some music which he had composed himself.
Soon he was studying the piano with István Thoman who had studied with the famous Franz Liszt. He had lessons in composition from János Koessler at the Royal Academy of Music in Budapest. There he met the composer Zoltán Kodály, who was a great influence on him and who became a lifelong friend.
He soon started to compose longer pieces of music. He liked the music of Richard Strauss and Claude Debussy and these influenced his style of music. He started to be interested in folk music. This can be heard in the first of his six string quartets.
Bartók and Kodály travelled together into the countryside to collect and study old Hungarian folk melodies. People in those days thought that real Magyar (old Hungarian) folk music was Gypsy music. Bartók and Kodály showed that there were other traditions beside these. They found music which used pentatonic scales similar to those used in some parts of Asia. The two composers started to use these folk ideas in their own compositions. Kodály often quoted (copied) actual folk songs in his own music, while Bartók preferred to compose music which sounded like folksong without actually copying it.
In 1909, Bartók married Márta Ziegler. Their son, also named Béla, was born in 1910.
In 1911, Bartók wrote his only opera, "Bluebeard's Castle". There are only two singers in the opera: Bluebeard and his wife Judith. He also wrote a ballet called "The Wooden Prince". This started to make him famous abroad. Another ballet, "The Miraculous Mandarin", is even more famous today. It shows the influence of Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg, as well as Richard Strauss. He wrote a lot of chamber music including a total of 6 string quartets, 2 violin sonatas and a "Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion". He wrote some pieces for smaller orchestras: "Divertimento for strings" and "Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta".
Bartók divorced Márta in 1923, and married a piano student, Ditta Pásztory. His second son, Péter, was born in 1924.
When World War II broke out Bartók criticized the Nazis. After they came into power in Germany, he refused to give concerts there and did not use his German publisher. His political ideas gave him a great deal of trouble in Hungary.
Having first sent his manuscripts out of the country, Bartók felt he had to emigrate to the USA with Ditta Pásztory. They lived in New York City. Their son Péter joined them in 1942 and later joined the United States Navy. Bartók ‘s older son Béla stayed in Hungary.
Bartók did not feel comfortable in the USA, and found it very difficult to compose. He was also not very well known in America, and not many people were interested in his music. He and his wife Ditta gave concerts, and for a while, they were given some money to work on a collection of Yugoslav folk songs. They did not have very much money, although he had some friends who gave them enough to live on. Serge Koussevitsky asked him to write the " Concerto for Orchestra ". This soon became Bartók's most popular work, and brought him some money. He was also asked by Yehudi Menuhin to write a "Sonata for Solo Violin". This seemed to make him interested again in composing, and he went on to write his "Piano Concerto No. 3" and began work on his " Viola Concerto".
Bartók died by polycythemia in New York City from on 26 September 1945, aged 64. He left the Viola Concerto unfinished at his death; it was later finished by his pupil Tibor Serly.
Bartók’s music has many modern techniques such atonality, bitonality and modern harmonies. He often uses different kinds of scales (not just major and minor ones), and very complicated rhythms. A lot of these are inspired by the folk music he heard. He wrote a lot of piano music, including some easy pieces for people who are learning the piano. This includes a collection of pieces in six volumes called "Mikrokosmos" which are very popular with young musicians today.
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh, OM CH (born Lowestoft, 22 November 1913; died Aldeburgh, 4 December 1976) was probably the greatest English composer of his time. He came from East Anglia (a region in the East of England) and he often thought about the East Anglian landscape and the sea when writing his music. He wrote a lot of music for his long-term partner, the tenor Peter Pears. His operas include "Peter Grimes", "Billy Budd", "A Midsummer Night’s Dream", and "Death in Venice". His "War Requiem" was performed in Coventry Cathedral in 1962 after it had been rebuilt because the old cathedral had been destroyed in the war. He wrote music for children which sounds like proper, adult music. Britten started the Aldeburgh Festival. He was an excellent pianist and conductor.
Benjamin Britten started composing music at the age of five although he had no one to help him. When he was ten years old he took part in an amateur music festival in Norwich. A composer called Frank Bridge heard him and was so impressed that he offered to teach him composition. He helped Britten to compose using proper musical techniques. Britten started to get to know music by a lot of important modern composers including Schoenberg and Bartók. In 1930 he went to the Royal College of Music. He had excellent piano teachers but he did not learn much from his composition teacher John Ireland and most of the music he wrote was never performed. Britten was more interested in music from abroad than in English music. In 1934 he heard the opera "Wozzeck" by Alban Berg. He wanted to go to Austria to study with Berg but he was not allowed to. Meanwhile, some of his first proper compositions started to be performed. He wrote some music for movies that were being made by the General Post Office, including one about a train delivering mail. The music describes the rhythm of the train rushing along.
While working on the movie music he met the writer W. H. Auden. He started to be interested in political ideas. These can be heard in some works he wrote at this time such as "Our Hunting Fathers" (1936) and "Ballad of Heroes" (1939). When Auden emigrated to the United States Britten followed him. With him was the tenor Peter Pears who was to become a lifelong friend and partner, and who was to be the inspiration for many songs and operas.
Britten wrote several compositions in the USA including "Sinfonia da Requiem" (1940) and his "First String Quartet" (1941). The following year he was reading about the poet George Crabbe who came from Suffolk, the same part of England where Britten had grown up. Britten suddenly became homesick. He realized that he could not work and be himself in a foreign country. So he returned with Pears to England.
As soon as he was on the boat sailing back to England he started work on "Ceremony of Carols". Back in England, Britten and Pears gave concerts to audiences of all kinds and took part in opera productions of Sadler's Wells Opera Company, which was having a new theatre built. On the 7 June 1945 the new theatre was opened with a performance of Britten’s opera "Peter Grimes". This opera was to make Britten into the most famous English composer of his time. It was soon being performed abroad as well as in England.
Britten was now composing lots of music: songs, chamber music and a very popular piece called "Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra" (also known as "Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell"). This piece shows off each instrument of the orchestra in turn so that young people can get to know the sound of the musical instruments. It is based on a tune written by Henry Purcell 300 years ago. There were more popular works: St Nicolas and the Spring Symphony. There were not many opportunities for big operas to be performed, so he wrote some “chamber operas” which only needed small orchestras and a small number of singers. These were performed in places such as local churches by a group which called themselves English Opera Group. He wrote "The Rape of Lucretia" (1946) and "Albert Herring" (1947). In 1948 the group helped to start a music festival in Aldeburgh. Benjamin Britten spent the rest of his life mainly working on music which was to be performed at the Aldeburgh Festival. He composed some of his greatest works for the festival, and he took part in the performances as conductor and pianist.
One of Britten’s most popular pieces of music for amateurs including children was "Noye’s Fludde" (1957). He wrote three “church parables”. His large operas include "Billy Budd" (1951) which was soon produced in Covent Garden. In June 1953 he wrote "Gloriana", an opera about Queen Elizabeth I, written for the coronation celebrations of Elizabeth II. When he travelled with Peter Pears to the Far East he was influenced by the music of Bali and he composed a ballet called "The Prince of the Pagodas", performed in Covent Garden in 1957. Another great work inspired by the East was the parable "Curlew River" (1964). The opera "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" was written for the Aldeburgh Festival in 1960. In 1962 he wrote the "War Requiem" to celebrate the new Coventry Cathedral. This is one of the greatest musical works of the 20th century.
In 1961 he became friends with the great Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. He composed a "Cello Sonata" and a "Cello Symphony" (1963) (a kind of cello concerto), as well as three suites for solo cello. He travelled with Pears to the Soviet Union.
In 1967 the Aldeburgh Festival had a new concert hall, the Maltings at Snape. His next opera was "Owen Wingrave" (1970), written for television but soon produced in Covent Garden. In June 1973 Britten produced another great opera "Death in Venice". The main character, called Aschenbach, was perhaps the best music he ever wrote for Peter Pears. It was performed at the Aldeburgh Festival, but Britten was ill by this time and unable to be at the performance. His heart condition made it impossible to work on any more large works, but he still wrote some harp music for the harpist Ossian Ellis, a song called "Phaedra" for Janet Baker, and a "Third String Quartet". He died in Aldeburgh on 4 December 1976.
Britten received many honours both in Britain and in other countries. He became a Companion of Honour in 1952 a member of the Order of Merit in 1965 and, in the year he died, he was the first musician ever to receive a life peer (the title Lord Britten).
Britten’s early works were often written for instruments. His "Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge" (1937) for string orchestra is a very popular work today. He often borrowed and reinvented themes by other composers (this is called “parody” technique). During his last years he again gave much attention to instrumental music, mainly chamber music.
After he met Peter Pears much of his music was vocal. This includes more than 100 songs, a number of operas, chamber operas as well as three works for tenor solo and orchestra: "Les Illuminations", the "Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings" and the "Nocturne". His songs are often grouped in cycles. He also wrote many folksong settings. These were very popular as encore pieces when he accompanied Peter Pears in song recitals.
Britten wrote music for choirs, including "Hymn to St Cecilia" (Britten was proud of having been born on St Cecilia’s day: 22 November). The "War Requiem" is his greatest work which combines writing for choir and orchestra. It describes the horrors of war (Britten had refused to fight in World War II).
He wrote a lot of work for children. There are even parts for children in some of his operas, e.g. "Peter Grimes", "The Turn of the Screw" and "Owen Wingrave". He even wrote an opera in which all the main parts are sung by children: "The Little Sweep" (1949).
Many of his great operatic roles, from Peter Grimes to Aschenbach in "Death in Venice", deal with the theme of the outsider, the person who does not quite fit into society, or who is misunderstood. Britten’s homosexuality (which was something that was never discussed in his lifetime) may have something to do with this. He also knew what it was like to be an outsider when he tried to live in the United States, and his refusal to fight in the war may have distanced him from some people.
The Aldeburgh Festival at the Maltings in Snape (a village near Aldeburgh) continue to be a focus for Britten’s music. Every year the Brittens-Pears School of Music organizes lessons and performance opportunities for young musicians. A series of “Prom” concerts is held there every year in August.
Claudio Monteverdi (b.Cremona, 1567; d.Venice 25 November 1643) was the most important composer of the early Baroque period. He lived at a time of great change in musical style. The first opera ever written was composed in 1597 by a composer named Jacopo Peri. Just eleven years later Monteverdi wrote an opera "Orfeo" which was a really great work. Other important operas of his are "Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda" and "Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria". He wrote 9 books of madrigals. He also wrote a lot of church music including the "1610 Vespers". He was director of music at St Mark’s, Venice, which was the most important musical job in Italy.
Monteverdi was the son of an apothecary and a doctor. He was very talented as a young boy and was only 15 when he published his first pieces of music. In the introduction to this music he says that his music teacher was Marc’ Antonio Ingegneri, the maestro di cappella of Cremona cathedral. We cannot find anything that shows that he sang in the cathedral choir. He probably had private music lessons. He learned composition, singing and how to play string instruments such as the viol and viola da braccio. He got several compositions published in Venice. By the time he got his first job he had already published two books of madrigals.
His first job was working at the court of the Duke of Mantua. In Mantua there was a small band of excellent musicians. The musical director was the famous Giaches de Wert. Monteverdi got to know many famous poets, and there were famous singers at Ferrara which was not far away.
At first Monteverdi had a low-paid job. He married the daughter of one of the court musicians in the string band. Monteverdi soon became well-known. He sent several of his compositions to be performed at Ferrara, and he went with the duke to when his army was fighting the Turks.
The young Monteverdi was developing a new musical style. The old style was known as "prima pratica" (“first practice”) and the new style was called the "seconda pratica" (“second practice”). The "prima pratica" continued to be used for church music. In this style of writing the music was thought to be more important than the words. This meant that the music could be very contrapuntal, with several things going on at once so that the words could not be clearly heard. However, in the "seconda pratica" the words were more important than the music, i.e. it was important to be able to hear all the words clearly, and the music had to be simple enough for this to happen. This was particularly important in opera and in madrigals.
There were a lot of arguments among musicians about these two styles of composition, and this is perhaps the reason why there was a gap of 11 years between Monteverdi’s 3rd and his 4th book of madrigals. His opera "Orfeo" (1608) was performed at least twice at court, and several times at Salzburg. Monteverdi was becoming famous all over Europe.
Monteverdi went back to Cremona. His wife died, leaving him with their three small children. It was a terrible tragedy for Monteverdi, and he did not want to go back to Mantua, but the Duke wrote to him telling him he must come back to provide music for the wedding of Prince Francesco Gonzaga and Margharita of Savoy.
Monteverdi returned to Mantua, where he composed his opera "Arianna". The performance was a great success, and the audience were moved to tears by the music Arianna’s lament. This song is the only part of the opera that has not been lost.
Although Monteverdi’s fame was increasing, there were a lot of arguments with his employer. Eventually he found another job, this time as a church musician, in the biggest church in Venice. Monteverdi had a difficult journey from Mantua to Venice. The passengers were robbed by highwaymen on the way. He arrived in Venice in October 1613.
The job of maestro (director of music) at San Marco (Saint Mark’s church) in Venice was perhaps the most important job for a church musician in the whole of Europe. However, the music was in a bad state because previous directors of music had not been very good. Monteverdi started to reorganize the music there: he bought new music for the library and got some new musicians. He had to compose music for many special feast days during the year. He was doing a good job, and in 1616 his salary was increased to 400 ducats (about 44.28 ounces of gold, worth about $73,500USD today). The duke of Mantua was probably cross that he had lost such a good musician. He still asked Monteverdi to write music for him. Monteverdi probably had to obey, as he was still a Mantuan citizen (Italy did not become one country until more than two centuries later). He wrote music for important events such as weddings and carnivals at Mantua.
By 1619 Monteverdi had published his seventh book of madrigals. However, he then started to publish less music. Perhaps it was because he was so busy, or perhaps because he no longer needed to look for fame. He probably wrote a lot of church music which is now lost.
During the 1620s continued his work in Venice, although he may have tried to get other jobs. His hobbies include alchemy. He welcomed the composer Heinrich Schütz who visited Venice for a second time. After the Duke of Mantua died in 1626 Monteverdi wrote less music for Mantua. He was supposed to receive an annual salary from them, but he often did not get it. There was a war in Mantua, a lot of buildings were destroyed and the invading armies brought the plague. Monteverdi became a priest in 1632. It is not clear whether he did this because he really was religious or whether he thought it would help his career.
In 1637 public opera was started in Venice. Monteverdi, who was now in his 70s, wrote operas for Venice. "Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria" (1640) and "L'incoronazione di Poppea" (1642) form a brilliant end to his career. After the performance of this opera he made a six-month trip to Lombard and Mantua, where again he had to argue at the court about not being paid his pension. After he returned to Venice he was ill for nine days and then died.
Charlie Kaufman
Charles Stuart "Charlie" Kaufman (born November 1, 1958) is an American screenwriter. Some of the movies he wrote screenplays for are "Being John Malkovich", "Adaptation", "Human Nature", and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". Charlie Kaufman is known for writing very surreal movies - that is, movies where the plot has things in it that could never happen in real life, or that make the audience notice that they are watching a movie.
Oxbow lake
An oxbow lake is a lake, or area of water, in a U-shape. It is made by special bends in a river, called meanders, getting farther away from the river until they become separate. The river becomes straight and the bend becomes a lake. This happens due to floods or when a meander's neck gets too thin.
Water flows at different speeds at different parts of the river. In the middle, farthest away from the sides (or banks), the water flows fastest. At the banks, the water flows slowest. When the river bends, water flows faster on the outside of the bend than the inside. The fast water on the outside 'erodes' the outside of the bend. This means it breaks bits of the bank off. At the same time, the slow water on the inside of the bend leaves behind mud, sand and parts of plants (deposition). Together, these make the bend move in the direction of the outside of the bend.
The bend moves farther and farther along until it leaves the river. The river becomes straight and the bend is left as an oxbow lake.
A sequel is a story, book, play, video game, or movie that comes or takes place after another story, book, play, video game, or movie. The opposite is called a prequel. A combination of the two makes a midquel. When there are many sequels, this is called a film series.
A sequel has important parts of the first story like characters and places. Audiences like sequels because they have more of the characters and places they like. Storytellers and publishers like sequels because they are popular and people buy them.
Sequel names are often similar to the name of a first story or other stories in a series. They often have a second title or a number to show that they are alike or different from a first story or other stories in a series. Sometimes sequels have different names in different countries because they mean different things to different audiences.
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer (MLS) is an American soccer league that started in 1996. As of the upcoming 2021 season, 27 teams will play in the league. 1 team plans to start playing in 2022, and two others plan to join in 2023. The commissioner of the league (the person in charge) is Don Garber.
MLS, founded in the United States, is a fully professional league with 26 teams, three of which are based in Canada, and is the top soccer league in both countries. Referees are approved by the United States Soccer Federation and Canadian Soccer Association, which run the sport in the two countries. In turn, U.S. Soccer and the CSA are members of FIFA, which governs all play between national teams and sets the rules for the sport along with the national governing bodies of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.
MLS was formed in 1993 as a professional league, with play starting with 10 teams in 1996. The MLS regular season starts in late February and ends in November, with each team playing 34 games. The regular season is followed by a 14-team playoff tournament to decide the league champion.
Chicago Fire FC
Columbus SC
Columbus Crew SC (known before 2015 as simply "Columbus Crew") are an American soccer team that plays in Major League Soccer in Columbus, Ohio. They started play in 1996, and have played in their own stadium, Mapfre Stadium (known before 2015 as Columbus Crew Stadium), since 1999.
Sporting Kansas City
Sporting Kansas City are an American football (soccer) team that plays in Major League Soccer in Kansas City, Kansas.
They started out as the Kansas City Wiz, before changing their name to the Kansas City Wizards in 1997. Later, in November 2010, they changed their name again to Sporting Kansas City, as the team was moving into a new stadium in the 2011 season. The stadium has been known by several names, first Livestrong Sporting Park, then Sporting Park, and now Children's Mercy Park.
The New England Revolution are a United States football (soccer) team from Foxborough, Massachusetts that plays in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer. They share the Gillette Stadium with the New England Patriots, a football team in the NFL.
The team is owned by Robert Kraft, who also owns the New England Patriots.
The team won their first major trophy when they won the U.S. Open Cup in 2007. They won the North American SuperLiga in 2008.
New York Red Bulls
The New York Red Bulls are an American soccer team. They play in Major League Soccer in Harrison, New Jersey. Until 2006, they were known as the MetroStars. Their homeground is the Red Bull Arena in Harrison.
The club was founded in 1995 by John Werner Kluge and Stuart Subotnick, two managers for MetroMedia, under the name MetroStars. The club was a founding member of Major League Soccer. In 2006 the team was sold to the Austrian company Red Bull and renamed the New York Red Bulls. The team is the only one in the MLS which never reached a major title. There were a lot of well-known soccer players on the team from all over the world such as Roberto Donadoni, Lothar Matthäus (FIFA World Cup 1990, UEFA Champion 1980), Adolfo Valencia, Youri Djorkaeff, Amado Guevara, Juan Pablo Angel,Daniel Rodriguez, Thierry Henry, and Rafael Márquez.
Former players Tony Meola, Tab Ramos, Tim Howard, Alexi Lalas, Clint Mathis, Jozy Altidore, Michael Bradley, Claudio Reyna, Eddie Pope, and Tim Ream have all played for the U.S. national team. Current players Juan Agudelo,Daniel Rodriguez, Dax McCarty, and Kenny Cooper have also played for the USMNT.
Colorado Rapids
The Colorado Rapids are an American soccer team that plays in Major League Soccer. They are one of the founding clubs of the MLS. The hometown of Rapids is Denver, Colorado. The club was formed in 1996.
The Rapids play their home games at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado (ca. 8 miles north of the center of Denver). The stadium capacity is 19,680 and cost $131 million to construct. It is a stadium for football only. The soccer stadium opened on April 7, 2007. Before moving to DSG Park in 2007, Colorado Rapids shared Mile High Stadium and then Invesco Field at Mile High with the Denver Broncos an American football team.
"Sources:"
Note: MLS did not allow ties prior to the 2000 season as games were decided by shootout when tied at full-time.
FC Dallas
FC Dallas is an American soccer team. They play in Major League Soccer (MLS) in Frisco, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, Texas. The team is a founding member of the MLS. Before 2005, they were known as the Dallas Burn. The team is owned by the Hunt Sports Group, which also owns the National Football League team Kansas City Chiefs.
The following players have won the MLS Scoring Champion or the Golden Boot.
From 1996–2002 the team played in the 92,100-capacity Cotton Bowl in Dallas. To save money the club played its 2003 home games at Dragon Stadium, a high school stadium in Southlake, a Fort Worth suburb. The club lost money in the high school stadium because Texas law does not allow the sale of alcohol on a public high school campus. The team moved back to the Cotton Bowl for the 2004 season. In August 2005, the club moved into Pizza Hut Park, a soccer stadium in the northern suburb of Frisco. The contract that allowed Pizza Hut to put its name on the stadium ended in January 2012, and the stadium was renamed FC Dallas Stadium. In September 2013, a new sponsorship contract was signed with Toyota, and the stadium was renamed Toyota Stadium. Following renovations to the south end of Toyota Stadium, the relocated National Soccer Hall of Fame opened at the stadium in October 2018.
Houston Dynamo
The Houston Dynamo are an American soccer team that plays in Major League Soccer in Houston, Texas. In late 2005, the San Jose Earthquakes moved to the city because of financial problems in San Jose, California.
The Dynamo opened a new stadium, which opened as BBVA Compass Stadium and is now known as BBVA Stadium, in downtown Houston in May 2012, after playing their first seven games of the season on the road.
San Jose Earthquakes
Los Angeles Galaxy
The Los Angeles Galaxy, branded as the LA Galaxy, are an American soccer team that plays in Major League Soccer in Carson, California. They shared their home field, Dignity Health Sports Park, with Chivas USA before that team folded at the end of the 2014 season.
Until he left when his contract ended after the 2012 season, the team's best-known player was English icon David Beckham, signed from Real Madrid in 2007. Landon Donovan, the joint all-time leading goal scorer for the US national team, played with the Galaxy from 2005 until his first retirement in 2014, and briefly returned to the team in the last part of the 2016 season. Robbie Keane, the Republic of Ireland's captain, leading scorer, and most-capped (most games) player, was a Galaxy captain. The team also included longtime Liverpool and England star Steven Gerrard. Currently, the Galaxy's best-known player is Sweden all-time leading scorer Zlatan Ibrahimović.
Real Salt Lake
Real Salt Lake is an American soccer team. They play in Major League Soccer in Salt Lake City, Utah. They began playing in 2005. Their head coach is Jason Kreis. They play at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah. Their rival is the Colorado Rapids.
"As of January 15, 2009."
"MLS regular season only, through 2006 season"
"regular season/playoffs"
Toronto FC
Toronto Football Club, usually known as Toronto FC, is a soccer club based in Toronto, Ontario. They have played in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS) since the 2007 season. They were the first Canadian soccer team to join MLS. They play their home games at BMO Field in Downtown Toronto. The team is coached by Greg Vanney and operated by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment.
Toronto FC has won the Canadian Championship five times, most recently in 2016. They also made it to the 2016 MLS Cup but lost to Seattle Sounders 4-5 in penalties. They were also semi-finalists of the 2011-2012 CONCACAF Champions League.
President of Germany
The President of Germany (German: "Bundespräsident", literally: "federal president") is the head of state of the Federal Republic of Germany. His functions are mostly supervising and representative, because of the negative experiences with the office of its predecessor the Reich President ("Reichskanzler").
The president is elected every five years by the Bundesversammlung.
Miami Fusion F.C.
Tampa Bay Mutiny was an American soccer team that played in Major League Soccer from 1996 to 2001. They played in Tampa, Florida. Their stadium was the Raymond James Stadium.
The Mutiny went out of business after the 2001 season, after having low attendance and finishing in last place.
The Gillette Company
Global Gillette (formerly The Gillette Company) is an American company famous for making shaving products. It has been merged recently into Procter & Gamble's operations.
Abkhazia
Abkhazia is a partially recognised independent country on the eastern coast of the Black Sea.
The country fought a war with Georgia for its independence in 1991, the Georgian–Abkhaz conflict. Since its declaration of independence from Georgia in 1991, it has been ruled by the partly-recognized Republic of Abkhazia.
Georgia believes Abkhazia is part of its territory and has listed the province, in its official subdivisions, as an autonomous republic On 28 August 2008, the Parliament of Georgia passed a resolution declaring Abkhazia a "Russian-occupied territory".
The Republic of Abkhazia, with Sukhumi as its capital, is a client state of Russia. It is formally recognised by Russia and by Nicaragua, and the "de facto" independent republics of South Ossetia and Transnistria. The European Union, OSCE, and NATO recognise Abkhazia as an integral part of the territory of Georgia.
The secessionist movement of the Abkhaz minority led to the Georgian–Abkhaz conflict. The War in Abkhazia resulted in a Georgian military defeat and the mass exodus and ethnic cleansing of the Georgian population from Abkhazia.
There was a 1994 ceasefire agreement. There is a UN-monitored and Russian-dominated CIS peacekeeping operation. The sovereignty dispute has not been resolved. The dispute is a source of conflict between Georgia and Russia.
Heinrich Schütz
Heinrich Schütz (born Köstritz, Saxony, 8 October 1585; died Dresden, Germany, 6 November 1672) was the greatest German composer of his time. As a young man he travelled to Italy to learn the art of composition from the great Italian composers. He had lessons from Giovanni Gabrieli. When Gabrieli died in 1612 Schütz returned to Germany. He visited Italy a second time in 1628 to learn from the music of Claudio Monteverdi. He also visited Copenhagen. For much of his life he was a court composer at the Electoral Chapel in Dresden. Most of his work consists of choral works especially motets and madrigals. He was very good at writing counterpoint and his music has some very striking effects. His "Christmas Oratorio " is particularly famous.
Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti (born Naples, Italy, on 26 October 1685; died Madrid, Spain, on 23 July 1757) was an Italian composer and harpsichordist. He was the son of the famous composer Alessandro Scarlatti. Part of his life he spent in Venice and Rome. His father Alessandro was a famous composer who wrote many operas. Domenico became famous for his sonatas for harpsichord. He wrote over 550 of them. They are mostly quite short pieces in one movement, most written in an early Classical style, which influenced many future Classical composers. He had some unusual effects in his music such as the crossing of hands as they leap wildly from one end of the keyboard to another. He also liked crunchy chords which sound like the strumming of Spanish guitars. He gave harpsichord lessons to the Infanta Maria Barbara at the Royal Court in Lisbon in Portugal. When she married she took Scarlatti, her harpsichord teacher, with her to Madrid in Spain where he spent the rest of his life.
Wilhelm Friedemann Bach
Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (born Weimar 22 November 1710–Berlin 1 July 1784) was a famous German composer and organist.
He was the son of Johann Sebastian Bach, who taught him to play the harpsichord and organ. Johann Sebastian wrote some pieces and put them in a book called "Notebook for Wilhelm Friedemann Bach". Although they are in order of increasing difficulty, it is not known if these were used to teach him to play, or how to write music. The book does contain two allemandes and four preludes written by Wilhelm Friedemann. He also learned to play the violin.
Wilhelm Friedemann was an excellent organist, and took over teaching some of his father's students. In 1733 he was appointed as the organist at the Dresden Sophienkirche (St. Sophia's Church). While living in Dresden he continued to write music including harpsichord concertos, sinfonias, trio sonatas, harpsichord sonatas, and other smaller works for keyboard. He published his first music in 1745.
In 1746 became organist of the Liebfrauenkirche at Halle. This was an important position and he was paid twice as much as he had earned at Dresden. He was expected to provide music for feast days, and so he began to compose cantatas which could be reused each year. He still visited his father, and often used parts of his music. After his father's death in 1750, Wilhelm Friedemann inherited as lot of his father's music, and tried to make people think they were his compositions. He was in trouble with the church when he went to Leipzig to sort out his father's estate. They felt that he was away for too long and was not fulfilling his proper duties.
In 1764, after arguing with a lot of people, he left the job in Halle, remaining unemployed and living a life of poverty until his death.
He had a lot of talent which he did not use. He was a very good improviser, but was careless when playing music by other composers, including his father's.
Dr. Henry "Indiana" Jones, Jr. is a fictional American professor, archaeologist, and adventurer.
He originally appeared in a series of movies produced by George Lucas and directed by Steven Spielberg in the 1980s, in which he was played by actor Harrison Ford.
Indiana Jones is noted for his trademark bullwhip, his fedora hat, and his great fear of snakes.
"Indiana Jones" is also the general name given to the series as a whole, which has four movies, a TV series, novels, comics, video games, and other media.
Lord Protector
A Lord Protector is a British title for heads of state. It has two different meanings at different times in history.
The title of "Lord Protector" was first used by royal princes or other nobles who ruled as regent while the English monarch was still too young to rule or was not able to rule for some other reason, in this case the Lord Protector would make all the decisions for the country, and the young monarch would decide whether they agree or not.
The Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland was the title of the head of state during the Interregnum, following the first period of the Commonwealth under Council of State government. It was held by Oliver Cromwell (December 1653 – September 1658), leader of the roundheads and his son Richard Cromwell (September 1658 – May 1659) during what is now known as the Protectorate.
Fantasy is a genre of fiction (make believe) that shows some form of magic, or supernatural force.
Often fantasy also means that the story happens in a fictional place, a world different from our own (e.g. Middle-earth or Narnia). Although the word fantasy is most often applied to low-tech worlds, it also can depict high tech worlds, overlapping with science fiction (e.g. Star Wars). Or it is used for historical fiction, if it is magical in some way.
Materialism is the philosophical belief that the world is made of material, and that there are no other types of entity (things). Everything is composed of material. Things that are not made of material, such as consciousness, are the result of actions by material. In other words, matter is the only real substance. "Physicalism" is a related term.
Especially, a materialist does not believe in gods or other supernatural entities. The materialist thinks the idea of a spirit is either meaningless, or not scientifically proven. Therefore, by definition, materialists are also atheists, though not all atheists are materialists.
Modern philosophical materialists extend the definition to include other basic entities proven by science, such as energy, forces, and the curvature of space. Matter and energy are known to be interchangeable, and much else, such as gravity, is caused by matter. However, the concept of matter is itself not entirely clear.
Other types of philosophy share some of the aims of materialism. Examples would include reductionism, logical positivism and empiricism.
The origin of materialism is in a type of Ancient Greek philosophy. Thales, Epicurus, and Lucretius are early materialist philosophers. The idea also appeared in other ancient cultures.
Northern Cyprus (), officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC; , "KKTC"), is a "de facto" state in the northern half of the island of Cyprus. It is internationally recognised as part of the Republic of Cyprus and only Turkey recognised it. Three hundred thousand Turkish Cypriots live in its 3,335 km². Turkey is the only country which recognizes the territory as an independent republic despite the international sanctions and embargos in place.
Cyprus was conquered and became part of the Ottoman Empire from 1570–1914. Many Turks became settlers. As the Ottoman Empire sided against the British empire in World War I, the British annexed Cyprus. In 1923, by the Treaty of Lausanne Turkey gave up the island to the British Empire which in 1925 converted it to a crown colony. The British administered it from 1878 until 1960.
In 1974, in response to a growing conflict with Greece, the Turkish army invaded and occupied Cyprus. Many settlers from mainland Turkey came from Turkey into the northern part of the island. The move drew international condemnation and Northern Cyprus remains unrecognized by the United Nations.
Since 1974, the United Nations has established a ceasefire line between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots. The <nowiki>"Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus"</nowiki> was formed in 1983 and Rauf Denktash became the first president. Negotiations for a unified island have been held several times without success.
Northern Cyprus, despite its international pariah status, stands out amongst other "frozen conflict" zones as having a relatively stable and democratic form of government with high levels of political freedom and civic engagement in the political process.
New Caledonia
New Caledonia (; popular name: "Le caillou") () is a ""sui generis" collectivity" (in practice an overseas territory) of France, made up of a main island ("Grande Terre") and several smaller islands. It is in the region of Melanesia in the southwest Pacific. At about half the size of Taiwan, it has a land area of 18,575.5 square kilometres (7,172 sq mi). At the 2004 census, 230,789 people lived there. It has an internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) of .nc. The capital and largest city of the territory is Nouméa. The currency is the CFP franc. The inflation rate is -0.6%. The unemployment rate is 17.1%
A referendum was held in November 2018 to see if New Caledonia should declare independence from France. The results were more people wanted to stay in France than leave.
A dam is a large wall or barrier that blocks or stops the flow of water, forming a reservoir or a lake. Most dams have a section called a spillway or weir over which, or through which, water flows, either sometimes or always.
Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water. The tallest dam in the world is the 300 meter high Nurek Dam in Tajikistan.
Some of the first dams were built in Mesopotamia up to 7,000 years ago. Modern dams are built with arched walls of steel rod-reinforced concrete. The arched wall is a very strong shape which helps the wall to withstand the huge weight of the water.
There are a number of reasons that people build dams. Some countries build dams to control the flow of water in the downstream river systems, and prevent flooding. Other countries build dams to generate electricity using hydroelectric turbine generators. Other countries use dams to store water for use in irrigation (for farming) or drinking by people.
David Beckham (born 2 May 1975) is an English retired association football player. He is currently the owner of MLS team Inter Miami CF.
In June 2003, Queen Elizabeth II gave Beckham an OBE. In January 2005, Beckham became a UNICEF ambassador. Since his move from Manchester United F.C. to Real Madrid in 2003, he has been the highest paid footballer in the world.
Beckham was born in London, England. He was the son of Ted and Sandra Beckham. He grew up in the Manchester football youth system along with Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt, Phil Neville, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes who all turned out to be famous footballers.
From 1992 through 2003, he played for Manchester United in the Premier League.
After leaving Manchester United, he signed a four-year contract with Real Madrid which ended in June 2007.
From 2007 to 2012, he played for LA Galaxy in the United States. He was loaned out to AC Milan of Italy for the 2008-09 and the 2009-10 seasons before joining the Galaxy again.
He played for Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1 until the end of the 2012/13 season. After the season ended, he retired.
He played for England for 13 years, from 1996 until 2009. He was dropped from the England team after giving up his England captaincy, but regained his place in the England squad when Fabio Capello became the England manager in 2008.
Beckham's wife is singer Victoria Beckham. Some people call her Posh Spice because she was a member of the Spice Girls. The couple have three sons: Brooklyn Joseph Beckham (born 4 March 1999 in London), Romeo James Beckham (born 1 September 2002 in London), and Cruz David Beckham (born 20 February 2005 in Madrid, Spain), and a daughter Harper Beckham (born 2 July 2011). She is also the youngest member of the Beckham family.
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A sonata is a piece of music for one instrument or one instrument with another instrument accompanying. The word comes from the Italian “sonare” which means “to sound”.
A composer could call any solo instrumental piece “sonata” if he or she wants to, but usually a sonata is quite a long piece with several movements. A sonatina is a simple and short sonata.
The term "sonata" was used in the 16th century to mean anything that was not sung.
In the Baroque period (17th and early 18th centuries) many composers like Arcangelo Corelli wrote sonatas with several movements. There were two types: “sonata da camera” (“room sonata” i.e. “chamber sonata”) which were for playing in people’s homes, and “sonata da chiesa” (“church sonata”) which were for being played in churches. The first type would have harpsichord accompaniment and the second type organ accompaniment. There would also be a cello playing the bass line. The solo instrument might be a violin, flute, recorder or oboe.
At the end of the Baroque period Domenico Scarlatti wrote over 500 sonatas for harpsichord. These are all short pieces in binary form (two sections).
By the time we come to the Classical period sonatas have become longer pieces with three or four movements. They would usually start with a fast movement, then a slow one, and then a fast one at the end. If there were four movements the extra one would be a minuet and trio or a scherzo, either before or after the slow movement. The first movement would be in sonata form. The most important composers of sonatas at this time were Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven
Many composers in the Romantic period wrote sonatas, for example: Brahms wrote piano sonatas as well as sonatas for violin and piano, cello and piano, and clarinet and piano.
In the 20th century composers who have written sonatas include Bartok, Tippett and William Walton.
Sonata form
Sonata form is a way of organizing a piece of music. It has been used in several pieces since the Classical period (from the middle of the 18th century onwards). Listening to pieces of music in sonata form will help to understand it fully and it is helpful to know something about the different keys.
Sonata form is not just used in sonatas. It can be the form for movements from symphonies, concertos, overtures etc.
In the Baroque period composers like Bach and Handel wrote pieces with dance movements such as minuets. These were in “binary form”. This meant that there were two sections. The two sections were often the same length, and were separated by a double bar line which meant that each section was repeated. The music would not be in the same key all the time. The first section could modulate (change key) and then the second section would gradually modulate back again so that it sounded finished at the end.
Domenico Scarlatti wrote sonatas for harpsichord also in binary form, but long and with additional complexity. The first section would start with a theme in the main key, and then modulate to another key for contrast. The second section might be longer than the first second, starting off by modulating to remote keys before arriving back to repeat the main theme. This kind of piece is the beginning of sonata form.
Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven developed the idea of sonata form. A movement in sonata form has three sections called: “exposition”, “development” and “recapitulation”.