OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Gonzaga, Eleonora

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GONZAGA, ELEONORA,
Daughter of Francis the Second, Marquis of Mantua, was united, when very young, to the Duke of Urbino. She was celebrated for her devotion to her husband, who was deposed by Pope Leo the Tenth, in favour of Lorenzo de Medicis. The duke would have sunk under this misfortune, but for the strength of mind and tenderness of his wife. On the death of Lorenzo in 1492, the dukedom was restored to its rightftd owner. Two sons and three daughters were the fruit of this union. Eleonora, by the chastity and severity of her manners, reformed the morals of her court.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Gonzaga, Isabella de

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GONZAGA, ISABELLA DE,
Wife of Guido Ubaldo de Montefeltro, Duke d'Urbino, was aunt Eleonora Gonzaga, who married the successor of her husband, This lady is celebrated for her conjugal fidelity and attachment. Her husband who was sick and infirm, was driven from his dominions by Caesar Borgia. In his distress, he implored the assistance of Louis the Twelfth of France; but he dared not comply with this request, lest he should draw on himself the resentment of the house of Borgia. The duke then intimated to the King of France, that, in consequence of his infirm health, he was willing to enter into holy orders, and divorce Isabella, whom a ceremony only made his wife. The duchess was powerfully solicited, in consequence of this declaration of her husband, to make another choice, but she resolutely refused. She devoted herself to the duke in his adversity with the tenderest affection. After his death, she abandoned herself to an excessive and unfeigned sorrow. She had been married twenty years, and devoted the rest of her life to the memory of her husband.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Gomez, Magdalene Angelina Paisson de

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GOMEZ, MAGDALENE ANGELINA PAISSON DE,
A French author, was the daughter of Paul Paisson, a player, and born at Paris, in 1684. She married M. de Gomez, a Spanish gentleman of small fortune, in whose circumstances she was deceived. She, however, procured sufficient, by her writings, to live at St. Germaine-en-Laye; she died there in 1770. Her works were numerous, chiefly romances, which were well written, and have been much esteemed. Those most celebrated were "Les Journées Amusantes," eight vols.; "Crementine," two vols.; "Anecdotes Persans," two vols.; "Les Cent Nouvelles," eight vols. She also wrote several tragedies, which were unsuccessful.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Gonzaga, Lucretia

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GONZAGA, LUCRETIA,
An illustrious Italian lady of the sixteenth century, was as remarkable for her wit and learning, as for high birth. She wrote such beautiful letters, that the utmost care was taken to preserve them; and a collection of them was printed at Venice in 1552. There is no learning in her letters, yet we perceive by them that she was learned; for, in a letter to Robertellus, she says, that his Commentaries had shewn her the true meaning of several obscure passages in Aristotle and Æschylus. All the wits of her time commended her highly; and Hortensio Lando, besides singing her praises, dedicated to her a piece written in Italian, "Upon moderating the passions of the soul." They corresponded, and more than thirty of her letters to him have been printed.
We learn from these letters that her marriage with John Paul Manfrone was unhappy. She was not fourteen when she was married to him against her consent; yet she treated him with due respect and obedience, though his conduct gave her great uneasiness. He engaged in a conspiracy against the Duke of Ferrara; was detected and imprisoned by him; but, though condemned, not put to death. She did all in her power to obtain his release; applied to every man of importance in Christendom to intercede for him; and even solicited the Grand Seignor to make himself master of the castle where her husband was kept. But her endeavours were vain, for he died in prison; after having shewn such impatience under his sufferings as made many persons imagine that he had lost his senses. She lived afterwards in honourable widowhood, though several men of rank were her suitors; but she resolutely rejected all such offers, declaring frankly on one occasion, that she had suffered too much in a conjugal state again to subject herself to the yoke, from which God had freed her, even though a husband richer than Crœsus, wiser than Lelius, or handsomer than Nireus, should offer himself. Of four daughters which Lucretia bore to her husband, two only survived, whom he dedicated to a conventual life.
Her writings were held in so much esteem, for the graces of her ​style, that even the notes she wrote to her domestics were carefully collected, and many of them preserved in the edition of her letters. She was a kind mistress, careful even to the settlement of her domestics in life, as a reward for their services. She wrote many letters to her friends and acquaintances on various subjects, in a strain of admirable morality; and in all her conduct was an example to her sex, and a blessing to society.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Osterwyk, Maria van

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OSTERWYK, MARIA VAN,
A Dutch artist, gave such early proofs of her genius, that her father was induced to place her under the direction of John David de Heem, at Utrecht. She studied nature attentively, and improved so much by her master's precepts, that, in a short time, her works rivalled his. Her favourite subjects were flowers and still life, which she painted in a delicate manner, and with great freedom of hand. She had so much skill as to adapt her touch to the different objects she imitated. She grouped her flowers with taste, and imitated their freshness and bloom admirably. Louis the Fourteenth was exceedingly pleased with her performances, and honoured one with a place in his cabinet; as also did the Emperor and Empress of Germany, who sent to this artist their own miniatures set in diamonds as a mark of their esteem. King William the Third gave her nine hundred florins for one picture, and she ​was much more highly rewarded for another by the King of Poland. As she spent a great deal of time over her works, she could finish but few comparatively, which has rendered her paintings extremely scarce and valuable.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Paladini, Archangela

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PALADINI, ARCHANGELA,
An Italian historical painter, was born at Pisa, in 1599, and died in 1622, aged twenty-three. She was the daughter of Filippo Paladini, an eminent artist of that city, who instructed her in the art. She attained great excellence in portrait-painting, and also excelled in embroidery and music, and sang exquisitely. These uncommon talents, united with an agreeable person, procured her the friendship of Maria Magdalena, archduchess of Austria, who lived at Florence, and in whose court this artist spent the last years of her life.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Orleans, Marie d'

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ORLEANS, MARIE D',
Was the third daughter of Louis Philippe, the King of the French. Her genius was the pride of her family, and her early death was a sore affliction, for she possessed great loveliness of character, and her piety and intelligence made her truly beloved and respected. Early manifesting artistic talent, and having made good proficiency in drawing and painting, she essayed her powers as a sculptor. Several of her productions in marble won the critical commendation of the best judges, not over-willing to concede this laurel to a woman, even though a king's daughter. She finally determined to attempt a work which would be associated with the most wonderful epoch of French history, and one of the most noble heroines the world has ever produced. This was the figure of Joan of Arc, completed in 1836, which places the artist at the head of the French sculptors. It may very confidently be predicted that, in future years, when the political agitations and mutations in the Orleans family will occupy an unregarded page of general history, when the Ulyssean craft of the father and the "regal alliance" of the sons will be of no interest to mankind, then the immortal fruits of the genius of this unassuming young woman will cast a lustre over the name of Orleans.
In the fourteenth and beginning of the fifteenth centuries, amidst the disgusting barbarities, the perfidious warfare, the licentiousness, that form the annals of that most disgraceful period of French history, what name is it that we turn to with interest, what figure do we contemplate with some congeniality? Not the brute warriors, nor manœuvring statesmen, but the poet, Charles d'Orleans, whose verses, from their national spirit, paved the way to the deliverance and regeneration afterwards effected by the maiden of Domremy.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Pakington, Lady Dorothy

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PAKINGTON, LADY DOROTHY,
Daughter of Lord Coventry, and wife of Sir John Pakington, was eminent for her learning and piety, and ranked among her friends several celebrated divines. "The Whole Duty of Man" was ascribed to her at first, though the mistake has been discovered. Her acknowledged works are, "The Gentlemen's Calling," "The Ladies' Calling," "The Government of the Tongue," "The Christian's Birthright," and "The Causes of the Decay of Christian Piety." Her theological works arc strictly orthodox, and evince ardent piety of ​feeling. She was, at the time of her decease, engaged in a work entitled "The Government of the Thoughts," which was praised, in high terms, by Dr. Fell; but this work she did not finish. Lady Pakington had received a learned education, which was not at that time uncommon to give to women of high rank; that she used her talents and learning wisely and well, we have this testimony in the writings of Dr. Fell. He says of her, "Lady Pakington was wise, humble, temperate, chaste, patient, charitable, and devout; she lived a whole age of great austerities, and maintained in the midst of them an undisturbed serenity." She died May 10th., 1679.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Pamphila

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PAMPHILA,
A Grecian authoress, who flourished in Nero's reign, and wrote a general history in thirty-three books, much commended by the ancients, but not extant. She died in the first century after Christ.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Panzacchia, Maria Elena

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PANZACCHIA, MARIA ELENA,
Was born at Bologna, in 1668, of a noble family. She learned design under Emilio Taruffl, and in a few years acquired great readiness in composition, correctness of outline, and,a lovely tint of colouring. Besides history, she also excelled in painting landscapes; and by the beauty of her situations and distances, allured and entertained the eye of every beholder. The figures which she inserted had abundance of grace; she designed them with becoming attitudes, and gave them a lively and natural expression. Her merit was incontestably acknowledged, and her works were so much prized as to be exceedingly scarce, few being found out of Bologna. She died in 1709.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Orpah

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ORPAH,
A Moabitish damsel, who married Chillon, the youngest of the two sons of Elimelech and Naomi, Israelites from Bethlehem-judah. Her story is included in the Book of Ruth; and though but a glimpse is afforded, the character is strikingly defined. Orpah, ​signifies, in the Hebrew, the open mouth, a name given her to denote her quick sensibility and lack of firmness. She was a creature of feeling, bat there was wanting the strength of will to perform what she had purposed as duty. After the death of Elimelech and his two sons, Naomi, with her two young daughters-in-law, set out to return to her own land; Orpah seemingly more earnest than Ruth to accompany Naomi. But when the trials of the undertaking were set before them, Orpah "kissed" her mother-in-law, and went "back to her people and her gods."
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Pacheco, Donna Maria

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PACHECO, DONNA MARIA,
Wife of Don John de Padilla, a young nobleman, who was at the head of the confederacy in Castile, during the minority of Charles the Fifth, called the Holy Junta, raised to recover those laws and liberties the Castilians had always prized so highly. During their hostile operations, they were in much distress for money. Donna Maria, a woman of great abilities and unbounded ambition, proposed to seize all the magnificent ornaments in the cathedral of Toledo; but lest that action, apparently sacrilegious, should offend the people, she and her retinue went in a solemn procession to the church, and implored pardon of the saints, whose shrines she was about to violate. The populace thus appeased, they stripped the cathedral, and obtained the necessary funds.
In a subsequent engagement, in 1521, the young and brave Padilla was taken prisoner, and condemned to death. He wrote an affectionate letter to his wife, exhorting her to consider his death as his deliverance. This blow was fatal to the confederacy. The city of Toledo alone, animated by Donna Maria, who sought to revenge her husband's death, held out. The prudence and vigour with which she acted justified the confidence the people reposed in her. She wrote to the French general, encouraging him to invade Navarre; she endeavoured to arouse the other Castilian cities; raised soldiers; and, by keeping the death of their beloved general fresh in the minds of the people, she prevented them from being dispirited. Her enemies in vain endeavoured to undermine her popularity; the city was invested, but she defended it so vigorously that no progress was made in reducing it, till the clergy, whose property she had been forced to invade, openly deserted her, and persuaded the credulous multitude that her influence over them was the effect of enchantment; and that she was assisted by a familiar spirit in the form of a negro maid. Incensed at these suggestions, they themselves took up arms against her, drove her out of the city, and surrendered it to the royalists. She then retired to the citadel, which she defended with amazing fortitude, four months longer; and, when reduced to the last extremity, fled in disguise to Portugal, where she had many relations, and where she passed the remainder of her life.
# A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Panthea

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PANTHEA,
Wife of Abradatas, King of the Lusians, was taken prisoner by Cyrus the Great. Though the most beautiful woman of her time, Cyrus treated her with a delicacy and forbearance very unusual in those times, and permitted her to send for her husband. Out of gratitude to Cyrus, Abradatas became his ally, and was slain while fighting for him against the Egyptians. Panthea killed herself on the dead body of her husband, and was buried in the same grave.
# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/A

From volume 1 of the work.
​A. The name of the sixth degree of the natural scale of C. The reason of its being applied to the sixth instead of the first degree will be found explained in the article Alphabet. It represents the same note in English or German, and in French and Italian is called La.
A is the note given (usually by the oboe, or by the organ if there be one) for the orchestra to tune to, and it is also the note to which French and German tuning-forks are set, the English being usually tuned to C.
[ F. T. ]
# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/A'Kempis, Florentino

From volume 1 of the work.
​A'KEMPIS, Florentino, organist of St. Gudule, at Brussels, about the middle of the 17th century; composed three symphonies (Antwerp, 1644, 1647, and 1649), 'Missae et Motetta' (Antwerp, 1650), and another mass for eight voices.
# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/A Capriccio

From volume 1 of the work.
​A CAPRICCIO (Ital.). 'At the caprice' or pleasure of the performer, both as regards time and expression.
# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/A Capella

From volume 1 of the work.
​A CAPELLA, or ALLA CAPELLA (Ital., 'in the church style'), is used in three senses, (1) as showing that the piece is for voices without accompaniment; or (2) where instruments are employed, that these accompany the voices only in unisons or octaves and have no independent parts; or (3) as a time indication, in which case it is equivalent to Alla breve.
# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/4:8

* Zerrahn, Carl
* Zeugheer, Jakob
* Zeuner, Charles
* Zimmermann, Agnes
* Zimmermann, Pierre
* Zingara, La
* Zingarelli, Niccolò
* Zinke
* Zither
* Zoo, The
* Zopf
* Zopff, Hermann
* Zoppa, Alla
* Zora
* Zukunftsmusik
* Zulehner, from Appendix
* Zumsteeg, Johann
* Zur Mühlen, Raimund von, from Appendix
* Zwillingsbrüder, Die
* Zwischenspiel
# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Animuccia, Paolo

From volume 1 of the work.
[ E. H. P. ]
# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Anerio, Giovanni

From volume 1 of the work.
[ E. H. P. ]
# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Anglebert, Jean

From volume 1 of the work.
[ M. C. C. ]
# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Animato

From volume 1 of the work.
[ E. P. ]
# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Angrisani, Carlo

From volume 1 of the work.
[ J. M. ]
# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Animuccia, Giovanni

From volume 1 of the work.
​ANIMUCCIA, Giovanni, an Italian composer, born at Florence at the end of the 15th or the beginning of the 16th century. He studied music under Claudeo Goudimel, and in 1555 was made Maestro at the Vatican, retaining that post until his death. He died beyond all question in 1571, for, although Poccianti in his 'Catalogus Scriptorum Florentinorum' places his death in 1569, Adami, Pitoni, and Sonzonio all give the date 1571. But better than any such authority are two entries in the Vatican Archives, one of his death in March 1571, and the other of the election of Palestrina in his place in April following. There can be no doubt, although his fame and his work were so soon to be eclipsed by the genius of Palestrina, that his music was a great advance upon the productions of the Flemish school. More than one passage in the dedications of his published pieces show too that he was touched by the same religious spirit of responsibility which filled the soul of Palestrina; and the friendship of Saint Filippo Neri, which they both shared, is alone an indication of that similarity. The saint's admiration of Animuccia may be gauged by his ecstatic declaration that he had seen the soul of his friend fly upwards towards heaven.
Animuccia composed the famous 'Laudi,' which were sung at the Oratorio of S. Filippo after the conclusion of the regular office, and out of the dramatic tone and tendency of which the 'Oratorio' is said to have been developed. Hence he has been called the 'Father of the Oratorio.' It is strange that a form of music which Protestantism has made so completely its own should have been adopted, even to its very name, from the oratory of a Catholic enthusiast in the later ages of the Church's power.
Several volumes of his works, comprising masses, motetti, madrigals, Magnificats, and some of the 'Laudi,' were published in his lifetime by the Dorici and their successors, by ​Gardano, and by the successors of Baldo. Martini inserted two of his ' Agnus' in his 'Esemplare'—also reprinted by Choron, 'Principes,' vol. v. But the bulk of his compositions is probably in MS.
[ E. H. P. ]
# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Anerio, Felice

From volume 1 of the work.
[ E. H. P. ]
# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Anet, Baptiste

From volume 1 of the work.
​ANET, Baptiste, a French violinist, pupil of Corelli. After studying for four years under that great master at Rome, he appears to have returned to Paris about 1700, and to have met with the greatest success. There can be little doubt that by his example the principles of the great Italian school of violin-playing were first introduced into France. Probably owing to the jealousy of his French colleagues Anet soon left Paris again, and is said to have spent the rest of his life as conductor of the private band of a nobleman in Poland.
[ P. D. ]
# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Anfossi, Pasquale

From volume 1 of the work.
​ANFOSSI, Pasquale, an operatic composer of the 18th century. Born at Naples in or about 1729 [App. p.523 "1736"]. He first studied the violin, but deserted that instrument for composition, and took lessons in harmony from Piccinni, who was then in the zenith of his fame. His two first operas, 'Caio Mario' and 'I Visionari,' the first brought out in Venice, the second in Rome, were failures; but his third, 'L'Incognita persequitata,' made his fortune. Its success was partly owing to the ill-feeling of a musical clique in Rome towards Piccinni, whom they hoped to depreciate by the exaltation of a rival. Anfossi lent himself to their intrigues, and treated his old master and ​benefactor with great ingratitude. In his own turn he experienced the. fickleness of the Roman public of that day, and quitting, first the capital, and afterwards Italy, brought out a long string of operas in Paris, London, Prague, and Berlin, with varying success. He returned to Italy in 1784, and to Rome itself in 1787. Tiring of the stage, he sought for and obtained the post of Maestro at the Lateran, and held it till his death [App. p.523 "Feb. 1797"].
The music of Anfossi was essentially ephemeral; he was the fashion in his day, and for a time eclipsed his betters. But, although a musician of undoubted talent, he was destitute of real creative power, and it is not likely that his reputation will ever be rehabilitated. He composed no less than forty-six operas and one oratorio, besides certain pieces of church-music, some of which are in the collection of the Lateran and others were in that of the Abbé Santini.
[ E. H. P. ]
# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Anglaise

From volume 1 of the work.
[ E. P. ]
# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Bourrée

From volume 1 of the work.
[ E. P. ]
# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Bow

From volume 1 of the work.
​BOW. The strings of the various instruments of the violin tribe are made to vibrate by friction with the hair of the bow. Like the violin, the bow went through many progressive phases, till, at the end of last century, it acquired its present shape, which seems to leave no room for improvement. The bow with which the Rebec (the oldest stringed instrument played with the bow with which we are acquainted) was played, had the form of the weapon from which it derived its name. The stick was much bent, and a cord or string was tied from one end to the other. (Fig. 1.)
In pictures of the 13th century we notice something like a nut and head, and hair was possibly used in place of the cord. The bow now gradually loses more and more the actual bow-shape (Figs. 2, 3, 4); the head is distinct from the stick, and the nut is no longer a portion of the stick, but is attached to it by a wire. On the top of the stick a narrow piece of indented iron is fixed, on which the wire is hooked, and thus the hair made tighter or looser at pleasure. (Fig. 5.) The next step consisted in the substitution of a screw for the wire and indented iron, by which the tension of the hair could be perfectly regulated. This was Corelli's bow. (Fig. 6.) It was made of light wood, the stick perfectly straight, hardly if at all elastic, and very short. Tartini's bow (Fig. 7) was considerably longer, the wood thinner, and more elastic.
Towards the end of the 18th century Francois Tourte brought the art of bow-making to perfection, and created a model on which no improvement has been yet made. In fact his bow ​combines all the qualities required to enable the player to follow out every conceivable nuance of tone and movement—lightness, firmness, and elasticity. The stick of the modern violin bow (Fig. 8) is made of Brazilian lance-wood (Duguetia quitarensis) or of Snake-wood (Brosimum aubletii); it is cut straight, following the grain of the wood, and afterwards slightly bent by exposure to heat. Although many trials have been made no wood has been found to possess the necessary qualities in the same degree as those mentioned.
[ P. D. ]
# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Bourgeois, Louis Thomas

From volume 1 of the work.
[ F. G. ]
# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Bousquet, Georges

From volume 1 of the work.
[ M. C. C. ]