Oberspreewald-Lausitz (Low Sorbian: "Wokrejs Górne Błota-Łužyca") is a "Kreis" (district) in the southern part of Brandenburg, Germany.
The Spree river runs through the district; along its banks there is the Spreewald, a wooded area and home of several rare animals. The district is part of the historic region of Lusatia.
The district was made in 1993 by joining the old districts Calau and Senftenberg and small part of the district Bad Liebenwerda.
Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria
The Eastern Orthodox Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa is the head of the Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria. This has been Patriarch Theodore II of Alexandria since 2004.
Oder-Spree
Oder-Spree is a "Kreis" (district) in the eastern part of Brandenburg, Germany.
The district is named after the two major rivers in the district - the Spree, and the Oder river which is the eastern border.
The district was created in 1993 by joining the districts of Eisenhüttenstadt, Beeskow and Fürstenwalde, and the independent city Eisenhüttenstadt.
Cockburn Island, Ontario
Cockburn Island is an island in the Canadian province of Ontario, found in the Manitoulin District. It has the least number of people living in it while still being a municipality of Canada. It had a population of 2 people in 2006. There is an Indian reservation, or place where Indians live, on Cockburn Island.
Ostprignitz-Ruppin
Ostprignitz-Ruppin is a "Kreis" (district) in the northwestern part of Brandenburg, Germany.
The modern district was made in 1993 by joining the old districts Kyritz, Neuruppin and Wittstock. The district roughly covers the same territory as the two historic districts Ostprignitz and Ruppin.
Thomas Morley
Thomas Morley (born at Norwich?, 1557 or 1558; died at London, October 1602) was an English composer, music theorist and organist. He was the most important English composer of madrigals. He studied the madrigals by Italian composers and created the tradition of the English madrigal, a tradition that became extremely popular, but which only lasted about 30 years.
Morley’s father was a brewer who lived in Norwich, so it is likely that Morley was born there. He may have been a choirboy in Norwich Cathedral. We know that in 1583 he got the job of organist there. In a book he published later in his life he said that William Byrd was his master. If this means that he had lessons from Byrd he must have travelled away from Norwich. In 1588 he got a degree from Oxford, and soon afterwards he became an organist at St. Paul's Cathedral in London.
In 1588 Nicholas Yonge published a book called "Musica transalpina". It was a collection of Italian madrigals with words translated into English. Soon after this Morley started to publish his own madrigals. In 1592 he became a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal.
In London Morley lived near Shakespeare. We do not know whether the two men worked together, but Morley did set Shakespeare’s words "It was a lover and his lass" from "As You Like It". We do not know whether it was ever used in a performance of Shakespeare's play. It is quite possible, because Morley was well-known.
From 1593 onwards Morley published a great deal of music and also made a lot of money out of music publishing, both of his own and other composers’ music.
It is thought that Morley died in October 1602.
Morley wrote sacred music as well as madrigals. His church music is strongly influenced by William Byrd.
His madrigals are his most important works. They are often very lively and have tunes that are easy to sing. One of his best known madrigals is called "Now is the Month of Maying". He started by using the Italian style and changed it to make it sound English. The madrigals of Thomas Weelkes and John Wilbye are usually more serious.
As well as madrigals, Morley wrote music for instruments, including keyboard music. Some of his pieces are in the famous collection called "Fitzwilliam Virginal Book"). He also wrote music for the typically English combination of two viols, flute, lute, cittern and bandora.
Morley wrote a book about music theory called "Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke". It was published in 1597 and was read by many people for two centuries after his death. It tells us a lot about how music was performed in Morley’s
Hans Sebald Beham
Hans Sebald Beham (1500–1550) was a German printmaker who did his best work as an engraver. He also designed woodcuts, painted and worked as a miniaturist. He is one of the most important of the "Little Masters", a group of German artists making old master prints in the generation after Albrecht Dürer.
Beham was born in Nuremberg in 1500 into a family of artists. In 1525, he and his brother were banished from Nuremberg because they were thought to have not accepted the Churches ideas (heresy) and blasphemy. They came back to the city in 3 months, but Beham was banished again in 1528 for publishing a book which was plagiarised from an unpublished manuscript by Albrecht Dürer.
From 1532 he lived mostly in Frankfurt until he died in 1550.
Most people know him as "Sebald Beham". However, he signed some of his prints before 1532 with "HSP". After he moved to Frankfurt, he signed his prints with "HSB".
Beham made about 252 engravings, 18 etchings and 1500 woodcuts. He worked on small, very detailed engravings (sometimes as small as a postage stamp). This makes him part of the German printmaking school called the "Little Masters", since their works were so small. He created and published his works himself, but his larger works were mostly commissioned work to be sold.
He also made prints to be used as cards, wallpaper, coats of arms, designs for other artists and designs for stained or painted glass. He also painted a table top (now in the Louvre ) for Cardinal Albrecht, Archbishop of Mainz.
Beham mostly engraved pictures of peasants and scenes from myths or history, sometimes with erotic scenes as well. Since he was working at the same time as Dürer, the most recognised artist at the time, one of his early woodcuts, "Head of Christ", was thought to have been done by Dürer. Beham also worked with his brother Barthel, and shared ideas with him. Later, he re-drew some of Dürer's works like gus Melancholia of 1539.
After publishing a book about drawing horses, for which he was exiled, he wrote a book on drawing the human figure. His book was mostly just a simplified book of Dürer's own books, but his book was easier to use and cheaper than Dürer's books, so artists preferred to buy his.
Potsdam-Mittelmark
Potsdam-Mittelmark is a "Kreis" (district) in the western part of Brandenburg, Germany.
The district was created in 1993 by joining the old districts Belzig, Brandenburg-Land and Potsdam-Land.
Skinny jeans
Skinny jeans are a style of denim jeans that have straight legs and tend to crumple around the ankles. They are called "skinny jeans" because they give you a thin figure. This style was started in the 1980s to make a retro-punk look. This style came to life again in late 2006 by Avril Lavigne in one of her music videos. They are usually used for a gothic-punk look or retroand hip-hop
John Wilbye
John Wilbye (pronounce: “WIL-bee”), (born Diss, Norfolk, baptised 7 March 1574; died Colchester, between September and November 1638), was an English composer who was famous for his madrigals.
Wilbye was the son of a tanner. He was supported financially by a rich family called Kytson. The Kytsons were very musical and had lots of musical instruments and sheet music in their house. It is thought that he went with Elizabeth Cornwallis to Hengrave Hall near Bury St. Edmunds in around 1594 when she married Sir Thomas Kytson the Younger. When Elizabeth died, Wilbye moved to Colchester where he lived with Elizabeth’s youngest daughter with whom he had a long friendship. When Wilbye died he was quite rich.