known as Lord Byron (born Jan. 22, 1788, London, Eng.—died April 19, 1824, Missolonghi, Greece) British Romantic poet and satirist. Born with a clubfoot and extremely sensitive about it, he was 10 when he unexpectedly inherited his title and estates. Educated at Cambridge, he gained recognition with English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (1809), a satire responding to a critical review of his first published volume, Hours of Idleness (1807). At 21 he embarked on a European grand tour. Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–18), a poetic travelogue expressing melancholy and disillusionment, brought him fame, while his complex personality, dashing good looks, and many scandalous love affairs, with women and with boys, captured the imagination of Europe. Settling near Geneva, he wrote the verse tale The Prisoner of Chillon (1816), a hymn to liberty and an indictment of tyranny, and Manfred (1817), a poetic drama whose hero reflected Byron's own guilt and frustration. His greatest poem, Don Juan (1819–24), is an unfinished epic picaresque satire in ottava rima. Among his numerous other works are verse tales and poetic dramas. He died of fever in Greece while aiding the struggle for independence, making him a Greek national hero. Copyright © 1994-2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

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Jenna Bush, one of President Bush's twin daughters, and Henry Hager were married Saturday evening (May 10, 2008) in a very private ceremony on her parents' 1,600-acre ranch near Crawford, Texas.

The president walked his daughter down the aisle before 200 guests in an outdoor ceremony.

The wedding took place before a white limestone altar topped by a 4-foot cross erected next to a man-made lake. Jenna and Henry exchanged vows just as the sun set.

Afterward, guests dined under a tent and danced to Super T and his band. Jenna and Henry reportedly danced their first dance to Taj Mahal's Lovin' in My Baby's Eyes.

The president danced with his newlywed daughter to Joe Cocker's Your Are So Beautiful.

The bride wore a beaded organza dress, with a small train, designed by Oscar de la Renta. The groom sported a blue suit with a pale blue tie.

There had been speculation about a grand White House wedding, fueled in part by her mother, First Lady Laura Bush, saying it would be "a lot of fun."

Jenna said she considered a White House wedding, but told Vogue magazine: "that's not really my personality. There's a glamour to it, I know, but Henry and I are far less glamorous than the White House."

Bush and Hager were engaged in August 15, 2007. Hager proposed to her after a pre-dawn hike on Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park in Maine.

"It's supposedly where the sun first hits the United States," Bush said in a television interview that was broadcast Sept. 28 on ABC's 20/20 TV program.

"I did not want to go hiking at 4 in the morning," she said. "It was freezing. But we got up, and we hiked in the dark for an hour and a half, and then when we got towards the top, with the sunrise, he asked me."

The two have been dating for several years. Bush, described Hager as "smart," a "hard worker," "open-minded," "fun" and "very supportive."

Henry Chase Hager was born May 9, 1978. He worked on Bush's re-election campaign 2004 and is a former White House aide to Karl Rove. He is in his final year in the MBA program at the University of Virginia.

Born November 25, 1981, in Dallas, Texas, Jenna Welch Bush was born one minute after her fraternal twin sister, Barbara. She was named after her maternal grandmother Jenna Hawkins.

"It's supposedly where the sun first hits the United States," Bush said in a television interview that was broadcast Sept. 28 on ABC's 20/20 TV program.

"I did not want to go hiking at 4 in the morning," she said. "It was freezing. But we got up, and we hiked in the dark for an hour and a half, and then when we got towards the top, with the sunrise, he asked me."

The two have been dating for several years. Bush, described Hager as "smart," a "hard worker," "open-minded," "fun" and "very supportive."

Henry Chase Hager was born May 9, 1978. He worked on Bush's re-election campaign 2004 and is a former White House aide to Karl Rove. He is in his final year in the MBA program at the University of Virginia.

Born November 25, 1981, in Dallas, Texas, Jenna Welch Bush was born one minute after her fraternal twin sister, Barbara. She was named after her maternal grandmother Jenna Hawkins.

After the election, Bush taught third grade at Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School in Washington, D.C, for a year and a half. She also visited Africa with her mother and published two children's books.

Jenna Bush wrote Ana's Story, based on the life of a 17-year-old Latin American single mother infected with HIV. She met the mother while working as an intern for UNICEF, teaching in four countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

She also co-authored Read All About It! with her mother, a book urging children to read.

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Akon Biography
Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam, often going by the shorter Aliaune Thiam (born 14 October 1981 in St. Louis, Missouri; raised in Dakar, Senegal), and better known by stage name Akon, is a Grammy Award-nominated Senegalese hip-hop and R&B singer, songwriter, record producer, and record executive. He is the founder of both Konvict Muzik and Kon Live Distribution. Other sources have his name as Alioune Badara Thiam.

Akon is the son of jazz percussionist Mor Thiam. He grew up in Senegal until he was seven, split time between Senegal and the U.S. until he was fifteen, then his family permantently moved to Jersey City, New Jersey and as such he speaks English, French, and Wolof. In Jersey City he attended Snyder High School,[citation needed] where he discovered hip hop music. His first song was entitled "Operations of Nature," which he recorded at age 15. However, he was jailed for armed robbery and drug distribution charges, and used his time in prison to work on his music. Upon release, Akon began writing and recording tracks in his home studio. The tapes found their way to SRC/Universal, which released Akon's debut LP Trouble in June 2004. The album is a hybrid of Akon's silky, West African-styled vocals mixed with East Coast and Southern beats.





Akon's solo debut album, Trouble was released on June 29, 2004. It spawned the hit singles "Locked Up" and "Lonely," as well as "Belly Dancer (Bananza)," "Pot Of Gold," and "Ghetto." "Locked Up" reached the top 10 in the U.S. and the top five in the UK, and was written after Akon served time in jail for grand theft auto. His manager Robert Montanez was shot to death following a dispute in New Jersey in December 2005. "Ghetto" became a radio hit when it was remixed to include verses from legendary rappers 2Pac and The Notorious B.I.G. In 2005, he released the single "Lonely" (which samples Bobby Vinton's "Mr. Lonely"). The song reached the top five on the Billboard Hot 100, and topped the charts in Australia, the UK and Germany. His album also climbed to number one in the UK in April, 2005. When music channel The Box had a top ten weekly chart, which was calculated by the amount of video requests, Akon's "Lonely" became the longest running single on the top of the chart, spanning over 15 weeks. In 2005, Akon gained more popularity after being featured on Young Jeezy's debut album, Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101, on the song "Soul Survivor" which became a top five hit on the Billboard Hot 100. Akon served a three-year jail sentence for grand theft auto, an experience that inspired his Locked Up.

Akon's sophomore album, entitled Konvicted, was released on November 14, 2006. Konvicted included collaborations with Eminem, Snoop Dogg and Styles P. Late August 2006, Akon released the single "Smack That" featuring Eminem, from the album. This single peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and remained there for five weeks. The music video for "Smack That" was directed by Raymond Garced. "I Wanna Love You", the second single off Konvicted, was released in September 2006. It is a collaboration between Akon and Snoop Dogg. This single earned Akon his first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100, and Snoop's second. "I Wanna Love You" topped the U.S. charts for two consecutive weeks. In January 2007, Akon released his third single "Don't Matter" which so far has reached five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Konvicted debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 285,000 copies in its first week. After only six weeks, Konvicted sold more than one million records in the U.S. and more than 1.3 million worldwide. Konvicted has continued to stay in the top twenty of the Billboard 200 after 14 weeks, and it peaked on three consecutive weeks, not including its debut. Currently it has sold more than 1.5 million records in the U.S. and 2.2 million worldwide.

On the week of October 5, Akon broke a record on the Hot 100, as he achieved the largest climb in the chart's 48-year-history with "Smack That" jumping from number 95 to number seven. The song's monstrous leap is fueled by its number six debut on Hot Digital Songs with 67,000 downloads sold.

In 2006, Akon started his new record label Kon Live Distribution under Interscope Records. The first artist to sign was Chilli from TLC. Her debut solo album Point of View will be released under Kon Live. Earl Ray has also been signed to the label.

In December 2006, Akon's "Smack That" was nominated for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards.

He was featured on Gwen Stefani's latest album, The Sweet Escape. He made an appearance on the title track and second single, "The Sweet Escape". The song was produced by him. On December 10, 2006 both Akon and Stefani appeared as musical guests on Saturday Night Live, however they did not perform the song as Stefani had not yet learned the lyrics. "The Sweet Escape" has reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Akon collaborated with Chamillionaire on his latest mixtape entitled, Mixtape Messiah 2. He is featured on "Ridin' Overseas", which Akon also produced. The mixtape became available for download on Chamillionaire's website as of December 24, 2006.

There is a strong rumor going around that a collaborative album between Akon and Young Jeezy is in the works. It may be released later this year or possibly next year. After their 2005 Akon-produced single, "Soul Survivor", the duo says that there is a lot more to expect from them in the future. Jeezy has stated that the album will be somewhat similar to Jay-Z and R. Kelly's The Best of Both Worlds or Unfinished Business collaborative albums.

Akon is set to embark on a world tour in 2007. Starting in Africa, he'll swing through Europe and then segue to the United States. There is no word yet on supporting acts, but Akon told Billboard.com, "We'll probably get the hottest act in whatever region we're in." When asked about strong rumors that he'll be collaborating with Michael Jackson, Akon just laughed, saying only, "Right now that's in the air. I can't talk about it." He offers up the same laugh and vague response when queried about working on Elton John's next album. Akon was also effusive about another upcoming collaboration: Whitney Houston. "I'm working on more uptempo records for her," he says. "She's been through a lot and has a dark history. So we've got to make the album brighter because she's come out of the cave now. She wants a celebration. She needs to come back to the old Whitney we remember."

Akon is rumored to make an appearance on Papoose's major label debut album, The Nacirema Dream. Currently the track, "Go to War (Ghetto Soldier)" on which Akon is featured, is tentative. The Nacirema Dream is slated to be released March 2007.

Akon is scheduled to appear on Bone Thugs-N-Harmony's upcoming album Strength and Loyalty. He will be featured on the album's lead single entitled "I Tried", which will be released in February, 2007. He is also rumoured to be featured on the second single as well, which is "Never Forget Me". The album will be released on April 17, 2007.

Not for Sale, Kardinal Offishall's fourth solo album, and his first as a member of Konvict Muzik, is scheduled for release in early 2007. The Toronto-based rapper's album will feature established artists such as Lil' Wayne, De La Soul, Clipse, Rihanna and Stat Quo. It is confirmed that Akon will be the executive producer of the album.

Three 6 Mafia's eight studio album, Da Last 2 Walk is expected to feature guest appearances by Akon in addition to appearances from T.I., Paul Wall, Lil' Scrappy, Young Buck and more. It will be released Spring 2007.

T.I.'s 5th album, T.I. vs. T.I.P., is scheduled for release in the summer of 2007. It will boast production from high profile producers such as Dr. Dre, Eminem, Lil Jon, Just Blaze, Timbaland, as well as Akon. Akon is also expected to make a guest appearance on the album.

We The Best is the upcoming sophomore album from DJ Khaled, scheduled for release in the summer of 2007. The lead single, "We Takin' Over" will feature T.I., Rick Ross, Fat Joe, Lil Wayne and Birdman as well as Akon.

Akon is rumoured to be featured on Juvenile's upcoming album, entitled Diary of a Soulja. "The Verdict" and "I'm So Fly" are two tracks that Akon is featured on and may make the album. The album is schelduled to be released during the third quarter of 2007.

Epiphany, the sophomore album by T-Pain will be executively produced by Akon. The album is expected to be released sometime 2007.

Upcoming Aftermath rapper, G.A.G.E. will release his debut solo album, The Soundtrack To My Life sometime in 2007 and is expected to feature production from Dr. Dre, Scott Storch, Cool & Dre and others. The album can expect to have appearances from Akon, Busta Rhymes, The Game, Snoop Dogg, Rick Ross, T.I., and many more.

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50 cent

More so than any other music since the blues, hip-hop is all about stories. And its stories are both criminal minded and grand, making them enthralling and unbelievable, but also making them only as interesting and convincing as the teller. That's why, despite being blackballed by the industry, without a major-label recording contract, heads still gravitated to Jamaica, Queens' realest son, 50 Cent, like the planets to the sun. 50 Cent, born Curtis Jackson 26 years ago, is the real deal, the genuine article. He's a man of the streets, intimately familiar with its codes and its violence, but still, 50, an incredibly intelligent and deliberate man, holds himself with a regal air as if above the pettiness which surrounds him. Couple his true-life hardship with his knack for addictive, syrupy hooks, it's clear that 50 has exactly what it takes to ride down the road to riches and diamond rings. 50 is real, so he does real things.




Born into a notorious Queens drug dynasty during the late '70s, 50 Cent lost those closest to him at an early age. Raised without a father, 50's mother, whose name carried weight in the street (hint, hint, dummies), was found dead under mysterious circumstances before he could hit his teens. The orphaned youth was taken in by his grandparents, who provided for 50. But his desire for things would drive him to the block. Which in his case was the infamous New York Avenue, now known as Guy R. Brewer Blvd. There, 50 stepped up to get his rep up, amassing a small fortune and a lengthy rap sheet. But the birth of his son put things in perspective for the post adolescent, and 50 began to pursue rap seriously. He signed with JMJ, the label of Run DMC DJ Jam Master Jay and began learning his trade. JMJ would teach the young buck to count bars and structure songs. Unfortunately, caught up in industry limbo, there wasn't much JMJ could do for 50.


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Curtis Jackson also known as 50 cent hasent had it easy. he was born in queens 26 years ago.read on and here about his life..........
His drug dealing mother was shot right in front of him.he was an orphaned child.He has been stabbed and put in jail numerous times.in 2000, 50 cent was shot 9 times in front of his grandmothers house and rumours started he went back to selling crack.he has already made a number of songs such as in da club, no mercy no fear,50 cent is the future and tonnes more.
when he gave birth to his son he was more careful about his singing.On the 6th of february 2003 his albulm 'get rich or die trying' was released.he has been blamed for murders too.If anyone else was living this life what would you do?

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original name Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm (born December 18, 1913, Lübeck, Germany—died October 8/9, 1992, Unkel, near Bonn) German statesman, leader of the German Social Democratic Party of Germany (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, or SPD) from 1964 to 1987, and chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1969 to 1974. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1971 for his efforts to achieve reconciliation between West Germany and the countries of the Soviet bloc. Brandt passed his university entrance examination in 1932. A year later, however, when the Nazis came to power, his activities as a young Social Democrat brought him into conflict with the Gestapo, and he was forced to flee the country to escape arrest. It was at this time, while living in Norway and earning a living as a journalist, that he assumed the name Willy Brandt. When the Germans occupied Norway he escaped to Sweden, where he remained for the duration of World War II. After the war he returned to Germany as a Norwegian citizen and for a time was press attaché at the Norwegian mission in Berlin. Pressed to return to politics, he became a German citizen again and, after a period as Berlin representative of the Social Democratic Party Executive Committee, was elected a member of the federal parliament in 1949. Eight years later he became the mayor of West Berlin (1957–66), a post in which he achieved world fame. He showed great moral courage when in 1958 the Soviet Union demanded that West Berlin be given the title of a demilitarized free city and especially when the Berlin Wall was built in 1961. He succeeded Erich Ollenhauer as chairman of the SPD in 1964 and campaigned for the office of chancellor of West Germany three times—in 1961, 1965, and 1969. When the grand coalition government of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the SPD was formed in 1966, Brandt became foreign minister and vice-chancellor. His party improved its performance at the federal election in 1969 and formed a coalition government with the small Free Democratic Party, pushing the CDU into the role of opposition party for the first time. His government's first major decisions included the revaluing of the West German mark and the signing of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. The year following his election as chancellor, Brandt concentrated on foreign affairs, and he particularly sought to improve relations with East Germany, other communist countries in eastern Europe, and the Soviet Union, formulating a policy known as Ostpolitik (“eastern policy�). His efforts led to a treaty with the Soviet Union in August 1970 calling for mutual renunciation of force and the acceptance of current European borders; to a nonaggression treaty with Poland in December 1970 recognizing the Oder-Neisse Line as Poland's western boundary; and to the Big Four agreement in September 1971 on the status of Berlin. His treaty with Poland was controversial; detractors claimed that it signaled West Germany's acceptance of the permanent loss of those eastern lands stripped from Germany after World War II, while supporters praised it for opening the possibility of reuniting West and East Germany and stabilizing relations with eastern Europe. A firm supporter of a united Europe, Brandt exerted his influence to break down French objections to enlarging the European Economic Community (EEC). More than any other statesman he helped promote the entry of Britain and other countries to the EEC. Brandt resigned in May 1974 after his close aide Gunther Guillaume was unmasked as an East German spy. He remained the chairman of the SPD until 1987 and was also head of the Socialist International (the Social Democrats' umbrella organization) from 1976 to 1992. From 1979 he also headed the Independent Commission on International Development Issues, known as the Brandt Commission, a prestigious independent panel that studied world economic policies. Brandt received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1971 for his continuing work toward reconciliation between West Germany and East Germany, Poland, and the Soviet Union. He wrote several books, including Willy Brandt in Exile: Essays, Reflections and Letters, 1933–1947, translated from the German by R.W. Last (1971), and People and Politics: The Years 1960–1975, translated by J.M. Brownjohn (1978). The latter comprises Brandt's political memoirs. Copyright © 1994-2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

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Though heralded as a prospective talent at the time of his major-label debut in 1998, Canibus nonetheless became little more than a momentary phenomenon as his subsequent work failed to match the hype surrounding him. Following some underground work and cameo appearances, most notably on Wyclef Jean's "Gone Till November" remix in 1997, Canibus feuded famously with LL Cool J. The resulting exchanges -- Canibus' "Second Round K.O." and LL's "The Ripper Strikes Back," both spirited battle tracks -- garnered significant attention and, of course, promotion as well. Expectations were therefore high when Canibus unleashed his Wyclef-produced debut full-length, Can-I-Bus (1998), shortly afterward on Universal. Critics unfortunately panned the album and listeners did so as well, so Canibus receded from the spotlight quickly. He returned two years later with his follow-up for Universal, 2000 B.C., but it too found little embrace, and Canibus soon found himself returning to the underground circuit from which he came. He interestingly sought to battle his way back into the spotlight as he originally had, ultimately confronting Eminem of all rappers. The tactic proved fruitless, though, and alienated Canibus even further from the mass market. Even so, he retained a cultish following and continued to release albums independently of the majors, occasionally firing off more of the battle raps he remains most known for.
Born Germaine Williams in 1974 in Jamaica, Canibus moved to the United States with his mother at a young age. Because his mother's career required constant relocation, the family moved frequently and the soon-to-be rapper found solace within himself. His rhetorical abilities blossomed later, once hip-hop became the guiding force in his life. He began rhyming and in the mid-'90s joined a group called T.H.E.M. (The Heralds of Extreme Metaphors), which consisted also of his partner Webb. Following a fallout with his partner, Canibus pursued a solo career and began infiltrating the mix-tape circuit. By 1997, he had approached the brink of the major-label rap game, guesting regularly on high-profile releases: He contributed to "Uni-4-orm," an inclusion on the Rhyme & Reason soundtrack also featuring Heltah Skeltah and Rass Kass; "Love, Peace & Nappiness," an inclusion on the Lost Boyz's Love, Peace & Nappiness also featuring Redman and A+; "Making a Name for Ourselves," an inclusion on Common's One Day It'll All Make Sense; the non-album remix of Wyclef Jean's "Gone Till November"; and most famously, "4, 3, 2, 1," an inclusion on LL Cool J's Phenomenon also featuring Redman, DMX, and Method Man.
Of the several guest appearances, "4, 3, 2, 1" certainly meant the most, as it brought together many of New York's preeminent hardcore rappers and thus ushered Canibus into that same elite class. At the same time, however, Canibus lashed out shortly afterward with the Mike Tyson-featuring "Second Round K.O.," where he rhymed, "So I'ma let the world know the truth, you don't want me to shine/You studied my rhyme, then you laid your vocals after mine." In fact, the entirety of the song directed barbed rhymes at LL: "You walk around showin' off your body cause it sells/Plus to avoid the fact that you ain't got skills/Mad at me 'cause I kick that sh*t real niggaz feel/While 99 percent of your fans wear high heels," and so on. Shortly thereafter, LL sought his revenge, releasing "The Ripper Strikes Back" on the Survival of the Illest soundtrack (1998) and thus channeling even more attention toward Canibus. From the track's chorus ("Can-I-bus? Yes you can!") to practically every line of the verses ("You soft as a newborn baby takin' a nap/Make my dick hard with that bitch-ass track/Where you at? smokin' in some one-room flat/Suckin' on Clef's dick hopin' to come back"), LL unleashed a fury of insults and threats. The media, of course, elevated the battle to grand heights, as even MTV gave the story headlines. In the aftermath of 2Pac's and Biggie's deaths, such confrontations fascinated the rap community, and Canibus certainly capitalized on his newfound publicity.
As for his debut full-length, Can-i-bus (1998), though, the response was sobering. Critics expressed little support, and sales quickly dropped as listeners also felt genuinely disappointed. Executive produced by Wyclef, the album suffered on many levels, both production-wise and rhetorically as well (critics targeting Canibus' delivery more than his lyrics or themes). The momentum that "Second Round K.O." had generated simmered almost immediately, and it didn't help that LL's "Ripper Strikes Back" found substantial acceptance at the time as well. In the two years following the release of Can-i-bus, the rapper maintained an extremely low profile, much in contrast to the regular guest appearances he had made leading up to his debut. As a result, when he finally did return with his follow-up album, 2000 B.C. (2000), few noticed, it came and went generally unheard, and Canibus returned to the underground after parting ways with Universal. He continued to record albums and release them on the independent circuit (including 2002's Mic Club, 2003's Rip the Jacker, and 2005's Mind Control); furthermore, he retained a small base of fans as well, yet his days as the next-big-thing had clearly come and gone, as they similarly had for so many other talented rappers. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide

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in full Barry Lamar Bonds

Federal prosecutors have tripled the number of felony charges against baseball's all-time home run record holder Barry Bonds, who is accused of lying under oath about his alleged use of steroids.

The new indictment was unsealed Tuesday (May 13, 2008) in San Francisco after a judge told prosecutors to rework their initial five-count indictment of Nov. 21, 2007.

Judge Susan Illston ordered the government to rewrite the original indictment after Bonds' legal team pointed that the government can accuse a defendant of only one crime per count of an indictment.

The new indictment broke each of the old perjury charges into multiple new ones, resulting in 14 counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice. But no new lies were allged.

"Barry Bonds is innocent," the player's lead attorney, Allen Ruby, said after the new indictment was unsealed.

The charges are related to Bonds' testimony before a federal grand jury on Dec. 3, 2003. Prosecutors said Bonds lied when he was quizzed about whether he had obtained steroids and human growth hormone from Burlingame's Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO) and from trainer Greg Anderson.

Bonds plead not guilty to all counts the original indictment. If convicted, Bonds faces a maximum sentence of 24 to 30 months in prison. No date has been set for his trial.

Barry Lamar Bonds was born July 24, 1964, in Riverside, California. He made history when broke Hank Aaron's all-time Major League baseball record of 755 on August 7, 2007. But his place in baseball history has been overshadowed by allegations regarding the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

Bonds is the son of former Giant and longtime Major League outfielder Bobby Bonds, distant cousin of baseball great Reggie Jackson, and godson of the legendary Willie Mays. Bonds graduated from Arizona State and began his Major League career with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1986. He joined the San Francisco Giants in 1993. During his time with the San Francisco Giants, Bonds proved to be a dynamic hitter and started breaking records. In 2001, just three years after Mark McGwire hit a Major League record 70 home runs, Bonds set the sport on its ear with 73. Bonds denied taking steroids at anytime in 2001 when he was pursuing the season home-run record. A finicky hitter, Bonds set a Major League record for walks with 177. But he was just as attentive as he was patient, hitting 23 homers on the first or second pitch. He led all players in slugging percentage (.863) and runs scored (146). Among National Leaguers, he finished fourth in RBI and seventh in batting average (.328). Utilizing a short, yet powerful stroke, Barry hit his 500th career home run early in the 2001 season. Bonds began the 2002 season with 567 home runs and 484 stolen bases. As history's only player with at least 400 career home runs and 400 stolen bases, Bonds needed just 16 of the latter to carve out his very own 500-500 niche. After battling lung cancer and other health complications, Bonds' father, baseball great Bobby Bonds, died in August 2003. Despite this loss, he remained strong at bat, hitting 45 home runs that season and winning the National League's Most Valuable Player Award that year. Unfortunately, his success as a player was marred by accusations of steroid use.

The allegations surfaced during an investigation into the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO). The company's president and Bonds' nutritionist, Victor Conte Jr., and Bonds' trainer, Greg Anderson, were suspected of dispensing illegal performance-enhancing drugs. A close associate of both men, Bonds was called to testify before the grand jury. At the time, he denied knowingly using steroids.

Despite the controversy, Bonds had another successful season the next year, again hitting 45 home runs and winning the National MVP Award for the seventh time. But he was sidelined most of 2005 with a knee injury. When he returned to the game, he was still hitting home runs, just not as many as he used to. Bonds finished up the 2006 season with 26 home runs.

In 2007, Bonds finally beat Hank Aaron's all-time home run record of 755 in August. Despite achieving this milestone, he learned late in the 2007 season that the San Francisco Giants didn't want him back in 2008. Bonds became a free agent.

There was more bad news for him later that year. Barry Bonds was charged with perjury and obstruction of justice in his earlier grand jury testimony in November. He entered a plea of not guilty on December 7 to these charges.

On his website, Bonds posted a statement, saying in part, “Despite the charges that have been filed against me, I still have confidence in the judicial system . . . And I know that when all of this is over, I will be vindicated because I am innocent.�

Bonds has expressed an interest to play in 2008 season, but with his legal situation it is unclear whether any team will sign him.

During his career so far, Bonds earned seven National League Most Valuable Player awards, with Pittsburgh in 1990 and 1992, and with San Francisco in 1993 and four years straight between 2001 and 2004. The legendary left fielder has also won eight Gold Glove Awards for fielding excellence.

© 2008 A&E Television Networks. All rights reserved.

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original name Francesco Castelli (born Sept. 25, 1599, Bissone, Duchy of Lombardy—died Aug. 2, 1667, Rome) Italian architect who was a chief formulator of Baroque architectural style. Borromini (who changed his name in about 1627) secured a reputation throughout Europe with his striking design for a small church, S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, Rome. He differed from Gian Lorenzo Bernini and other contemporaries in basing his designs on geometric figures (modules) rather than on the proportions of the human body. Youth and education. Born to Giovanni Domenico Castelli and Anastasia Garogo, Borromini was introduced to the craft specialities of architecture when his father sent him to Milan (1608 or 1614) to learn stonecutting. After several years training in the skills and technology of both architecture and sculpture, he collected a debt owed to his father and, without informing his parents, fled to Rome in 1620. There he became a draftsman and stonemason in the office of his kinsman, Carlo Maderno, who had established himself as the major practicing architect in Italy. Celibate and irascible, Borromini dedicated himself to the discipline of architecture. Maderno quickly recognized Borromini's potential. The aging master and his young pupil worked together closely on various problems at St. Peter's, whose fundamental plan was revised by Maderno. For the Palazzo Barberini, Maderno determined a basic concept, then entrusted Borromini with the realization of specifics. A convergence of both talents produced the facade design of S. Andrea della Valle, and Borromini was permitted to undertake the lantern of the church's dome himself. Borromini's personality is apparent in these projects, though Maderno's style dominates them. A facade to be attached to the late 16th-century oval church of S. Anna dei Palafrenieri was Borromini's personal project. His attempt to integrate a five-bay front and two towers with the existing oval dome prefigured his S. Agnese in Agone (in Piazza Navona) in its placement of plastic volumes in space. Equally significant was his transformation of Maderno's plan for S. Ignazio. Through his use of pairs of free-standing columns, he suggested an articulation of space, a major characteristic of his style. Space in his structures is not merely a void but rather something corporeal, an element in itself, molded by the surrounding shell of the building. Later he would develop this concept by replacing the enclosing wall with an extensively penetrated framework, as in the Re Magi chapel. Maderno died in January 1629, three months after construction had begun at the Palazzo Barberini. The famous Gian Lorenzo Bernini was put in charge of this project, though his architectural abilities were underdeveloped. Borromini continued in a key position, working out the specifics of Maderno's plan and collaborating successfully with Bernini. The patron, however, began to draw heavily on the advice of a third designer, Pietro da Cortona, and eventually abandoned Maderno's project for the east facade of the palace. Unable to work with Cortona and despairing of these changes, Borromini left the project in 1631. Together with Bernini he dedicated himself entirely to the task of designing the baldachin in St. Peter's, which was conceived as a monumental canopy raised over the tomb of St. Peter, recalling the canopy that is traditionally supported over the pope when he is carried in state through the church. The enormous bronze baldachin was realized through the closest cooperation between Borromini and Bernini; the huge, S-shaped volutes that crown four corkscrew columns are their most important common creation. Bernini was in command of all enterprises at St. Peter's, but he paid Borromini a substantial sum from 1631 to 1633 for this work, indicating the great importance of his contribution An independent architect. The baldachin was completed in 1633. The year before, on the commendation of Bernini and Cardinal Francesco Barberini, Borromini was awarded the office of university architect. With his new position as support, he began to seek patronage as an independent architect. His first independent commission represented an extraordinary challenge to tradition; it was the Roman church and monastery of S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, begun in 1638. No larger inside than the dimensions of a single pier at St. Peter's, the small church electrified Rome, and its reputation spread like wildfire through Europe. Borromini began by stacking together three distinct units that normally would have been employed only in separate buildings: a curious, undulating lower zone; a middle one suggesting the standard Greek-cross plan; and an oval dome, a relatively new and still little-used form. This audacious combination of precedent and novelty is integrated by complex, interweaving rhythms. Bold, illusionistic effects, achieved by calculated lighting, intensify the space. The dome appears to be floating above the interior of the church like a hallucinatory vision because its springing point and light sources are concealed by the zone below. Borromini established contacts with the eminent Spada family and was also sponsored by Pope Innocent X for a decade, but his relations with patrons were frequently stormy and at times reached an impasse because of his intransigent, defiant attitude. Though bitterly resentful of what he felt to be a lack of just recognition, he was indifferent toward wealth and rejected the fashions of normal dress. Intractable and melancholic, he was infamous for his fits of rage. On one of his building sites he was infuriated to discover a man damaging some materials and had him so violently beaten that he died. Given Borromini's gloomy disposition, it is not surprising that a conflict developed with the famous and popular Bernini. While they were working together, the relationship between the two artistic giants had been mutually profitable: Borromini's style was injected with a new vitality under Bernini's influence, and Bernini was strongly impressed by Borromini's novel formulations of architectural detail. Later, however, a bitter conflict arose between them. Perhaps Borromini's subordinate position at St. Peter's sufficiently rankled him to provoke his departure. He definitely felt this way later in life, claiming that Bernini had begged him not to abandon him on the work at St. Peter's and had promised to recognize his many labours with a worthy reward. Borromini said that after he had carried out the work, Bernini withheld the remunerations and rewards and never gave him anything except good words and grand promises. Divergent characters, disparate backgrounds, and different attitudes toward life presumably provoked the antagonism. Bernini worked easily with the aristocratic and powerful; immensely successful as a sculptor and painter as well as an architect, he was outgoing, charming, and witty. Borromini, on the other hand, was a lonely, withdrawn man; he prided himself on his highly specialized training, and he resented his modest degree of recognition. Conflict between the two became public in 1645 over the decision to eliminate the towers Maderno had designed for the facade of St. Peter's. Maderno left them as substructures, and in 1636 Bernini submitted a proposal for completing them. After one was erected, however, technical deficiencies halted further construction in 1641, and four years later a commission decided on its removal. Borromini emerged as Bernini's most effective and destructive critic, accusing him of incompetence. Bernini seldom indulged in professional envy, however, but, during his Paris visit of 1665, he accused Borromini of abandoning the anthropometric basis of architecture. Because the body of Adam was modelled not only by God but also in his image and likeness, it was argued, the proportions of buildings should be derived from those of the body of man and woman. Borromini, however, based his buildings on geometric configurations in an essentially medieval manner that he probably learned in Lombardy, where medieval building procedures had been handed down from generation to generation. Borromini's approach consisted of establishing a geometric figure for a building or room, then articulating this figure by means of geometric subunits. He thus stood accused of denying the basis of good architecture. He never divorced himself completely from the anthropometric basis of design, however; he insisted, at least once, that his architecture contained human references. The concave facade of St. Philip Neri represented to him the welcoming gesture of outstretched arms: the central unit stood for the chest, the two-part wings for arm and forearm. The bizarre quality of Borromini's designs was as unsettling as his departure from anthropomorphism. Even his supporters felt uneasy with his novel creations. Presumably his license departed too far from orthodox interpretations of antiquity, which were accepted at this time as the fundamental standards of form for architecture. This seems paradoxical because he was an avid student of the ancient world: his drawings of antique fragments demonstrate a critical contact with Roman architecture, and his evocations of classical thought on the project for the Villa Pamphili at San Pancrazio are recorded with philological exactness. Nevertheless, the notion was in the air that it was possible to use and then progress beyond the achievements of antiquity, and Borromini strongly identified with this attitude. He said that he certainly would never have given himself to architecture with the idea of being merely a “copyist,� and he invoked the example of Michelangelo, who said that he who follows others never goes ahead. Borromini declared antiquity and nature to be his points of departure (although he included the work of Michelangelo as well), but he actually spurned the regular and orthodox compositional motifs of the ancient world. Instead he turned to novel, curious, and marvelous interpretations, such as could be found in Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli, and to Roman structural achievements, such as their brickwork and their use of bevelled corners for vault supports. Just as Borromini's attitude toward antiquity was uncommon, so too were his historical roots in medieval architecture in an era that had rejected medieval culture as corrupt. Yet his tendency toward the annulment of the wall, his use of structural ribwork to strengthen vaults, his designs derived from geometric configurations, his use of decorative motifs, and perhaps even his awareness that light can be given major compositional importance, all represent ideas that originated in the medieval experience. Closer to his own time, Borromini investigated certain formal qualities found in both Florentine architecture of the 15th century and Mannerist architecture of the 16th century, especially in that of Michelangelo, whose architecture was of decisive importance and suggested Borromini's still more radical experiments. The manner in which space seemed to expand and contract in a number of Michelangelo's designs indicated to Borromini the dynamic potential of this medium. Responding to the past with greater freedom than his contemporaries, Borromini employed those elements that suited his purposes. This broad selection of styles was complemented by his understanding of structures and materials. The artisan tradition of Lombardy stressed technical excellence, which provided Borromini with the knowledge to approach a full range of structural problems. It gave him a firm base for his technical virtuosity, which is demonstrated by a long list of achievements. Among these achievements are: the careful balancing of his towers for the facade of St. Peter's; the supporting metal cage for a barrel vault in the Palazzo Pamphili in Piazza Navona; the precise brickwork of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri; and his inventive domes and vaults, such as those of S. Ivo della Sapienza or the Re Magi chapel. He used the building yard as an extension of his drafting table and as a place where he could experiment and improvise to generate a fruitful exchange between design and execution. At S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, for example, the three-dimensional curve of the arches opening to the chapel vaults, as well as other features, could not have been realized without Borromini's personal guidance of the stonecutters on the site. Borromini's urban sensibilities were also highly developed, as one of his unexecuted schemes demonstrates. He wished to create a dynamic setting for the facade of S. Giovanni in Laterano by means of a piazza. The street passing through this space was to be surrounded by 24 uniform building fronts, establishing a large-scale, tightly organized arrangement of spaces. Always alert in his commissions to contextual interpretations, he displayed a deep sensitivity to the relationship of his buildings to the surrounding urban fabric. The bell-tower facade of St. Philip Neri, for example, is composed to conclude and monumentalize the street running up to it. Later years and influence. Even late in his life, Borromini's innovations continued to be as energetic and radical as ever. For the Re Magi chapel in the Collegio di Propaganda Fide, on which he worked until his death, he designed six pairs of colossal pilasters to define a generally rectangular space with bevelled corners. In the 1660s, Borromini's fortunes tragically declined. He was increasingly frustrated by the fame and success of his rival, Bernini. His only disciple, Francesco Righi, and his most sympathetic patron, Padre Virgilio Spada, both died early in the decade. His major commission of S. Agnese in Agone, in Piazza Navona, was taken from him; work on another of his projects, S. Andrea delle Fratte, came to a halt; and his facade of St. Philip Neri was disfigured by lateral extensions. Suffering severe melancholia, he travelled to Lombardy, but when he returned to Rome his melancholy returned to him, and he spent whole weeks without ever leaving his house. Borromini burned all of his drawings in his possession. Taken ill, his condition was made worse by hypochondriac hallucinations and, when he suffered fits, it was decided that he should be denied all activity so that he might sleep. On a hot summer's night, unable to rest and forbidden to work, he arose in a fury, found a sword, and fell upon it. Borromini recovered a lucid mind after mortally wounding himself, repented, received the last sacraments of the church, and wrote his will before he died. At his own request, he was buried anonymously in the grave of his teacher and friend, Maderno. It has been suggested that Borromini's suicide was the result of an increasing schizophrenia and that this pathological process is reflected in his architecture, but this contention is impossible to demonstrate. His career appears to have been successful until the disillusionments of the last years. In denying the restrictive, enclosing qualities of wall in order to treat space and light as architectonic components, Borromini confronted his architectural inheritance with its most complete and compelling challenge. Scores of designers would capitalize upon this revolutionary legacy. Borromini's works from the first had created an uproar in Rome, and his influence proved highly suggestive for design in northern Italy and in central Europe over the course of the next century. Later, as Neoclassical attitudes gained force, he was increasingly despised. Largely forgotten during most of the 19th century, Borromini's architecture has again been recognized in the 20th century as the creation of genius. Christian F. Otto Copyright © 1994-2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

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(born June 6, 1956, Södertälje, Swed.) Swedish tennis player. Turning professional at age 14, Borg was noted for his powerful serve and two-handed backhand. He became the first man to win the Wimbledon singles championship five successive times (1976–80) since Laurie Doherty (1902–6) and the first to win the French Open four times in a row and six times in all (1974–75, 1978–81). By the time he finally lost at Wimbledon to John McEnroe (1981), he had won a record 41 straight Wimbledon singles matches. He won a lifetime total of 11 grand-slam titles. He retired in 1983. Copyright © 1994-2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

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(born 1313, Paris, Fr.—died Dec. 21, 1375, Certaldo, Tuscany [Italy]) Italian poet and scholar, best remembered as the author of the earthy tales in the Decameron. With Petrarch he laid the foundations for the humanism of the Renaissance and raised vernacular literature to the level and status of the classics of antiquity. Youth. Boccaccio was the son of a Tuscan merchant, Boccaccio di Chellino (called Boccaccino), and a mother who was probably French. He passed his early childhood rather unhappily in Florence. His father had no sympathy for Boccaccio's literary inclinations and sent him, not later than 1328, to Naples to learn business, probably in an office of the Bardi, who dominated the court of Naples by means of their loans. In this milieu Boccaccio experienced the aristocracy of the commercial world as well as all that survived of the splendours of courtly chivalry and feudalism. He also studied canon law and mixed with the learned men of the court and the friends and admirers of Petrarch, through whom he came to know the work of Petrarch himself. These years in Naples, moreover, were the years of Boccaccio's love for Fiammetta, whose person dominates all his literary activity up to the Decameron, in which there also appears a Fiammetta whose character somewhat resembles that of the Fiammetta of his earlier works. Attempts to use passages from Boccaccio's writings to identify Fiammetta with a supposedly historical Maria, natural daughter of King Robert and wife of a count of Aquino, are untrustworthy—the more so since there is no documentary proof that this Maria ever existed. Early works. It was probably in 1340 that Boccaccio was recalled to Florence by his father, involved in the bankruptcy of the Bardi. The sheltered period of his life thus came to an end, and thenceforward there were to be only difficulties and occasional periods of poverty. From Naples, however, the young Boccaccio brought with him a store of literary work already completed. La caccia di Diana (“Diana's Hunt�), his earliest work, is a short poem, in terza rima (an iambic verse consisting of stanzas of three lines), of no great merit. Much more important are two works with themes derived from medieval romances: Il filocolo (c. 1336; “The Love Afflicted�), a prose work in five books on the loves and adventures of Florio and Biancofiore (Floire and Blanchefleur); and Il filostrato (c. 1338; “The Love Struck�), a short poem in ottava rima (a stanza form composed of eight 11-syllable lines) telling the story of Troilus and the faithless Criseida. The Teseida (probably begun in Naples and finished in Florence, 1340–41) is an ambitious epic of 12 cantos in ottava rima in which the wars of Theseus serve as a background for the love of two friends, Arcita and Palemone, for the same woman, Emilia; Arcita finally wins her in a tournament but dies immediately. While the themes of chivalry and love in these works had long been familiar in courtly circles, Boccaccio enriched them with the fruits of his own acute observation of real life and sought to present them nobly and illustriously by a display of learning and rhetorical ornament, so as to make his Italian worthy of comparison with the monuments of Latin literature. It was Boccaccio, too, who raised to literary dignity ottava rima, the verse metre of the popular minstrels, which was eventually to become the characteristic vehicle for Italian verse. Boccaccio's early works had an immediate effect outside Italy: Geoffrey Chaucer drew inspiration from Il filostrato for his own Troilus and Criseyde (as William Shakespeare was later to do for Troilus and Cressida) and from Boccaccio's Teseida for his “Knight's Tale� in The Canterbury Tales. The 10 or 12 years following Boccaccio's return to Florence are the period of his full maturity, culminating in the Decameron. From 1341 to 1345 he worked on Il ninfale d'Ameto (“Ameto's Story of the Nymphs�), in prose and terza rima; L'amorosa visione (“The Amorous Vision�; 1342–43), a mediocre allegorical poem of 50 short cantos in terza rima; the prose Elegia di Madonna Fiammetta (1343–44); and the poem Il ninfale fiesolano (perhaps 1344–45; “Tale of the Fiesole Nymph�), in ottava rima, on the love of the shepherd Africo for the nymph Mensola. Boccaccio, meanwhile, was trying continually to put his financial affairs in order, though he never succeeded in doing so. Little is known, however, of the detail of his life in the period following his return to Florence. He was at Ravenna between 1345 and 1346, at Forlì in 1347, in Florence during the ravages of the Black Death in 1348, and in Florence again in 1349. The Decameron. It was probably in the years 1348–53 that Boccaccio composed the Decameron in the form in which it is read today. In the broad sweep of its range and its alternately tragic and comic views of life, it is rightly regarded as his masterpiece. Stylistically, it is the most perfect example of Italian classical prose, and its influence on Renaissance literature throughout Europe was enormous. The Decameron begins with the flight of 10 young people (7 women and 3 men) from plague-stricken Florence in 1348. They retire to a rich, well-watered countryside, where, in the course of a fortnight, each member of the party has a turn as king or queen over the others, deciding in detail how their day shall be spent and directing their leisurely walks, their outdoor conversations, their dances and songs, and, above all, their alternate storytelling. This storytelling occupies 10 days of the fortnight (the rest being set aside for personal adornment or for religious devotions); hence the title of the book itself, Decameron, or “Ten Days' Work.� The stories thus amount to 100 in all. Each of the days, moreover, ends with a canzone (song) for dancing sung by one of the storytellers, and these canzoni include some of Boccaccio's finest lyric poetry. In addition to the 100 stories, Boccaccio has a master theme, namely, the way of life of the refined bourgeoisie, who combined respect for conventions with an open-minded attitude to personal behaviour. The sombre tones of the opening passages of the book, in which the plague and the moral and social chaos that accompanies it are described in the grand manner, are in sharp contrast to the scintillating liveliness of Day I, which is spent almost entirely in witty disputation, and to the playful atmosphere of intrigue that characterizes the tales of adventure or deception related on Days II and III. With Day IV and its stories of unhappy love, the gloomy note returns; but Day V brings some relief, though it does not entirely dissipate the echo of solemnity, by giving happy endings to stories of love that does not at first run smoothly. Day VI reintroduces the gaiety of Day I and constitutes the overture to the great comic score, Days VII, VIII, and IX, which are given over to laughter, trickery, and license. Finally, in Day X, all the themes of the preceding days are brought to a high pitch, the impure made pure and the common made heroic. The prefaces to the days and to the individual stories and certain passages of especial magnificence based on classical models, with their select vocabulary and elaborate periods, have long held the attention of critics. But there is also another Boccaccio: the master of the spoken word and of the swift, vivid, tense narrative free from the proliferation of ornament. These two aspects of the Decameron made it the fountainhead of Italian literary prose for the following centuries. The influential 19th-century critic Francesco De Sanctis regarded the Decameron as a “Human Comedy� in succession to Dante's Divine Comedy and Boccaccio as the pioneer of a new moral order superseding that of the European Middle Ages. This view is no longer tenable, however, since the Middle Ages can no longer be presented as having been wholly ascetic or wholly concerned with God and heavenly salvation in contrast with a Renaissance concerned only with the human. Also, in particular, the whole corpus of Boccaccio's work is basically medieval in subject matter, form, and taste, at least in its point of departure. It is the spirit in which Boccaccio treats his subjects and his forms that is new. For the first time in the Middle Ages, Boccaccio in the Decameron deliberately shows man striving with fortune and learning to overcome it. To be truly noble, according to the Decameron, man must accept life as it is, without bitterness, must accept, above all, the consequences of his own action, however contrary to his expectation or even tragic they may be. To realize his own earthly happiness, he must confine his desire to what is humanly possible and renounce the absolute without regret. Thus Boccaccio insists both on man's powers and on their inescapable limitations, without reference to the possible intervention of divine grace. A sense of spiritual realities and an affirmation of moral values underlying the frivolity even in the most licentious passages of the Decameron are features of Boccaccio's work that modern criticism has brought to light and that make it no longer possible to regard him only as an obscene mocker or sensual cynic. During the years in which Boccaccio is believed to have written the Decameron, the Florentines appointed him ambassador to the lords of Romagna in 1350; municipal councillor and also ambassador to Louis, duke of Bavaria, in the Tirol in 1351; and ambassador to Pope Innocent VI in 1354. Petrarch and Boccaccio's mature years. Of far more lasting importance than official honours was Boccaccio's first meeting with Petrarch, in Florence in 1350, which helped to bring about a decisive change in Boccaccio's literary activity. Boccaccio revered the older man as his master, and Petrarch proved himself a serene and ready counselor and a reliable helper. Together, through the exchange of books, news, and ideas, the two men laid the foundations for the humanist reconquest of classical antiquity. After the Decameron, of which Petrarch remained in ignorance until the very last years of his life, Boccaccio wrote nothing in Italian except Il Corbaccio (1354–55; a satire on a widow who had jilted him), his late writings on Dante, and perhaps an occasional lyric. Turning instead to Latin, he devoted himself to humanist scholarship rather than to imaginative or poetic creation. His encyclopaedic De genealogia deorum gentilium (“On the Genealogy of the Gods of the Gentiles�), medieval in structure but humanist in spirit, was probably begun in the very year of his meeting with Petrarch but was continuously corrected and revised until his death. His Bucolicum carmen (1351–66), a series of allegorical eclogues (short pastoral poems) on contemporary events, follows classical models on lines already indicated by Dante and Petrarch. His other Latin works include De claris mulieribus (1360–74; Concerning Famous Women), a collection of biographies of famous women; and De casibus virorum illustrium (1355–74; “On the Fates of Famous Men�), on the inevitable catastrophe awaiting all who are too fortunate. The meeting with Petrarch, however, was not the only cause of the change in Boccaccio's writing. A premature weakening of his physical powers and disappointments in love may also have contributed to it. Some such occurrence would explain how Boccaccio, having previously written always in praise of women and love, came suddenly to write the bitterly misogynistic Corbaccio and then turn his genius elsewhere. Furthermore, there are signs that he may have begun to feel religious scruples. Petrarch describes how the Carthusian monk Pietro Petrone, on his deathbed in 1362, sent another Carthusian, Gioacchino Ciani, to exhort Boccaccio to renounce his worldly studies; and it was Petrarch who then dissuaded Boccaccio from burning his own works and selling his library. As early as 1360, moreover, Boccaccio's way of life was regarded as austere enough to justify his being entrusted with a pastoral cure of souls in a cathedral. He had taken minor orders many years earlier, perhaps at first only in the hope of being given benefices. Boccaccio's circle in Florence was of vital importance as a nucleus of early humanism. Leonzio Pilato, whom Boccaccio housed from 1360 to 1362 and whose nomination as reader in Greek at the Studio (the old University of Florence) he procured, made the rough Latin translation through which Petrarch and Boccaccio became acquainted with Homer's poems—the starting point of Greek studies by the humanists. The recovery of Latin classical texts—Varro, Martial, Apuleius, Seneca, Ovid, and, above all, Tacitus—likewise occupied Boccaccio's admiring attention. Even so, he did not neglect Italian poetry, his enthusiasm for his immediate predecessors, especially Dante, being one of the characteristics that distinguish him from Petrarch. His Vita di Dante Alighieri, or Trattatello in laude di Dante (“Little Tractate in Praise of Dante�), and the two abridged editions of it that he made show his devotion to Dante's memory. Last years. All these studies were pursued in poverty, sometimes almost in destitution, and Boccaccio had to earn most of his income by transcribing his own works or those of others. In 1363 poverty compelled him to retire to the village of Certaldo. In October 1373, however, he began public readings of Dante's Divina commedia in the Church of San Stefano di Badia in Florence. A revised text of the commentary that he gave with these readings is still extant but breaks off at the point that he had reached when, early in 1374, ill health made him lose heart. Petrarch's death in July 1374 was another grief to him, and he retired again to Certaldo. There Boccaccio died the following year and was buried in the Church of SS. Michele e Jacopo. Boccaccio and the Renaissance. Boccaccio was a man of the Renaissance in almost every sense. His humanism comprised not only classical studies and the attempt to rediscover and reinterpret ancient texts but also the attempt to raise literature in the modern languages to the level of the classical by setting standards for it and then conforming to those standards. Boccaccio advanced further than Petrarch in this direction not only because he sought to dignify prose as well as poetry but also because, in his Ninfale fiesolano, in his Elegia de Madonna Fiammetta, and in the Decameron, he ennobled everyday experience, tragic and comic alike. Although his Teseida and Ninfale d'Ameto invite comparison with classical genres, his Filocolo and Filostrato raised to the level of learned art the literature of chivalry and love that had fallen to the level of the populace. The same attention to popular and medieval themes characterized Italian culture in the second half of the 15th century; without Boccaccio, the literary culmination of the Italian Renaissance would be historically incomprehensible. Umberto Bosco Ed. Copyright © 1994-2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

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(born July 12, 1813, Saint-Julien, France—died Feb. 10, 1878, Paris) French physiologist. He taught at several major French institutions and was named a senator in 1869. He discovered the role of the pancreas in digestion, the glycogenic function of the liver in carbohydrate metabolism, and blood-supply regulation by the vasomotor nerves. He helped establish the principles of experimentation in the life sciences, including the need for a hypothesis. His concept of the internal environment of the organism led to the present understanding of homeostasis. Bernard also studied the effects of such poisons as carbon monoxide and curare. He was awarded the grand prize in physiology three times by the Académie des Sciences. Copyright © 1994-2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

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(baptized Dec. 17, 1770, Bonn, archbishopric of Cologne [Germany]—died March 26, 1827, Vienna, Austria) German composer, the predominant musical figure in the transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras. Widely regarded as the greatest composer who ever lived, Ludwig van Beethoven dominates a period of musical history as no one else before or since. Rooted in the Classical traditions of Joseph Haydn and Mozart, his art reaches out to encompass the new spirit of humanism and incipient nationalism expressed in the works of Goethe and Friedrich von Schiller, his elder contemporaries in the world of literature; the stringently redefined moral imperatives of Kant; and the ideals of the French Revolution, with its passionate concern for the freedom and dignity of the individual. He revealed more vividly than any of his predecessors the power of music to convey a philosophy of life without the aid of a spoken text; and in certain of his compositions is to be found the strongest assertion of the human will in all music, if not in all art. Though not himself a Romantic, he became the fountainhead of much that characterized the work of the Romantics who followed him, especially in his ideal of program or illustrative music, which he defined in connection with his Sixth (Pastoral) Symphony as “more an expression of emotion than painting.� In musical form he was a considerable innovator, widening the scope of sonata, symphony, concerto, and quartet; while in the Ninth Symphony he combined the worlds of vocal and instrumental music in a manner never before attempted. His personal life was marked by a heroic struggle against encroaching deafness, and some of his most important works were composed during the last 10 years of his life when he was quite unable to hear. In an age that saw the decline of court and church patronage, he not only maintained himself from the sale and publication of his works but also was the first musician to receive a salary with no duties other than to compose how and when he felt inclined. Life and work The early years Beethoven was the eldest surviving child of Johann and Maria Magdalena van Beethoven. The family was Flemish in origin and can be traced back to Malines. It was Beethoven's grandfather who had first settled in Bonn when he became a singer in the choir of the archbishop-elector of Cologne; he eventually rose to become Kappellmeister. His son Johann was also a singer in the electoral choir; thus, like most 18th-century musicians, Beethoven was born into the profession. Though at first quite prosperous, the Beethoven family became steadily poorer with the death of his grandfather in 1773 and the decline of his father into alcoholism. By age 11 Beethoven had to leave school; at 18 he was the breadwinner of the family. Having observed in his eldest son the signs of a talent for the piano, Johann tried to make Ludwig a child prodigy like Mozart but did not succeed. It was not until his adolescence that Beethoven began to attract mild attention. When in 1780 Joseph II became sole ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, he appointed his brother Maximilian Francis as adjutant and successor-designate to the archbishop-elector of Cologne. Under Maximilian's rule, Bonn was transformed from a minor provincial town into a thriving and cultured capital city. A liberal Roman Catholic, he endowed Bonn with a university, limited the power of his own clergy, and opened the city to the full tide of the German literary renaissance associated with Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, and the young Goethe and Schiller. A sign of the times was the nomination as court organist of Christian Gottlob Neefe, a Protestant from Saxony, who became Beethoven's teacher. Although somewhat limited as a musician, Neefe was nonetheless a man of high ideals and wide culture, a man of letters as well as a composer of songs and light theatrical pieces; and it was to be through Neefe that Beethoven in 1783 would have his first extant composition (Nine Variations on a March by Dressler) published at Mannheim. By June 1782 Beethoven had become Neefe's assistant as court organist. In 1783 he was also appointed continuo player to the Bonn opera. By 1787 he had made such progress that Maximilian Francis, archbishop-elector since 1784, was persuaded to send him to Vienna to study with Mozart. The visit was cut short when, after a short time, Beethoven received the news of his mother's death. According to tradition, Mozart was highly impressed with Beethoven's powers of improvisation and told some friends that “this young man will make a great name for himself in the world�; no reliable account of Beethoven's first trip to Vienna survives, however. For the next five years, Beethoven remained at Bonn. To his other court duties was added that of playing viola in the theatre orchestra; and, although the archbishop for the time being showed him no further mark of special favour, he was beginning to make valuable acquaintances. Sometime previously he had come to know the widow of the chancellor, Joseph von Breuning, and she engaged him as music teacher to two of her four children. From then on, the Breunings' house became for him a second home, far more congenial than his own. Through Mme von Breuning, Beethoven acquired a number of wealthy pupils. His most useful social contact came in 1788 with the arrival in Bonn of Ferdinand, Graf (count) von Waldstein, a member of the highest Viennese aristocracy and a music lover. Waldstein became a member of the Breuning circle, where he heard Beethoven play and at once became his devoted admirer. At a fancy dress ball given in 1790, the ballet music, according to the Almanach de Gotha (a journal chronicling the social activities of the aristocracy), had been composed by the count, but it was generally known that Beethoven had written it for him. The same year saw the death of the emperor Joseph II. Through Waldstein again, Beethoven was invited to compose a funeral ode for soloists, chorus, and orchestra, but the scheduled performance was canceled because the wind players found certain passages too difficult. He then added to it a complementary piece celebrating the accession of Joseph's brother Leopold II. There is no record that either was ever performed until the end of the 19th century, when the manuscripts were rediscovered in Vienna and pronounced authentic by Johannes Brahms. But in 1790 another great composer had seen and admired them: that year Haydn, passing through Bonn on his way to London, was feted by the elector and his musical establishment; when shown Beethoven's score, he was sufficiently impressed by it to offer to take Beethoven as a pupil when he returned from London. Beethoven accepted Haydn's offer and in the autumn of 1792, while the armies of the French Revolution were storming into the Rhineland provinces, Beethoven left Bonn, never to return. The album that he took with him (preserved in the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn) indicates the wide circle of his acquaintances and friends in Bonn. The most prophetic of the entries, written shortly after Mozart's death, runs: The spirit of Mozart is mourning and weeping over the death of her beloved. With the inexhaustible Haydn she found repose but no occupation. With the help of unremitting labour you shall receive Mozart's spirit from Haydn's hands. (Waldstein) The compositions belonging to the years at Bonn—excluding those probably begun at Bonn but revised and completed in Vienna—are of more interest to the Beethoven student than to the ordinary music lover. They show the influences in which his art was rooted as well as the natural difficulties that he had to overcome and that his early training was inadequate to remedy. Three piano sonatas written in 1783 demonstrate that, musically, Bonn was an outpost of Mannheim, the cradle of the modern orchestra in Germany, and the nursery of a musical style that was to make a vital contribution to the classical symphony. But, at the time of Beethoven's childhood, the Mannheim school was already in decline. The once famous orchestra was, in effect, dissolved after the war of 1778 between Austria and Prussia. The Mannheim style had degenerated into mannerism; this particular influence is reflected in a preoccupation with extremes of piano (soft) and forte (loud), often deployed in contradiction to the musical phrasing, that may be found in Beethoven's early sonatas and in much else written by him at that time—which is not surprising, since the symphonies of later Mannheim composers formed the staple fare of the Bonn court orchestra. But what was only an occasional effect for Mozart and others influenced by the Mannheim composers was to remain a fundamental element for Beethoven. The sudden pianos, the unexpected outbursts, the wide leaping arpeggio figures with concluding explosive effects (known as “Mannheim rockets�)—all these are central to Beethoven's musical personality and were to help him toward the liberation of instrumental music from its dependence on vocal style. Beethoven may indeed be described as the last and finest flower on the Mannheim tree. Early influences Like other composers of his generation, Beethoven was subject to the influence of popular music and of folk music, influences particularly strong in the Waldstein ballet music of 1790 and in several of his early songs and unison choruses. Heavy Rhineland dance rhythms can be found in many of his mature compositions; but he could assimilate other local idioms as well—Italian, French, Slavic, and even Celtic. Although never a nationalist or folk composer in the 20th-century sense, he often allowed the unusual contours of folk melody to lead him away from traditional harmonic procedure; moreover, that he resorts to a folklike idiom in setting Schiller's covertly nationalist text in the Ninth Symphony accords well with nationalist practices of the later 19th century. French music impinged on him from two main directions: from Mannheim, whose artistic links with Paris had always been strong, and from the Bonn Nationaltheater, which relied for its repertory mainly on comic operas translated from the French. In fashionable Bonn society, sympathy with the French Revolution was very strong, and the flavour of the French Revolutionary march is present in many of Beethoven's symphonic allegros. The jigging rhythms to be found in several of his scherzos are also clearly of French provenance. Like all pianists of the late 18th century, Beethoven was raised on the sonatas and teachings of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, the chief exponent of “expressive� music at a time when music was regarded as the art of pleasing sounds. These sonatas, with their quirks of rhythms and harmony and their occasional wordless recitative, were equally familiar to Haydn and Mozart; but in Beethoven they evoked a much readier response, not only for reasons of temperament but also because of the intellectual climate in which he himself was reared. The favourite literary fare of the Breunings and their friends was associated with the Sturm und Drang, a reaction against the rationalism of the early 18th century, an exaltation of feeling and instinct over reason. Its gospel was enshrined in Goethe's early novel The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774), the language of which finds an echo in certain of Beethoven's letters and especially in the “Heiligenstadt Testament� (). In such a movement music took on a new importance as an art of feeling. The sharp conflicts of mood that characterize the sonatas of C.P.E. Bach appear much more powerfully again in Beethoven; to Beethoven, “feeling� was as important in practice as it was in theory to his master Neefe, who proclaimed it the only condition of artistic value (moreover, for those who claim Beethoven as a Romantic, this emphasis on feeling is paramount). His literary world—he read widely and voraciously despite a formal education that in arithmetic had not carried him as far as the multiplication table—was rooted in the German classics, above all Goethe and Schiller. The Bonn compositions of most enduring interest date, as might be expected, from the last years: a Rondino and an Octet, for wind instruments, composed in 1792, probably for the elector's harmonie (wind band); a Trio in G Major for Flute, Bassoon, and Piano (1791); and the two cantatas. The songs, which were doubtless written under Neefe's inspiration, show no great feeling for the solo voice. This is strange in one whose father and grandfather both had been singers, but it remained a limitation that pursued Beethoven throughout his career. Of particular interest are 24 variations on a theme by Vincenzo Righini, an Italian composer, which, like the String Trio in E-flat Major, Opus 3, Beethoven revised and then published at a much later date. These variations, representing a compendium of Beethoven's piano technique, for a long time were to serve as the mainstay of his repertory in the salons of Vienna. Vienna Before Beethoven left Bonn, he had acquired a very considerable reputation in northwest Germany as a piano virtuoso, with a particular talent for extemporization. Mozart had been one of the finest improvisers of his age; by all accounts Beethoven surpassed him. In the age of sensibility he could move an audience to tears more easily than any other pianist of the time. For this reason especially he was taken up by the Viennese aristocracy almost from the moment he set foot in Vienna. Waldstein had, of course, prepared the way with his talk of a successor to Mozart; and it is significant that Beethoven's earliest patrons in Vienna were Gottfried, Baron van Swieten and Karl, Fürst (prince) von Lichnowsky, who alone among the aristocracy had remained Mozart's supporters until his death. Perhaps, as well, Beethoven traded on the “van� in his name—which was widely if wrongly understood to denote noble lineage—to gain easier access to aristocratic circles. In the Vienna of the 1790s, music had become more and more the favourite pastime of a cultured aristocracy, for whom politics under the reactionary emperor Francis II were now discreditable and dangerous and who had, moreover, never shown a like appreciation of any of the other fine arts. Many played instruments themselves well enough to be able to take their place beside professionals. Probably at no other time and in no other city was there such a high standard of amateur and semiprofessional music-making as in the Vienna of Beethoven's day. As a composer, however, Beethoven still had many technical problems to overcome, and it soon became clear that Haydn was not the best person to help him. Outwardly their relations remained cordial; but Beethoven soon began taking extra lessons in secret. One of his teachers was the organist of St. Stephen's Cathedral, Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, a learned contrapuntist of the old school who equipped him with the comprehensive technique that he needed. He also studied vocal composition with Antonio Salieri, the imperial Kappellmeister. By 1794, when Haydn had left for his second visit to London, there was no longer any question of Beethoven's returning to Bonn, which was then in French hands. The elector himself had left, and consequently Beethoven's subsidy came to an end. But he had no need to worry for, apart from what he was able to earn by teaching and playing, he received free board and lodgings from Prince Lichnowsky. The year 1795 marked Beethoven's first public appearance as a pianist in Vienna. He played a concerto (No. 2, Opus 19) of his own and one by Mozart and also took part in a benefit concert for Haydn. More important still, his Three Trios for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Opus 1, were published with a long list of aristocratic subscribers. In the next three years he undertook concert tours in Berlin and Prague and might have traveled more widely still had the international situation permitted. In 1800 he launched a public concert on the grand scale, in which one of his own piano concerti, the Septet (Opus 20), and the First Symphony were given, together with works by Haydn and Mozart. The event contributed a great deal to the spread of Beethoven's fame abroad. The turn of the century concluded what is generally referred to as Beethoven's first period, although some usefully extend it to the summer of 1802, when he wrote the “Heilgenstadt Testament� (); during this period his art stayed mainly within the bounds of 18th-century technique and ideas. Most of his published works during that time are for the piano, alone or with other instruments, important exceptions being the String Trio in E-flat Major, Opus 3; the Three String Trios, Opus 9; the Six String Quartets, Opus 18; and the First Symphony. Beethoven extended his range slowly and methodically, but he was still a piano composer par excellence. Approaching deafness A change in direction occurred with Beethoven's gradual realization that he was becoming deaf. The first symptoms had appeared even before 1800, yet for a few years his life continued unchanged: he still played in the houses of the nobility, in rivalry with other pianists, and performed in public with such visiting virtuosos as violinist George Bridgetower (to whom the Kreutzer Sonata was originally dedicated). But by 1802 he could no longer be in doubt that his malady was both permanent and progressive. During a summer spent at the (then) country village of Heiligenstadt he wrote the “Heiligenstadt Testament.� Ostensibly intended for his two brothers, the document begins: O ye men who think or say that I am malevolent, stubborn or misanthropic, how greatly do you wrong me. You do not know the cause of my seeming so. From childhood my heart and mind was disposed to the gentle feeling of good will. I was ever eager to accomplish great deeds, but reflect now that for six years I have been in a hopeless case, made worse by ignorant doctors, yearly betrayed in the hope of getting better, finally forced to face the prospect of a permanent malady whose cure will take years or even prove impossible. He was tempted to take his own life, But only Art held back; for, ah, it seemed unthinkable for me to leave the world forever before I had produced all that I felt called upon to produce.… There is a Werther-like postscript: As the leaves of autumn wither and fall, so has my own life become barren: almost as I came, so I go hence. Even that high courage that inspired me in the fair days of summer has now vanished. More significant, perhaps, are his words in a letter to his friend Franz Wegeler: “I will seize fate by the throat.…� Elsewhere he remarks, “If only I were rid of my affliction I would embrace the whole world.� He was to do both, though the condition he hoped for was not fulfilled. From then on his days as a virtuoso were numbered. Although it was not until about 1819 that his deafness became total, making necessary the use of those conversation books in which friends wrote down their questions while he replied orally, his playing degenerated as he became able to hear less and less. He continued to appear in public from time to time, but most of his energies were absorbed in composing. He would spend the months from May to October in one or another of the little villages near Vienna. Many of his musical ideas came to him on long country walks and were noted in sketchbooks. These sketchbooks, many of which have been preserved, reveal much about Beethoven's working methods. The man who could improvise the most intricate fantasies on the spur of the moment took infinite pains in the shaping of a considered composition. In the sketchbooks such famous melodies as the adagio of the Emperor Concerto or the andante of the Kreutzer Sonata can be seen emerging from trivial and characterless beginnings into their final forms. It seems, too, that Beethoven worked on more than one composition at a time and that he was rarely in a hurry to finish anything that he had on hand. Early sketches for the Fifth Symphony, for instance, date originally from 1804, although the finished work did not appear until 1808. Sometimes the sketches are accompanied by verbal comments as a kind of aide-mémoire. Sometimes, as in the sketching of the Third Symphony (Eroica), he would leave several bars blank, making it clear that the rhythmic scheme had preceded the melodic in his mind. Many of the sketches consist merely of a melody line and a bass—enough, in fact, to establish a continuity. But in many works, especially the later ones, the sketching process is very elaborate indeed, with revisions and alterations continuing up to the date of publication. If, in general, it is only the primitive sketches and jottings that have survived, this is because Beethoven kept them beside him as potential sources of material for later compositions. Beethoven and the theatre The next few years were those of Beethoven's short-lived connection with the theatre. In 1801 he had provided the score for the ballet Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus (The Creatures of Prometheus). Two years later he was offered a contract for an opera on a classical subject with a libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder, who had achieved fame and wealth as the librettist of Mozart's The Magic Flute and who was then impresario of the Theater an der Wien. Two or three completed numbers show that Beethoven had already begun work on it before Schikaneder himself was ousted from the management and the contract annulled—somewhat to Beethoven's relief, as he had found Schikaneder's verses “such as could only have proceeded from the mouths of our Viennese applewomen.� When the new management reengaged Beethoven the following year, it was largely on the strength of his now almost-forgotten oratorio, Christus am Ölberg (Christ on the Mount of Olives), which had been given in an all-Beethoven benefit concert, together with the first two symphonies and the Third Piano Concerto. The year 1804 was to see the completion of the Third Symphony, regarded by most biographers as a landmark in Beethoven's development. It is the answer to the “Heiligenstadt Testament�: a symphony on an unprecedented scale and at the same time a prodigious assertion of the human will. The work was to have been dedicated to Napoleon, intermittently one of Beethoven's heroes, but Beethoven struck out the dedication on hearing that Napoleon had taken the title of emperor. Outraged in his republican principles, he changed the title to Eroica and added the words “for the memory of a great man.� From then on the masterworks followed hard on one another's heels: the Waldstein Piano Sonata, Opus 53; Piano Sonata in F Minor, Opus 57, known as the Appassionata; the Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Opus 58; the three Razumovsky Quartets, Opus 59; the Fourth Symphony, Opus 60; the Violin Concerto, Opus 61.To this period also belongs his one opera, Fidelio, commissioned for the winter season of 1805. The play concerns a wife who disguises herself as a boy in order to rescue her husband, imprisoned for political reasons; in setting this to music, Beethoven was influenced by Ferdinando Paer and by Luigi Cherubini, composer of similar “rescue� operas and a musician whom he greatly admired. Fidelio enjoyed no great success at first, partly because the presence of French troops, who had occupied Vienna after the Battle of Austerlitz, kept most of the Viennese away. With great difficulty Beethoven was persuaded to make certain changes for a revival in the following spring, with modified libretto. This time the opera survived two performances and would have run longer but for a quarrel between Beethoven and the management, after which the composer in a fury withdrew his score. It was not until eight years later that Fidelio, heavily revised by Beethoven himself and a new librettist, returned to the Vienna stage, to become one of the classics of the German theatre. Beethoven later turned over many other operatic projects in his mind but without bringing any to fruition. The established composer During all this time, Beethoven, like Mozart, had maintained himself without the benefit of an official position—but with far greater success insofar as he had no family to support. His reputation as a composer was steadily soaring both in Austria and abroad. The critics of the Leipzig Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, the most authoritative music journal in Europe, had long since passed from carping impertinence to unqualified praise, so that, although there were as yet no copyright laws to ensure a system of royalties, Beethoven was able to drive far more-favourable bargains with the publishing firms than Haydn and Mozart before him or Franz Schubert after him. Despite the restrictions on Viennese musical life imposed by the war with France, Beethoven had no difficulty in getting his most ambitious works performed, largely because of the generosity of such patrons as Prince Lichnowsky, who at one point made him a regular allowance of 600 florins a year. Others would pay handsomely for a dedication—e.g., the Graf (count) von Oppersdorf, for the Fourth Symphony. Also, Beethoven's pupils included the archduke Rudolf, youngest brother of the emperor. Consequently, poverty was never a serious threat. But, doubtless because of increasing deafness combined with a habitual readiness to take offense, Beethoven's relations with the Viennese musicians, on whose cooperation he depended, became steadily worse; and in 1808, at a benefit concert where the Fourth Piano Concerto, the Fifth and Sixth symphonies, and the Choral Fantasia, Opus 80, were first performed publicly, there occurred a quarrel so serious that Beethoven thought of leaving Vienna altogether. But the threat of his departure was sufficient to stir his patrons into action. The archduke Rudolf, Prince Lobkowitz, and Prince Kinsky banded together to provide him with an annuity of 4,000 florins, requiring only that he should remain in Vienna and compose. The agreement remained in force until Beethoven's death, though it was to be affected by circumstances, one of which was the devaluation of 1811; although the archduke increased his contribution accordingly, it was some time before his partners could do the same. Nevertheless, from 1809 onward Beethoven remained adequately provided for, although his habits of life often gave visitors the impression that he was miserably poor. Inevitably, his public appearances became less frequent. Beethoven and women In this period too, he considered more seriously than before the idea of marriage. As early as 1801, letters to his friend Wegeler refer to “a dear sweet girl who loves me and whom I love.� This is thought to have been the countess Giulietta Guicciardi, a piano pupil and the cousin of two other pupils, Therese and Josephine, daughters of the Graf von Brunsvik. It was to Giulietta that he dedicated the Piano Sonata in C-sharp Minor, Opus 27, No. 2, known as the Moonlight Sonata. But the countess married the Graf von Gallenberg in 1803, and in later years Beethoven seems to have remembered her only with mild contempt. It seems clear, however, that he did propose marriage to her cousin Josephine, whose elderly husband, the Graf von Deym, died in 1804; and the understanding appears to have continued for about three years, until it was brought to an end partly by Beethoven's own indecisiveness and partly by pressure from Josephine's family. The prospective bride of 1810 is thought to have been Therese Malfatti, daughter of one of Beethoven's doctors, but, like the other marriage A curious item, however, was found among his effects, locked away in a drawer, at the time of his death: three letters, written but apparently never sent (they may have been sent but returned to him), to the “Immortal Beloved.� The content, which varies from high-flown poetic sentiments to banal complaints about his health and discomfort, makes it clear that this is no literary exercise but was intended for a real person. The month and day of the week are given, but not the year. The periods 1801–02, 1806–07, and 1811–12 have been proposed, but the last is the most probable. The most cogent arguments regarding the identity of the person addressed, those by Maynard Solomon, point to Antonie Brentano, a native Viennese, who was the wife of a Frankfurt merchant and sister-in-law to Beethoven familiar Bettina Brentano (). Wider recognition In 1810 E.T.A. Hoffmann in Berlin produced an appreciation of the Fifth Symphony, which undoubtedly did much to launch that work on its triumphant career throughout the world and, above all, to interest the Romantics in its composer. The same year, Beethoven made the acquaintance of the writer Bettina Brentano, the sister of the German poet and novelist Clemens Brentano and, later, wife of Achim von Arnim, the two compilers of the famous collection of German folk poetry, Des Knaben Wunderhorn. Of the letters that Bettina gave out as having been written to her by Beethoven, only one can be accepted as genuine; at least one of the others, in which the composer is made to philosophize on music in the most uncharacteristically romantic terms, must be dismissed as spurious. Bettina also performed the questionable service of bringing together Beethoven and Goethe at Teplitz in 1812 (coincidentally, the likely setting for the “Immortal Beloved� letters as well). The admiration had been all on Beethoven's side; to Goethe, Beethoven was little more than a famous name. The meeting was not a success. “Goethe is too fond of the atmosphere of the courts,� Beethoven wrote to Breitkopf and Härtel, the music publishers, “more so than is becoming to a poet.� Goethe considered Beethoven to be “an utterly untamed personality, who is not altogether in the wrong in holding the world to be detestable, but surely does not make it any the more enjoyable either for himself or for others by his attitude.� He showed a certain interest in the incidental music written in 1810 for Egmont “out of pure love for the subject.� The chief compositions of 1811–12 were the Seventh and Eighth symphonies, the first of which had its premiere in 1813. Another novelty at the same concert was the so-called Battle Symphony, written to celebrate the decisive victory of Arthur Wellesley (later duke of Wellington) over Joseph Bonaparte at Vitoria. Composed originally for a mechanical musical instrument, the Panharmonicon, invented by J.N. Maelzel, Beethoven later scored the work for orchestra. He frankly admitted it was program music of the worst kind, vastly different from the ideals of “mehr Ausdruck der Empfindung als Malerei� (“more as an expression of feeling than painting�) expressed in his own Pastoral Symphony; but in view of its success he was ready enough to score it for orchestra and even to send a copy of the score to the English prince regent, who, much to Beethoven's annoyance, made no acknowledgment. The concert, profitable as it was for the composer, led to a bitter quarrel with Maelzel, from which Beethoven emerged with little credit. Despite the difficulties over the annuity caused by the devaluation of 1811, the years 1813–14 were profitable ones for Beethoven, although nearly bereft of significant new works, for Beethoven's creativity had fallen precipitously after the romantic crisis of 1812. The first performance of the Seventh Symphony was a huge success, and the audience insisted on the funereal allegretto being repeated. When the Congress of Vienna assembled in 1814, Beethoven's music was universally known, and he himself was courted by the crowned heads of Europe. Fidelio was revived with tumultuous success, and Beethoven celebrated the fall of France with a grand patriotic cantata, Der glorreiche Augenblick (The Glorious Moment). In 1814, after years of war, Vienna was to enjoy a brief hour of glory before the Austrian economy collapsed and the city sank into a state of dowdy provincialism that lasted for nearly 40 years. The last years With the start of the long reign of Klemens, Fürst (prince) von Metternich, and the so-called Biedermeier period, which was marked by simplicity and homeliness in art and design, Beethoven's creative life entered its third and final phase. Because of his deafness he became more of a recluse than ever. His rate of composition, too, began to decrease. The works written between 1815 and 1827 comprise a mere fraction of his output after 1792; but they have a density of musical thought far surpassing anything that he had composed before. Though he now went less into society, he concerned himself more and more with business matters, not always with happy results. At about this time he was brought in touch with the Philharmonic Society of London. Earlier, in 1803, he had been approached by the Edinburgh publisher George Thomson with a proposal that he should write sonatas based on Scottish folk tunes. Although nothing came of this, Thomson somewhat later succeeded in contracting him to arrange national folk melodies for voice, violin, cello, and piano, each with an introduction and coda. These remained an easy and profitable source of income to Beethoven for many years. It was in 1815, however, when Beethoven's pupil Ferdinand Ries settled in London and became one of the founder-members of the Philharmonic Society, that English music lovers began to take an active interest in the promotion of Beethoven's works. Another society member, Charles Neate, visited Beethoven in Vienna and later brought about the commission of three new overtures to be performed by the society. The overtures König Stephan (“King Stephan�), Namensfeier (“Name Day�), and Die Ruinen von Athen (“The Ruins of Athens�) were, however, late in arriving, and the discovery that they were not new after all caused considerable bad feeling; for a time, relations became strained on both sides. Ries did much to effect a reconciliation, but a visit to London, planned as early as 1813, never materialized, though Beethoven continued to hope that it would. The Philharmonic Society never ceased to interest itself in Beethoven's music and it undoubtedly played an important part in the genesis of the Ninth Symphony, which in a sense it commissioned. The society's archives contain an autograph of the first movement with a dedication by the composer. The first performance of the work, however, was given not in London but in Vienna, and the printed edition was dedicated to Frederick William III, king of Prussia. Beethoven, on his deathbed, received from the society a gift of £100, which moved him profoundly. In 1815 all prospects of foreign travel were cut short for Beethoven by the death of his brother Caspar Anton Carl, who left a widow, Johanna, and a son, Karl, aged nine. The will, which appointed Beethoven and the widow as joint guardians, was contested by Beethoven on the grounds of the widow's immorality; and after three years of litigation he won his case. But, for all the affection that he lavished on young Karl, Beethoven was far from being an ideal guardian. Quarrels between uncle and nephew were frequent and bitter and came to a head in 1826 when, just before sitting for his university examination, Karl attempted suicide. He recovered in a hospital, and Beethoven, on the advice of friends, agreed reluctantly that the boy should be launched on an army career. Once away from his uncle, Karl seems to have led a successful, law-abiding life. But the events of 1826 upset Beethoven profoundly and almost certainly hastened his death. The important compositions of the final period begin with the modest but groundbreaking song cycle An die ferne Geliebte (“To the Distant Beloved�; this work may have been intended to commemorate his failed romance with the “Immortal Beloved�), the Two Sonatas for Piano and Cello, Opus 102, the Piano Sonata in A Major, Opus 101, and the Piano Sonata in B-flat Major, Opus 106, the latter known as the Hammerklavier. Beethoven then reverted to sketches he had begun for the Ninth Symphony. This was broken off when the news came that the archduke Rudolf was to be appointed archbishop of Olmütz, and Beethoven decided to write a large-scale solemn mass for the installation ceremony. Work on this progressed slowly, and, like the early cantata for Joseph II, it was not completed in time for the intended occasion. Not until 1823, three years after the enthronement, was Beethoven able to send to the new archbishop the completed manuscript of the Missa Solemnis. In the meantime, Beethoven had written the three final piano sonatas (1820–22) and had worked desultorily on the symphonic sketches. The mass was followed by his last important piano work (completed 1823), variations on a theme that the publisher and composer Anton Diabelli had sent to a number of composers, Beethoven among them. Most of them, including Schubert and the archduke Rudolf himself, obliged; Beethoven at first declined, then changed his mind and decided to write a complete set of 33 variations himself. The Ninth Symphony had begun to take shape; by the following year (1824) it was finished and was performed, together with movements from the Missa Solemnis and the overture from Opus 124, with great success at the Kärntnertor Theatre. The composer, who ostensibly supervised the symphony's premiere, remained unaware of the applause until one of the soloists made him turn to face the audience. The Ninth Symphony was Beethoven's last work for large-scale forces. His final commission came in 1823 from Knyaz (prince) Nikolas Golitsyn, who offered 50 ducats each for three string quartets. Beethoven accepted with alacrity, though only in 1825 was the first of the three, the String Quartet in E-flat Major, Opus 127, completed. Not two but four more followed, including an extra movement, which was substituted for the original fugal finale (Grosse Fuge) of the String Quartet in B-flat Major, Opus 130. The last of these quartets, the String Quartet in C-sharp Minor, was finished in 1826, about the time of Karl's attempted suicide; the greatest of these , Opus 131, was dedicated to Joseph, Freiherr (baron) von Stutterheim, the military officer who had, in a sense, taken Karl under his wing in the aftermath of that sad event. Beethoven spent that summer on the estate belonging to his surviving brother, Nikolaus Johann. On his return to Vienna he contracted pneumonia, from which he never fully recovered. He remained bedridden and died from cirrhosis of the liver in Vienna on March 26, 1827. The funeral three days later was attended by 20,000 people. Pallbearers included the famous pianist Johann Nepomuk Hummel; Schubert was among the torchbearers; Franz Grillparzer, Austria's greatest living dramatist, wrote the sometimes nationalistic funeral oration. Reputation and influence Beethoven's achievement Beethoven's greatest achievement was to raise instrumental music, hitherto considered inferior to vocal, to the highest plane of art. During the 18th century, music, being fundamentally nonimitative, was ranked below literature and painting. Its highest manifestations were held to be those in which it served a text—that is, cantata, opera, and oratorio—the sonata and the suite being relegated to a lower sphere. A number of factors combined to bring about a gradual change of outlook: the instrumental prowess of the Mannheim Orchestra, which made possible the development of the symphony; the reaction on the part of writers against pure rationalism in favour of feeling; and the works of Haydn and Mozart. But, above all, it was the example of Beethoven that made possible the late-Romantic dictum of the English essayist and critic Walter Pater: “All arts aspire to the condition of music.� After Beethoven it was no longer possible to speak of music merely as “the art of pleasing sounds.� His instrumental works combine a forceful intensity of feeling with a hitherto unimagined perfection of design. He carried to a further point of development than his predecessors all the inherited forms of music (with the exception of opera and song), but particularly the symphony and the quartet. In this he was the heir of Haydn rather than of Mozart, whose most striking achievements lie more in opera and concerto. Three periods of work It was his biographer Wilhelm von Lenz who first divided Beethoven's output into three periods, omitting the years of his apprenticeship in Bonn. The first period begins with the completion of the Three Trios for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Opus 1, in 1794, and ends about 1800, the year of the first public performance of the First Symphony and the Septet. The second period extends from 1801 to 1814, from the Piano Sonata in C-sharp Minor (Moonlight Sonata) to the Piano Sonata in E Minor, Opus 90. The last period runs from 1814 to 1827, the year of his death. Though the division is a useful one, it cannot be applied rigidly. A composition begun in one period may often have been completed in another, hence the existence of such transitional works as the Third Piano Concerto, which belongs partly to the first period and partly to the second. Again, the tide of Beethoven's maturity advanced at a rate that varied according to his familiarity with the medium in which he happened to be writing. The piano was his home ground; therefore, it is in the piano sonatas that the middle-period characteristics first make their appearance, even before 1800. The mass, on the other hand, was unfamiliar territory, so that the Mass in C Major, written during the same period as the Fourth Piano Concerto and the Razumovsky string quartets, sounds in many ways like an early work. First period The works of the first period, apart from the first two piano concerti, the Creatures of Prometheus, and the First Symphony (some accountings include the Second Symphony as a first-period work as well), consist almost entirely of chamber music, most of it based on Beethoven's own instrument, the piano. All show a preoccupation with craftsmanship in the 18th-century manner. The material, for the most part, has a family likeness to that of Haydn and Mozart but, in keeping with the contemporary style, is slightly coarser and more blunt. Beethoven's treatment of the forms in current use is usually expansive, schematically somewhat closer to Mozart than to Haydn; thus, the expositions are long and polythematic, while the developments are relatively short. Slow movements are long and lyrical with copious decoration. The third movement, though sometimes called a scherzo, remains true to its minuet origins, though its surface is often disturbed by un-minuet-like accents and its tempo is at times quite brisk. Finales are at once high-spirited and elegant. Two characteristics, however, mark Beethoven out strongly from other composers of the time: one is an individual use of contrasted dynamics and especially the device of crescendo leading to a sudden piano; the other, most noticeable in the piano sonatas, is the gradual infiltration of techniques derived from improvisation—unexpected accents, rhythmic ambiguities designed to keep the audience guessing, and especially the use of apparently trivial, almost senseless material from which to generate a cogent musical argument. Second period The second period may be said to begin in the piano music with two sonatas “quasi una fantasia,� Opus 27, of 1801, but in the symphony and concerto it is not fully apparent before the Eroica (1804) and the Fourth Piano Concerto (1806). Here the use of improvisatory material is more and more marked; but, whereas in the earlier period Beethoven was more concerned to show how it could fit naturally into a traditional 18th-century framework, here he explores in greater detail the logical implication of every departure from the norm. His harmony remains basically simple—much simpler, for instance, than much of Mozart's. What is new is the way it is used in relation to the basic pulse. From this Beethoven creates in his main themes an infinite variety of stress and accent, out of which the form of each movement is generated. The result is that, of all composers, Beethoven is the least inclined to repeat himself; all his works, but especially those of the middle and late period, inhabit their own individual formal world. Other characteristics of the middle period include shorter expositions and longer developments and codas; slow movements too become much shorter, sometimes vanishing altogether. The third movement is now always a scherzo (although not always so named), not a minuet, with frequent use of unexpected accents and syncopation. Finales tend to take on much more weight than before and in certain cases become the principal movement. Decoration begins to disappear as each note becomes more functional, melodically and harmonically. Another feature of these works is their immediacy. Here Beethoven's power is most evident; and the majority of the repertory works belong to this period. Third period The third period is marked by a growing concentration of musical thought combined with an increasingly wider range of harmony and texture. Beethoven's enthusiasm for the work of George Frideric Handel began to bear fruit in a much more-thoroughgoing use of counterpoint, especially notable in his frequent recourse to fugue and fugal passages. But he never lost touch with the simplicity of his earliest manner, so that the range of expression and mood in these last works is something that has never been surpassed. Indeed, an interest in folklike material seems, as in the Ninth Symphony, to offer redemption to the growing complexities of his art, much as his beloved Schiller found an incipient nationalistic redemption in Arcadia. A form to which he gave increasingly more attention at this time was that of the variation. As an improviser, he had always found it congenial, and, though some of the sets he had published in earlier years are merely decorative, he had created such outstanding examples of the genre as the finale of the Eroica and the Prometheus variations, both on the same theme. It is this type of variation that Beethoven began to pursue in his final period. A unique feature of the sets that occur in his last string quartets and sonatas is the sense of cumulative growth, not merely from variation to variation but within each variation itself. In the quartets, everything in the composer's musical equipment is deployed—fugue, variation, dance, sonata movement, march, even modal and pentatonic (five-tone) melody. Structural innovations Beethoven remains the supreme exponent of what may be called the architectonic use of tonality. In his greatest sonata movements, such as the first allegro of the Eroica, the listener's subconscious mind remains oriented to E-flat major even in the most distant keys, so that when, long before the recapitulation, the music touches on the dominant (B-flat), this is immediately recognizable as being the dominant. Of his innovations in the symphony and quartet, the most notable is the replacement of the minuet by the more dynamic scherzo; he enriched both the orchestra and the quartet with a new range of sonority and variety of texture, and their forms are often greatly expanded. The same is true of the concerto, in which he introduced formal innovations that, though relatively few in number, would prove equally influential. In particular, the entry of a solo instrument before an orchestral ritornello in the Fourth and Fifth piano concerti (a device anticipated by Mozart but to quite different effect) reinforces the sense of the soloist as a protagonist, even a romantic hero, an effect later composers would struggle to reproduce. Although, in the finale of the Ninth Symphony and the Missa Solemnis, Beethoven shows himself a master of choral effects, the solo human voice gave him difficulty to the end. His many songs form perhaps the least important part of his output, although his song cycle An die ferne Geliebte would prove an important influence on later composers, especially Robert Schumann. His one opera, Fidelio, owes its preeminence to the excellence of the music rather than to any real understanding of the operatic medium. But even this lack of vocal sense could be made to bear fruit, in that it set his mind free in other directions. A composer such as Mozart or Haydn, whose conception of melody remained rooted in what could be sung, could never have written anything like the opening of the Fifth Symphony, in which the melody takes shape from three instrumental strands each giving way to the other. Richard Wagner was not far wrong when he hailed Beethoven as the discoverer of instrumental melody, even if his claim was based more narrowly on Beethoven's avoidance of cadential formulas.Beethoven holds an important place in the history of the piano. In his day, the piano sonata was the most intimate form of chamber music that existed—far more so than the string quartet, which was often performed in public. For Beethoven, the piano sonata was the vehicle for his boldest and most-inward thoughts. He did not anticipate the technical devices of such later composers as Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt, which were designed to counteract the percussiveness of the piano, partly because he himself had a pianistic ability that could make the most simply laid-out melody sing; partly, too, because the piano itself was still in a fairly early stage of development; and partly because he himself valued its percussive quality and could turn it to good account. Piano tone, caused by a hammer's striking a string, cannot move forward, as can the sustained, bowed tone of the violin, although careful phrasing on