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Frank Matcham

Frank Matcham.
Frank Matcham (22 November 1854 – 17 May 1920) was an English theatre architect and designer. Matcham was best known for his work in London, under Moss Empires, which included the designs of the Hippodrome (1900), Hackney Empire (1901), Coliseum (1903), Palladium (1910), and the Victoria Palace (1911). During his 40-year career, he was responsible for the design and construction of over 90 theatres and the redesign and refurbishment of a further 80 throughout the United Kingdom. According to the dramatist Alan Bennett, there was a Matcham theatre in every corner of the UK. Matcham's use of cantilevers for the galleries allowed him to discontinue the use of columns, which would otherwise obstruct the audience's view of the stage. The auditorium decorations were often mixed with Tudor strap-work, Louis XIV detail, Anglo-Indian motifs, naval and military insignia, rococo panels, classical statuary, and baroque columns.

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Juan Davis Bradburn

Juan Davis Bradburn.
Juan Davis Bradburn (1787–1842) was a brigadier general in the Mexican Army. His actions as commandant of the garrison at Anahuac (historical markers pictured) in Mexican Texas in 1831 and 1832 led to the events known as the Anahuac Disturbances. Born in the United States, he became an officer in the Mexican Army in 1821. In 1830, he established a new military and customs post at Anahuac in Texas. The local settlers resented Bradburn's efforts to withhold land titles from those who had dubious ownership, his attempts to enforce previously ignored customs laws, and his refusal to return fugitive slaves. A large force of Texians marched on Anahuac to secure the release of arrested settlers who had been denied protections offered by the United States Bill of Rights, even though these rights were not guaranteed in Mexico. The confrontation forced Bradburn's expulsion from Texas and encouraged further armed action against Mexican soldiers.

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Claudio Monteverdi

Claudio Monteverdi.
Claudio Monteverdi (15 May 1567 – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, string player and maestro di cappella. A composer of both secular and sacred music, and a pioneer in the development of opera, he is considered a transitional figure between the Renaissance and the Baroque periods of music history. He was a court musician in Mantua (c. 1590 – 1613), and then maestro di cappella at St Mark's Basilica in the Republic of Venice. His surviving music includes nine books of madrigals, in the tradition of earlier Renaissance polyphony – but also experimenting with the basso continuo technique, distinctive of the Baroque – as well as large-scale sacred works, including the Vespro della Beata Vergine (Vespers for the Blessed Virgin), and three complete operas. His music enjoyed a rediscovery from the 1880s onwards, and he is now seen as a significant influence in European musical history. Seven of his operas have been lost, but his L'Orfeo (1607) is the earliest opera that is still widely performed.

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