PEANUTS, SOYBEANS, TAMARIND, and VETCH.
Lehar \'la-,har\, Franz (Christian) orig. Ferencz Christian Lehar (b. April 30, 1870, Komarom, Hung., Austria-Hungary—d. Oct. 24, 1948, Bad Ischl, Austria) Hungarian composer. He began studying the violin at age 12 in Prague. In the 1890s he was a military bandmaster like his father; by the end of the decade he had moved to Vienna, where he
became a popular composer of marches and waltzes. After 1901 he con¬ centrated on orchestra conducting and on composing, notably his 40 witty and melodic operettas that embody the prewar Viennese spirit, including the popular The Merry Widow (1905), The Countess of Luxembourg (1909), and The Land of Smiles (1929).
Lehmbruck Vlam-briik\, Wilhelm (b. Jan. 4, 1881, Meiderich, Ger.—d. March 25, 1919, Berlin) German sculptor, painter, and print- maker. His youthful work was academically realistic, but he grew to admire the works of Auguste Rodin, and in 1910 he moved to Paris, where he produced paintings and lithographs as well as sculptures. He became one of the most important German Expressionist sculptors, best known for his elongated nudes, such as Kneeling Woman (1911), which suggests a resigned pessimism. He returned to Germany at the outbreak of World War I and tended wounded soldiers in a hospital. Seated Youth (1917) reveals his profound depression; he committed suicide two years later.
Leiber Vle-borN, Jerry (b. April 25, 1933, Baltimore, Md., U.S.) U.S. songwriter and producer. His family settled in Los Angeles, where he met Mike Stoller (b. 1933), who had moved there from New York. In 1950, while still in their teens, Leiber and Stoller became a songwriting and production team, among the first to produce recordings that combined pop music with rhythm and blues. Their first successful collaboration came with “Hound Dog,” recorded by Big Mama Thornton (1952) and later by Elvis Presley, who would record more than 20 of their songs. They wrote numer¬ ous songs for the Coasters, including “Yakety Yak.” Other hits include “There Goes My Baby,” “Stand by Me,” and “Love Potion Number Nine.” Their songs were recorded by the Beatles, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, and Ben E. King, among many others.
Leibniz Vllb-n3ts,\ German Vllp-nitsV Gottfried Wilhelm, Freiherr (baron) von Leibniz (b. July 1, 1646, Leipzig, Saxony—d. Nov. 14, 1716, Hannover, Hanover) German philosopher, mathematician, inventor, jurist, historian, diplomat, and political adviser. He obtained a doctorate in law at age 20. In 1667 he began working for the elector of Mainz, in which position he codified the laws of the city, among other important tasks. He served the dukes of Braunschweig-Luneburg as librar¬ ian and councillor (1676-1716). In 1700 he helped found the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin and became its first president. Though he wrote voluminously, he published little during his lifetime. In metaphys¬ ics he is known for his doctrine of the monad, according to which reality is ultimately constituted of simple substances (monads), each consisting of nothing but perception and appetite. Though each state of a monad is the cause of its succeeding state and the effect of its preceding one, there are no causal relations between monads; the appearance of causal rela¬ tions between substances is accounted for by the supposition of a “pre- established harmony” between the perceptual states of different monads. His principle of the identity of indiscemibles states that an individual x and an individual y are identical if and only if they share all the same intrinsic, non-relational properties. His Theodicy (1710) sought to recon¬ cile the goodness of God with the existence of evil in the world by assert¬ ing that only God is perfect and that the actual world is the “best of all possible worlds.” This view was famously mocked by Voltaire in his comic novel Candide. In mathematics, Leibniz explored the idea of a uni¬ versal mathematical-logical language based on the binary number system (De arte combinatoria [1666]), though all the calculating devices that he later built used the decimal system. He discovered the fundamental theo¬ rem of calculus independently of Isaac Newton; the acrimonious dispute over priority left England mathematically backward for more than a gen¬ eration before Leibniz’s superior notation and methods were adopted. He also made important contributions to optics and mechanics. He is con¬ sidered the last great polymath of Western civilization.
Leibovitz, Annie orig. Anna-Lou Leibovitz (b. Oct. 2,1949, West- bury. Conn., U.S.) U.S. photographer. She enrolled in the San Francisco Art Institute in 1967. In 1970, while still a student, she was given her first commercial assignment for Rolling Stone magazine. Leibovitz became the publication’s chief photographer in 1973, and over the subsequent decade she created images of the major personalities of contemporary rock music. In 1983 she moved to Vanity Fair magazine, which broadened her pool of subjects to include film stars, athletes, and political figures, and in 1986 she began to pursue advertising photography. Many successful mono¬ graphs of her photographs have been published.
Leicester \'les-tor\ City and unitary authority (pop., 2001: 279,921), geographic and historic county of Leicestershire, central England. Located
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© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
1094 I Leicester ► leitmotiv
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on the River Soar, it was settled by Romans. A considerable community by Norman times, it was the site of a Norman castle and abbey built in 1143, the ruins of which still stand. King Richard III was killed near Leices¬ ter in the Battle of Bosworth Field (1485). It was incorporated in 1589 and became an industrial centre after the arrival of the railway in 1832. The University of Leicester (founded 1957) is nearby.
Leicester, Earl of See Simon de Montfort
Leicester Vles-torV Robert Dudley, earl of (b. June 24, 1532/ 33—d. Sept. 4, 1588, Cornbury, Oxfordshire, Eng.) English courtier and favourite of Elizabeth I. Imprisoned in 1553 for aiding the attempt by his father, the duke of Northumberland, to put Lady Jane Grey on the throne, he was released in 1554. Handsome and ambitious, he won Elizabeth’s affection upon her accession (1558) and was made a privy councillor in 1559. When his wife died in 1560, it was rumoured that he had murdered her in order to marry Elizabeth. He became an active suitor of Elizabeth; though he failed to win the queen’s hand, they remained close friends. In 1585 he was sent in command of an English force to assist the Nether¬ lands in its revolt against Spain; he proved incompetent and was recalled
(1587).
Leicestershire Vles-tsr-.shhA Administrative (pop., 2001: 609,579), historic, and geographic county, central England. It is located in the East Midlands region; the geographic county encompasses the entire admin¬ istrative county together with the unitary authority of Leicester. The Soar River crosses the county from south to north on its way to join the River Trent. East of the Soar valley lies a territory famous for its fox hunts. Leicestershire has a pastoral agricultural tradition and is noted for pro¬ duction of Stilton cheese. Manufacturing industries are also important, at Leicester, for example.
Leiden or Leyden \'lld- 3 n,\ Dutch \Ta-do\ Commune (pop., 1999: 117,389), western Netherlands. First mentioned in 922 as a possession of Utrecht diocese, it was governed by the court of Holland until 1420. It became a printing centre after the Elzevir family set up their press there c. 1581. The University of Leiden was founded in 1575, and the town became a centre of theology, science, and art. Leiden was the birthplace of painters Rembrandt van Rijn and Jan van Goyen, and the Pilgrims resided there for 11 years before they sailed to America in 1620.