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170 I Baroque period ► Barry
subdued Baroque architecture in France. In central Europe, the Baroque arrived late but flourished in the works of such architects as the Austrian Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach (1656-1723). Its impact in Britain can be seen in the works of Christopher Wren. The late Baroque style is often referred to as Rococo or, in Spain and Spanish America, as Chur- RIGUERESQUE.
Baroque period (17th—18th century) Era in the arts that originated in Italy in the 17th century and flourished elsewhere well into the 18th cen¬ tury. It embraced painting, sculpture, architecture, decorative arts, and music. The word, derived from a Portuguese term for an irregularly shaped pearl and originally used derogatorily, has long been employed to describe a variety of characteristics, from dramatic to bizarre to over¬ decorated. The style was embraced by countries absorbed in the Counter- Reformation; artworks commissioned by the Roman Catholic church were overtly emotional and sensory. The period’s most notable practitioners were Annibale Carracci (see Carracci family), Caravaggio, and Gian Lorenzo Bernini. A spectacular example of the Baroque arts is the Palace of Versailles. In music, the Baroque era is usually considered to extend from c. 1600 to c. 1750, when such significant new vocal and instrumen¬ tal genres as opera, oratorio, cantata, sonata, and concerto were intro¬ duced and such towering composers as Claudio Monteverdi, J.S. Bach, and George Frideric Handel flourished.
Barotse See Lozi
Barquisimeto V.bar-ke-se-'ma-toN City (pop., 2000 est.: 875,790), northwestern Venezuela. The capital of Lara state, it is located at the northern end of the Cordillera Merida, at an elevation of 1,800 ft (500 m). Founded in 1552 as Nueva Segovia, it is one of the country’s oldest cit¬ ies. It was almost destroyed by an earthquake in 1812 and was further damaged in 19th-century civil wars. It is a hub of transport and commerce and the centre of an agricultural region.
barracuda Any of about 20 species of predaceous marine fishes (fam¬ ily Sphyraenidae) found in all warm and tropical regions and in some more temperate areas. Swift and powerful, barracudas are slender and have small scales, a jutting lower jaw, and a large mouth with many large, sharp teeth. They vary in size from relatively small to 4-6 ft (1.2-1.8 m) long. They are primarily fish eaters. They are popular sport fishes and are caught for food, though in certain seas they may become contaminated with a toxic substance. Bold and inquisitive, they are potentially danger¬ ous to humans when large.
Barracuda (Sphyraena)
C. LEROY FRENCH/TOM STACK & ASSOCIATES
Barranquilla \,ba-ran-'ke-ya\ City (pop., 1999: 1,226,292), northern Colombia. Founded in 1629 about 10 mi (16 km) from the mouth of the Magdalena River, it remained unimportant until the 1930s, when the clear¬ ing of sandbars made it an important port on the Caribbean Sea. It has since been rivaled by the Pacific Ocean port of Buenaventura, but it still handles goods from the interior and is the terminus of natural-gas pipe¬ lines from northern Colombia.
Barraque \ba-ra-'ka\, Jean (b. Jan. 17, 1928, Puteaux, France—d. Aug. 17, 1973, Paris) French composer. He studied at the Paris Conser¬ vatoire with Jean Langlais (1907-91) and Olivier Messiaen. His major work, employing a radically nonrepetitive style, was a planned five-part reflection on Hermann Broch’s novel The Death of Virgil, of which he completed three parts—... au-dela du hasard (1959), Chant apres chant
(1966), and Le Temps restitue (1968)—before his early death. He also composed a long piano sonata (1952) and a clarinet concerto (1968).
Barras \ba-'ras\, Paul-Francois-Jean-Nicolas, viscount de (b.
June 30, 1755, Fox-Amphoux, France—d. Jan. 29, 1829, Chaillot) French revolutionary. A Provencal nobleman, Barras became disenchanted with the royal regime and welcomed the French Revolution. Elected to the National Convention (1792), he played a key role in the overthrow of Maximiuen Robespierre and emerged as the commander of the army of the interior and the police. In 1795 he and Napoleon defended the regime against a royalist insurrection and established the Directory, with Barras as chief among the five directors. The Coup of 18 Fructidor brought him greater power, but he was overthrown in 1799 and exiled from Paris on suspicion of conspiracy to restore the monarchy.
Barrault \ba-'ro\, Jean-Louis (b. Sept. 8, 1910, Le Vesinet, France—d. Jan. 22, 1994, Paris) French actor and director. He made his acting debut in Paris (1931) and joined the Comedie-Francaise (1940-46) as an actor and director. He and his wife, Madeleine Renaud, formed their own company (1946-58) at the Theatre Marigny. There they performed a mixture of French and foreign classics and modern plays that helped revive French theatre after World War II. He was appointed director of the Theatre de France (1959-68) and later directed at several other Paris theatres (1972-81). He appeared in more than 20 films and was best known for his role in The Children of Paradise (1945).
Barre, Mohamed Siad See Mohamed Siad Barre
Bar res \ba-'res\, (Auguste-) Maurice (b. Aug. 19, 1862, Charmes- sur-Moselle, France—d. Dec. 5,
1923, Paris) French writer and poli¬ tician. He served in the Chamber of Deputies (1889-93) and became a strong nationalist. With Charles Mau- rras, he expounded the doctrines of the French Nationalist Party in two newspapers, and in his novels he expressed an individualism that included a deep-rooted attachment to one’s native region. His series of novels titled Les Bastions de TEst earned success as French propa¬ ganda during World War I.
Barrie, Sir James (Matthew)
(b. May 9, 1860, Kirriemuir, Angus,
Scot.—d. June 19, 1937, London,
Eng.) Scottish playwright and novel¬ ist. After moving to London, he wrote Auld Licht Idylls (1888), a book about his native Scotland. His best-selling novel The Little Minis¬ ter (1891) was made into a play in 1897. His plays Quality Street (1901) and The Admirable Crichton (1902) ran successfully in London. After creating the stories of Peter Pan for a friend’s sons, he won great success with his classic children’s play Peter Pan, the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up (1904). His other plays include The Twelve-Pound Look (1910) and Dear Brutus (1917).
barrier penetration See tunneling
barrister Vbar-o-storX One of two types of practicing lawyers in Brit¬ ain (the other is the solicitor). Barristers engage in advocacy (trial work), and only they may argue cases before a high court. A barrister must be a member of one of the four Inns of Court. In Canada, all lawyers are both barristers and solicitors, though individual lawyers may describe them¬ selves as one or the other. In Scotland trial lawyers are called advocates.
Barrow, Clyde See Bonnie and Clyde
Barry \dm-ba-'re\, (Marie-) Jeanne Becu, countess du known as Madame du Barry (b. Aug. 19, 1743, Vaucouleurs, France—d. Dec. 8, 1793, Paris) French mistress of Louis XV. A Paris shop assistant, she became the mistress of Jean du Barry, who introduced her into Pari¬ sian high society. Admired for her beauty, she joined Louis XV’s court in 1769 after a nominal marriage to Jean’s brother, a nobleman, qualified her as Louis’s official royal mistress. Though she exercised little politi¬ cal influence, her unpopularity contributed to the decline of the prestige of the crown in the early 1770s. After Louis’s death (1774), she was ban-