chord Grouping of three or more musical tones, especially as sounded simultaneously. The tones C-E-G constitute a “C major chord,” or “C major triad.” Chords may comprise any number of separate tones, and may be highly dissonant (see consonance and dissonance). The term har¬ mony is often used loosely as a synonym.
chordate Vk6r-,dat\ Any member of the phylum Chordata, which includes the most highly evolved animals, the vertebrates, as well as the marine invertebrate cephalochordates (see amphioxus) and tunicates. All chordates, at some time in their life cycle, possess a dorsal supporting rod (notochord), gill slits, and a dorsal nerve cord. Unlike vertebrates, tuni¬ cates and cephalochordates lack any kind of brain or skeleton. Chordate bodies consist of a body wall encasing a gut, with a space between called the coelom. The body is usually long and bilaterally symmetrical, with the mouth and sense organs at the front end.
chorea \ko-'re-3\ Neurological disorder causing irregular, involuntary, purposeless movements. It is believed to be caused by degeneration of the basal ganglia in the cerebral cortex. Sydenham chorea (St. Vitus dance) is usually associated with rheumatic fever. It usually occurs between ages 5 and 15, more often in girls. Typical jerking movements, mostly in the extremities and face, may affect speech and swallowing and range from mild to incapacitating; attacks last several weeks and recur frequently. Senile chorea, a progressive disease resembling Sydenham chorea, usu¬ ally occurs late in life. Huntington chorea is rare, hereditary, and fatal. It usually begins between ages 35 and 50 and progresses to random, often violent, and eventually totally incapacitating spasms, absent only during sleep. Mental deterioration begins later, and death occurs in 10-20 years. There is no effective therapy. Children of those afflicted have a 50% chance of developing the illness.
choreography Art of creating and arranging dances. The word is derived from the Greek for “dance” and “write,” reflecting its early mean¬ ing as a written record of dances. By the 19th century the term was used mainly for the creation of dances, and the written record became known as dance notation. In the 16th century dance masters at the French court arranged their social dances into specific patterns. In the 17th century such dances became more complex and were performed as theatrical ballets by trained professionals. In the late 18th century Jean-Georges Noverre and Gasparo Angiouni introduced choreography that combined expressive mime and dance steps to produce the dramatic ballet. This was further developed in 19th-century Romantic ballets by Marius Petipa, Jules Perrot, and August Bournonville. Radical change in the 20th century began with choreographers of the Ballets Russes, including Michel Fokine and Leonide Massine, and continued with George Balanchine, Martha Graham, Freder¬ ick Ashton, Jerome Robbins, Merce Cunningham, and Twyla Tharp. See also Alvin Ailey; Agnes de Mille; Serge Lifar; Bronislava Nijinska; Salvatore Vigano.
chorus In theatre, a group of actors, singers, or dancers who perform as an ensemble to describe and comment on a play’s action. Choral perfor¬ mances, which originated in the singing of dithyrambs in honour of Dionysus, dominated Greek drama until the mid-5th century bc, when Aeschylus added a second actor and reduced the chorus from 50 to 12 per¬ formers. As the importance of individual actors increased, the chorus gradually disappeared. It was revived in modern plays such as Eugene O'Neill’s Mourning Becomes Electra (1931) and T.S. Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral (1935). Choruses of singers and dancers came to be fea¬ tured in musical comedies, especially in the 20th century, first as enter¬ tainment and later to help develop the plot.
Choshu Vcho-.shtU Japanese han (domain) that, along with the han of Satsuma, supported the overthrow of the Tokugawa shogunate (see Tokugawa period) and the creation of a new government headed by the emperor. With their superior familiarity with Western weapons, the Satsuma-Choshu alliance was able to defeat the shogunal forces, bring¬ ing the emperor to power in the Meiji Restoration of 1868.
Choson dynasty \'cho-,s6n\ or Yi dynasty (1392-1910) Last and longest-lived of Korea’s dynasties. Chinese cultural influences were intense in this period, when Neo-Confucianism was adopted as the ideol¬
ogy of the state and society. In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, Korea suffered invasions at the hands of the Japanese and Manchus. Many cultural assets were lost, and it took the country nearly a century to recover. At the end of the 19th century, foreign powers once again threat¬ ened Korea; it was annexed by Japan in 1910. During the Choson dynasty the Korean alphabetic script Hangul (see Korean language) was created, and the yangban, a new aristocracy, was established. See also Yi Song-gye.
Chott el-Hodna See Chott el-HoDNA Chou dynasty See Zhou dynasty Chou En-lai See Zhou Enlai Chou-kung See Zhougong
Chouteau \shu-'t6\, (Rene) Auguste (baptized Sept. 7, 1749, New Orelans—d. Feb. 24, 1829, St. Louis, Mo., U.S.) American fur trader and cofounder of St. Louis. He moved to Missouri Territory with his mother and Pierre Liguest (17247-78), with whom he later cofounded St. Louis in 1764. The two men built a prosperous fur trade, which Chouteau later expanded. By 1794 he had a monopoly on the trade with the Osage and helped finance most of the fur-trading companies in Louisiana Territory. He became the unofficial banker to the St. Louis community and its larg¬ est landowner.
chow chow or chow Breed of dog that shares with the shar-pei an unusual blue-black tongue. The chow chow originated in China and dates to the Han dynasty (206 bc-ad 220); it may be one of the oldest of all dog breeds. It is compact and has a large head and a thick coat that forms a dense ruff about the neck.
The coat is evenly coloured, either reddish brown, black, or blue-gray.
The adult stands about 18-20 in.
(46-51 cm) tall and weighs 45-70 lb (20-32 kg). The breed is usually loyal to owners but aloof with strangers. Chow chow
SALLY ANNE THOMPSON/EB INC.
Chretien \kra-'tyaii\, (Joseph- -
Jacques) Jean (b. Jan. 11, 1934, Shawinigan, Quebec, Can.) Canadian prime minister (1993-2003). The 18th of 19 children of a working-class family, Chretien studied law at Laval University and was called to the bar in Quebec in 1958. He served in the Canadian House of Commons (1963— 86) and held various posts in the administrations of Lester Pearson and Pierre Trudeau, including minister of finance (1977), the first French Cana¬ dian to hold the office. In 1986, after losing the leadership battle to suc¬ ceed Trudeau, he retired from parliament. Four years later he was reelected to the House of Commons and became leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. In 1993 the Liberals won a landslide victory, and Chretien became prime minister. Under his leadership the party was again victo¬ rious in 1997 and 2000. As prime minister, he oversaw in 1998 the pas¬ sage of the country’s first balanced budget since 1970, and he pursued progressive social reforms, drafting a law in 2003 that would recognize same-sex marriages. Chretien’s relationship with the U.S. was sometimes tense, and he refused to commit Canadian troops to the U.S.-led war against Iraq in 2003.
Chretien de Troyes \kra-'tya n -d9- , trwa\ (fl. 1165-80) French poet. Little is known of his life. He is the author of the five Arthurian romances Erec, Cliges, Lancelot , Yvain, and Perceval and possibly also of a non- Arthurian tale. Written in the vernacular, his romances were derived from the writings of Geoffrey of Monmouth and combine separate adventures into well-knit stories. They were imitated almost immediately by other French poets and were translated and adapted frequently as the romance continued to develop as a narrative form. See also Arthurian legend.
Christ, Church of Any of various conservative Protestant churches found mainly in the U.S. Each congregation is autonomous in govern¬ ment, with elders, deacons, and a minister or ministers; there is no national administrative organization. These churches originated in the early 19th century with the Disciples of Christ movement, which relied on the Bible as the only standard of Christian faith and worship. Controversies split the movement, and the Churches of Christ designated those congregations that opposed organized mission societies and the use of instrumental