Debussy
CLAUDE ACHILLE, French composer, born at St. Germainen-Laye, Aug. 22, 1862. Educated at the Paris Conservatoire, winning the grand prix de Rome in 1884 with a cantata, "L'Enfant Prodigue." From Rome he sent a setting of Rossetti's Blessed Damozel, which was refused by the Institut because of its excessive modernity of style. The rebuff only made him the more determined to adhere to his convictions. His most important compositions are: a "prelude symphonique" to Mallarmé's Afternoon of a Faun; orchestral pieces, "Clouds," "Fêtes," and "Sirens"; settings for poems of Verlaine and Baudelaire; a piano suite, "Images"; and his chief work, a lyric drama on Maeterlinck's Pelléas et Mélisande, given at Paris, April 30, 1902, and performed with remarkable success at the Manhattan Opera House, New York, Feb. 19, 1908. Among his other compositions may be mentioned "The Sea," "Spring," "Three Nocturnes," "Prose Lyrics," etc. He died in 1918. DECADE (dek'ad) is sometimes used for the number 10 or for an aggregate of 10. The books of Livy's Roman History are divided into decades. In the French Revolution, decades, each consisting of 10 days, took the place of weeks in the division of the year. The term is now usually applied to an aggregate of 10 years.
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Decadence
a favorite modern term to express the idea that the successors in some degree are not as strong as the predecessors in the particular department about which an inquiry is made. It is the falling tide from some high-water mark. The word is intentionally of fensive, but its use in the history of art is the least objectionable of all. Thus Grecian art attained its highest point of grandeur about 400 b. c., and all Grecian art of later date, some of it most exquisite in its genius, belongs to the decadent side of Grecian art. There are several periods of decadent art that may be found mentioned in the histories, but the one most discussed of late years is that of the French romancists of all schools. Those of the latter part of the last century are called decadents because they are thought less able, and more sensational than their predecessors.
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Decagon
a plane geometrical figure of 10 sides. When the sides are equal, the figure is called a regular decagon.
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Decalcomanie
a transferable picture or pattern, used generally for decoration, as on chinaware. The designs are printed lithographically on thin paper or foil, which is afterward attached face down to a thick porus paper, which serves to support it. It is applied to the surface to be decorated by moistening the film of gum or cement on the back of the design, after which the paper carrier is thoroughly wetted and peeled off, leaving the design behind.
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Decalogue
the Ten Commandments given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai. They were first introduced into the liturgy of the Church of England, in the prayerbook of Edward VI., in 1552.
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Decameron
anything of 10 days' occurrence; also the title given to a collection of tales by Boccaccio, written in 10 parts, each part containing 10 stories, and being supposed to occupy one day in the narration. Boccaccio represents the stories as being told by seven ladies and three gentlemen, who had fled from Florence into the country to escape the fearful plague of 1348, and who had no other means of passing the time.
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Decameron, The
The. See Boccaccio
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Decapolis
a country Palestine, which in contains 10 principal cities , on both sides of the Jordan. According to Pliny, they were Scythopolis, Philadelphia, Raphanæ, Gadara, Hippos, Dios, Pella, Gerasa, Canatha, and Damascus. Josephus inserts Otopos instead of Canatha.
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Decarbonize
To deprive any substance of its carbon. This word is synonymous with decarburize, and means to take the carbon from--as decarbonizing steel or iron. See DECARBONIZING PROCESSES.
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Decazes
ELIE, DUKE, French in St. Martin de Laye, Gironde, an advominister, born Sept. 28, 1780, cate in Libourne; became in 1805 judge in the Seine Tribunal, and in 1806 was called by King Louis to the Hague, Holland. Later he returned to France and was adviser for Bonaparte's mother, and in the Supreme Cou Court of the French Empire. When Bonaparte fell he turned his allegiance to the Bourbons. He became the Prefect of Police for Paris, and in 1815 Minister of Police in the Cabinet, and was made Count. He married the rich heiress of Sainte-Aulaire and was made at that time Duke of Glücksbjerg by the King of Denmark. He turned Louis XVIII. into more liberal courses and was the active member of Dessoles' moderate-Liberal Ministry of 1918, having himself the Ministry of the Interior. The ultraroyalists accused him of complicity in the murder of the Duke de Berry, and forced his dismissal in 1820. The' The King made him Duke, however, and he retired to found the great coal and iron works of Decazeville. He died Oct. 24, 1860.
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Decebalus
the name of several Dacian kings, or perhaps a general title of honor borne by ther One of them distinguished himself by his opposition to the Roman arms during the reigns of Domitian and Trajan. He entered the province of Mesia, defeated and killed Appius Sabinus, the Roman governor, and captured many important towns and fortresses. Domitian agreed to pay him a yearly tribute, which was continued by Nerva, but refused by Trajan, who subdued Dacia, and Decebalus, to escape falling into the hands of the victors, committed suicide.
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Decemvir
one of a body of 10 magistrates, in whom was vested the sole government of Rome for a period of two years, from 449 B. C. to 447 b. c. The brutal and licentious conduct of one of the number, Appius Claudius, caused their downfall in the latter year.
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Decemvirs
de-sem'vers, in Roman history, ten men appointed to systematize or codify the laws of the city. About 302 B. C. they presented their report. It was engraved on tablets of bronze erected in the Roman forum that all might read. A year later two additional tablets were added. The laws thus published are known as the Twelve Tables. School boys learned them by heart. The significance of the work of the decemvirs lies in the fact that their appointment and the publicity of the code were demanded by the common people, that all might know what the laws were, and be secure from prosecution under little known or forgotten enactments. Written laws are a safeguard against tryanny. See Code ; Sibyls
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