1. Richard Wagner (1813-1883), the greatest composer of German opera, made a major addition to the nature of opera through his writings about and the creation of music drama. Music drama combines singing, orchestra, verse, story, drama and spectacle. Wagner's works include the "The Ring of the Nibelung" (1853-1874), a set of four operas based on historical German stories. For an introduction to Wagner as well as other resources on the Internet, please visit http://www.ffaire.com/wagner/index.html or http://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/music/.
2. The Rhinegold, the first of the four operas in the "Ring" cycle, exemplifies Wagner's theory of music drama in its purest form.
3. La Spezia is an industrial port and Italy's chief naval station in northwest Italy. Wagner visited here in 1853 when he left his exile in Switzerland to which he had escaped during World War II. For more information such as maps and photos, etc. of La Spezia, please visit http://www.itwg.com/ct_00067.asp (or http://www.itwg.com in general).
4. Henri Poincare (1854-1912), a great French mathematics and theoretical science professor at the Sorbonne (University of Paris), had a highly original influence on the development of pure and applied mathematics. He also worked on functions that changed celestial mechanics, helped pioneer algebraic topology and co-discovered the special theory of relativity. For further introduction to his works, please visit http://www-chaos.umd.edu/misc/poincare.html.
5. Descartes, Rene (1596-1650), a famous French philosopher, mathematician and scientist, was one of the most influential thinkers in history. He is considered the founder of both modern philosophy and analytic geometry. During his life, established ideas were being challenged, so he tried to develop a way to reach the truth. He based his theory that the world is made up of mind and matter on a concept that came to him in a dream. For further information, check out the webpage at http://www.xrefer.com/entry/551791.
6. cogito ergo sum, is Latin for "I think; therefore, I exist," a key point in Descartes' philosophy. He claimed that the only thing anyone can be certain of is that s/he thinks and, therefore, s/he exists. The "I" is the mind which can exist without being
extended so that it can in principle survive the death of the body. You can check out the webpage at http://www.xrefer.com/entry/551611 for further information.