Multilingual Music Glossary

# A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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Found a word you don't know? No problem. Look it up in the Music Glossary!

We are currently providing explanations for 2484 terms from 12 languages, including English, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Latin…

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Please note: a music glossary is just like a dictionary. It contains explanations to musical terms. If you are looking for a piece, please go here instead: search tunes.

Some random terms

  • popular music Music of the common people.
  • trill Ornament consisting of the rapid alternation between one tone and the next above it.
  • Requiem [Latin] A composition to honor the deceased.
  • dolce [Italian] Sweet, soft, with tender emotion.
  • Wiederholung [German] Repetition.
  • flageolet [French] A simple recorder with four finger holes, popular in the 17th century in England.
  • sospirando [Italian] Sighing.
  • timbre [French] The quality of a sound; that component of a tone that causes different instruments (for example a flute and a violin) to sound different from each other while they are both playing the same note.
  • incipit [Latin] The beginning of a musical composition.
  • turn An ornament consisting of four notes, alternating the main note with the one above it and the one below.
  • polycoral Performance style developed in the late sixteenth century involving the use of two or more choirs that alternate with each other or sing together.
  • penny whistle A folk wind instrument similar to the recorder, but usually made of tin. It generally has six finger holes, and is prominent in British and Irish folk music.
  • woodwind A family of blown wooden musical instruments. Today some of these instruments are actually made from metal. The woodwind instruments commonly used in a symphony orchestra are flute, oboe, clarinet, saxophone, and bassoon.
  • semitone The interval of a minor second.
  • baroque The music of the period circa 1600–1750, directly following the Renaissance and preceding the Classical era. Its style is characterized by rich ornamentation.