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

  • leap Any movement from one note to another through means of an interval that is greater than a second.
  • sonatina [Italian] A form popular in the late classical era that consisted of a short or “light” sonata; often the sonatina contained an exposition and recapitulation without the development section. The form has been revived in the 20th century by various composers.
  • relative pitch The ability to identify any pitch in reference to a given pitch.
  • giubilo [Italian] Rejoicing, jubilation.
  • virtuoso [Italian] Performer of extraordinary technical ability.
  • amabile [Italian] Lovable, charming, amiable.
  • détaché [French] Not slurred.
  • melodrama A spoken dialogue that is accompanied by music.
  • paso doble [Spanish] Literally, “double step”. A Spanish dance in a brisk duple meter, typically 2/4 time.
  • Stimmung [German] Mood. Also, tuning.
  • middle C First C below the 440 Hz A. It is the note on the ledger line halfway between the bass and treble clef on the grand staff. It is the lowest C that a concert flute can make.
  • heavy metal Rock style that gained popularity in the 1970s, characterized by simple, repetitive ideas and loud, distorted instrumental solos.
  • luttuoso [Italian] Mournful.
  • piccolo [Italian] Literally, “small”. A small flute that sounds an octave above the regular flute, and also an octave above its written music.
  • adagissimo [Italian] An extremely slow tempo marking, slower than adagio.