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

  • chaconne [French] Baroque form in 3/4 time similar to the passacaglia, in which the variations are based on a repeated chord progression.
  • ancora [Italian] “Still”, as in “still more slowly”.
  • Übung [German] Exercise.
  • brio [Italian] Vivacity, spirit, liveliness.
  • amabile [Italian] Lovable, charming, amiable.
  • close The ending of a composition or passage.
  • pianississimo [Italian] Extremely soft, softer than pianissimo.
  • theme The musical basis upon which a composition is built. Usually a theme consists of a recognizable melody or a characteristic rhythmic pattern.
  • hautbois [French] Oboe.
  • deux [French] “Two”.
  • klein [German] Literally, “little”. In reference to intervals, “minor“.
  • tranquillo [Italian] Calm, quiet.
  • basse dance [French] A graceful, stately court dance of the early Renaissance.
  • Minnesinger [German] A poet or musician of the Minnesang tradition in Germany, active during the 12th through the 15th centuries.
  • parallel motion In part writing, parallel motion occurs when two voices move keeping exactly the same interval between them.