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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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We are currently providing explanations for 2424 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

  • nach [German] “After”.
  • krakoviak A syncopated Polish dance in 2/4 time.
  • cantio [Latin] A religious, monophonic, Latin song of the later Middle Ages.
  • root The fundamental note of a chord.
  • motive The briefest intelligible and self-contained fragment of a musical theme or subject.
  • suite [French] A work made up of a series of contrasting dance movements, generally all in the same key.
  • phrase A natural division of the melodic line, comparable to a sentence of speech.
  • virtuoso [Italian] Performer of extraordinary technical ability.
  • tombeau [French] Literally, “grave”. An instrumental funeral composition or a composition which commemorates the death of someone.
  • rondellus [Latin] A 13th century English style of three-voice composition.
  • quadruplet A group of four notes played in the time usually taken to play six.
  • inflection Small alteration of the pitch by a microtonal interval.
  • binary form Two-part structure of music; usually each part is repeated.
  • chorale Baroque congregational hymn of the German Lutheran church, usually written for four voice harmony.
  • pointed arms On a flute, arms connecting the keys to the rods which are pointed and extend to the keys' centers; found on more expensive flutes.