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

Hint: Don't worry about accents over letters, just skip them.

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

  • sextuplet A group of six notes played in the time usually taken to play four.
  • ohne [German] “Without”.
  • larynx The upper part of the trachea in the human throat. It is the mechanism that varies the tone of the voice.
  • vivace [Italian] A fast tempo marking, usually around 140 BPM.
  • Eingang [German] An introduction, preface or prelude.
  • calmando [Italian] Getting calm or quiet.
  • fanfare A short, lively, loud, militaristic composition, usually composed for brass instruments and percussions.
  • voice Either human voice or a melodic layer or part of a polyphonic composition.
  • ut [Latin] The syllable first associated with the tonic of the key, now replaced by the syllable "Do" but still used in France. In the fixed Do system, this is always C.
  • fugue [French] Polyphonic form popular in the Baroque era in which one or more themes are developed by imitative counterpoint.
  • scherzo [Italian] Literally, “jest“. A composition in ABA form, usually in triple meter. Originally, in the early 17th century, the scherzo was a piece of lively, playful character, with animated rhythm.
  • ode A composition written in commemoration and celebration of a particular event, object, or person. Especially popular in England.
  • tristezza [Italian] Sadness.
  • pietoso [Italian] Pitiful, merciful, compassionate.
  • fugato [Italian] In the style of a fugue.