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 2484 terms from 12 languages, including English, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Latin…

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Some random terms

  • ossia [Italian] An alternative version of a music, usually only a few measures long and marked as an added staff.
  • gravità [Italian] Gravity, utmost seriousness or solemnity.
  • sopra [Italian] “Above”.
  • hemiola In modern musical parlance, a metrical pattern in which two bars in simple triple time are articulated as if they were three bars in simple duple time.
  • moto [Italian] Motion, movement.
  • villancico [Spanish] A 15th and 16th century form of Spanish poetry that was often set to music.
  • double trill A simultaneous trill on two notes, usually in the distance of a third.
  • spiccato [Italian] Very separated, detached.
  • comodamente [Italian] Comfortably.
  • paraphrase In the Renaissance, a melody borrowed from another source (usually chant) and then elaborated freely. In the 19th century, a virtuoso composition using popular melodies, usually from operas, in an elaborated manner.
  • French model A flute with pointed French-style arms and open-hole finger keys, as distinguished from the plateau style with closed holes.
  • 15ma [Italian] A directive to perform two octaves higher than written.
  • sacred music Religious or spiritual music, for church or devotional use.
  • contrary motion Simultaneous motion of two voices, one of which is in opposition to the other, with one voice rising in pitch while the other one falls in pitch.
  • rustico [Italian] Rustic, rural.