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…

You may browse the glossary alphabetically, or directly search for a term by using the search box above.

If you are looking for a symbol, check out our Guide to Musical Symbols.

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

  • diminution A Renaissance and Baroque ornamentation which consists of the restatement of a melody in which the note values are shortened, usually by half.
  • cadence A sequence of chords that terminates a musical phrase or section.
  • canción [Spanish] A popular genre of Latin American music, particularly in Cuba, where many of the compositions originate.
  • krakoviak A syncopated Polish dance in 2/4 time.
  • perdendo [Italian] Losing volume.
  • dramma giocoso [Italian] A kind of comic opera originating around 1750, with sentimental or pathetic plots bordering on tragedy rather than the traditional lighthearted comic plots.
  • sonata-rondò [Italian] A form of a composition that displays characteristics of both the rondò and the sonata forms.
  • pastorale [Italian] Pastoral, country-like.
  • leap Any movement from one note to another through means of an interval that is greater than a second.
  • autograph A manuscript in the composer's own hand.
  • tronco [Italian] A directive to perform a certain passage short or “cut off”.
  • un poco [Italian] A little.
  • absolute music Music that is not explicitly “about” anything. In contrast with program music, absolute music has no words and no references to stories or images or any other kind of extra-musical idea.
  • traurig [German] Sad.
  • labium [Latin] Literally, “lip”. The part of an edge-blown aerophone (such as a flute, recorder or whistle) that splits the air column.