Multilingual Music Glossary

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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

  • timoroso [Italian] Timorous, fearful; with hesitation.
  • militare [Italian] Military.
  • fado [Portuguese] A type of street song and dance of Portugal, usually accompanied by a guitar.
  • music drama Wagner's term for his operas.
  • sospirando [Italian] Sighing.
  • Abendmusik [German] Evening music, usually religious in nature, originating in the 17th century.
  • tutti [Italian] “All”. A directive to perform with all instruments together.
  • oral transmission Preservation of music without the aid of written notation.
  • volume Degree of loudness or softness of a sound.
  • ambitus [Latin] A range of pitches for a given voice in a part of music. It may also denote the pitch range that a musical instrument is capable of playing.
  • jive A form of blues popular in the 1940s.
  • half note A note that has half the duration of time of a whole note.
  • tanto [Italian] Much.
  • eilen [German] To hasten, to accelerate.
  • fertig [German] Dexterous, nimble, quick.