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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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

  • piano [Italian] Softly, quietly.
  • connecting note A note held in common by two chords.
  • soul A style of composition developed in America in the 1960s conveying strong emotion. This style of music is characterized by dramatic delivery of the vocal line, commonly including wails, sighs, cries, falsetto, whispers, etc.
  • ensemble [French] A group of musicians that perform as a unit.
  • figure A short musical phrase.
  • tempo [Italian] Literally, “time”. The speed of a piece of music, usually reckoned by the rate of its beats.
  • flebile [Italian] “Plaintive”.
  • camminando [Italian] Literally, “walking”. With easy and gentle progression.
  • sextet A piece for six singers or instrumentalists. Also, a group of such musicians.
  • canción [Spanish] A popular genre of Latin American music, particularly in Cuba, where many of the compositions originate.
  • classical The music of the period circa 1750–1825. The Classical period falls between the Baroque and the Romantic periods.
  • verve [French] A high degree of energy, excitement or spirit. Often referred to as the artistic inspiration and special feeling of excitement that is used by artists to realize the expression of ideas in performance or composition.
  • terraced dynamics Expressive style typical of some early music in which volume levels shift abruptly from soft to loud and back without gradual crescendos and decrescendos.
  • postlude A composition that concludes a larger composition. Also, a composition performed at the end of a church service as the congregation leaves.
  • con passione [Italian] “With passion”.