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

  • chart Colloquial or jazz term for a score or arrangement.
  • lebhaft [German] Lively.
  • affettuoso [Italian] Tender, loving, affectionate.
  • tailgate A slang term for a trombone Glissando in Dixieland jazz.
  • modal Having to do with modes; this term is applied most particularly to music that is based upon the Gregorian modes, rather than to music based upon the major, minor, or any other scale.
  • madrigal Renaissance secular work originating in Italy for voices, with or without instruments, set to a short, lyric love poem.
  • krakoviak A syncopated Polish dance in 2/4 time.
  • sostenuto [Italian] Sustained.
  • tessitura [Italian] The most musically acceptable and comfortable range for a given singer or, less frequently, musical instrument.
  • cue-notes In a separate part, notes belonging to another part with the purpose of hinting when to start playing. Usually printed in a smaller type.
  • whole tone An interval of two semitones, a major second.
  • animato [Italian] Animated or spirited.
  • principal A section leader in a large ensemble (band or orchestra) also called first chair, except for the first violins, where the leader is termed the concertmaster.
  • Gesamtkunstwerk [German] The integration of all of the arts (music, poetry, dance and other visual elements) into a single medium of dramatic expression. This term was used by Richard Wagner to describe the vision of his later operas in the late Romantic era.
  • sanft [German] Soft, mild, smooth.