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

  • Generalpause [German] Rest or pause for all performers.
  • retrograde Backward statement of a melody.
  • tempestoso [Italian] Stormy.
  • hopak A folk Ukrainian dance, introduced to the orchestra by such composers as Mussorgsky and Tchaikovsky.
  • vocalise [French] A vocal exercise that is sung without words, typically using different vowel sounds.
  • audition The term used for the try-outs that a musician must go through before his or her acceptance into an ensemble.
  • ripieno [Italian] The notes added when realizing the figured bass of a basso continuo.
  • ossia [Italian] An alternative version of a music, usually only a few measures long and marked as an added staff.
  • 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.
  • polka A lively ballroom dance of Bohemian origin in duple meter greatly, popular in the 19th century. Also a short, lyric piano composition.
  • con amore [Italian] “With love”, lovingly.
  • calmando [Italian] Getting calm or quiet.
  • intonation A term referring to the proper production of a tone so that it is exactly in tune.
  • trill Ornament consisting of the rapid alternation between one tone and the next above it.
  • oratorio [Italian] Large-scale dramatic genre originating in the Baroque, based on a text of religious or serious character, performed by solo voices, chorus and orchestra; similar to opera but without scenery, costumes or action.