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

  • sordamente [Italian] Softly, gently, or in a muffled or damped style.
  • transposition Shifting a melody up or down in pitch, while keeping the same relative pitches.
  • elegante [Italian] Elegant, graceful.
  • dur [French] Literally, “hard”. With a harsh or ungraceful tone.
  • ritmico [Italian] Literally, “rhythmic”. A directive to strictly conform to the written rhythm, emphasizing it.
  • mezzo [Italian] Half, medium.
  • whole note The note with the longest duration in currently used Western music notation.
  • Renaissance The music of the period circa 1400–1600, directly following the Middle Ages and preceding the baroque era. Its style is characterized by charming melodies, imitative harmonies and lively ornamentation.
  • deciso [Italian] Decided, bold.
  • morendo [Italian] Literally, “dying away”. Gradually diminishing in volume and tempo, fading away.
  • maestro [Italian] A title of respect given to a master musician.
  • glee An English part song for three or more voices originating in the 17th century.
  • natural minor scale A scale similar to the major scale, but with the third, sixth and seventh degrees lowered by a semitone.
  • vocal cords The vocal organs in the human being which produce sound.
  • inversion The position of a chord when the fundamental is not the lowest note. Also, the inversion of the order of the notes of an interval, obtained by raising or lowering either of the notes the necessary number of octaves.