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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Some random terms

  • dodecaphony Ensuring that all 12 notes of the chromatic scale are sounded as often as one another in a piece of music while preventing the emphasis of any.
  • Charleston A fast syncopated American dance popular in the 1920s.
  • tierce de Picardie [French] A practice from the baroque era of ending a composition with a major chord, when the rest of the composition is in a minor key, thus giving the composition a sense of finality.
  • madrigal Renaissance secular work originating in Italy for voices, with or without instruments, set to a short, lyric love poem.
  • doucement [French] Softly.
  • senza [Italian] “Without”.
  • arpeggio [Italian] Broken chord in which the individual tones are sounded one after another instead of simultaneously.
  • cantoris [Latin] Literally, “of the cantor”. In Anglican church music, referring to the half of the choir sitting on the cantor's side of the church.
  • melody Succession of single tones or pitches perceived by the mind as a unity.
  • stentando [Italian] Literally, “having difficulty”. A directive to perform in an ungraceful, heavy manner, holding back each note.
  • double sharp An accidental sign (‛x’) that raises a note by two semitones.
  • ricercare [Italian] Literally, “search”. Term used in the Renaissance originally meaning a keyboard or lute composition of an introductory nature, similar to a prelude, but later meaning a free composition more resembling a fantasia or a fugue. Both forms of the ricercare were characterized by complexity and an esoteric nature.
  • art song A vocal music composition, usually written for one singer with piano or orchestral accompaniment.
  • sforzando [Italian] Literally, “forcing”. Dynamic marking indicating a strong, sudden accent.
  • reprise [French] A shortened version of a major composition in a stage production used to reward the audience with a repeat of a popular melody. This is often used as a finale to a scene or an act.