Multilingual Music Glossary

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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

  • madrigal Renaissance secular work originating in Italy for voices, with or without instruments, set to a short, lyric love poem.
  • Rinaldi numbers A numbering system identifying compositions by Antonio Vivaldi.
  • zart [German] Tender, delicate.
  • sonata [Italian] An instrumental genre in several movements for a soloist or an ensemble. The original usage for the term "sonata" implied a composition that was to be played rather than sung. Later, the term "sonata" came to be understood as a four movement piece: slow, fast, slow, fast, as was used in the church sonata (sonata da chiesa), or allemande, courante, sarabande, and gigue, as was used in the chamber sonata (sonata da camera). As the sonata developed, it became longer and adopted the sonata-allegro form for the first movement, which was generally fast. The following movement was generally somewhat slower, and the number of movements varied, but was generally about three.
  • pasticcio [Italian] A composition assembled from passages taken from numerous other sources by various composers.
  • mormorando [Italian] Murmuring.
  • non-harmonic note In part writing, a note that is dissonant with other notes in the same chord.
  • refrain [French] A verse which repeats throughout a song or poem at given intervals.
  • volando [Italian] Flying.
  • string quartet An ensemble consisting of two violins, viola, and cello, or a work composed for such an ensemble.
  • brillante [Italian] Bright, brilliant.
  • section A group of identical or similar instruments in an ensemble.
  • schneller [German] Faster.
  • 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.
  • mestizia [Italian] Sadness.