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

  • microtone Musical interval smaller than a semitone, prevalent in some non-Western musics and in some twentieth century art music.
  • bluegrass A form of American country music, inspired by the music of immigrants from the United Kingdom and Ireland as well as jazz and blues. In bluegrass, as in jazz, each instrument takes its turn playing the melody and improvising around it, while the others perform accompaniment.
  • Feldmusik [German] Music performed outdoors on wind instruments.
  • lenteur [French] “Slowness”.
  • samba [Portuguese] Afro-Brazilian dance, characterized by duple meter, responsorial singing and polyrhythmic accompaniments.
  • character piece Term used for a broad range of 19th century piano music based on a single idea or program.
  • natural key A key whose signature contains no sharps or flats; basically, C major and A minor.
  • program music Music intended to evoke extra-musical ideas, images in the mind of the listener by musically representing a scene, image or mood. By contrast, absolute music stands for itself and is intended to be appreciated without any particular reference to the outside world.
  • planctus [Latin] Medieval style of song and poetry of a lamenting character.
  • coloratura soprano [Italian] A type of operatic soprano who specializes in music that is distinguished by agile runs and leaps.
  • chord progression Series of chords played in order.
  • musique concrète [French] Music made up of natural sounds and sound effects that are recorded and then manipulated electronically.
  • larghetto [Italian] A tempo not quite as slow as largo, usually around 60–66 BPM.
  • quieto [Italian] Calm, serene.
  • risoluto [Italian] Bold, resolute.