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

  • pas [French] “Not”.
  • ridicolo [Italian] Absurd, ludicrous, ridiculous.
  • impromptu [French] A single-movement piano composition of the Romantic era, usually short, with a spontaneous character.
  • quasi [Italian] “Almost”.
  • pibroch Scottish traditional theme and variation form music to be performed on the bagpipe. This term refers to the more serious, courtly music rather than to dance music and military music.
  • prima donna [Italian] Literally, “first lady”. Term used in opera for the principal female singer of the opera or of the opera company.
  • lip plate The part of a flute which contacts the player's lower lip, allowing precise positioning and direction of the air stream.
  • ancora [Italian] “Again”.
  • disco Commercial dance music popular in the 1970s, characterized by strong percussion in a quadruple meter.
  • capriccio [Italian] A piece of music, usually fairly free in form and of a lively character. The typical capriccio is fast, intense, and often virtuosic in nature.
  • Zwischenspiel [German] An interlude played between the verses of a hymn.
  • parallel motion In part writing, parallel motion occurs when two voices move keeping exactly the same interval between them.
  • prima volta [Italian] “First time”; may refer to the first ending of a repetition.
  • quadruplum [Latin] Polyphony having four voices. Also, the highest of these voices.
  • planctus [Latin] Medieval style of song and poetry of a lamenting character.