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

  • 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.
  • clef In musical notation, a symbol at the beginning of a staff that determines the pitches of the lines and spaces. The most common clefs are treble, for indicating pitches mostly above middle C, and bass, for indicating pitches mostly below middle C.
  • castrato Male singer who was castrated during boyhood to preserve the soprano or alto vocal register, prominent in seventeenth and early eighteenth century opera.
  • chaconne [French] Baroque form in 3/4 time similar to the passacaglia, in which the variations are based on a repeated chord progression.
  • polonaise [French] Stately Polish processional dance in triple meter.
  • morendo [Italian] Literally, “dying away”. Gradually diminishing in volume and tempo, fading away.
  • recorder A wind instrument of the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque eras. The recorder is a simple instrument related to the flute; it is sounded by blowing into one end and the pitch is adjusted by covering finger holes.
  • timoroso [Italian] Timorous, fearful; with hesitation.
  • contralto [Italian] The lowest female voice.
  • vago [Italian] Vague, indefinite.
  • comodetto [Italian] Diminutive form of comodo.
  • mixolydian The Gregorian mode based upon the fifth tone of the scale. This mode, based on G, includes all the tones of the C major scale.
  • bravura [Italian] Literally, “skill”. Great dexterity and skill in execution.
  • sin' al fine [Italian] Literally, “to the end”. Usually attached to another directive, implying that whatever the other directive stated should be carried out to the end of the composition.
  • 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.