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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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

  • geistvoll [German] Spirited, brilliant; with great sound.
  • symphony In the early 18th century, any instrumental prelude, interlude, or postlude. In modern usage, the term is applied to a large composition for orchestra, generally in three or four movements. The symphony may also be defined as a sonata for orchestra.
  • genre Term used to identify a general category of music that shares similar performance forces, formal structures and/or style.
  • Opp. [Latin] Plural of Op.
  • irato [Italian] Irate, angry.
  • sextuple meter Compound metrical pattern that consists of six beats to every measure.
  • groove Groove is the sense of propulsive rhythmic “feel” or sense of “swing” created by the interaction of the music played by a band's rhythm section (usually drums, electric bass or double bass, guitar, and keyboards).
  • suite [French] A work made up of a series of contrasting dance movements, generally all in the same key.
  • forefall An ascending appoggiatura.
  • boogie-woogie A style of piano-based blues that became very popular in the late 1930s and early 1940s, but originated much earlier, and was extended from piano, to three pianos at once, guitar, big band, and country and western music, and even gospel. Whilst the blues traditionally depicts a variety of emotions, boogie-woogie is mainly associated with dancing.
  • Gesamtkunstwerk [German] The integration of all of the arts (music, poetry, dance and other visual elements) into a single medium of dramatic expression. This term was used by Richard Wagner to describe the vision of his later operas in the late Romantic era.
  • accablement [French] Despondency, oppression.
  • multiphonics The technique of performing two or more tones simultaneously on an instrument that is designed to produce only one tone at a time, like the flute.
  • well-tempered A term applied to an instrument that is voiced and tuned satisfactorily, with the pitches, tone, and timbre having the desired quality of sound.
  • new wave Subgenre of rock popular since the late 1970s, highly influenced by simple 1950s-style rock and roll; developed as a rejection of the complexities of art rock and heavy metal.