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
- close harmony Harmony written so that the parts are as close together as possible, usually with the upper voices very tight together, and the bass somewhat more distantly spaced.
- stanchezza
Weariness. - immer
Ever, always. - sacred music Religious or spiritual music, for church or devotional use.
- smear A slang term for a glissando performed on a trombone.
- niente
Literally, “nothing”. With almost no sound. - faburden A 15th-century English technique of improvising two parts around the main melody of a cantus firmus. The first part would be sung a third below the melody, except for a few notes that would be a fifth below; the second part would be sung a fourth above the main melody.
- walking bass In baroque music, a bass line that moves steadily in a rhythm contrasting to that of the upper parts.
- instrumentation The particular combination of musical instruments employed in a composition.
- phrase A natural division of the melodic line, comparable to a sentence of speech.
- sonata-rondò
A form of a composition that displays characteristics of both the rondò and the sonata forms. - mezzo
Half, medium. - gentile
Gentle, kind. - round Perpetual canon at the unison in which each voice enters in succession with the same melody.
- lacrimoso
Tearful.