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

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

  • 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.
  • tonality The organization of a composition around a tonic.
  • clavier [French] Any keyboard instrument.
  • through-composed Song form that is composed from beginning to end without repetitions of any major sections, each verse having its own, unique melody.
  • ripieno [Italian] The notes added when realizing the figured bass of a basso continuo.
  • a cappella [Italian] Choral or vocal music performed without instrumental accompaniment.
  • Handel-Werke-Verzeichnis [German] The numbering system identifying compositions by George Frederic Handel.
  • malinconico [Italian] Melancholic.
  • monotone A single sustained, unvarying tone, or a succession of notes of the same tone. Often used in the recitation of liturgical texts.
  • retrograde Backward statement of a melody.
  • placido [Italian] Calm, placid.
  • tenuto [Italian] A directive to perform a certain note or chord of a composition in a sustained manner for longer than its full duration.
  • harmony Tones sounding simultaneously.
  • mosso [Italian] Moved, agitated.
  • doppio [Italian] “Double”.