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

  • Lied [German] (Plural: Lieder.) Literally, “song”; most commonly associated with the solo art song of the nineteenth century, usually accompanied by piano.
  • custos [Latin] (Plural: custodes.) A symbol that appears at the end of a staff line with a single voice). It anticipates the first note of the following line and thus helps the player or singer to manage line breaks during performance. Custodes were frequently used until the 16th century.
  • relative pitch The ability to identify any pitch in reference to a given pitch.
  • obbligato [Italian] Literally, “obligatory”. Important part of a music that that should not be omitted.
  • 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.
  • dopo [Italian] “After”.
  • seconda volta [Italian] “Second time”; may refer to the second ending of a repetition.
  • music Broadly speaking, sounds organized to express a wide variety of human emotions.
  • sciolto [Italian] A directive to perform at ease, in a light, free manner.
  • appoggiatura [Italian] Ornamental note, usually taking half of the duration of the main note it precedes.
  • jig A vigorous dance originating in the British Isles in the 15th century or earlier, usually in compound meter.
  • negligente [Italian] “Negligent”, unrestrained.
  • word painting Musical depiction of words in text. Using the device of word painting, the music tries to imitate the emotion, action, or natural sounds as described in the text.
  • triad A chord made up of three notes.
  • larghissimo [Italian] An extremely slow tempo, slower than largo.