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

Hint: Don't worry about accents over letters, just skip them.

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…

You may browse the glossary alphabetically, or directly search for a term by using the search box above.

If you are looking for a symbol, check out our Guide to Musical Symbols.

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

  • marziale [Italian] Martial, with a military feeling.
  • bluegrass A form of American country music, inspired by the music of immigrants from the United Kingdom and Ireland as well as jazz and blues. In bluegrass, as in jazz, each instrument takes its turn playing the melody and improvising around it, while the others perform accompaniment.
  • modulation Moving from one key to another.
  • traditional music Music that is learned by oral transmission and is easily sung or played by most people.
  • degree Any tone of the diatonic scale.
  • rhapsody A one-movement work that is episodic yet integrated, free-flowing in structure, featuring a range of highly contrasted moods, colors and tonalities.
  • orchestration The practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble) or of adapting for orchestra music composed for another medium.
  • comp Jazz term used to describe the accompaniment backing up a soloist.
  • doloroso [Italian] Sorrowful, painful.
  • toccata [Italian] Virtuoso composition, generally for organ or harpsichord, in a free and rhapsodic style; in the Baroque, it often served as the introduction to a fugue.
  • ober [German] Upper, higher.
  • dolente [Italian] Sorrowful.
  • rinforzando [Italian] Literally, “reinforcing”. Dynamic marking indicating that several notes, or a short phrase, are to be emphasized.
  • appoggiatura [Italian] Ornamental note, usually taking half of the duration of the main note it precedes.
  • Anlaufen [German] To open, to increase in volume.