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

  • exposition The first statement of a theme.
  • brioso [Italian] Vivacious, spirited, lively.
  • genre Term used to identify a general category of music that shares similar performance forces, formal structures and/or style.
  • coloratura soprano [Italian] A type of operatic soprano who specializes in music that is distinguished by agile runs and leaps.
  • 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.
  • mezzo forte [Italian] Moderately loud. Not quite so loud as forte.
  • a cappella [Italian] Choral or vocal music performed without instrumental accompaniment.
  • lamentevole [Italian] Plaintive, mournful.
  • eilen [German] To hasten, to accelerate.
  • Zimmerman numbers The numbering system identifying compositions by Henry Purcell.
  • schneller [German] Faster.
  • clef In musical notation, a symbol at the beginning of a staff that determines the pitches of the lines and spaces. The most common clefs are treble, for indicating pitches mostly above middle C, and bass, for indicating pitches mostly below middle C.
  • gai [French] Gay, merry.
  • embouchure [French] The placement of the lips, lower facial muscles and jaws in playing a wind instrument.
  • root The fundamental note of a chord.