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

  • vocalization The singing of vocalises.
  • lacrimoso [Italian] Tearful.
  • formalism The tendency to elevate the formal aspects above the expressive value in music, as in Neoclassical music.
  • harmonic Any integer multiple of the fundamental frequency of a tone. The fundamental frequency is considered to be the first harmonic; doubling its frequency you obtain the second harmonic, tripling it you obtain the third harmonic, and so on.
  • rinforzando [Italian] Literally, “reinforcing”. Dynamic marking indicating that several notes, or a short phrase, are to be emphasized.
  • dal niente [Italian] Literally, “from nothing”. Out of silence.
  • tune An air or melody, a succession of sounds that has definite character and shape and is pleasing to the ear.
  • vif [French] A tempo directive meaning “lively”.
  • Handel-Werke-Verzeichnis [German] The numbering system identifying compositions by George Frederic Handel.
  • pointed arms On a flute, arms connecting the keys to the rods which are pointed and extend to the keys' centers; found on more expensive flutes.
  • réjouissance [French] A jubilant composition used to conclude some Baroque orchestral suites.
  • da capo aria [Italian] A lyric song in A-B-A form, commonly found in operas, cantatas and oratorios.
  • un pochettino [Italian] A little bit.
  • canzona [Italian] A 16th-century multipart vocal setting of a literary canzone, or a 16th- and 17th-century instrumental composition.
  • foxtrot Ballroom dance popular in the 19th century.