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

  • haut [French] Literally, “high”. Medieval category of loud instruments, used principally for outdoor occasions.
  • prima donna [Italian] Literally, “first lady”. Term used in opera for the principal female singer of the opera or of the opera company.
  • solo [Italian] A passage that is to be performed by a single performer.
  • Hertz [German] The basic unit of measurement of frequency, definable as one cycle per second. Usually abbreviated “Hz”.
  • pantonality Term used to describe music that is not in one tonality or key, but shifts freely among many or all keys.
  • zart [German] Tender, delicate.
  • cantor [Latin] Solo singer or singing leader in Jewish and Christian liturgical music.
  • accompagnato [Italian] Accompanied.
  • envelope An acoustical term referring to the attack, steady state (or duration), and decay of a sound.
  • moresca [Italian] An exotic Renaissance dance simulating a battle between the Moors and the Christians.
  • ridicolo [Italian] Absurd, ludicrous, ridiculous.
  • mediant The third note of a diatonic scale.
  • tombeau [French] Literally, “grave”. An instrumental funeral composition or a composition which commemorates the death of someone.
  • geistvoll [German] Spirited, brilliant; with great sound.
  • rock A loosely defined genre of popular music that entered the mainstream in the mid 1950s, characterized by a hard, driving duple meter and amplified instrumental accompaniment.