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

  • ballade [French] A one-movement musical piece with lyrical and dramatic narrative qualities, usually having a text dealing with courtly love.
  • shanty A song sung by sailors while working on a ship. A shanty has a chorus, which is sung by all, and verses that are usually sung by one voice.
  • plainte [French] A song or instrumental composition with a slow, lamenting character.
  • falsetto [Italian] Vocal technique whereby men can sing above their normal range, producing a lighter sound.
  • schneller [German] Faster.
  • attacca [Italian] A musical directive for the performer to begin the next section of a composition immediately and without pause.
  • jazz A musical style created mainly by African-Americans in the early twentieth century that blended elements drawn from African musics with the popular and art traditions of the West.
  • concert pitch The tuning pitch of an ensemble, typically A440.
  • equal temperament Tuning system dividing the octave into 12 equal semitones.
  • allmählich [German] Used in conjunction with a tempo directive to indicate that the directive should be performed gradually, little by little.
  • lentement [French] Slowly.
  • symphonic poem A piece of orchestral music in one principal self-contained section called a “movement” in which a program from a poem, a story or novel, a painting, or another source is illustrated or evoked.
  • 15ma [Italian] A directive to perform two octaves higher than written.
  • 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.
  • dirge A generic term used for a composition designed specifically for a funeral or in commemoration of the dead.