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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Some random terms

  • audition The term used for the try-outs that a musician must go through before his or her acceptance into an ensemble.
  • meno [Italian] “Less”.
  • quintus [Latin] Term used in the 16th century for the fifth voice in a composition having five or more vocal parts. Sometimes it was a countermelody added on top of the usual four voices.
  • recoupe [French] A dance of the French Renaissance.
  • con brio [Italian] With vivacity or spirit.
  • ionian In the system of modes, the ionian mode is the one based on C; therefore, it is the modern major scale.
  • maestoso [Italian] Majestic.
  • non [Italian] “Not”.
  • passing note In part writing, A non-harmonic note that appears between two notes in stepwise motion. Usually it is a link between a melodic interval of a third in one of the voices.
  • half note A note that has half the duration of time of a whole note.
  • Abendmusik [German] Evening music, usually religious in nature, originating in the 17th century.
  • thirty-second note A note having the time duration of one thirty-second of a whole note.
  • interval Difference in pitch between two notes.
  • allegrezza [Italian] Cheerfulness, happiness, joyfulness.
  • scale A series of notes in ascending or descending order that presents the pitches of a key or mode, beginning and ending on the tonic of that key or mode.