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

  • mute A mechanical device used with string and brass instruments to muffle the tone.
  • con semplicità [Italian] “With simplicity”.
  • morbidezza [Italian] Softness, tenderness.
  • waltz Ballroom dance type in triple meter; in the Romantic era, a short, stylized piano piece.
  • moins [French] “Less”.
  • pochissimo [Italian] “Very little”.
  • crossover Recording or artist that appeals primarily to one audience but becomes popular with another as well.
  • mazurka A lively Polish dance in 3/4 or 3/8 time with the accent usually on the second or third beat of the measure.
  • figured bass A method of indicating an accompaniment part by the bass notes only, together with figures designating the chief chords to be played above the bass notes.
  • anacrusis One or more unstressed notes preceding the first downbeat in a bar.
  • cantata [Italian] A baroque genre for voice(s) and instruments based on a poem, including recitatives, arias, and sometimes choruses.
  • responsorial singing Singing, especially in Gregorian chant, in which a soloist or a group of soloists alternates with the choir.
  • double whole note A note twice as long as a whole note. Mainly used in pre-1650 music.
  • 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.
  • dampen A directive to muffle, deaden or restrain the tone of an instrument.