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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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

  • through-composed Song form that is composed from beginning to end without repetitions of any major sections, each verse having its own, unique melody.
  • acoustical instrument Any musical instrument not relying on external power for operation.
  • religioso [Italian] Religious, devout.
  • über [German] “Above”, “over”.
  • allant [French] Going on, lively.
  • difference tone A lower tone that is heard when two higher notes are played in such a way that the frequency of the difference tone is the difference of the frequencies of the other two notes.
  • heptatonic scale Any scale of seven tones.
  • terzetto [Italian] A three-voice compositional form of the 18th century, usually short, which may or may not be accompanied.
  • pantomime Theatrical genre in which an actor silently plays all the parts in a show while accompanied by singing.
  • Klang [German] Sound, tune, ringing, sonority.
  • middle C First C below the 440 Hz A. It is the note on the ledger line halfway between the bass and treble clef on the grand staff. It is the lowest C that a concert flute can make.
  • register A division of the range of an instrument or singing voice. Usually registers are defined by a change in the quality of the sound between a lower range and a higher range.
  • anonymous A person whose name is unknown.
  • medley A piece of music that is composed of melodies of other compositons strung together.
  • singhiozzando [Italian] Sobbing. May suggest the use of a strong portamento.