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

Hint: Don't worry about accents over letters, just skip them.

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…

You may browse the glossary alphabetically, or directly search for a term by using the search box above.

If you are looking for a symbol, check out our Guide to Musical Symbols.

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

  • stanza [Italian] The division of a poem that consists of a series of lines arranged together. This is usually in the form of a recurring pattern of meter and rhyme.
  • prestissimo [Italian] Extremely fast tempo marking, usually around 200 BPM.
  • luttuoso [Italian] Mournful.
  • allegrissimo [Italian] A fast tempo marking, faster than allegro.
  • ripresa [Italian] A refrain or repeat.
  • transposing instrument Those instruments which are notated in one key on paper, yet sound another key when they are performed.
  • open-hole A flute finger key with a perforated center, allowing the use of techniques such as pitch bending or glissando.
  • canon Strict imitation, in which one voice imitates another at a staggered time interval.
  • tristamente [Italian] Sadly.
  • non-transposing instrument An instrument which is notated in the same key on paper that it sounds when played.
  • leading note The major seventh of a scale, so called because it lies a semitone below the tonic and “leads” towards it.
  • A440 The standard tuning of the A above middle C at 440 Hz.
  • gebrochen [German] “Broken”.
  • bene [Italian] “Well” or “good”.
  • col [Italian] “With the”