Multilingual Music Glossary

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We are currently providing explanations for 2480 terms from 12 languages, including English, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Latin…

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Some random terms

  • fugue [French] Polyphonic form popular in the Baroque era in which one or more themes are developed by imitative counterpoint.
  • rigaudon [French] A lively French dance, originally a folk dance but also a court dance and an instrumental form, in duple meter.
  • bepop Complex jazz style developed in the 1940s.
  • strisciando [Italian] A directive to perform with a slur, a smooth slide, or a glide from one note to another.
  • program music Music intended to evoke extra-musical ideas, images in the mind of the listener by musically representing a scene, image or mood. By contrast, absolute music stands for itself and is intended to be appreciated without any particular reference to the outside world.
  • symphonie concertante [French] A musical genre of the late 18th and early 19th centuries that resembles a concerto for two to four solo instruments. It is a composition in two or three movements of a lighthearted character, usually in a major key. The genre features a few solo instruments and orchestra.
  • ionian In the system of modes, the ionian mode is the one based on C; therefore, it is the modern major scale.
  • post-modern A term adopted around the mid-1970s to describe our current eclectic, experimental age.
  • amabile [Italian] Lovable, charming, amiable.
  • canto [Italian] Literally, “singing”. The highest vocal part in choral music.
  • locrian A mode based upon the seventh tone of the major scale.
  • clos [French] The second ending of a repeated section.
  • triste [Italian] Sad.
  • dampen A directive to muffle, deaden or restrain the tone of an instrument.
  • haut [French] Literally, “high”. Medieval category of loud instruments, used principally for outdoor occasions.