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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Some random terms

  • Meistergesang [German] A tradition of songwriting and performance in Germany during the Middle Ages and early Renaissance.
  • burlesque [French] A humorous composition, usually involving parody or grotesque exaggeration.
  • similar motion In part-writing, similar motion is the situation in which two voices of the composition move in the same direction, either ascending or descending, but they do not necessarily cover the same interval.
  • bass flute A flute that plays one octave below the concert flute.
  • soul A style of composition developed in America in the 1960s conveying strong emotion. This style of music is characterized by dramatic delivery of the vocal line, commonly including wails, sighs, cries, falsetto, whispers, etc.
  • sharp An accidental symbol that raises the pitch of a note by a semitone.
  • triple meter A metrical pattern having three beats to a measure.
  • flessibile [Italian] Flexible.
  • stentando [Italian] Literally, “having difficulty”. A directive to perform in an ungraceful, heavy manner, holding back each note.
  • arpeggio [Italian] Broken chord in which the individual tones are sounded one after another instead of simultaneously.
  • dur [French] Literally, “hard”. With a harsh or ungraceful tone.
  • concerto [Italian] A three-part musical work in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.
  • toujours [French] Always.
  • homophony Music in which one voice leads melodically followed by the other voices more or less in the same rhythm. In contrast with polyphony.
  • A440 The standard tuning of the A above middle C at 440 Hz.