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

  • ossia [Italian] An alternative version of a music, usually only a few measures long and marked as an added staff.
  • Klang [German] Sound, tune, ringing, sonority.
  • irato [Italian] Irate, angry.
  • ornament Musical flourishes that are not necessary to carry the overall line of the melody (or harmony), but serve instead to decorate or “ornament” that line. Many ornaments are performed as fast notes around a central note.
  • Minnesang [German] A tradition of Medieval courtly and secular music in Germany, cultivated by the nobility. The main focus of the music of this tradition was the idea of Minnedienst, servitude to love, often illustrated as the devoted knight entirely loyal to an unattainable lady with no hope of her love in return.
  • strophic form Song structure in which every stanza of the text is sung to the same musical tune.
  • Rinaldi numbers A numbering system identifying compositions by Antonio Vivaldi.
  • common time 4/4 time.
  • ripieno [Italian] The notes added when realizing the figured bass of a basso continuo.
  • crossover Recording or artist that appeals primarily to one audience but becomes popular with another as well.
  • serialism A method of composition in which various musical elements such as pitch, rhythm, dynamics, and tone color may be put in order according to a fixed series.
  • round Perpetual canon at the unison in which each voice enters in succession with the same melody.
  • fipple The block, typically of wood, that forms the floor of the windway of an edge-blown aerophone.
  • root position The position of a chord when the base pitch of the chord is in the lowest voice.
  • fusion Style that combines jazz improvisation with amplified instruments of rock.