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

  • response Short choral answer to a solo verse; an element of liturgical dialogue.
  • ritardando [Italian] Gradually delaying the tempo.
  • maestro [Italian] A title of respect given to a master musician.
  • Konzertstück [German] An informal “concert piece”, usually in one movement, for solo instruments and orchestra.
  • radical bass An bass line produced by linking the fundamentals of the chords in a progression.
  • art song A vocal music composition, usually written for one singer with piano or orchestral accompaniment.
  • tone A sound of definite pitch and duration, as distinct from noise. Tone is a primary building material of music.
  • non troppo [Italian] Not too much.
  • concerto grosso [Italian] A baroque style of music in which a small group of solo instruments (the concertino) plays in opposition to a larger ensemble (the ripieno).
  • diminution A Renaissance and Baroque ornamentation which consists of the restatement of a melody in which the note values are shortened, usually by half.
  • fipple The block, typically of wood, that forms the floor of the windway of an edge-blown aerophone.
  • 15mb [Italian] A directive to perform two octaves lower than written.
  • intontito [Italian] Dull, numbed, dazed, stunned.
  • Italian overture The baroque precursor of the classical symphony, evolved during the 17th and 18th centuries; it is characterized by its three movement form, consisting of a fast, a slow, and a fast movement.
  • varsovienne [French] A French dance in 3/4 time with a moderate tempo.