Multilingual Music Glossary

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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

  • bossa nova [Portuguese] Brazilian dance related to the samba, popular in the 1950s and 1960s.
  • Konzertstück [German] An informal “concert piece”, usually in one movement, for solo instruments and orchestra.
  • a tempo [Italian] A directive to return to the original tempo after a deliberate deviation.
  • round Perpetual canon at the unison in which each voice enters in succession with the same melody.
  • breath mark Indication of where to breathe in vocal and wind instrument parts. It may look like a large comma or apostrophe or like a tick/checkmark (✓), and is always written above the staff.
  • affannato [Italian] Anguished.
  • relative key The major and minor keys that share the same key signature.
  • dotted note A note that has a dot placed to the right of the notehead, indicating that the duration of the note should be increased by half again its original duration.
  • acciaccatura [Italian] A short grace note, typically notated with a slash through the stem or flag, that quickly resolves to the main note.
  • klingen [German] To resonate.
  • fundamental The base note upon which a chord is built.
  • common time 4/4 time.
  • rap An American style of rhythmic chanting consisting of improvised rhymes performed to rhythmic accompaniment.
  • operetta [Italian] A less serious form of opera made up of spoken dialog, songs and dances.
  • bergamasca [Italian] A kind of Renaissance clumsy rustic dance.