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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Found a word you don't know? No problem. Look it up in the Music Glossary!

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

  • languendo [Italian] Languishing.
  • villanelle [French] A French term used in the 16th century for pastoral poems or songs. The term was later revived, and applied to compositions by later composers.
  • double whole note A note twice as long as a whole note. Mainly used in pre-1650 music.
  • line A general term for a discrete voice or part in a vocal or instrumental composition.
  • foot joint The last section of a flute, played farthest towards the right.
  • Gesamtkunstwerk [German] The integration of all of the arts (music, poetry, dance and other visual elements) into a single medium of dramatic expression. This term was used by Richard Wagner to describe the vision of his later operas in the late Romantic era.
  • third An interval of three diatonic degrees, counting the first and last degree.
  • verse A single line in a metrical composition, e.g. a poem. However, the word has come to represent any division or grouping of words in such a composition, which traditionally had been referred to as a stanza.
  • cover Recording that remakes an earlier, often successful, recording.
  • meantone temperament Temperament yielding acoustically pure thirds by decreasing the natural fifth by 16 cents. Due to the non-circular character of this temperament, only a limited set of keys are playable. Used for tuning keyboard instruments for performance of pre-1650 music.
  • lusingando [Italian] Caressing, flattering.
  • ballata [Italian] A type of fourteenth-century italian secular song, similar to the French virelai.
  • ensemble [French] A group of musicians that perform as a unit.
  • tarantella [Italian] A fast Italian dance in 6/8 time, characterized by alternations between major and minor tonalities and a quickening of tempo throughout the composition.
  • note A notational symbol used to represent the duration of a sound and, when placed on a music staff, to also indicate the pitch of the sound.