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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Some random terms

  • inversion The position of a chord when the fundamental is not the lowest note. Also, the inversion of the order of the notes of an interval, obtained by raising or lowering either of the notes the necessary number of octaves.
  • melodrama A spoken dialogue that is accompanied by music.
  • sonata-allegro form The opening movement of the sonata cycle, consisting of themes that are stated in the first section (exposition), developed in the second section (development), and restated in the third section (recapitulation).
  • ricapitolazione [Italian] Recapitulation.
  • chorale Baroque congregational hymn of the German Lutheran church, usually written for four voice harmony.
  • articulation The manner in which adjacent notes of a melody are connected or separated. Woodwind and brass instruments generally articulate by tonguing, the use of the tongue to break the airflow into the instrument.
  • symphonie concertante [French] A musical genre of the late 18th and early 19th centuries that resembles a concerto for two to four solo instruments. It is a composition in two or three movements of a lighthearted character, usually in a major key. The genre features a few solo instruments and orchestra.
  • sonata-rondò [Italian] A form of a composition that displays characteristics of both the rondò and the sonata forms.
  • strepitoso [Italian] Boisterous, noisy.
  • Schottische [German] A German round dance in duple time.
  • heterophony Texture in which two or more voices (or parts) elaborate the same melody simultaneously, often the result of improvisation.
  • stinger A chord at the end of a march that is used to punctuate the ending of the composition. The stinger is typically played by the entire ensemble on the last beat of the last measure of the composition and contains an accent.
  • interpretation The manner in which a performer carries out a composer's performance directions.
  • con brio [Italian] With vivacity or spirit.
  • cantus firmus [Latin] “Fixed melody”, usually of very long notes, often based on a fragment of Gregorian chant that served as the structural basis for a polyphonic composition, particularly in the Renaissance.