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

Hint: Don't worry about accents over letters, just skip them.

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…

You may browse the glossary alphabetically, or directly search for a term by using the search box above.

If you are looking for a symbol, check out our Guide to Musical Symbols.

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

  • doloroso [Italian] Sorrowful, painful.
  • temperament The division of an octave into twelve equal parts.
  • ripieno [Italian] The notes added when realizing the figured bass of a basso continuo.
  • offset G On a flute, a G key which is extended to the side of the other two left-hand finger keys (along with the G♯ key), thus requiring less bending of the wrist, rendering it easier to reach and cover effectively, and less uncomfortable and fatiguing to play.
  • tremolo [Italian] A rapid alternation between two notes.
  • Eingang [German] An introduction, preface or prelude.
  • ripresa [Italian] A refrain or repeat.
  • codetta [Italian] Literally, “little tail”. A passage similar to a coda, but on a smaller scale, concluding a section of a work instead of the work as a whole.
  • nach [German] “After”.
  • lentissimo [Italian] Very slow.
  • fortissimo-piano [Italian] A dynamic marking (ffp) indicating that the marked note should be attacked very loudly, instantly diminishing to a much softer volume.
  • nicht [German] “Not“.
  • natural key A key whose signature contains no sharps or flats; basically, C major and A minor.
  • catch A humorous composition for three or four voices common in England during the 16th century. The parts are written so that each singer catches up to the other parts, giving the words different meanings than if each line was sung alone, usually to a humorous or bawdy effect.
  • outer voices The highest and the lowest voices in a polyphonic composition.