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

  • sarabande [French] Stately Spanish baroque dance type in triple meter, a standard movement of the Baroque suite.
  • tema [Italian] Theme, subject.
  • ripieno [Italian] The notes added when realizing the figured bass of a basso continuo.
  • key signature The sharps or flats appearing at the beginning of each staff indicating the key of the music.
  • lyrics The words of a song.
  • Stück [German] A piece of music.
  • tenerezza [Italian] Tenderness.
  • simple meter A meter in which the main beats are subdivided into twos, such as 2/4 or 3/4.
  • goliard song Medieval Latin-texted secular song, often with corrupt or lewd lyrics; associated with wandering scholars.
  • off-beat A rhythm that emphasizes the weak beats of a bar.
  • through-composed Song form that is composed from beginning to end without repetitions of any major sections, each verse having its own, unique melody.
  • comodo [Italian] Comfortable.
  • deciso [Italian] Decided, bold.
  • teneramente [Italian] Tenderly.
  • petite reprise [French] Repetition of the last few measures of a piece after a larger repetition. The starting point of the section to be repeated is usually indicated with a small “segno”.