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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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

  • answer Second entry of the subject in a fugue, usually pitched a fourth below or a fifth above the original subject. If the theme is altered slightly in the answer, then it is said to be a tonal answer, if it is entirely unaltered, it is said to be a real answer.
  • backbeat A style of rhythmic accentuation that puts accents on even beats. In common time this means having accents on beats 2 and 4.
  • beat The basic time unit of a piece of music. For example, each tick sounded by a metronome would correspond to a beat.
  • animato [Italian] Animated or spirited.
  • dodecaphony Ensuring that all 12 notes of the chromatic scale are sounded as often as one another in a piece of music while preventing the emphasis of any.
  • Kammerton [German] Literally, “Chamber pitch”. The pitch system used for instruments in Germany during the baroque period. In this system, the A above middle C was probably about 410–425 Hz.
  • non [Italian] “Not”.
  • timoroso [Italian] Timorous, fearful; with hesitation.
  • libretto [Italian] A “little book” that contains the complete text of an opera, oratorio, and so forth.
  • instrumentation The particular combination of musical instruments employed in a composition.
  • round Perpetual canon at the unison in which each voice enters in succession with the same melody.
  • timbre [French] The quality of a sound; that component of a tone that causes different instruments (for example a flute and a violin) to sound different from each other while they are both playing the same note.
  • furioso [Italian] “Furious”.
  • ledger line Short, horizontal line added to the top or the bottom of a staff for the reception of a note too high or too low to be represented on the staff.
  • well-tempered A term applied to an instrument that is voiced and tuned satisfactorily, with the pitches, tone, and timbre having the desired quality of sound.