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

  • romance [French] Originally a ballad; in the Romantic era, a lyric instrumental work.
  • grand staff A combination of two staves with a brace, usually used for piano music.
  • loure [French] A slow, dignified French dance of the 17th and 18th centuries usually in 3/4 or 6/4 time.
  • cent A logarithmic unit used in measuring the difference between two pitches in an equal-tempered scale. One cent is one one-hundredth of an equal-tempered semitone.
  • threnody A poem, a song, or an instrumental composition that expresses lament for the dead.
  • spiccato [Italian] Very separated, detached.
  • cue-notes In a separate part, notes belonging to another part with the purpose of hinting when to start playing. Usually printed in a smaller type.
  • prima volta [Italian] “First time”; may refer to the first ending of a repetition.
  • lento [Italian] Slow.
  • part song A vocal composition for two or more voices, usually unaccompanied.
  • Cecilia [Italian] Saint honored as the patroness of music.
  • piccolo [Italian] Literally, “small”. A small flute that sounds an octave above the regular flute, and also an octave above its written music.
  • concert pitch The tuning pitch of an ensemble, typically A440.
  • impromptu [French] A single-movement piano composition of the Romantic era, usually short, with a spontaneous character.
  • similar motion In part-writing, similar motion is the situation in which two voices of the composition move in the same direction, either ascending or descending, but they do not necessarily cover the same interval.