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

  • feierlich [German] Solemn.
  • tristezza [Italian] Sadness.
  • belebend [German] Lively.
  • word painting Musical depiction of words in text. Using the device of word painting, the music tries to imitate the emotion, action, or natural sounds as described in the text.
  • ostinato [Italian] Literally, “obstinate”. A short melodic, rhythmic, or harmonic pattern that is repeated throughout a composition.
  • seventh An interval of seven diatonic degrees, counting the first and last degree.
  • head voice The highest register of the voice, excluding falsetto.
  • Longo numbers A numbering system identifying keyboard sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti.
  • riser A metal section on the head joint of a flute, shaped like a ‛top hat with the top cut off’, which raises the lip plate from the head joint tube.
  • staccato [Italian] A style of playing notes in a detached, separated, distinct manner, as opposed to legato.
  • responsorial singing Singing, especially in Gregorian chant, in which a soloist or a group of soloists alternates with the choir.
  • formalism The tendency to elevate the formal aspects above the expressive value in music, as in Neoclassical music.
  • fixed form A form in which the poetic structure determines musical repetitions.
  • tenerezza [Italian] Tenderness.
  • comma [Italian] Difference in pitch between a note derived from pure tuning and the same note derived from some other tuning method.