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

  • half note A note that has half the duration of time of a whole note.
  • pietoso [Italian] Pitiful, merciful, compassionate.
  • alt [German] Term used to indicate the tones of the first octave above the treble staff (G5 to F6), which are said to be “in alt”.
  • elegante [Italian] Elegant, graceful.
  • marziale [Italian] Martial, with a military feeling.
  • intontito [Italian] Dull, numbed, dazed, stunned.
  • countersubject The secondary theme of a fugue, heard against the subject.
  • Wiederholung [German] Repetition.
  • Generalpause [German] Rest or pause for all performers.
  • invention Mostly in reference to baroque music, a short, contrapuntal composition, usually implying an originality of idea.
  • florid Rich, embellished.
  • sforzando [Italian] Literally, “forcing”. Dynamic marking indicating a strong, sudden accent.
  • inquieto [Italian] Restless, uneasy, agitated.
  • con passione [Italian] “With passion”.
  • connecting note A note held in common by two chords.