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

  • canzona [Italian] A 16th-century multipart vocal setting of a literary canzone, or a 16th- and 17th-century instrumental composition.
  • formalism The tendency to elevate the formal aspects above the expressive value in music, as in Neoclassical music.
  • moto perpetuo [Italian] Literally, “perpetual motion”. A term used to describe rapidly executed and persistently maintained figuration.
  • moderato [Italian] A moderate tempo, faster than andante but slower than allegretto, usually around 100–120 BPM.
  • fanfare A short, lively, loud, militaristic composition, usually composed for brass instruments and percussions.
  • da capo [Italian] Literally, “from the beginning”. A directive to go back to the beginning of the composition.
  • anthem A choral setting of an English religious text similar to a motet, usually used in church with or without organ accompaniment.
  • légèrement [French] Lightly.
  • sentimento [Italian] Feeling, emotion.
  • musico [Italian] Term applied to any musician in the 17th and 18th centuries.
  • register A division of the range of an instrument or singing voice. Usually registers are defined by a change in the quality of the sound between a lower range and a higher range.
  • Lombard rhythm A rhythm associated primarily with baroque music, generally consisting of a stressed sixteenth note followed by a dotted eighth note.
  • bis [Latin] Literally, “twice”. A directive to repeat a passage.
  • natural key A key whose signature contains no sharps or flats; basically, C major and A minor.
  • ancora [Italian] “Again”.