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

  • Abendmusik [German] Evening music, usually religious in nature, originating in the 17th century.
  • religioso [Italian] Religious, devout.
  • fluttertonguing Wind instrument technique in which the tongue is fluttered or trilled against the roof of the mouth.
  • Handel-Werke-Verzeichnis [German] The numbering system identifying compositions by George Frederic Handel.
  • vocal range The range of notes that a singing voice can encompass.
  • allegro [Italian] Literally, “cheerful”. A quick tempo marking, usually around 120–168 BPM.
  • hopak A folk Ukrainian dance, introduced to the orchestra by such composers as Mussorgsky and Tchaikovsky.
  • sospirando [Italian] Sighing.
  • salsa [Spanish] A contemporary Latin American dance music principally of Afro-Cuban tradition.
  • florid Rich, embellished.
  • recapitulation In sonata-allegro form, the final presentation of the original theme group, first presented in the exposition.
  • hemiola In modern musical parlance, a metrical pattern in which two bars in simple triple time are articulated as if they were three bars in simple duple time.
  • misterioso [Italian] Mysterious.
  • zu [German] Shown as zu2, zu3, etc., it is a directive to indicate the number of musicians to perform the indicated passage of music.
  • quadruple counterpoint Counterpoint in four parts.