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

  • fantasia [Italian] Free instrumental piece of fairly large dimensions, in an improvisational style.
  • très [French] “Very”, “much”.
  • interlude Any piece of music played or sung between the movements of a larger composition.
  • chord A set of three or more (according to certain definitions, even two) different notes that sound simultaneously.
  • fugue [French] Polyphonic form popular in the Baroque era in which one or more themes are developed by imitative counterpoint.
  • guerriero [Italian] Martial, warlike.
  • recitative A flexible style of vocal delivery employed in opera, oratorio, and cantata and tailored to the accents and rhythms of the text.
  • no chord A directive placed over a note (or a series of notes) signifying that the note(s) should be performed without accompaniment. Typically found in popular music notation.
  • partita [Italian] In the 18th and 19th century, a multi-movement composition consisting of dances and non-dance movements or entirely of non-dance movements.
  • ritenuto [Italian] Literally, “kept back”. Immediate reduction of speed.
  • bar Each of the lines drawn perpendicularly across the staff to divide it into measures. In common usage the term may also mean measure.
  • non-imitative counterpoint A musical texture in which independent voices of different character compete for attention.
  • sanft [German] Soft, mild, smooth.
  • volume Degree of loudness or softness of a sound.
  • perfect pitch The ability of certain people to identify a given pitch without reference to any other pitch.