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

  • avec [French] “With”.
  • con [Italian] “With”.
  • countersubject The secondary theme of a fugue, heard against the subject.
  • breath mark Indication of where to breathe in vocal and wind instrument parts. It may look like a large comma or apostrophe or like a tick/checkmark (✓), and is always written above the staff.
  • echo A repetition or mimicking of a certain passage, usually with less force and volume than the original statement.
  • tertian harmony Term applied to harmony which is based upon the interval of the third.
  • animato [Italian] Animated or spirited.
  • Köchel Verzeichnis [German] The numbering system identifying compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
  • prima volta [Italian] “First time”; may refer to the first ending of a repetition.
  • piccolo [Italian] Literally, “small”. A small flute that sounds an octave above the regular flute, and also an octave above its written music.
  • Gesamtkunstwerk [German] The integration of all of the arts (music, poetry, dance and other visual elements) into a single medium of dramatic expression. This term was used by Richard Wagner to describe the vision of his later operas in the late Romantic era.
  • perdendo [Italian] Losing volume.
  • larghissimo [Italian] An extremely slow tempo, slower than largo.
  • fortepiano [Italian] A dynamic marking (fp) directing the performer to attack the written note at the dynamic level of forte (loud) followed by an immediate decrease in volume to piano (soft).
  • lyrics The words of a song.