Multilingual Music Glossary

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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

  • canticle A sacred hymn or song.
  • gymel A Medieval technique of splitting one voice part into two parts, both with the same range. In most cases the voices would start and end together, but would diverge in the middle of the composition.
  • pianississimo [Italian] Extremely soft, softer than pianissimo.
  • rounded binary Compositional form with two sections, in which the second ends with a return to material from the first; each section is usually repeated.
  • orchestration The practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble) or of adapting for orchestra music composed for another medium.
  • con fuoco [Italian] Literally, “with fire”. A directive to play with vehement energy or fervid emotion.
  • string quartet An ensemble consisting of two violins, viola, and cello, or a work composed for such an ensemble.
  • Nachahmung [German] Imitation.
  • sixth An interval of six diatonic degrees, counting the first and last degree.
  • empfindungsvoll [German] Feelingly.
  • prologue The introduction or preface to a dramatic work. The prologue usually tells the audience the background to the story about to be presented.
  • symphonie concertante [French] A musical genre of the late 18th and early 19th centuries that resembles a concerto for two to four solo instruments. It is a composition in two or three movements of a lighthearted character, usually in a major key. The genre features a few solo instruments and orchestra.
  • moderato [Italian] A moderate tempo, faster than andante but slower than allegretto, usually around 100–120 BPM.
  • pomposo [Italian] Pompous, stately, or ceremonious.
  • quarter note A note having the time duration of one fourth of a whole note.