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

  • traditional music Music that is learned by oral transmission and is easily sung or played by most people.
  • di molto [Italian] “By much”.
  • progressive rock A subgenre of rock that reached its peak in the early 1970s and attempted to blend the visceral style of rock music with outside influences: classical, jazz, folk, and world musics, for example.
  • Handel-Werke-Verzeichnis [German] The numbering system identifying compositions by George Frederic Handel.
  • bracket In a score, a vertical bracket that groups together the staves relative to the instruments of a section, like the woodwinds or the strings.
  • slur A curved line drawn over or under a series of notes, indicating that those notes should be played legato.
  • lamentoso [Italian] Like a lament, plaintive.
  • quadruple counterpoint Counterpoint in four parts.
  • affabilmente [Italian] Easily, gently and agreeably.
  • art song A vocal music composition, usually written for one singer with piano or orchestral accompaniment.
  • ma [Italian] “But”.
  • jive A form of blues popular in the 1940s.
  • col [Italian] “With the”
  • opera A drama set to music, usually sung throughout, originating in 17th-century Italy.
  • rustico [Italian] Rustic, rural.