Multilingual Music Glossary

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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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Some random terms

  • rigaudon [French] A lively French dance, originally a folk dance but also a court dance and an instrumental form, in duple meter.
  • Tafelmusik [German] Literally, “table music”. Music that is performed at feasts and banquets.
  • heptatonic scale Any scale of seven tones.
  • Motown A style of music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the late 1960s.
  • intermedio [Italian] In the Renaissance, a musical entertainment between the acts of a play.
  • frottola [Italian] A secular song that was popular in Italy in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, direct predecessor of the madrigal.
  • tablature Any form of musical notation using symbols or letters rather than notes on the staff to describe pitches.
  • overblowing A technique employed by woodwind players (flute players in particular) in which the player directs the flow of air to obtain a harmonic tone other than the fundamental.
  • augmentation Statement of a melody in longer note values, often twice as slow as the original.
  • 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.
  • murky A style of keyboard playing in which the bass consists of quick alternating octaves rather than slower, longer notes.
  • più [Italian] “More”.
  • concerto [Italian] A three-part musical work in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.
  • traurig [German] Sad.
  • genre Term used to identify a general category of music that shares similar performance forces, formal structures and/or style.