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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If you are looking for a symbol, check out our Guide to Musical Symbols.

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

  • pavane [French] Stately Renaissance court dance in duple meter.
  • Minnesinger [German] A poet or musician of the Minnesang tradition in Germany, active during the 12th through the 15th centuries.
  • empfindungsvoll [German] Feelingly.
  • double trill A simultaneous trill on two notes, usually in the distance of a third.
  • non-transposing instrument An instrument which is notated in the same key on paper that it sounds when played.
  • custos [Latin] (Plural: custodes.) A symbol that appears at the end of a staff line with a single voice). It anticipates the first note of the following line and thus helps the player or singer to manage line breaks during performance. Custodes were frequently used until the 16th century.
  • Reigenlied [German] Medieval dance form in triple meter, characterized by repeated notes and phrases.
  • martial music Music with a military feeling.
  • absolute music Music that is not explicitly “about” anything. In contrast with program music, absolute music has no words and no references to stories or images or any other kind of extra-musical idea.
  • villanella [Italian] A Renaissance polyphonic vocal form, usually with a simple tune in the top voice, and somewhat homophonic, regular rhythms in the lower voices.
  • bass The lowest part in a musical composition.
  • double exposition In a concerto, a twofold statement of the theme, once by the orchestra and once by the soloist.
  • sordamente [Italian] Softly, gently, or in a muffled or damped style.
  • Charleston A fast syncopated American dance popular in the 1920s.
  • natural A symbol placed by a note signifying that the note should be played unaltered, as opposed to the sharp or flat of the note.