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

Hint: Don't worry about accents over letters, just skip them.

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…

You may browse the glossary alphabetically, or directly search for a term by using the search box above.

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

  • rubato [Italian] “Robbed” time; the subtle pressing forward and holding back the tempo in performance.
  • un peu [French] A little.
  • comodetto [Italian] Diminutive form of comodo.
  • rigaudon [French] A lively French dance, originally a folk dance but also a court dance and an instrumental form, in duple meter.
  • dolce [Italian] Sweet, soft, with tender emotion.
  • Zimmerman numbers The numbering system identifying compositions by Henry Purcell.
  • root position The position of a chord when the base pitch of the chord is in the lowest voice.
  • passacaglia [Italian] Baroque form in moderately slow triple meter, based on a short, repeated base-line melody that serves as the basis for continuous variation in the other voices.
  • pasticcio [Italian] A composition assembled from passages taken from numerous other sources by various composers.
  • molto [Italian] “Very”, “much”.
  • tempo giusto [Italian] A directive to perform in exact, strict time.
  • con mala grazia [Italian] Ungracefully, awkwardly.
  • verve [French] A high degree of energy, excitement or spirit. Often referred to as the artistic inspiration and special feeling of excitement that is used by artists to realize the expression of ideas in performance or composition.
  • strascinando [Italian] Dragging.
  • consonance An accord of sounds sweet and pleasing to the ear.