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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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

  • labium [Latin] Literally, “lip”. The part of an edge-blown aerophone (such as a flute, recorder or whistle) that splits the air column.
  • boogie-woogie A style of piano-based blues that became very popular in the late 1930s and early 1940s, but originated much earlier, and was extended from piano, to three pianos at once, guitar, big band, and country and western music, and even gospel. Whilst the blues traditionally depicts a variety of emotions, boogie-woogie is mainly associated with dancing.
  • militare [Italian] Military.
  • zu [German] Shown as zu2, zu3, etc., it is a directive to indicate the number of musicians to perform the indicated passage of music.
  • garbato [Italian] Kind, amiable, graceful
  • transposition Shifting a melody up or down in pitch, while keeping the same relative pitches.
  • frottola [Italian] A secular song that was popular in Italy in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, direct predecessor of the madrigal.
  • basse dance [French] A graceful, stately court dance of the early Renaissance.
  • answer Second entry of the subject in a fugue, usually pitched a fourth below or a fifth above the original subject. If the theme is altered slightly in the answer, then it is said to be a tonal answer, if it is entirely unaltered, it is said to be a real answer.
  • agitato [Italian] Agitated, excited, restless.
  • tosto [Italian] Swiftly, rapidly.
  • subject The melody upon which a fugue is based; a melody, motive, or theme. The theme or melody upon which any composition is based.
  • figured bass A method of indicating an accompaniment part by the bass notes only, together with figures designating the chief chords to be played above the bass notes.
  • sequence Restatement of an idea or motive at a different pitch level.
  • rant A country dance of Scotland and Northern England in duple meter and binary form.