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

  • ohne [German] “Without”.
  • finale [Italian] The last movement in a composition of several movements.
  • instrumentation The particular combination of musical instruments employed in a composition.
  • program symphony A multi-movement composition with extra-musical content that directs the attention of the listener to a literary or pictorial association.
  • sciolto [Italian] A directive to perform at ease, in a light, free manner.
  • soul A style of composition developed in America in the 1960s conveying strong emotion. This style of music is characterized by dramatic delivery of the vocal line, commonly including wails, sighs, cries, falsetto, whispers, etc.
  • fundamental The base note upon which a chord is built.
  • whole tone scale A scale built entirely of whole tone intervals. Used commonly by the French impressionists.
  • appassionato [Italian] Passionate, with intense emotion or feeling.
  • tertian harmony Term applied to harmony which is based upon the interval of the third.
  • pivot [French] A chord that is placed in a transition between two keys, serving a different function in each key and providing smooth movement between them.
  • tessitura [Italian] The most musically acceptable and comfortable range for a given singer or, less frequently, musical instrument.
  • tranquillo [Italian] Calm, quiet.
  • paraphrase In the Renaissance, a melody borrowed from another source (usually chant) and then elaborated freely. In the 19th century, a virtuoso composition using popular melodies, usually from operas, in an elaborated manner.
  • mezzo piano [Italian] Moderately soft. Not quite so soft as piano.