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Many musical terms are in Italian because, in Europe, the vast majority of the most important early composers from the Renaissance to the Baroque period were Italian.[ citation needed ] That period is when numerous musical indications were used extensively for the first time. [1]
| Italian term | Literal translation | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| A cappella | in chapel style | Sung with no (instrumental) accompaniment, has much harmonizing |
| Aria | air | Piece of music, usually for a singer |
| Aria di sorbetto | sorbet air | A short solo performed by a secondary character in the opera |
| Arietta | little air | A short or light aria |
| Arioso | airy | A type of solo opera or operetta |
| Ballabile | danceable | (song) to be danced to |
| Battaglia | battle | An instrumental or vocal piece suggesting a battle |
| Bergamasca | from Bergamo | A peasant dance from Bergamo |
| Burletta | a little joke | A light comic or farcical opera |
| Cabaletta | from copola (couplet) | A two-part musical form |
| Cadenza | falling | A florid solo at the end of a performance |
| Cantata | sung | A piece for orchestra and singers |
| Capriccio | caprice | A lively piece, free in form, often used to show musical skill |
| Cavatina | small instrumental tone | A simple melody or song |
| Coda | tail | The end of a piece |
| Concerto | concert | A work for one or more solo instruments accompanied by an orchestra |
| Concertino | little concert | A short concerto; the solo instrument in a concerto |
| Concerto grosso | big concert | A Baroque form of concerto, with a group of solo instruments |
| Da capo aria | from the head aria | A three-section musical form |
| Dramma giocoso | jocular drama | A form of opera |
| Dramma per musica | drama for music | Libretto |
| Fantasia | fantasy | A musical composition or “idea” typified by improvisation |
| Farsa | farce | A one-act comical opera |
| Festa teatrale | theatrical party | A genre of opera |
| Fioritura | flowery | A highly embellished vocal line |
| Intermedio | intermediate | A short connecting instrumental movement – an intermezzo |
| Intermezzo | interval | A short connecting instrumental movement |
| Libretto | little book | A work containing the words to an opera, musical, or ballet |
| Melodramma | melodrama | A style of opera |
| Opera | work | A drama set to music for singers and instrumentalists |
| Opera buffa | humorous opera | A comic opera |
| Opera semiseria | semi-serious opera | A variety of opera |
| Opera seria | serious opera | An opera with a serious, esp. classical theme |
| Operetta | little opera | A variety of light opera |
| Oratorio | oratory | Large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists |
| Pasticcio | pastiche | A musical piece containing works by different composers |
| Ripieno concerto | padding concert | A form of Baroque concerto with no solo parts |
| Serenata | Serenade | A song or composition in someone's honour. Originally, a musical greeting performed for a lover |
| Soggetto cavato | carved subject | A musical cryptogram, using coded syllables as a basis for the composition |
| Sonata | sounded | A composition for one or two instruments in sonata form |
| Verismo | realism | A genre of operas with scenarios based on contemporary everyday life |
| Italian term | Literal translation | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Campana | bell | A bell used in an orchestra; also campane "bells" |
| Cornetto | little horn | An old woodwind instrument |
| Fagotto | bundle | A bassoon, a woodwind instrument played with a double reed |
| Orchestra | orchestra, orig. Greek orkesthai "dance" | An ensemble of instruments |
| Piano(forte) | soft-loud | A keyboard instrument |
| Piccolo | little | A tiny woodwind instrument |
| Sordun | deaf, dull in sound | An archaic double-reed wind instrument |
| Timpani | drums | Large drums |
| Tuba | tube | A large brass instrument |
| Viola | viola, orig. Latin vitulari "be joyful" | A medium-sized stringed instrument |
| Viola d'amore | love viola | A tenor viol with no frets |
| Viola da braccio | arm viola | A stringed instrument held in the arm, such as a violin or viola |
| Viola da gamba | leg viola | A stringed instrument held between the legs |
| Violoncello | Violoncello was the original name for a cello. | A large stringed instrument |
| Italian term | Literal translation | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Alto | high | Second-highest vocal line |
| Basso | low | Or "bass;" the lowest vocal line |
| Basso profondo | deep low | A very deep bass voice |
| Castrato | castrated | A male singer, castrated before puberty so as to be able to sing soprano (now sung by women, conventional countertenors, or sopranisti) |
| Coloratura soprano | colouring soprano | A soprano specialised in complex, ornamented melody |
| Contralto | against high | Alto, esp. a female alto |
| Falsetto | little false | A vocal register immediately above the modal voice range |
| Falsettone | Falsetto, sung using the usual techniques of modal voice register | |
| Leggiero tenor | See tenore di grazia | |
| Musico | musician | Originally, a trained musician; later, a castrato or female singer |
| Mezzo-soprano | middle-upper | Between soprano and alto |
| Passaggio | crossing | A vocal range |
| Soprano | upper | The highest vocal line |
| Soprano sfogato | unlimited soprano | A soprano who has extended her upper range beyond the usual range of a soprano |
| Spinto | pushed | A forceful voice, between the lyric and dramatic in weight |
| Spinto soprano | pushed soprano | A soprano whose voice, while normally of lyric weight and fluidity, can be pushed to a more forceful weight |
| Squillo | ringing | The resonant clarity of an operatic singer's voice |
| Tenore contraltino | A tenor voice capable of a slightly higher range of sustainable notes than usual | |
| Tenore di grazia or Leggiero tenor | tenor of grace or lightweight tenor | A lightweight, flexible tenor voice |
| Tessitura | texture | A singer's comfortable range |
| Italian term | Literal translation | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Accelerando | accelerating | Accelerating |
| Accompagnato | accompanied | The accompaniment must follow the singer who can speed up or slow down at will. |
| Adagio | ad agio, at ease | Slow and easy (but not as slow as largo) |
| Adagietto | a bit at ease | 1. Slightly less easy than adagio (so slightly faster); 2. a short adagio composition |
| Affrettando | becoming hurried | Accelerating |
| Alla marcia | as a march | In strict tempo at a marching pace (e.g. 120 BPM) |
| Allargando | broadening | Slowing down and broadening; becoming more stately and majestic, possibly louder |
| Allegro | joyful; lively and fast | Joyful; moderately fast tempo |
| Allegretto | a little bit joyful | Slightly less joyful than allegro (so slightly slower tempo) |
| Andante | walking | At a walking pace; flowing; moderately slow tempo |
| Andantino | a little bit walking | Less of a walking pace than andante (so slightly quicker) |
| A tempo | to time | Return to previous tempo |
| Fermata | held, stopped, orig. Latin firmo "make firm, fortify" | Holding or sustaining a note |
| Grave | grave, solemn | Slow and solemn tempo (slower than largo) |
| Largo | broad | Slow and dignified tempo |
| Largamente | broadly | Slow and dignified tempo |
| Larghetto | broad-ish | Slightly less dignified than largo (so slightly faster tempo) |
| Lento | slow | Slow tempo |
| Lentando | slowing | Decelerating, slowing down |
| L'istesso tempo | the same time | At the same tempo |
| Moderato | moderate | Moderate tempo |
| Mosso | moved, agitated | Agitated |
| Presto | prompt, quick; ready for action | Very fast |
| Prestissimo | very prompt, very quick | Very very fast (above 200 BPM) |
| Rallentando | slowing down | Decelerating |
| Ritardando | retarding | Decelerating |
| Tardo | slow, tardy | Slow tempo |
| Tempo | time | The speed of music; e.g. 120 BPM (beats per minute) |
| (Tempo) rubato | robbed | Free flowing and exempt from steady rhythm |
| Tenuto | sustained | Holding or sustaining a single note |
| Vivace | vivacious | Fast and lively tempo (quicker than allegro) |
| Italian term | Literal translation | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Calando | quietening | Becoming softer and slower |
| Crescendo | growing | Becoming louder |
| Decrescendo | shrinking | Becoming softer |
| Diminuendo | dwindling | Becoming softer |
| Forte | strong | Loud |
| Fortissimo | very strong | Very loud |
| Mezzo forte | half-strong | Moderately loud |
| Marcato | marked | A note played forcefully |
| Messa di voce | placing the voice | A style of singing involving changing volume while holding a single note |
| Piano | gentle | Soft |
| Pianissimo | very gentle | Very soft |
| Mezzo piano | half-gentle | Moderately soft |
| Sforzando | strained | Sharply accented |
| Stentato | in the manner of Stentor | Loud, boisterous |
| Tremolo | trembling | A rapid repetitive variation in the volume (or pitch) of a tone |
| Italian term | Literal translation | Musical definition |
|---|---|---|
| Affettuoso | with feeling | Tenderly |
| Agitato | agitated, moved | Excited, fast |
| Animato | animated | Animated, fast |
| Brillante | brilliant | Bright, radiant |
| Bruscamente | brusquely | Abruptly, bluntly |
| Cantabile | singable | In a singing style |
| Colossale | colossal | In a fashion which suggests immensity |
| Comodo | convenient | Comfortably, moderately |
| Con amore | with love | With love |
| Con brio | with power | With vigour |
| Con fuoco | with fire | Passionate, enthusiastic |
| Con moto | with movement | With movement, with energy, spirited |
| Con spirito | with spirit | Vigorous, spirited |
| Deciso | firm, resolute | Decisive, determined |
| Dolce | sweet | Softly, sweetly |
| Drammatico | dramatic | Dramatic |
| Espressivo | expressive | Expressive |
| Feroce | ferocious | Fierce, heavy |
| Festoso | happy | Festive, jolly |
| Furioso | furious | Angry, hasty |
| Giocoso | playful | Merry, spirited, playful |
| Grandioso | great, grandiose | Broad, noble, great |
| Grazioso | gracious, graceful | Graceful, charming |
| Lacrimoso | lachrymose, teary | Tearfully, sadly |
| Lamentoso | Plaintively, Sadly | Mournfully, with sorrow |
| Maestoso | majestic | Stately, broadly |
| Misterioso | mysterious | Mysteriously, secretively, enigmatic |
| Morendo | dying | Dying away |
| Pesante | heavy | Heavy, slowly, weightily |
| Risoluto | resolved | Resolved, decisive |
| Scherzando | playful, joking | Playful, lively |
| Solitario | lonely | Lonely, alone |
| Sotto (voce) | under-voice, subdued (voice) | Subdued, hushed |
| Sonore | loud, resonant | Full, broad |
| Semplicemente | simply | Simply |
| Slancio | passionately hurl or fling; lance | Enthusiastic |
| Tranquillo | calm, tranquil | Calm, soft, peaceful |
| Vivace | vivacious | Up-tempo, lively |
| Volante | flying | Fast, light |
| Italian term | Literal translation | Usage |
|---|---|---|
| Molto | very; much | Comes before other terms; e.g. molto allegro ("very cheerful") |
| Assai | very; aplenty | Comes after other terms; e.g. allegro assai ("very cheerful") |
| Più | more | Comes before other terms; e.g. più mosso ("more moved/agitated") |
| Poco | little | Comes before other terms; e.g. poco diminuendo ("a little diminishing") |
| poco a poco | little by little | "Slowly but steadily." Comes before other terms; e.g. poco a poco crescendo ("increasing little by little") |
| ma non tanto | but not so much | Comes after other terms; e.g. adagio ma non tanto ("not quite at ease") |
| ma non troppo | but not too much | Comes after other terms; e.g. allegro ma non troppo ("not too joyful") |
| Meno | less | Comes before other terms, such as meno mosso ("less moved/agitated") |
| Subito | suddenly, quickly | Comes before or after other terms; e.g. subito fortissimo ("suddenly very loud") |
| Italian term | Literal translation | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Lacuna | gap | A silent pause in a piece of music |
| Ossia | from o ("or") + sia ("that it be") | A secondary passage of music which may be played in place of the original |
| Ostinato | stubborn, obstinate | A repeated motif or phrase in a piece of music |
| Pensato | thought out | A composed imaginary note |
| Ritornello | little return | A recurring passage in a piece of Baroque music |
| Segue | it follows | A smooth movement from one passage to another with no pause |
| Stretto | tightened, strict | In a fugue, the repeating of a motif by a second voice before the first rendition is completed |
| Italian term | Literal translation | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Attacca | attach, begin | Proceed to the next section without pause |
| Cambiare | change | Any change, such as to a new instrument |
| Da Capo (al fine) | from the beginning (to the "fine") | Abbreviated as D.C., informs the performer to go back to the beginning (capo) (finishing where the part is marked fine). |
| Dal Segno | from the sign | Abbreviated as D.S., informs the performer to repeat a specific section marked by a sign (segno). |
| Divisi | divided | Instructs one section to divide into two or more separate sections, each playing a separate part. Often these separate parts are written on the same staff. |
| Oppure | from o ("or") + pure ("also") | Informs the player of alternative ways to play a passage. See Ossia. |
| Solo | alone | A piece or performance to be played by a single musician |
| Sole | Group solo | A piece or performance to be played by a designated group |
| Italian term | Literal translation | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Acciaccatura | crunching | An extra, very fast grace note |
| Altissimo | very high | Very high |
| Appoggiatura | leaning, supporting | A type of ornament that creates a "yearning" effect |
| Arco | bow | Cancels col legno and pizzicato. (In any string passage, arco is usually expected, as it is the "default" approach; it is only ever written at the end of col legno or pizzicato passages.) |
| Arpeggio | harp-like | A chord with the notes spread out in time (rather than sounded simultaneously) |
| Basso continuo | continuous bass | Continuous bass accompaniment by chordal instrument(s) and bass instrument(s) (see Figured bass.) |
| A bocca chiusa | in closed mouth | Wordless humming in a choral piece |
| Chiuso | closed | Calls for a horn to be muted by hand. |
| Coloratura | colouration | Elaborate ornamentation of a vocal line |
| Coperti | covered | Of a drum, muted with a cloth |
| Una corda | one string, cord | On a piano, played with the soft pedal depressed |
| Due corde | two strings | On a piano, played with the soft pedal depressed (For why both terms exist, see Piano#Pedals.) |
| Tre corde or tutte le corde | three strings or all the strings | Cancels una corda |
| Glissando | gliding, glossing | A sweeping glide from one pitch to another used for dramatic effect |
| Legato | tied | A series of notes played with a smooth connection between them |
| Col legno | with the wood | Calls for a bowed instrument's strings to be struck with the wood of the bow (rather than drawn across with the hair of the bow). |
| Martellato | hammered | Of notes, strongly accented and detached |
| Pizzicato | pinched, plucked | Calls for a bowed instrument's strings to be plucked with the fingers. |
| Portamento | carrying | Playing with a sliding of pitch between two notes |
| Portato | carried | Played in a style between staccato and legato |
| Sforzando | forcing | Playing with strong, marked emphasis |
| Scordatura | discord | Alternate tuning (of strings) |
| Con sordino | with sourdine (mute) | With mute applied, esp. to string instruments |
| Senza sordino | without sourdine (mute) | With mute removed |
| Spiccato | separated, distinct; standing out | With a stringed instrument, played by bouncing the bow lightly on the strings |
| Staccato | detached | A form of musical articulation in which notes are distinct and separated from each other by short gaps |
| Staccatissimo | very detached | Forcefully exaggerated staccato |
| Tutti | all | Played or sung by the entire ensemble, rather than by just a soloist or principal player |
| Vibrato | vibrating | Played with rapid repetitive variation or undulation in pitch |
| Colla voce | with the voice | (For accompanists) In time with the singer's text, especially when slowing for textual effect |
| Italian term | Literal translation | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Banda | band | Small music ensemble used as a supplement to the orchestra in an opera |
| Comprimario | with the first | Supporting role |
| Concertino | little concert | Smaller, more virtuosic group of musicians in a concerto grosso |
| Convenienze | conveniences | Rules relating to the ranking of singers in opera (primo, secondo, comprimario) in 19th-century Italian opera, and the number of scenes, arias, etc. that they were entitled to expect. [2] The convenienze are referred to in the Donizetti opera Le convenienze ed inconvenienze teatrali . |
| Coro | choir | Ensemble of singers |
| Diva | divine one (fem.) | Leading female singer |
| Prima donna | first lady | Leading female role |
| Primo uomo | first man | Leading male role |
| Ripieno | refilling or stuffing | The larger group of musicians in a concerto grosso |
| Italian term | Literal translation | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Bel canto | beautiful singing | Any fine singing, esp. that popular in 18th- and 19th-century Italian opera |
| Bravura | skill | A performance of extraordinary virtuosity |
| Bravo | skillful | A cry of congratulation to a male singer or performer. (Masc. pl. bravi; fem. sing. brava; fem. pl. brave.) The use of ! after a written expression of "bravo/a/i/e(!)" strongly emphasizes it. |
| Italian term | Literal translation | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Maestro | master, teacher | Conductor, music director, music teacher; also composer and other eminent musicians and singers |
| Maestro collaboratore | collaborating master | Assistant conductor |
| Maestro sostituto | substitute/deputy master | Assistant conductor |
| Maestro suggeritore | master suggester/prompter | Prompter |
| Stagione | season | A variety of formal organisation of players and crew in the staging of operas |
Antonio Salieri was an Italian composer and teacher of the classical period. He was born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, and spent his adult life and career as a subject of the Habsburg monarchy.
Medieval music encompasses the sacred and secular music of Western Europe during the Middle Ages, from approximately the 6th to 15th centuries. It is the first and longest major era of Western classical music and is followed by the Renaissance music; the two eras comprise what musicologists generally term as early music, preceding the common practice period. Following the traditional division of the Middle Ages, medieval music can be divided into Early (500–1000), High (1000–1300), and Late (1300–1400) medieval music.
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librettist and incorporates a number of the performing arts, such as acting, scenery, costume, and sometimes dance or ballet. The performance is typically given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble, which since the early 19th century has been led by a conductor. Although musical theatre is closely related to opera, the two are considered to be distinct from one another.
Renaissance music is traditionally understood to cover European music of the 15th and 16th centuries, later than the Renaissance era as it is understood in other disciplines. Rather than starting from the early 14th-century ars nova, the Trecento music was treated by musicology as a coda to Medieval music and the new era dated from the rise of triadic harmony and the spread of the contenance angloise style from Britain to the Burgundian School. A convenient watershed for its end is the adoption of basso continuo at the beginning of the Baroque period.
Romantic music is a stylistic movement in Western Classical music associated with the period of the 19th century commonly referred to as the Romantic era. It is closely related to the broader concept of Romanticism—the intellectual, artistic, and literary movement that became prominent in Western culture from about 1798 until 1837.
A libretto is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term libretto is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as the Mass, requiem and sacred cantata, or the story line of a ballet.
Although definitions of music vary wildly throughout the world, every known culture partakes in it, and it is thus considered a cultural universal. The origins of music remain highly contentious; commentators often relate it to the origin of language, with much disagreement surrounding whether music arose before, after or simultaneously with language. Many theories have been proposed by scholars from a wide range of disciplines, though none has achieved broad approval. Most cultures have their own mythical origins concerning the invention of music, generally rooted in their respective mythological, religious or philosophical beliefs.
In Spain, music has a long history. It has played an important role in the development of Western music, and has greatly influenced Latin American music. Spanish music is often associated with traditional styles such as flamenco and classical guitar. While these forms of music are common, there are many different traditional musical and dance styles across the regions. For example, music from the north-west regions is heavily reliant on bagpipes, the jota is widespread in the centre and north of the country, and flamenco originated in the south. Spanish music played a notable part in the early developments of western classical music, from the 15th through the early 17th century. The breadth of musical innovation can be seen in composers like Tomás Luis de Victoria, styles like the zarzuela of Spanish opera, the ballet of Manuel de Falla, and the classical guitar music of Francisco Tárrega. Nowadays, in Spain as elsewhere, the different styles of commercial popular music are dominant.
Pietro Bembo, O.S.I.H. was a Venetian scholar, poet, and literary theorist who also was a member of the Knights Hospitaller, and a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. As an intellectual of the Italian Renaissance, Pietro Bembo greatly influenced the development of the Tuscan dialect as a literary language for poetry and prose, which, by later codification into a standard language, became the modern Italian language. In the 16th century, Bembo's poetry, essays and books proved basic to reviving interest in the literary works of Petrarch. In the field of music, Bembo's literary writing techniques helped composers develop the techniques of musical composition that made the madrigal the most important secular music of 16th-century Italy.
The rondo is a musical form that contains a principal theme which alternates with one or more contrasting themes, generally called "episodes", but also occasionally referred to as "digressions" or "couplets". Some possible patterns include: ABACA, ABACAB, ABACBA, or ABACABA.
A madrigal is a form of secular vocal music most typical of the Renaissance and early Baroque (1600–1750) periods, although revisited by some later European composers. The polyphonic madrigal is unaccompanied, and the number of voices varies from two to eight, but the form usually features three to six voices, whilst the metre of the madrigal varies between two or three tercets, followed by one or two couplets. Unlike verse-repeating strophic forms sung to the same music, most madrigals are through-composed, featuring different music for each stanza of lyrics, whereby the composer expresses the emotions contained in each line and in single words of the poem being sung.
In music, modernism is an aesthetic stance underlying the period of change and development in musical language that occurred around the turn of the 20th century, a period of diverse reactions in challenging and reinterpreting older categories of music, innovations that led to new ways of organizing and approaching harmonic, melodic, sonic, and rhythmic aspects of music, and changes in aesthetic worldviews in close relation to the larger identifiable period of modernism in the arts of the time. The operative word most associated with it is "innovation". Its leading feature is a "linguistic plurality", which is to say that no one music genre ever assumed a dominant position.
Inherent within musical modernism is the conviction that music is not a static phenomenon defined by timeless truths and classical principles, but rather something which is intrinsically historical and developmental. While belief in musical progress or in the principle of innovation is not new or unique to modernism, such values are particularly important within modernist aesthetic stances.
Italian opera is both the art of opera in Italy and opera in the Italian language. Opera was in Italy around the year 1600 and Italian opera has continued to play a dominant role in the history of the form until the present day. Many famous operas in Italian were written by foreign composers, including Handel, Gluck and Mozart. Works by native Italian composers of the 19th and early 20th centuries, such as Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, Verdi and Puccini, are amongst the most famous operas ever written and today are performed in opera houses across the world.
Italian popular music is musical output which is not usually considered academic or classical music but rather has its roots in the popular traditions, and it may be defined in two ways: it can either be defined in terms of the current geographical location of the Italian Republic with the exceptions of the Germanic South Tyrol and the eastern portion of Friuli-Venezia Giulia; alternatively, it can be defined as the music produced by all those people who consider themselves as Italians and openly or implicitly refer to this belief. Both these two definitions are very loose: due to the complex political history of the Italian Peninsula and the different independent political states, cultural and linguistic traditions which sprang within them, it is rather difficult to define what may be considered to be truly Italian. Since before the formation of a unified educational system and the spread of information through the radio and the press during the 1920s, all the different cultural and linguistic groups within the country were independent of one another, and a unified Italian country was still only a political or ideological concept far from the daily life.
The cultural and artistic events of Italy during the period 1500 to 1599 are collectively referred to as the Cinquecento, from the Italian for the number 500, in turn from millecinquecento, which is Italian for the year 1500. Cinquecento encompasses the styles and events of the High Italian Renaissance, and Mannerism.
The Oxford Companion to Music defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of musical aesthetics.
The modern state of Italy did not come into being until 1861, though the roots of music on the Italian Peninsula can be traced back to the music of ancient Rome. However, the underpinnings of much modern Italian music come from the Middle Ages.
Russian classical music is a genre of classical music related to Russia's culture, people, or character. The 19th-century romantic period saw the largest development of this genre, with the emergence in particular of The Five, a group of composers associated with Mily Balakirev, and of the more German style of Pyotr Tchaikovsky.
The Seicento is Italian history and culture during the 17th century. The Seicento saw the end of the Renaissance movement in Italy and the beginning of the Counter-Reformation and the Baroque era. The word seicento means "six hundred" and is short for milleseicento, 1600.