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Italian musical
terms used in English
  
A great many musical terms are in
Italian. It shouldn't be surprising that so many musical terms are
Italian, since many of the most important early
composers in the
renaissance period were
Italian, and that period is when numerous musical indications were used
extensively for the first time.
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For a general, non-language specific list of
terms, see Glossary -
Musical terminology
Here are some of these expressions:
Contents
|
Italian
term |
Literal translation |
Definition |
Musical forms
|
A cappella* |
in chapel style |
Sung
with no instrumental accompaniment |
|
Aria |
air |
A
song, esp. one from an opera |
|
Arietta |
little air |
A
short or light aria |
|
Ballabile |
danceable |
(song)
to be danced to |
|
Battaglia |
battle |
A
piece suggesting a battle |
|
Bergamasca |
from Bergamo |
A
peasant dance from
Bergamo |
|
Burletta |
a little joke |
A
light comic or farcical opera |
|
Cadenza |
falling |
A
florid solo at the end of a performance |
|
Capriccio |
caprice |
A
lively piece of music |
|
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 |
|
Libretto |
little book |
A work
containing the words to an opera or musical |
|
Opera |
work |
A
drama set to music for singers and instrumentalists |
|
Opera buffa |
humorous opera |
A
comic opera |
|
Opera seria |
serious opera |
An
opera with a serious, esp. classical theme |
|
Sonata |
sounded |
A
composition for one or two instruments in
sonata form |
|
Intermezzo |
interval |
A
short connecting instrumental movement |
|
Piano(forte) |
soft-loud |
A keyboard
instrument |
|
Viola |
viola, orig. Latin vitulari "be joyful" |
A medium-sized
stringed instrument |
|
(Violon)cello |
Small violone (violone means "big viola") |
A large stringed
instrument |
|
Viola da gamba |
leg
viola |
A stringed
instrument held between the legs |
|
Viola da braccio |
arm
viola |
A stringed
instrument held in the arm, such as a violin or viola |
|
Viola d'amore |
love viola |
A tenor viol with
no frets |
|
Tuba |
tube |
A large brass
instrument |
|
Piccolo |
little |
A tiny woodwind
instrument |
|
Timpani |
drums |
Large drums |
|
Cornetto |
little horn |
An old woodwind
instrument |
|
Campana |
bell |
A
bell used in an orchestra; also campane "bells" |
|
Orchestra |
orchestra, orig. Greek orkesthai "dance" |
An ensemble of
instruments |
Voices
|
Soprano |
upper |
The
highest vocal line |
|
Mezzo-soprano |
middle soprano |
Between soprano and alto |
|
Alto |
high |
Second-highest vocal line |
|
Contralto |
against high |
Alto,
esp. a female alto |
|
Basso |
low |
Or
"bass;" the lowest vocal line |
|
Basso profondo |
deep and low |
A very
deep bass voice |
|
Castrato |
castrated |
A male
singer, castrated so as to be able to sing soprano (now sung by
women, conventional
countertenors, or
sopranisti) |
|
Falsetto |
false (dim.) |
High
male voice, affecting a female voice |
|
Tempo |
time |
The speed of a
piece of music |
|
Largo |
broad |
Slow and dignified |
|
Larghetto |
a
little bit broad |
Not as slow as
largo |
|
Lento |
slow |
Slow |
|
Adagio |
ad
agio, at ease |
Slow, but not as
slow as largo |
|
Adagietto |
little adagio |
Faster than
adagio; or a short adagio composition |
|
Andante |
walking |
Moderately slow,
flowing along |
|
Comodo |
comfortable |
At moderate speed |
|
Allegretto |
a
little bit joyful |
Slightly slower
than allegro |
|
Allegro |
joyful |
Moderately fast |
|
Presto |
ready |
Very
fast |
|
Prestissimo |
very ready |
Very very
fast, as fast as possible |
|
Accelerando |
accelerating |
accelerating |
|
Affrettando |
becoming hurried |
accelerating |
|
Rallentando |
becoming progressively slower |
decelerating |
|
Accompagnato |
accompanied |
The accompaniment
must follow the singer who can speed up or slow down at will |
Dynamics - volume
Moods
Musical expression
(general)
|
Molto |
very |
Used
with other terms, such as "molto allegro" |
|
Assai |
very |
Used
with other terms, such as "allegro assai" |
|
Piu |
more |
Used
with other terms, such as "piu mosso" |
|
Poco |
little |
"a
little". Used with other terms, such as "poco diminuendo" |
|
Poco a poco |
little by
little |
"little by little", "slowly but steadily". Used with other terms,
such as "crescendo poco by poco" |
|
ma non troppo |
but not too
much |
But
not too much (allegro ma non troppo) |
Directions
|
Attacca |
attack |
Proceed to the next section without pause |
|
Cambiare |
change |
Any
change, such as to a new instrument |
Techniques
|
Altissimo |
very high |
Very
high |
|
Arpeggio |
harp-like |
A
chord with the notes spread out in time |
|
Acciaccatura |
crushing |
An
extra, very fast grace note |
|
Appoggiatura |
leaning |
A type
of ornament |
|
Basso continuo |
continuous bass |
Continuous bass accompaniment (see figured bass.) |
|
Bocca chiusa |
mouth closed |
Wordless humming in a choral piece |
|
Chiuso |
closed |
Calls
for a horn to be muted by hand |
|
Col
arco |
with the bow |
Cancels "col legno" and "pizzicato" (in a string passage, arco is
usually expected and is not written.) |
| Colla voce |
with the voice |
A note
to accompanists to play with (in time with) the singer, especially
when slowing for textual effect |
|
Col legno |
with the wood |
Calls
for a bowed instrument to be struck with the wood rather than the
hair of the bow |
|
Coloratura |
coloration |
Elaborate ornamentation of a vocal line |
|
Pizzicato |
plucked |
Calls
for a bowed instrument to be plucked with the fingers |
|
Coperti |
covered |
Of a
drum, muted with a cloth |
|
Una corda |
one string |
With
the soft pedal, on a piano |
|
Due corde |
two strings |
With
the soft pedal, on a piano. For why both terms exist, see
piano. |
|
Tre corde or
tutte le corde |
Three strings
or all the strings |
Cancels an una corda |
|
Scordatura |
mistuning |
Alternate tuning (of strings) |
Roles
Criticism
|
Bel canto |
beautiful voice |
Any
fine singing, esp. that popular in 18th and 19th c. Italian opera |
|
Bravura |
skill |
A
performance of extraordinary virtuosity |
|
Bravo! |
skillful |
a cry
of congratulation to a male singer or performer. Fem. brava,
pl. bravi, fem.pl. brave |
This article is licensed
under the
GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the
Wikipedia article
"Musical
terminology".
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