Getting softer (literally = getting smaller)ĭ(u)lcet (as in: “Dulcet tones,” meaning “soft/pleasant sounds”)ĭol- orous (meaning: expressing or marked by misery or grief)Į (x) tin (c) t (same meaning as in Italian)Įxtinct musically speaking, as soft as possible - an expression similar to morendo (=dying) (more common than decrescendo, though equal in meaning)ĭim -ming (= to make something become less bright/strong) String, as in 'una corda' (=one string) pedal on the piano Used in the ‘Da Capo al Fine’ sentence, where a performer is required to return to the start of a piece and then finish at the ‘fine’ (=end) marking. Both Italian and English use the Latin root caput, a word meaning ‘head.’ A capital letter stands at the head of a sentence a capital sentence refers to the original meaning of death sentence involving the removal of the head.

(performance indication) Used at the end of a movement/section of a piece to indicate that there is no interruption/halt – the music should follow straight on into the next movement/section.Ĭap- ital letter cap -ital punishment. The Italian word still suggests a curved tool, as indeed musical bows were in ancient times, although of course that is no longer the case. Refers to playing a string instrument with the bow, as opposed to plucking strings with the term pizzicato. Used in conjunction with ‘con,’ as in ‘con anima’ (= with soul)īow. These words share with the Italian word the Latin root anima meaning ‘life, breath’ and then more extensively ‘spirit, soul.’

Used in conjunction with ‘con,’ as in ‘con amore’ (=with love)Īnima(ted) ( in) animat( e). Italian allegro, meaning ‘jolly’ in common usage, comes from the Latin alacer, which means ‘quick, prompt’ and gives the English word alacrity meaning ‘promptness’ but also ‘cheerful readiness.’ This dual meaning is also true of the Italian word, which means both ‘jolly’ in common usage and ‘brisk’ in musical usage. I hope that you will find this list helpful and interesting, that it will make navigating Italian musical terms easier, and that it will facilitate your work as you commit these terms to memory. tempo, expression) and giving some examples of the words in a musical context.

The right column (please click on the right arrow) shows a translation of the Italian terms, with words in brackets showing what category they fall under (e.g. If the two forms, such as allegro and alacrity, were too different, I would not use brackets in the English form, but only bold font, otherwise alacrity would have to be written like this: al(( )ac)r -ity! The last letters of this word are then presented after a ‘-’ because they are unrelated to the Italian form. In the middle column, I listed the English words that look most similar to the Italian ones, using brackets around letters that are different from the Italian form - again in an effort to show what is similar and what is not.įor example, if the Italian word were ‘affettuoso’ and the English equivalent ‘affectionate,’ the English form would be shown as ‘ affe(c)t -ionate,’ with the first four letters in bold being the same as the Italian form and then the fifth being presented in brackets due to its difference (‘c’ instead of ‘t’) the sixth letter in bold would also be the same as the sixth letter of the Italian form, so it would be unbracketed. In the left column, I listed the Italian terms in alphabetical order, you will notice that some terms have been left out, simply because there was no direct connection between them and the English words.

Sonoros vs sordos