Musical Terms: Definitions and Vocabulary

Musical Terms and Definitions

Aria: A highly dramatic solo vocal piece with musical accompaniment, typically found in operas, oratorios, and cantatas.

Art song: A vocal composition, usually a lyric song intended for recital performance, typically accompanied by piano, in which the text is the principal focus.

Beat: Equal parts into which a measure is divided.

Bel canto: A style of operatic singing utilizing full, even tones and virtuoso vocal technique.

Cadence: A particular arrangement of chords indicating the ending of a musical passage.

Cantata: A musical composition in several movements for orchestra and chorus, often with a sacred text, utilizing recitatives, arias, and choruses.

Concerto: An extended composition for orchestra and one or more soloists, typically in three movements: Fast, Slow, and Fast.

Dynamics: Various levels of loudness and softness of sounds.

Fugue: A polyphonic composition in which a theme or themes are stated successively in all voices.

Harmony: The arrangement and progression of chords.

Libretto: The text of an opera or any kind of musical theatre.

Mass: A choral setting of the Mass, the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Eucharist. The Mass contains five sections: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei.

Measure: The basic rhythmic division of a composition, marked in the score by vertical lines and containing a fixed number of beats.

Melody: A succession of individual tones that create a recognizable whole.

Meter: A regular succession of rhythmical impulses or beats.

Opera: A theatrical presentation with drama set to music.

Oratorio: A semi-dramatic work, without acting, scenery, or costumes, often on a religious theme, for orchestra, choir, and soloists.

Overture: Marks the opening element in an opera.

Pitch: The quality of a sound—its highness or lowness—which is governed by a specific number of vibrations per second.

Recitative: A vocal line that imitates the rhythms and pitch fluctuations of speech and often serves to lead into an aria.

Scale: An ascending or descending arrangement of pitches.

Symphony: An extended musical composition for orchestra, usually consisting of three or four movements. Typically lasts between twenty and forty-five minutes.

Tempo: The rate of speed at which a composition is performed.

Timbre: The quality of a tone that distinguishes it from other tones of the same pitch.