Italian musical terms
In traditional music notation you will find a lot of Italian musical terms.
When notating music, it is custom to write them at a predefined position using a predefined font.
- tempo oriented tems like adagio are usually written above the staff (using text type info 1 <h>)
- dynamic oriented terms like crescendo are usually written below the staff (using text type info 2 <i>)
| Abbreviatura | short hand notation (abbreviations) |
| A cappella | Voice only - without instrumental accompaniment |
| Accaciatura | short grace note |
| Accellerando | accellerate tempo |
| Adagio | Slow tempo with expression |
| Ad lib / ad libitum | 'as you like it' |
| Agile | Quick / lively |
| Agitato | Agitated |
| Al Fine | Move to end. |
| Allegretto | a bit fast and lively allegro |
| Allegro | Fast and lively |
| Allegro agitato | Fast and agitated |
| Allegro con brio | Fast |
| Allegro con fuoco | Fast and furious |
| Allegro con spirito | Fast, with spirit |
| Allegro moderato | Moderately fast |
| All ottava | one octave higher then notated |
| Andante | Moderately slow |
| Andantino | Andante-like; might be faster or slower than andante |
| Animato | Lively |
| Arco | Played with the bow (contrary to plucked, pizzicato) |
| Animando | Getting livelier |
| Apoggiatura | long grace notes |
| A tempo | Play in previous tempo |
| Assai | 'Very' as in Allegro assai |
| Attacca | Start at once |
| Ballabile | To be danced on |
| Basso continuo | Accompaniment using clavichord and bass / violoncello |
| Bel canto | Sung as in Italian opera 18/19e century |
| Bruscamente | Brusque |
| Calando | Diminshing |
| Coda | Tail piece |
| Cambiare | Exchange (instrument) |
| Cantando | Sung |
| Cantabile | Like being sung |
| Capriccio | Free form passage, showing skills |
| Chiuso | Closed (horn) |
| Contra | Against |
| Col legno | Playing a violin /cello using the wooden side of a bow |
| Coperti | Covered (drum, muted with a cloth) |
| Crescendo | Gradually getting louder |
| Da Capo | From the beginning |
| Decrescendo | Gradually getting softer |
| Diminuendo | Gradually getting softer |
| Dolce | Sweet, soft |
| Dal segno | Starting from the sign |
| Entrata | Introduction |
| Fermate | Played differently in time (mostly longer than notated) |
| Fine | End |
| Forte | Loud |
| Fortissimo | Very loud |
| Forzando | Using strong accents |
| Forzatissimo | Using very strong accents |
| Furioso | Vurig, heftig, woedend |
| Grave | Serious |
| Glissando | Gliding |
| Imitando | Imitating |
| Interludium | Intermediate piece |
| Intermezzo | Intermediate piece |
| Legato | Tie notes together |
| Lento | Slow |
| Martellato | Hammering |
| Marcia | In strict tempo at a marching pace (120 bpm) . a la Marcia |
| Meno | Less |
| Moderato | Moderate tempo |
| Molto | More |
| Mosso | Lively |
| Parlando | Spoken (not sung) |
| Passione | With passion |
| Piu | More |
| Poco | A little bit |
| Portato | Between staccato and legato |
| Pianissimo | Very soft |
| Pizzicato / Pizz. | Plucked (instead of bowed) |
| Prelude | Introduction |
| Prima vista | At first sight reading |
| Prima volta | First time (1) |
| Rallentando | Getting slower |
| Rapido | Very fast |
| Religioso | Religious |
| Rinforzando | Emphasizing a group of notes |
| Ritardando | Getting slower |
| Ritenuto | Decelerating |
| Rubato | Free in tempo |
| Scordatura | Using a non-standard instrument tuning |
| Secunda volta | Second time |
| Senza tempo | No fixed tempo |
| Senza replica | Without repetitions |
| Sforzando | Emphasizing one note or chord |
| Sforzato-piano | sfp first strong, immediatly thereafter soft |
| Spiccato | With a bouncing bow - every note accented |
| Staccato | Played (much) shorter than notated |
| Staccatissimo | Play a note as short as possible |
| Stringendo | Getting faster, stronger |
| Tacet | Silent (no chords) |
| Toccata | Free style music piece |
| Tenuto | Somewhat louder |
| Tremolo | Repeating short notes |
| Tutti | Everyone together |
| Unisono | Single voiced |
| Veloce | Fast |
| Vibrato | Pitch modulation (speed and amplitude may vary) |
| Vivace | Lively, pleasantly |