Italian Musical Terms

Italian Musical Terms (part 1)

by Zeke Hibler

​A tempo

​Back to normal speed.

​Rubato

​Freely with flexible rhythm.

​Tenuto

​Held out.

​Fermata

​A hold or pause.

​Ostinato

​A persistently repeated rhythm or melody.

​Cantabile

​Singingly.

​Dolce

​Sweetly

​giocoso

​in a joking manner

​Placido

​Calm, peacefully

​Scherzo, scherzando

​Playfully, jokingly.

​Grandioso

​grandly, with impact

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​Grave

​Very slowly and seriously.

​Leggerio

​Lightly, nimble

​Liberamente

​Freely

​Vivo, Vivace

​Lively, upbeat

​con anima

​with spirit

​Deciso

​With determination

​Dolente

​Sadly, with mourning

​Appassionato

​Emotionally, with passion

​Agitato

​With aggression, as though you are irritated.

​Crescendo (cresc.)

​Gradually get louder

​Diminuendo (dim.) Decrescendo (decrsc.)

​Gradually get softer.

​Maestoso

​Majestically

​Accelerando (accel.)

​Gradually Speed Up

​Ritardando (rit.)

​Gradually slow down.

​Rallentando (rall.)

​Gradually slow down.