Terms of Musical Expression

The links below provide more terms, including Italian, French and German, all needed to pass the theory exams.

Alphabetised by 'Musical Term'

English	Musical Term	Language
at choice, meaning that a passage may be played freely	ad libitum, ad lib.	Italian
rather slow (faster than adagio)	adagietto	Italian
agitated	agitato	Italian
with a minim beat, equivalent to 2/2, implying a faster tempo than the note values might otherwise suggest	alla breve	Italian
love (amoroso – loving)	amore	Italian
soul, spirit	anima	Italian
becoming lively	animando	Italian
animated, lively	animato	Italian
well	ben	Italian
vigour	brio	Italian
convenient, comfortable	comodo	Italian
with determination	deciso	Italian
delicate	delicato	Italian
energetic	energico	Italian
force	forza	Italian
broadly	largamente	Italian
light, nimble	leggiero	Italian
emphatic, accented	marcato / marc.	Italian
in a military style	marziale	Italian
sad	mesto	Italian
heavy	pesante	Italian
first	prima / primo	Italian
bold, strong	risoluto	Italian
rhythmically	ritmico	Italian
with some freedom of time	rubato / tempo rubato	Italian
playful, joking	scherzando / scherzoso	Italian
second	seconda / secondo	Italian
simple, plain	semplice	Italian
always	sempre	Italian
gradually getting faster	stringendo	Italian
suddenly	subito	Italian
so much	tanto	Italian
calm	tranquillo	Italian
sad, sorrowful	triste / tristamente	Italian
time (prima volta – first time, seconda volta – second time)	volta	Italian