List of musical performance titles

Musical performance designations are textual additions to the notation that cannot be represented or described with the notation alone. They can apply to the singing voice or an instrument. Most of them are in Italian . (Common abbreviations are given in brackets.)

See also : Tempo , Dynamics, and Accent

list

Presentation designation	Explanation	language
a, ad, alla	by kind of, in style	Latin / Italian
abbandonandosi	emotional, devoted	Italian
abbandono	subsiding	Italian
ab initio	repeat from the beginning	Latin
a capriccio	in free, arbitrary time	Italian
accelerando (acc. / accel.)	accelerate, gradually getting faster	Italian
accentato	accentuated, emphasized	Italian
ad	→ a	Latin
adagio	slowly, calmly, leisurely	Italian
addolorato	painful	Italian
ad libitum (ad lib.)	at will; Concerning lecture, tempo or cast	Latin
a due, a 2	for two	Italian
affettuoso	moved, moved, passionate, with sensation	Italian
affrettando	faster, hurrying	Italian
agile, agile	lively, nimble, agile, lively	Italian
agitato	moved, impulsive, excited, restless, impetuous	Italian
al	to	Italian
al fine	until the end	Italian
all'ottava	an octave higher than noted	Italian
alla	→ a	Italian
alla breve	Measure in half notes	Italian
alla marcia	in the manner of a march	Italian
alla polacca	Character, tempo and rhythm of a polonaise	Italian
allargando (allarg.)	widening in pace; see: largando	Italian
alla tedesca	in the style of the waltz (of the German dance)	Italian
alla turca	the Turkish way, in the style of Turkish music	Italian
alla zingarese	in the style of gypsy music	Italian
allegretto	a little slower than allegro (literally: a little lively, happy)	Italian
allegro	fast (literally: lively, brisk, funny, happy, cheerful, lively)	Italian
al niente	to the point of silence	Italian
amabile	lovely	Italian
amore	Devotion	Italian / Latin
amoroso, con amore	loving, tender	Italian
andante	walking, striding, calm	Italian
andantino	a little faster than Andante	Italian
animato, con anima	animates, animates	Italian
animoso	courageously	Italian
a piacere , a piacimento	freely in the lecture, as you please, as you wish	Italian
appassionato	passionate, expressive	Italian
a quattro mani	four hands	Italian
arco, coll'arco	Bow (for string instruments: to play with the bow)	Italian
arioso	singable, singable, song-like	Italian
armonioso	harmonious	Italian
arpeggio	play a broken chord	Italian
assai	very	Italian
a tempo	in the original timeframe	Italian
attacca	immediately continue without a break in the following part	Italian
bassa ottava	an octave lower than noted	Italian
see you, due volte	twice	Latin (bis), Italian (due volte)
bravura, con bravura	with boldness, virtuosity	Italian
brilliant	brilliant, witty, virtuoso	Italian
buffo	funny	Italian
burlesco	joking	Italian
c., col, col ', colla, con	With	Italian
calando, calmando (cal.)	calming, decreasing in tone and speed	Italian
calmo	calm, serene	Italian
cantabile	singing, expressive	Italian
capriccioso	capricious, headstrong	Italian
col, col '	→ c.	Italian
col'ottava	with octave doubling	Italian
colla	→ c.	Italian
colla parte (cp)	the accompaniment adapts	Italian
col legno	the strings are bowed or struck with the bow stick (literally: "with the wood")	Italian
commodo	comfortable / at a comfortable pace, leisurely, leisurely	Italian
con	→ c.	Italian
con affetto	with emotion	Italian
con amore	→ amoroso	Italian
con anima	→ animato	Italian
con bravura	→ bravura	Italian
con brio	with verve, verve	Italian
con calore	with warmth	Italian
concitato	excited	Italian
con dolcezza	with lovely lecture	Italian
con dolore, dolendo	with pain, filled with pain	Italian
con durezza	with hardship	Italian
con ebollizione	in turmoil	Italian
con espressione, espressivo (con espr. / espr.)	expressive	Italian
con fermezza	with strength	Italian
con forza	with power	Italian
con fuoco, fuoco, fuocoso	with fire, fiery	Italian
con furore, furioso	wild, furious, stormy	Italian
con grandezza, grandioso	great, magnificent, sublime	Italian
con grazia, grazioso	with grace, amiable, slightly elated	Italian
con indifferenza	with indifference	Italian
con moto	with movement, moved	Italian
con pitate	adjust with lead voice	Italian
con repetizione (con rep.)	with repetition	Italian
con sentimento	with feeling	Italian
con slancio	with verve	Italian
con sordino (c. sord. / con sord.)	with damper	Italian
con spirito, spirituoso	animated, fiery, enthusiastic	Italian
con tenerezza	with warmth, tenderness	Italian
corda	string	Italian
crescendo (cresc.)	getting louder	Italian
da capo (dc)	Repeat from the beginning	Italian
dal segno (ds)	Repetition from the marked point	Italian
deciso	(rhythmically) decided, determined	Italian
declamando	pathetic, strongly expressive	Italian
decrescendo (decresc.)	getting quieter	Italian
delicatamente	fine, tender	Italian
delicato	tender, tasty	Italian
desolato	bleak, desperate, deeply saddened	Italian
determinato	determined, determined	Italian
diminuendo (dim.)	diminishing, decreasing tone strength	Italian
divisi (div.)	divided, polyphonic	Italian
divoto	devout, devoted	Italian
dolce	"Sweet", gentle, tender, lovely	Italian
dolcissimo	extraordinarily gentle, tender	Italian
dolendo	→ con dolore	Italian
doloroso	painful	Italian
drammatico	dramatic	Italian
due volte	→ until	Italian
egualmente	balanced	Italian
elegant	tasty, fine	Italian
en pressant	press, light stretto, push	French
energico	emphatic, energetic, determined	Italian
eroico	heroic	Italian
espressivo (espr.)	→ con espressione	Italian
facile	simple, plain	Italian / French
feroce	wild, impetuous	Italian
festivo	festive	Italian
fine	The End	Italian
flautando , flautato, sul tasto, sulla tastiera, sur la touche	on the fingerboard (literally "flute-like")	Italian / French
flebile	wistful, plaintive	Italian
fluente	fluently	Italian
forte ( ) ${\displaystyle f}$	according to	Italian
fortepiano ( ) ${\displaystyle f\!p}$	loud, then suddenly quiet	Italian
fortissimo ( ) ${\displaystyle f\!\!f}$	very loud	Italian
forzando, forzato ( ) ${\displaystyle f\!z}$	strongly emphasized	Italian
forzatissimo	extremely strongly emphasized	Italian
frenetico	stormy, roaring, frenetic	Italian
fresco	fresh, lively	Italian
frivolous	frivolously	Italian
funebre	grieving, sad	Italian
fuoco, fuocoso	→ con fuoco	Italian
furioso	→ con furore	Italian
giocoso	prancing, playing; funny, happy, exuberant	Italian
giusto	right, appropriate	Italian
glissando (gliss.)	sliding	Italian
terrific	→ con grandezza	Italian
grave	heavy; serious	Italian / French
grazioso	→ con grazia	Italian
gridato	screamed	Italian
impetuoso	impetuous	Italian
incalzando	urging	Italian
indeciso	indefinite	Italian
infernal	devilish, hellish	Italian
innocente	simple, naive, unaffected	Italian
lacrimoso, lamentoso	plaintive, sad	Italian
languendo, languente, languido	languishing, longing, also: dull, weak	Italian
largaments	wide	Italian
largando, slargando	widening	Italian
larghetto	a little faster than largo	Italian
largo	wide, slowly	Italian
legato (leg.)	bound	Italian
leggiero (legg.)	easy, playful	Italian
lentando	dragging	Italian
lento	slowly	Italian
l'istesso tempo	→ a tempo	Italian
libero	free	Italian
loco	cancels octave signs (literally "at the place")	Italian
lontano	away	Italian
lugubre	plaintive, grieving	Italian
lusingando	flattering, gliding, tender, playful	Italian
ma	but	Italian
macabro	horrible	Italian
maestoso	majestic	Italian
main droite (m. d.)	right hand	French
main gauche (m. g.)	left hand	French
mano destra (m. d.)	right hand	Italian
mano sinistra (m. s.)	left hand	Italian
marcato (marc.)	highlighted	Italian
marciale	→ alla marcia	Italian
martellato, martello	hammered	Italian
marziale	martial, warlike	Italian
meno	fewer	Italian
mesto	sad, sad, serious	Italian
mezza voce	in half a voice	Italian
mezzo ... (m ...)	medium…	Italian
misterioso	mysterious	Italian
moderato	moderate	Italian
molto	a lot	Italian
morendo (mor.)	dying, dying	Italian
mormorendo	mumbling	Italian
mosso	emotional	Italian
moto	Move	Italian
muta	Retune or change the instrument (literally: "change")	Latin
non	Not	Italian / Latin / French
non legato	between legato and staccato	Italian
obbligato, obligatory	mandatory, vote must be performed (opposite to ad libitum )	Italian (obbligato), Latin (obligatory)
ondeggiante	billowing, swelling	Italian
ossia	Game alternative, mostly simplification	Italian
ostinato	persistent	Italian
parlando, parlante	speaking	Italian (parlando), French (parlante)
passionato	passionate	Italian
patetico	pathetic	Italian
pensieroso	thoughtful	Italian
perdendo, perdendosi	losing, fading away	Italian
pesante	massive, heavy	Italian / French
piacevole	enjoyable	Italian
piangendo	with tears, pityingly, melancholy	Italian
pianissimo ( ) ${\displaystyle pp}$	very quiet	Italian
piano ( ) ${\displaystyle p}$	softly, gently	Italian
piano pianissimo ( ) ${\displaystyle ppp}$	very very quiet	Italian
piano possibile	as quietly as possible	Italian
pieno	full, with a strong, full tone	Italian
pietoso	compassionate	Italian
più	more	Italian
pizzicato (pizz.)	plucked (for string instruments: play with your fingers)	Italian
placido	calm, serene, quiet; compliant	Italian
poco	something	Italian
poco a poco	bit by bit	Italian
pointes	tipped, slight, subtle staccato, tap	French
pomposo	pompous, magnificent	Italian
ponderoso	emphatically, with weight	Italian
portato	carried	Italian
possibile	if possible	Italian
prestissimo	extremely fast	Italian
presto	very fast	Italian
presto possibile	as quickly as possible	Italian
great volta	at the first time	Italian
so to say	almost, as it were, how	Italian
quieto	calm	Italian
rallentando (rall.)	widening, slowing down	Italian
rapidaments	quickly	Italian
recitativo (recit.)	narrating, oratory	Italian
religioso	devoutly	Italian
replica	Repetition	Italian
rinforzando, rinforzato ( , , ) ${\displaystyle r\!f}$ ${\displaystyle r\!f\!z}$ ${\displaystyle ri\!n\!f}$	getting stronger again or with an initially slightly increasing emphasis	Italian
risoluto	determined	Italian
ritardando (rit., ritard.)	Slowing down the pace	Italian
ritenuto (rit., riten.)	held back in pace	Italian
rubato	free in the lecture	Italian
rustico	rural, rural	Italian
ruvido	rough	Italian
scemando	dwindling, waning	Italian
scherzando	joking	Italian
segue	continue, turn (next page)	Italian
semplice	easy	Italian
semper	always	Italian
senza	without	Italian
senza repetizione, senza replica (senza rep.)	without repetition	Italian
senza sordino (senza sord.)	without damper	Italian
senza tempo	free pace	Italian
sereno	bright	Italian
serioso	serious, worthy	Italian
sforzato , sforzando ( , , ) ${\displaystyle s\!f}$ ${\displaystyle s\!f\!z}$ ${\displaystyle s\!f\!\!f\!z}$	with sudden emphasis	Italian
simile (sim.)	continue in style	Italian
slargando	→ largando	Italian
slentando	slowing down, hesitating, dying out	Italian
smorendo, smorzando (smorz.)	going out, dampening	Italian
solenne	solemnly	Italian
solo	alone, as opposed to tutti	Italian
sonorous	sounding full	Italian
sopra	above, above	Italian
sostenuto (sost.)	held	Italian
sotto	below	Italian
sotto voce	under the voice, that is, whispered or voiceless	Italian
spiccato	clearly set off, clearly articulated	Italian
spirituoso	→ con spirito	Italian
staccatissimo	especially short	Italian
staccato (stacc.)	short	Italian
stentando, stentato	drag (d), hesitate (d)	Italian
stretto	urging at the end	Italian
stringendo (string.)	hurrying; accelerating	Italian
subito	suddenly	Italian
sul, sulla	on, over	Italian
sul ponticello (sul pont.)	at the jetty	Italian
sul tasto , sulla tastiera	→ flautando	Italian
superficialmente	superficial, smearing	Italian
sur la touch	→ flautando	French
tacet	is silent	Latin
tanto	a lot	Italian
tempestoso	stormy, impetuous	Italian
tempo primo	at the previous pace; see also a tempo	Italian
teneraments	tender	Italian
tenuto (ten.)	held	Italian
tranquille, tranquillo	calm	French (tranquille), Italian (tranquillo)
trattenuto (tratt.)	roughly equivalent to ritardando, but a little broader in the sense of sostenuto	Italian
tremolo	trembling	Italian
sad	Sad	Italian / French
troppo	too much, too much	Italian
tutti	all, whole; Unlike solo	Italian
uguale	equal	Italian
una corda	with one string (is effected by the left pedal on a grand piano .)	Italian
unisono (unis.)	sounding the same (several voices, which can also move in different octaves, play the same thing.)	Italian
un poco	a little	Italian
fast	nimble, nimble	Italian
vibrato	trembling, vibrating	Italian
vide, vi - de	Identification of a jump in the musical text	Italian
vigoroso	lively, powerful	Italian
vivace, vivo	lively	Italian
vivacissimo	very lively	Italian
voce	voice	Italian
volti	Turn (the sheet of music) over	Italian
volti subito	Immediately turn over (the sheet of music)	Italian

See also

• List of musical symbols

Web links

• List of other lecture titles on operone.de
• The historical music lexicon from musikwissenschaften.de

Remarks

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Only together with other information
2. ↑ The associated tempo is typically between Adagio and Andante.
3. ↑ Example: "Da Capo al Fine" means "from the beginning to the point where 'Fine' is written."
4. ↑ Example: Rondo in the Triple Concerto op.56 by Ludwig van Beethoven
5. ↑ Pronunciation: [ kreʃɛndo ] (not [ krestʃɛndo ])
6. ↑ Pronunciation: [ dekreʃɛndo ] (not [ dekrestʃɛndo ])
7. ↑ Example: "ma non troppo" means "but not too much"
8. ↑ Pronunciation: to be stressed on the second syllable and with a voiceless S.
9. ↑ Pronunciation: [ skert͡sando ]

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} Wieland Ziegenrücker: General music theory with questions and tasks for self-control . 1st edition. Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag / B. Schott's Sons, Munich / Mainz 1979, ISBN 3-442-33003-3 , p. 192-194 .
2. ↑ Wieland Ziegenrücker: General music theory with questions and tasks for self-control . 1st edition. Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag / B. Schott's Sons, Munich / Mainz 1979, ISBN 3-442-33003-3 , p. 165 .
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Wieland Ziegenrücker: General music theory with questions and tasks for self-control . 1st edition. Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag / B. Schott's Sons, Munich / Mainz 1979, ISBN 3-442-33003-3 , p. 196-198 .
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Wieland Ziegenrücker: General music theory with questions and tasks for self-control . 1st edition. Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag / B. Schott's Sons, Munich / Mainz 1979, ISBN 3-442-33003-3 , p. 200 f .
5. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Wieland Ziegenrücker: General music theory with questions and tasks for self-control . 1st edition. Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag / B. Schott's Sons, Munich / Mainz 1979, ISBN 3-442-33003-3 , p. 198 f .
6. ↑ ^{a b} Wieland Ziegenrücker: General music theory with questions and tasks for self-control . 1st edition. Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag / B. Schott's Sons, Munich / Mainz 1979, ISBN 3-442-33003-3 , p. 200 .
7. ↑ ^{a b c} Wieland Ziegenrücker: General music theory with questions and tasks for self-control . 1st edition. Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag / B. Schott's Sons, Munich / Mainz 1979, ISBN 3-442-33003-3 , p. 203 .
8. ↑ Musiklexikon - performance mark . In: operone.de . Retrieved October 7, 2017.
9. ↑ Wieland Ziegenrücker: General music theory with questions and tasks for self-control . 1st edition. Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag / B. Schott's Sons, Munich / Mainz 1979, ISBN 3-442-33003-3 , p. 207 .
10. ↑ ^{a b} Wieland Ziegenrücker: General music theory with questions and tasks for self-control . 1st edition. Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag / B. Schott's Sons, Munich / Mainz 1979, ISBN 3-442-33003-3 , p. 209 .
11. ↑ ^{a b} Wieland Ziegenrücker: General music theory with questions and tasks for self-control . 1st edition. Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag / B. Schott's Sons, Munich / Mainz 1979, ISBN 3-442-33003-3 , p. 210 f .
12. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Wieland Ziegenrücker: General music theory with questions and tasks for self-control . 1st edition. Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag / B. Schott's Sons, Munich / Mainz 1979, ISBN 3-442-33003-3 , p. 212 .
13. ↑ Wieland Ziegenrücker: General music theory with questions and tasks for self-control . 1st edition. Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag / B. Schott's Sons, Munich / Mainz 1979, ISBN 3-442-33003-3 , p. 213 .
14. ↑ Wieland Ziegenrücker: General music theory with questions and tasks for self-control . 1st edition. Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag / B. Schott's Sons, Munich / Mainz 1979, ISBN 3-442-33003-3 , p. 214 .
15. ↑ Wieland Ziegenrücker: General music theory with questions and tasks for self-control . 1st edition. Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag / B. Schott's Sons, Munich / Mainz 1979, ISBN 3-442-33003-3 , p. 215 .
16. ↑ Wieland Ziegenrücker: General music theory with questions and tasks for self-control . 1st edition. Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag / B. Schott's Sons, Munich / Mainz 1979, ISBN 3-442-33003-3 , p. 216 .
17. ↑ ^{a b c} Wieland Ziegenrücker: General music theory with questions and tasks for self-control . 1st edition. Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag / B. Schott's Sons, Munich / Mainz 1979, ISBN 3-442-33003-3 , p. 217 .