Sunday, December 17, 2023

Italian Words in Music

Italian words are common in music notation. They were first used by Italian composers of the seventeenth century. However, they have since spread to the rest of the world.

Here is a list of Italian words used in music:

adagio (slow)
allegro (fast)
crescendo (gradually louder)
diminuendo (gradually slower)
dolce (sweet)
forte (loud)
moderato (moderate)
piano (soft)
presto (very fast)
vivace (fast and lively)

The adjectives also have intensive forms. For example, the word pianissimo means very soft and pianississimo means as soft as possible. Likewise, the word fortissimo means very loud and fortississimo means as loud as possible.

Many of the terms used in music notation are from Italian. The majority of the most important musical composers from the Renaissance to the Baroque period were Italian. This is the reason that Italian is used so extensively in music.


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