Italian music terminology

"This is an article on the terminology used to describe the music of Italy. There is also an article on Italian musical terms used in English."

Italian music terminology is comprised of words and phrased used in the discussion of the music of Italy. Some Italian music terms are derived from the common Italian language. Others come from Spanish, or Neapolitan, Sicilian, Sardinian or other regional languages of Italy. The terms listed here describe a genre, song form, dance, instrument, style, quality of music, technique or other important aspect of Italian music."New Grove Encyclopedia of Music", pp 637 - 680] Keller, Marcello Sorce, Roberto Catalano and Giuseppina Colicci, "Italy" in the "Garland Encyclopedia of World Music", pp 604 - 625]

Dances

*"alessandrina": A skipping dance from the area around Pavia
*"alta danza": Early Spanish name for the "saltarello"cite web|title=Saltarello|work=StreetSwing's Dance History Archives|accessmonthday=July 15 |accessyear=2006|url=http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3sltrlo.htm]
*"argismo": A Sicilian term for the "tarantella" healing ritual, from "argia", "spider"
*"ariosa": A Carnival dance
*"balùn": A folk dance
*"ballarella": A variant name for the "saltarello"
*"ballo di baraben": A ritual dance
*"bas de tach": A Carnival dance
*"crellareccia": A wedding dance in the "sonata per la sposa" of Alta Sabina
*"bal drabces": A Carnival dance
*"danza dei coltelli": The "dance of the knives", a knife dance derived from the "tarantella"
*"forlana": Venetian term for the "furlana"cite web|title=Furlana|work=StreetSwing's Dance History Archives|url=http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3furln.htm|accessmonthday=July 15 |accessyear=2006]
*"friulana": Venetian term for the "furlana"
*"furlana": A folk dance, from Campieli, favored in Venice
*"furlane": Venetian term for the "furlana"
*"frullana": Venetian term for the "furlana"
*"gagliarda": Italian term for the "galliarde"cite web|url=http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3galrd1.htm|title=Galliarde|work=Street Swing's Dance History Archives|accessmonthday=July 15 |accessyear=2006]
*"gagliarde": Italian term for the "galliarde"
*"giga": A skipping dance from the area around Pavia
*"ballo dei Gobbi": A Carnival dance, "dance of the hunchbacks"
*"ballo liscio": A ballroom dance
*"ballo di Mantova": A folk skipping dance
*"monferrina": A 6/8 dance historically associated with Monferrato and the valleys of Fassa and Rendena [cite web|url=http://www.mustrad.org.uk/reviews/emilia.htm|work=Musical Traditions Internet Magazine|accessmonthday=July 15 |accessyear=2006|title=Italian Treasury - Alan Lomax Collection]
*"muleta": A Carnival dance
*"pas in amur": A Carnival dance
*"passo brabante": An alternate term for the "saltarello"
*"passu'e trese": A Sardinian folk dance
*"perigurdino": A skipping dance from the area around Pavia
*"piana": A skipping dance from the area around Pavia
*"povera donna": A skipping dance from the area around Pavia, a Carnival ritual dance
*"pizzica tarantata": An old form of the "tarantella"
*"rezianka zagatina": A folk dance
*"roncastalda": A folk skipping dance
*"rose e fiori": A Carnival dance
*"ruggero": A folk skipping dance
*"russiano": A folk dance, said to originate in Russi
*"sa seria": A Sardinian folk dance
*"saltarella": A variant name for the "saltarello"
*"saltarelle": A variant name for the "saltarello"
*"saltarello": A widespread, leaping folk dance, originally in 3/4 time, and later in 3/8 and 6/8, derived from a court dance that evolved from the "galliarde" and was originally known in Spain as the "alta danza", from "saltare", "to leap"
*"savatarelle": A variant name for the "saltarello"
*"sos gocios": A Sardinian folk dance
*"sos mutos": A Sardinian folk dance
*"sposina": A skipping dance for brides from the area around Pavia
*"stuzzichetto": A variant name for the "saltarello"
*"su ballu": Popular Sardinian dances
*"ta matianowa": A folk dance
*"ta palacowa": A folk dance
*"ta panawa": A folk dance
*"tammorriata" or "tammuriata": A Campanian couple dance, accompanied by lyric songs called "strambotti" and "tammorra" tambourines [cite web|accessmonthday=July 15 |accessyear=2006|title=International Dance Glossary|url=http://www.worldmusiccentral.org/staticpages/index.php/glossary|work=World Music Central]
*"tarantel": An alternate term for the "tarantella"cite web|url=http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3tartla.htm|work=StreetSwing's Dance History Archives|accessmonthday=July 15 |accessyear=2006|title=La Tarantella]
*"tarantella": A couple dance in 6/8 time, intended to cure the supposedly poisonous bite of the tarantula
*"tarantismo": An Apulian term for the "tarantella" healing ritual
*"tarantolati": The "tarantella" ritual as it is practiced in Puglia
*"tarentella": An alternate term for the "tarantella"
*"tarentule": An alternate term for the "tarantella"
*"ballo tondo": An alternate term for "ballu tundu"
*"ballu torrau": A Sardinian folk dance
*"trescone": A folk dance, one of Italy's oldest
*"ballu tundu": The "launeddas" dance
*"ballu tzopu": A Sardinian folk dance
*"ballo della Veneziana": A 2/2 dance of Venetian origin

Instrumentation

*"arpicelli": The Viggiano harp
*"bena": A Sardinian clarinetcite web|url=http://www.musicantica.org/workshops.html|title=Workshops|work=Musicantica|accessmonthday=July 15 |accessyear=2006]
*"bifora", also "pifara": a Sicilian double reed instrument of the oboe family, related to the shawm and to the piffero [Mario Sarica, "Strumenti Musicali Popolari in Sicilia", Assessorato alla cultura, Provincia di Messina 1994. Excerpted in [http://web.tiscalinet.it/ciucciuettola/ilflauto.htm Il Flauto in Sicilia] it icon]
*"bunkula": A cello

*"cannacione": A historical, rural form of lute
*"cembalo": A hammered dulcimer
*"chitarra": A guitar, also a voice in "trallalero" ensembles that imitates the guitar
*"chitarra battente": A four- or five-steel stringed guitar, "beating guitar"
*"chiterra": A Sardinian guitar
*"ciaramella": A single-reed pipe, or oboe, also a bagpipe in Alta SabinaLevy, "Italian Music" in the "Garland Encyclopedia of World Music", pp 860-864]
*"citira": A violin
*"du' bottë": Abruzzese double bass diatonic accordion [cite web|title=Accordion History in Italy|url=http://www.accordions.com/index/his/his_it.shtml|work=Accordions.com|accessmonthday=July 15 |accessyear=2006]
*"firlinfeu": A panflute
*"fisarmonica": A chromatic piano accordion
*"friscalettu": A Sicilian folk flutecite web|accessmonthday=April 20 |accessyear=2006|title=Glossary of Folk Musical Instruments & Styles from Around the World|url=http://www.hobgoblin.com/info/glossary.htm|work=Hobgoblin Info Source]
*"ghironda": A hurdy-gurdy most common in Emilia, Lombardy and Piedmont
*"launeddas": A Sardinian clarinet, played using circular breathing
*"lira": A three-stringed bowed fiddle, played on the knee, most common in Calabria
*"mandola": A string instrument similar to both the guitar and mandolin
*"mandolino": An Italian lute with eight or twelve strings
*"müsa": A bagpipe
*"organetto": A diatonic button accordion which accompanies the "saltarello", and has largely replaced the bagpipe
*"piffaro", "piffero": A double-reed shawm
*"piva": A kind of Lombard bagpipe
*"putipù": A friction drum
*"raganelle": A cog rattle
*"ribeba": An alternate term, "rebab", for the "scacciapensieri"
*"scacciapensieri": A mouth harp found in the Alpine north and Sicily, "care-chaser"
*"simbalo": A tambourine
*"solitu": A Sardinian traditional shepherd's flute
*"surdulina": A bagpipe from Basilicata
*"tamburello": A small frame drum, used to accompany the "tarantella", also a tambourine

*"tamburini": A tambourine
*"tammora": A large frame drum
*"tamura": A large frame drum
*"torototela": A bowed, one-string fiddle, most common in northeast Italy
*"triangulu": A Sardinian triangle
*"triccheballacche": A Neapolitan percussion instrument, built with mallets attached to a wooden frame, "wooden clapper"
*"tromba degli zingari": An alternate term, "trumpet of the Gypsies", for the "scacciapensieri"
*"trunfa": A Sardinian jew's harp, or mouth harp, "trump", similar to the "scacciapensieri"

*"tumborro": A Sardinian tambourine
*"zampogna": A southern Italian bagpipe, most commonly with two drones and two conical chanters
*"zampogna a paro": A single-reed and two- or three drone "zampogna", found in Calabria and Sicily
*"zampogna zoppa": A mostly double-reed and variably droned "zampogna", found in central Italy

ongs, formats and pieces

*"addio padre": A post-war political songcite web|url=http://www.mustrad.org.uk/reviews/emilia.htm|work=Musical Traditions Internet Magazine|accessmonthday=July 15 |accessyear=2006|title=Italian Treasury - Alan Lomax Collection]
*"ajri": A form of Albanian-Calabrian multi-part song
*"asprese": A form of multi-part song from Lazio
*"banda comunale": A local, civic band
*"a bandieri bella": A form of Calabrian secular multi-part song
*"baride": Sicilian brass bandsSurian, Allessio, "Tenores and Tarantellas", in the "Rough Guide to World Music", pp 189 - 201]
*"basso": A kind of song in Dignano
*"bei": A kind of Tuscan polyphony, especially known near Monte Amiata, also "bei-bei"
*"bitinada": A singing style for three men, most common in Rovigno in Istria
*"boare": work songs
*"canti alla boara": A kind of lyric song associated with the "cantaustorie"
*"buiasche": A kind of polyphonic song from the village of Bogli
*"butunada": A song form peculiar to Rovigno
*"camminareccia": A piece of wedding music in the "sonata per la sposa" of Alta Sabina
*"canzone a ballo": A dance song
*"canzone Italiana": "Italian song"
*"canzone Napoletana": A kind of popular song from Naples, "Neapolitan song"
*"canzune": A Sicilian term for lyric songs
*"canti a catoccu": A kind of lyric song
*"canti carnascialeschi": Carnival songs
*"cepranese": A form of multi-part song from Lazio
*"cioparedda": A form of Calabrian multi-part song
*"concertini": Small, violin-based ensembles most common in Emilia, Bagolino and Resia
*"canto a coppia"': A kind of central Italian two-part singing similar to "canti a vatoccu"
*"cozzupara": A form of Calabrian multi-part song
*"canto a dispetto": A Tuscan term, "song of the despised", equivalent to "canto a vatoccu"
*"endecasillabo": A central Italian song form with phrases of eleven syllables
*"canti alla falciatora": Scything songs
*"fogli volanti": Printed popular songs called in English "broadsides", most commonly used for Italian ballads
*"giustiniane": A kind of popular historic song, named after Leonardo Giustiniani
*"laude": Strophic songs, often in Latin
*"canti lirici": Italian lyric songs, or "canto lirico-monostrifici"
*"canti alla longa": A kind of lyric song
*"maggi a serenata": A "maggio" love song
*"maggio della anime purganti": A "maggio" song for the souls in Purgatory
*"maggio delle ragazze": A "maggio" song for young girls
*"maggio drammatico": A music and drama celebration held during "maggio"
*"maitinade": A kind of dance song, most common in Trento; it is composed of six-line stanzas of eleven syllables per line
*"mantignada": A song form peculiar to Sissano
*"metitora": A form of two-part song from Lazio
*"canti alla mietitora": Harvesting songs
*"mondine": A kind of rural, woman's folk song
*"canto alla monmarella": work songs
*"montasolina": A form of multi-part song from Lazio
*"ninna nanna": A folk lullaby
*"a oli oledda": A form of Calabrian multi-part song
*"orazioni": A kind of Sicilian narrative folk song
*"orbi": A kind of Sicilian narrative folk song
*"orologio della passione": An alternate term, used in musical collections, for the "canto della passione"
*"ottava rima": An eight line song, most common in Central Italy, especially Lazio, Tuscany and Abruzzo
*"pajarella": A form of Lazio multi-part song
*"canto della passione": A central Italian begging song, performed before Easter, also known as "orologio della passione" ("clock of the passion")
*"alla pennese": A kind of two-part singing from Lazio, similar to "canti a vatoccu"
*"canto a pennese": A work song
*"canti a pera": A kind of lyric song from Gallesano
*"piagnereccia": A piece of wedding music in the "sonata per la sposa" of Alta Sabina
*"poeti contadini": An alternate term, "peasant poets", for "ottava rima"
*"polesane": A kind of dance song
*"canti de questua": Begging songs [cite web|url=http://www.italianlosangeles.org/index.php?27&42|work=Italian Los Angeles|title=Sicilian Folklife|accessmonthday=July 15 |accessyear=2006]
*"recchia": A kind of central Italian two-part singing similar to "canti a vatoccu"
*"a recchione": A form of multi-part song from Lazio
*"a reuta": A form of Lazian multi-part song
*"rispetti": A kind of lyric song
*"a rosabella": A form of Calabrian multi-part song
*"serenata": A love song
*"sonata per la sposa": A musical ritual from Alta Sabina
*"sonetto": A lyrical form consisting of four lines of seven syllables
*"canti alla stesa": A kind of lyric song
*"stornelli": A kind of solo lyric song, from the Provençal "estorn", "to challenge"
*"stornello": A Sicilian folk song
*"storia": A kind of southern, long song
*"strambotti": A kind of lyric song, from the Provençal "estribar", "to lash"
*"stranotti": A kind of lyric song
*"strina": A form of Calabrian multi-part song
*"tenores": Sardinian polyphonic chant
*"testamenti": A kind of Carnival song
*"tiir": A kind of polyphonic song from Premana in Lombardy
*"trallalero": A kind of Genoese polyphony
*"canti a vatoccu": A kind of polyphonic lyric song, usually for two to three women, "songs in the manner of a bell clapper", most common in Umbria, and the Apennines of Abruzza and the Marche
*"verolana": A form of multi-part song from Lazio
*"villanella": A form of Calabrian multi-part song
*"villotte": A kind of lyric song with verses of 8 or 11 syllables
*"a voca regolare": A form of Calabrian multi-part song
*"a voca diritta": A form of Calabrian multi-part song
*"vjersh": A form of Albanian multi-part song found in Calabria and Basilicata

Techniques

*"accordo": A multi-part singing technique, also "canto ad accordo"cite web|url=http://www.mdw.ac.at/ive/emm/italy.htm#profane|work=Detailed Maps on the Spreading of Multipart Singing in the Balkans and in the Mediterranean|title=Multivocal music in Central and Southern Italy|author=Antonello Ricci|accessmonthday=July 15 |accessyear=2006]
*"basci": The bass voice in a "trallalero" ensembleit icon cite web|title=A LAVAGNA CANTI E RIME DAL TRALLALERO AL SUD ITALIA|work=Prono Provincia Notizie|url=http://prono.provincia.genova.it/notizia.asp?IDNotizia=6886|accessmonthday=July 15 |accessyear=2006]
*"bassu": The bass voice of the Sardinian "tenores"
*"boghe": The lead vocalist of a Sardinian "tenores" ensemble
*"chitarra": A guitar, also a voice in "trallalero" ensembles that imitates the guitar
*"contra": The counter-vocalist of the Sardinian "tenores"
*"controbasso": The baritone vocalist of the "trallalero" tradition
*"contrubassu": Alternate term for "controbasso", the baritone vocalist of the "trallalero" tradition
*"cuntrètu": A falsetto voice
*"mesa boghe": The middle voice of the Sardinian "tenores"
*"primmu": The tenor voice in a "trallalero" ensemble

Other terms

*"bandautore": A "cantautore" who composes music for a bandcite book|title=Dizionario dei cantautori|author=Monti, Giangilberto|coauthors=Veronica Di Pietro|url=http://www.italica.rai.it/eng/principal/topics/literature/diz_cantautori.htm|accessdate=July 15|accessyear=2006]
*"bello ideale": An aesthetic idea which embraced a predominant melody and other elements, "beautiful ideal"
*"boghe ballu": In Sardinian, "harmony", or a "danceable singing rhythm", literally "we dance with our voice"cite web|url=http://www.isolasarda.com/tenores_e.htm|accessmonthday=July 15 |accessyear=2006|title=Il coro a tenores CULTURA POPOLARE di Neoneli|work=Isolasarda]
*"cantastorie": Itinerant musicians, now most commonly found in Sicily
*"cantautori": Popular, modern singer-songwriters
*"carnevale": The Italian Carnival
*"carnevale de Bagolino": A very famous Carnival, in the town of Bagolino, Brescia
*"condanna della vecchiaccia": An Umbrian ceremony that heralds the return of spring, "the condemnation of the crone"
*"maggio": A May celebration
*"mamutones": Masked performers in processions in Mamoiada in Sardinia
*"scacciamarzo": A spring holiday
*"sega la vecchia": An old mid-Lent ceremony, the "sawing of the witch"
*"tarantate": Women who had been supposedly poisoned by the tarantula bite, and intended to cure themselves through the "tarantella" ritual
*"tratto marzo": A spring holiday
*"urlatori": A "shouter", an expressive vocalist
*"la vecchia": A "carnevale" ritual from Pontelangiorno
*"veglie": A central Italian musical gathering

References

*cite web|url=http://www.isolasarda.com/tenores_e.htm|accessmonthday=July 15 |accessyear=2006|title=Il coro a tenores CULTURA POPOLARE di Neoneli|work=Isolasarda
*cite encyclopedia
last = Keller
first = Marcello Sorce
coauthor = Roberto Catalano and Giuseppina Colicci
pages = 604 - 625
title = Italy
encyclopedia = Garland Encyclopedia of World Music
volume = Volume 8, Europe
title = Europe
year = 1996
publisher = Garland
id = ISBN 0-8240-6034-2
* cite web
url=http://www.mustrad.org.uk/reviews/emilia.htm|work=Musical Traditions Internet Magazine
accessmonthday=July 15
accessyear=2006
title=Italian Treasury - Alan Lomax Collection
* cite book
last=Surian
first=Alessio
chapter=Tenores and Tarantellas
title=World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East
editor=Simon Broughton, Mark Ellingham, and Richard Trillo (eds)
location=London
year=1999
pages=189-201
id=ISBN 1-85828-636-0
* cite book
title = New Grove Encyclopedia of Music
chapter = Italy
pages = 637 - 680
* cite book
chapter = Italian Music
author = Levy, Mark
pages = 860-864
editor = Koskoff, Ellen (ed.)
id = ISBN 0-8240-4944-6
publisher = Garland Publishing
title = Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Volume 3: The United States and Canada
year = 2000
*cite web
accessmonthday = April 20
accessyear= 2006
title = Glossary of Folk Musical Instruments & Styles from Around the World
url = http://www.hobgoblin.com/info/glossary.htm
work = Hobgoblin Info Source
* cite web
work = StreetSwing
accessmonthday = July 15
accessyear = 2006
title = Dance History Archives
url = http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/d5index.htm
* cite web
url = http://www.mdw.ac.at/ive/emm/italy.htm#profane
work = Detailed Maps on the Spreading of Multipart Singing in the Balkans and in the Mediterranean
title = Multivocal music in Central and Southern Italy
author = Antonello Ricci
accessmonthday = July 15
accessyear = 2006
*cite web
accessmonthday = April 3
accessyear= 2006
title = International Dance Glossary
url = http://www.worldmusiccentral.org/staticpages/index.php/glossary
work = World Music Central

Notes