| a cappella | choral singing without instrumental accompaniment
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| aria | an elaborate solo song or duet, usually with instrumental accompaniment, performed as part of an opera or other dramatic musical composition
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| burin | a steel tool used for engraving and incising
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| camera obscura | (Latin, "dark room") a darkened box with a hole or lens used to cast an image of an object onto a glass screen or sheet of paper for the artist to copy or trace
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| cantata | (Italian, cantare, meaning "to sing") a multimovement composition for voices and instrumental accompaniment; smaller in scale than the oratorio
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| chancel | the space for the clergy and choir in the area surrounding the altar
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| chateau | (French, "castle") the luxurious country house or castle of French aristocrats
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| choreography | the art of composing, arranging, and/or notating dance movements
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| comédie-ballet | (French) a dramatic performance that features interludes of song and dance
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| concertato | (derived from the Italian concerto, meaning "opposing" or "competing") an early baroque style in which voices or instruments of different rather than similar natures are used in opposing or contrasting manners
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| concerto | (Italian, "opposing" or "competing") an instrumental composition consisting of one or more solo instruments and a larger group of instruments playing in dialogue; the classical concerto, which made use of sonata form, usually featured one soloist and orchestra
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| concerto grosso | ("large concerto") the typical kind of baroque concerto, consisting of several movements
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| cornet | (French, cornett; German, kornett; Spanish, cucurucho) a Renaissance instrument
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| dynamics | the degree of loudness or softness in music
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| equal temperament | a system of tuning that originated in the seventeenth century, whereby the octave is divided into twelve half-steps of equal size; since intervals have the same value in all keys; music may be played in any key, and a musician may change from one key to another with complete freedom
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| etching | a kind of engraving in which a metal plate is covered with resin then inscribed with a burin; acid is applied to eat away the exposed lines, which are inked before the plate is wiped clean and printed
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| foreshortening | a perspective device by which figures or objects appear to recede or project into space
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| fugue | ("flight") a polyphonic composition in which a theme (or subject) is imitated, developed, and restated by successively entering voice parts
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| homophony | a musical texture consisting of a dominant melody supported by chordal accompaniment that is far less important than the melody; compare "monophony" and "polyphony"
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| impasto | thickly or heavily applied paint
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| libretto | (Italian, "little book") the text of a vocal work, such as an opera or an oratorio
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| marquetry | a decorative technique in which patterns are created on a wooden surface by means of inlaid wood, shell, or ivory
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| oratorio | (Latin, oratorium, meaning "church chapel") a musical setting of a religious or epic text, for soloists, chorus, narrator, and orchestra; usually performed without scenery, costumes, or dramatic action
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| overture | an instrumental introduction to a longer musical piece, such as an opera
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| piazza | (Italian) a broad, open public space
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| pizzicato | (Italian) the technique of plucking (with the fingers) a stringed instrument that is normally bowed
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| polychoral | music written for two or more choruses, performed both in turn and together
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| prelude | a piece of instrumental music that introduces either a church service or another piece of music; also, a single-movement romantic piano piece
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| program music | instrumental music endowed with specific literary or pictorial content that is indicated by the composer
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| recitative | a textual passage recited to sparse chordal accompaniment; a rhythmically free vocal style popular in seventeenth-century opera
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| ritornello | (Italian, "a little return") in baroque music, an instrumental section that recurs throughout the movement
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| salon | (French, "drawing room") an elegant apartment or drawing room
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| sonata | an instrumental composition consisting of three movements of contrasting tempo, usually fast/slow/fast; written for an unaccompanied keyboard instrument or for another instrument with keyboard accompaniment
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| stucco | a light, pliable plaster made of gypsum, sand, water, and ground marble
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| suite | an instrumental composition consisting of two premises from which a conclusion may be drawn
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| tonality | the use of a central note, called the tonic, around which all other tonal material of a composition is organized, and to which the music returns for a sense of rest and finality
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| vanitas | (Latin, "vanity") a type of still life consisting of objects that symbolize the brevity of life and the transience of earthly pleasures and achievements
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