This quiz asks you to identify the meaning of Italian words that are more familiar as terms used in musical notation. Some of these have “escaped” into general usage and – as often as not – been misused! The correct answers here are their meanings as understood by musicians.
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Question of
Piano
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Very quiet
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Softly
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Moderately
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Neither loud nor soft
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Question of
Crescendo
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Loud
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Very loud
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Getting louder
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Not too loud
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Question of
Largo
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Slowly and broadly
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Expressively
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Emphatically
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Rapidly
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Question of
Adagio
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Getting faster
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Slowly
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Quickly
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Getting slower
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Question of
Lento
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Quite slowly
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Quite quickly
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Very slowly
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Very quickly
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Question of
Ritardando
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Gradually slower
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Rapidly slower
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Gradually faster
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Rapidly faster
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Question of
Forte
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Strongly
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Forcefully
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Graciously
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Loudly
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Question of
Vivace
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In a lively manner
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Getting faster
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With emotion
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Loudly
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Question of
A cappella
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Plucking the strings
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Jerkily
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Without instrumental accompaniment
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All together
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Question of
Da Capo
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From the beginning
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In strict tempo
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Repeat three times
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In your own time
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7 out of 10. And I got the toad correct. ? Great quiz! ?
7 out of 10 but my husband helped lol
4 out of 10. Could be better!
Very nice quiz, John. I got 6 correct. Two minor-ish points: I’m not sure there’s any difference between ‘strong’ and ‘loud’; and ‘lento’ is surely a direction to play slowly, rather than very slowly. Compare https://musicterms.artopium.com/l/Lento.htm and http://www.musictheory.org.uk/res-musical-terms/italian-musical-terms.php .
You may have a point! Various sources seem to have different opinions on ‘lento’, although all seem to agree that it is slower than adagio. ‘Lentissimo’ is sometimes used for ‘very slowly’. I suppose we cannot be absolutely sure that different composers used the terms consistently.
wow this is stunning music quiz
I got 6 out of 10…great quiz!
7 out of 10. I would have done better about 10 years ago but I haven’t done much with my limited musical talents.
Interesting to learn more about these terms.
got 8 out of 10 right!
You got 3 out of 10 right!
Could be better
Well, I suppose this is the sort of quiz where you either know the answers or you don’t!
No problem at all, my friend. It’s been a long time since I no longer joined the choir group! I almost forgot all those terms!
Only got 4 correct, used to be familiar with these terms but it has been awhile.
Nice Quiz! I got 7 out of 10 Right!
This is an interesting quiz, not only for I got 9 out of 10, but the topic is one of my favorite 🙂
Congratulations – but where did you slip up?
I made mistake about “lento”. 🙂
Yes – I suppose it is not far from “adagio” – just a question of degree.