Pronouncing Dictionary of Musical Terms

How to say it as well as what it means: every Italian, German and French musical term of 1896, respelled phonetically for the student.

About the Book

1896Published
Theodore PresserAuthor
1928Terms

Published by Theodore Presser of 1712 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia — founder of the Etude, and of a music-publishing house that still carries his name — copyright 1896.

Its purpose is pronunciation as much as meaning. Every foreign term is given with a phonetic respelling in brackets, so a student who has only ever seen a word on a page can say it aloud: Abbellire (abbel-lee'-reh), to ornament.

Alongside the vocabulary it carries short biographical entries for the leading musicians of the previous two centuries, with nationalities and dates, and an English vocabulary with its Italian, German and French equivalents.

This site reproduces the complete text of the original 1896 edition, digitized page by page from the original printing. The book is in the public domain.

Rights & ReuseThe complete text of Pronouncing Dictionary of Musical Terms (1896) is in the public domain in the United States — like all works published before 1928 — and is free to read, download, quote, teach from, and reuse. This digital edition (its transcription, restored images, and site design) is © 2026 PhotoOpAI, and any editorial commentary we add is clearly marked as ours; the underlying public-domain text carries no such restriction.