Music Cataloging at Yale Language Tools

The Names of Instruments and Voices

in English, French, German, Italian, Russian*, and Spanish
*Russian diacritics and ligatures are not displayed.

The source used for some of these names is Terminorum musicae index septem linguis redactus (Polyglot dictionary of musical terms)
Budapest: Akadmaia Kiad ; Kassel: Brenreiter, 1978. ISBN 9630512769, 3761805535
and
Instrument names in other languages from Dolmetsch online

Thanks to Marco Adorna for assistance with the Italian terminology and Jean-Baptiste Mazon for help with the French terminology

| Wind instruments: | Woodwind instruments | Brass instruments | Stringed instruments |

| Plucked instruments | Keyboard instruments | Percussion instruments | Electronic instruments |
Other instruments |
| Instrumental ensembles | Voices | Vocal ensembles |

Wind instruments
Woodwind instruments

English French German Italian Russian Spanish

wind instruments Blasinstrumenten strumenti a dukhovye instrumentos
instruments vent fiato instrumenty de viento
woodwind les bois; Holzblasinstrumente legno dereviannye instrumentos
instruments instruments dukhovye de madera
vent en bois instrumenty
reeds anches trosti
double reeds anches double reeds
doubles
flute see also flte; Flte; Querflte flauto fleita flauta
When is a flute grande flte;
not a flute flte
traversire
oboe hautbois Oboe oboe goboi oboe
clarinet clarinette Klarinette clarinetto klarnet clarinete
bass clarinet clarinette Bassklarinette clarinetto bass-klarnet clarinete bajo
basse basso
bassoon basson Fagott fagotto fagot fagot(e)
English horn cor anglais Englischhorn corno inglese angliiskii rozhok corno/cuerno
ingls
recorder see flte bec; Blockflte flauto dolce/ blokfleita flauta recta/
also flte dritto/a becco dulce/de pico
When is a flute douce/droite
not a flute
saxophone saxophone Saxophon sassofono; saksofon saxofn;
saxofono saxofno
piccolo piccolo; flte Pikkoloflte; Piccolo; ottavino; pikkolo; malaia flautn;
piccolo; kleine Flte flauto piccolo fleita; ottavino
petite flte fleita pikkolo
oboe hautbois Liebesoboe oboe d'amore goboi d'amur oboe de amor
d'amore d'amore;
hautbois
d'amour
Brass instruments
English French German Italian Russian Spanish
brass instruments Blechblasinstrumente ottone mednye instrumentos
instruments vent de dukhovye de metal/
cuivre; cuivres instrumenty cobre;
instrumentos
de viento-
metal;
metales
horn cor Horn corno Gorn; rog; corno; corno
rozhok francs;
Also valtorna, trompa (da
which is natural or pistones);
hunting horn, also
used for "French" cuerno
horn
natural horn cor simple Waldhorn corno naturale valtorna trompa
natural
trumpet trompette Trompete tromba; truba trompeta
clarino
cornet cornet ( Kornett cornetta kornet corneta
pistons)
trombone trombone Posaune trombone trombon trombn
bass basse- Bass Posaune trombono bas trombon trombn bajo
trombone trombone; basso
trombone
basse
tuba tuba Tuba tuba tuba tuba
baritone baryton; Bariton baritono bariton bartono
bariton
euphonium euphonium Euphonium eufonio evfonium euphonium
Stringed instruments
English French German Italian Russian Spanish
string instrument Saiteninstrumente strumenti a strunnye instrumentos
instruments cordes; corda; instrumenty de cuerdas
instrument strumenti
cordes archi
frottes
strings cordes Streicher archi struny cuerdas
violin violon Violine; Geige violino skripka violn
viola alto Viola; Viole; Bratsche viola viola viola
violoncello violoncelle Violoncello; Cello violoncello violonchel' violoncelo;
cello;
violonchelo
double bass; contrebasse Kontrabass contrabasso kontrabas contrabajo
string bass
viola da viole de Viola da gamba; viola da viola da gamba; viola de
gamba gambe; Gambe gamba gamba gamba;
viola da viola da
 gamba gamba
viola viole d'amour Viola d'amore; viola d'amore viola d'amur viola d'amore
d'amore Liebesgeige
Plucked instruments
English French German Italian Russian Spanish
plucked instruments Zupfinstrumente strumenti a shchipkovye instrumentos
instruments cordes pinces pizzico instrumenty punteados
cimbalom cymbalum Zymbal
guitar guitare Gitarre chitarra gitara guitarra
harp harpe Harfe arpa arfa arpa
lute luth Laute liuto liutnia lad
mandolin mandoline Mandoline mandolino mandolina mandolina
Keyboard instruments
English French German Italian Russian Spanish
keyboard instrument Tasteninstrumente strumenti a klavishnyi instrumentos
instrument clavier tastiera instrument de tecla
accordion accordon Akkordeon fisarmonica akkordeon acorden
celesta clesta Celesta celesta chelesta celesta
clavichord clavicorde Clavichord; Klavichord clavicordo klavikord clavicordio
continuo; basse Generalbass; basso basso kontinuo; bajo continuo
thorough- continue Basso continuo continuo general-bas
bass
harpsichord clavecin Cembalo; Clavicembalo clavicembalo klavesin; clavecmbalo;
chembalo clavecn;
clavicmbalo
organ orgue Orgel organo organ rgano
piano piano Piano; Klavier piano fortep'iano piano
Percussion instruments
English French German Italian Russian Spanish
percussion instruments Schlaginstrumente; strumenti a udarnye instrumentos
instruments percussion Perkussionsinstrumente percussione instrumenty de percusin
bass drum grosse caisse Grosse Trommel cassa; bol'shoi baraban bombo
grancassa;
gran cassa
castenets castagnettes Kastagnetten castagnette kastan'ety castauelas
cowbells cloches caubel
vache
cymbals cymbales Becken piatti tarelki cimbalos
drum tambour Trommel tamburo baraban tambor
glockenspiel glockenspiel; Glockenspiel glockenspiel; kolokol'chiki campanlogo;
jeu de timbres metallofono; juego
campanelli de timbres/
rgano de
campanas
marimba marimba Marimbaphon marimba marimba marimba
rattle crcelle Ratsche, Knarre, raganella treshchotka carraca,
Schnarre matraca
snare drum caisse claire Leinentrommel tamburo frantsuzskii tambor
 rullante; baraban afinable/con
tamburo tensores
militare;
rullante
tenor drum caisse Rhrtrommel; cassa rullante; tsilindricheskii redoblante
roulante Wirbeltrommel; tamburino baraban
Tenortrommel
tambourine tambourin Tamburin tamburello buben pandereta
timpani timbales Pauken timpano litavra timbal
tubular bells cloches Rohrenglocke campane trubchatye campanas
tubulaires tubolari kolokola tubulares
xylophone xylophone Xylophon xilofono ksilofon xilofn;
xilofno
Electronic instruments
English French German Italian Russian Spanish
electronic electronnye
instruments instrumenty
computer ordinateur Computerklnge kompiuter
ondes ondes
martenot martenot
synthesizer synthtiseur sintetizzatore sintezator
tape bande Tonbande; Zuspielband nastro magnitofonnaia banda
lenta
Other instruments
English French German Italian Russian Spanish
dulcimer Hackbrett salterio tsimbaly dulcema
(hammered)
harmonica harmonica Mundharmonika gubnaia
garmoshika
Instrumental ensembles
English French German Italian Russian Spanish
instrumental ensembles
ensembles instrumentaux
band orchestre Blasorchester orchestra di dukhovoi orkestr orquesta de
d'instruments strumenti a vientos
vent; fiato
orchestre
vent;
harmonie de
concert;
harmonie;
orchestre
d'harmonie
brass band fanfare
chamber orchestre de Kammerorchester orchestra da kamernyi orquesta de
orchestra chambre camera orkestr cmara
string orchestre Streichorchester orchestra strunnyi orkestr orquesta de
orchestra cordes d'archi cuerdas
orchestra orchestre Orchester orchestra orkestr orquesta
Voices
English French German Italian Russian Spanish
voice voix Stimme voce golos voz
soprano soprano, Sopran soprano soprano soprano
dessus
male bas-dessus
alto/low
soprano
mezzo mezzo- Mezzosopran mezzosoprano metstsosoprano/ mezzo-
soprano soprano metso-soprano soprano
alto; alto; contralto Alt contralto al't; kontral'to contralto
contralto
tenor tnor, taille Tenor tenore tenor tenor
baritone baryton; Bariton baritono bariton bartono
bariton
bass basse taille
baritone
bass basse Bass basso bas bajo
counter contre-tnor; Contratenor controtenore kontratenor contratenor
tenor haute-contre
high voice haut hohe acuto vysokaia agudo
medium mdium; mittlere medio sredniaia medio
voice moyen
low voice grave tiefe grave nizkaia grave
Vocal ensembles
English French German Italian Russian Spanish
vocal ensembles
ensembles vocaux
chorus chur Chor coro khor coro
mixed voices voix mixtes Stimmen gemischte voci miste smeshannye voces mixtas
golosa
women's chur de Frauenchor; coro zhenskii khor coro femenino
voices femmes Frauenstimme femminile
men's voices chur Mnnerchor; coro maschile muzhskoi khor coro
d'hommes Mnnerstimme masculino;
choro de
hombres
children's chur Kinderchor voci bianche detskii khor coro infantil;
voices d'enfants coro de nios
equal voices voix gales Stimmen gleiche voci pari odnorodnye voces iguales
golosa

Comments to Mickey Koth Yale University Music Library

Yale University Library Last revised April 8, 2014.