The names of instruments and voices in English, French, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish

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