| Cabaletta, Cabbaletta | (Italian) short aria in rondo form, the last section of an operatic duet |
| Caccia | (Italian) chase, hunt |
| Cachucha | graceful Spanish dance not unlike the bolero |
| Cadenza | a flourish, originally extemporized, within a larger work |
| Cadenzato | (Italian) cadenced, rhythmic |
| Cahier | (French) part or section of a book |
| Caisse | (French) drum |
| Caisse claire | (French) snare drum |
| Caisse, Grosse | (French) bass drum |
| Caisse, roulante | (French) tenor drum |
| Caisse sourde | (French) tenor drum |
| Calando | (Italian) diminuendo |
| Calcando | (Italian) accelerando |
| Calliope | steam-blown mechanical organ |
| Calmato, Calmato | (Italian) calmed, calming |
| Calme | (French) calm |
| Calore | (Italian) passion |
| Cambiare | (Italian) to change |
| Camera | (Italian) chamber, as in 'chamber music' |
| Camminando | (Italian) walking, proceeding, pushing on |
| Campana, Campane, Campanella | (Italian) bell, bells, little bell |
| Campanetta | (Italian) Glockenspiel |
| Canaries | a gigue like dance with a 'skipping' feel to it |
| Can-can, Chahut | boisterous Parisian quadrille-like dance |
| Canción | (Spanish) song |
| Cancioncica, Cancioncilla, Cancioncita | (Spanish) diminutive of canción |
| Canon, Catch | a musical form in which a (third, fourth, etc.) line starting later than the one before it matches it note for note |
| Cantabile | (Italian) in a singing style |
| Cantata (It.), Cantate (Ger.) | generally a sacred or secular work which might include sung, recitative and instrumental sections |
| Cantatrice | (Italian) female singer |
| Cante hondo, Cante jondo | (Spanish) a type of popular Spanish song frequently making use of the Phrygian cadence |
| Canti carnascialeschi | (Italian) 15th and 16th century Florentine carnival songs |
| Canticle | a Biblical hymn |
| Cantiga | a Spanish or Portuguese folk song, also a 'religious song' |
| Cantilena | smooth, melodious vocal style |
| Cantillation | chanting in free rhythm |
| Canto (Italian), Cantus (Latin) | song, melody |
| Cantor | the director of music in a Lutheran church, the leading singer in a synagogue |
| Canzona, Canzone (plural form) | (Italian) short song or instrumental piece |
| Canzonet, Canzonetta | (Italian) diminutive of canzona |
| Caoine | Irish funeral song |
| Capelle | (French) chapel |
| Capotasto (It.), Capo d'astro (It.), Capodastro (It.), Capodastère (Fr.), Capodaster (Ger.) | a barre |
| Cappella (sometimes incorrectly Capella) | chapel |
| Capriccio (It.) Caprice (Fr., Eng.) | a quick, light, sometimes fanciful composition, madrigal |
| Capriccioso (It.), Capricieux (Fr.) | capricious |
| Capricciosamente | (Italian) capriciously |
| Carcelera | (Spanish) prisoner's song |
| Caressant | (French) caressing |
| Carezzando, Carezzevole | (Italian) caressing, caressingly |
| Carillon | an organ stop, a bell |
| Carmagnole | a French revolutionary round dance named after a short coat from Carmagnola in northern Italy |
| Carmen | (Latin) vocal line in a composition |
| Carol | a religious seasonal song dramatic, lyrical or narrative |
| Carrée | (French) breve, double whole-note |
| Cassa, Cassa grande, (sometimes Gran cassa) | (Italian) any large drum |
| Cassa rullante | (Italian) tenor drum |
| Castagnette (It.), Castagnettes (It.) Castanets (Eng.) | a pair of shell-like pieces of wood linked with a cord and worked with the fingers to produce a 'clicking' sound particular in Spanish flamenco dance |
| Castillane | (Spanish) a dance from Castille |
| Catalán (Sp.), Catalane (Fr.) | a dance from Catalonia |
| Cavatina | arieta, a short slow instrumental piece |
| Cebell | a quicker gavotte-like dance |
| Cédez | (French) slow down |
| Celere | (Italian) quick, speedy |
| Celerità | (Italian) speed |
| Celeramente | speedily |
| Celesta | a keyboard instrument in which the hammers strike chime bars |
| 'Cello | abbreviation of 'violoncello' |
| Cembalist | harpsichordist |
| Cembalo | (Italian) harpsichord |
| Ces | (German) the note 'C flat' |
| Ceses | (German) the note 'C double flat' |
| cf. | (Latin abbreviation) 'conferatur' which means 'compare' |
| Chaconne, Chacony (Old Eng.), Ciacona (It.) | a slow dance, generally in triple time, played over a ground bass, also called 'passacaglia' or 'passecaille' |
| Chaleur, Chaleureusement | (French) warmth, with warmth |
| Chalameau | early form of the clarinet family |
| Champêtre | (French) rustic |
| Changez | (French) change (imperative) |
| Chanson | (French) song |
| Chantant | (French) cantabile |
| Chanterelle | (French) the highest string of the violin |
| Chanty | alternative spelling of 'Shanty' |
| Chaque | (French) each, every |
| Charger, Se | (French) to undertake |
| Charivari, Chiasso (It.), Calthumpian Concert (U.S.) | (French) to extemporise music of a violent nature, also 'rough music' (Eng.), Scampanata (It.), Katzenmusik (Ger.), Shivaree (U.S.) |
| Chasse, Cor de | (French) hunting horn |
| Chass&eacutre; | (French) in ballet, to 'chase' away one foot with a touch from the other |
| Che | (Italian) who, which |
| Chef d'attaque (Fr.), Concert master (U.S.) | orchestral leader |
| Chevalet | (French) bridge of a stringed instrument |
| Cheville | (French) peg of a stringed instrument |
| Chiaro, Chiara | (Italian) clear, unconfused |
| Chiaramente, Chiarezza | (Italian) clearly, clarity |
| Chiave | (Italian) clef |
| Chica | early form of fandango |
| Chiesa | (Italian) church |
| Chifonie | hurdy-gurdy |
| Chitarrone | a member of the lute family |
| Chiuso, Chiusa | closed, stopped |
| Choeur | (French) chorus, choir |
| Choragus | the leader of the chorus in ancient Greek drama |
| Chorus | a choir, a bagpipe, a crwth |
| Chromatique | (French) chromatic |
| Chrotta | crwth |
| Cigány | Hungarian gipsy music played by bands formed of strings, clarinet and dulcimer |
| Cimbal, Cimbalom, Cimbelom | dulcimer |
| Cinelli | (Italian) cymbals |
| Cinq (Fr.), Cinque (It.) | five |
| Cinquième | (French) fifth |
| Cioà | (Italian) that is |
| Cis | (German) the note 'C sharp' |
| Cisis | (German) the note 'C double sharp' |
| Cither | cittern |
| Cittern | wire-strung plucked stringed instrument, like a lute, but with a flat back |
| Civetteria | (Italian) coquetry, flirtatiousness |
| Civettando, Civettescamente | (Italian) coquetting, coquettishly |
| Claire, Caisse | (French) side drum |
| Clairon | (French) bugle |
| Claquebois | (French) xylophone |
| Clàrsach | small Celtic harp |
| Clausula | cadence |
| Clavecin | (French) harpsichord |
| Claves | round sticks of hard wood beaten together and used in Cuban music |
| Clavicembalo | Cembalo |
| Clavichord | a soft-sounding rectangular keyboard instrument in which the depression of a key brings a tangent into contact with the string (or, if double-strung, pairs of strings tuned to the same note) initiating standing waves between the tangent and the bridge which continue until the key is released |
| Clavicytherium | an upright spinet or harpsichord |
| Clef | symbol placed on the left of the stave which establishes the relationship between notes and their postion on the staff lines and spaces |
| Cloches | (French) orchestral bells |
| Clochette | (French) small bell |
| Close | cadence |
| Coach-horn | post-horn |
| Coda | (Italian) passage ended onto the end of a composition |
| Codetta | (Italian) less important coda |
| Cogli, Coi | (Italian) with the (plural object) |
| Col', Coll', Colla, Colle | (Italian) with the (singular object) |
| Colascione | small lute with a circular body, a very long neck and, generally, three strings |
| Colinda | a Rumanian Christmas song |
| Colofonia | (Italian) bow resin, bow rosin |
| Colorato (It. male), Colorata (It. female), Coloratura (It.), Koloratur (Ger.) | extemporary or written vocalisation decorated with runs and cadenzas |
| Colpo | (Italian) stroke |
| Come (It.), Comme (Fr.) | (Italian) as, like, as if |
| Comique | (French) comic |
| Comma | a very small difference arising from raising a note either by octaves or fifths until it arrives at almost the same note |
| Commodo, Comodo | (Italian) convenient, comfortable, moderate |
| Comodamente | (Italian) comfortably, moderately, conveniently |
| Common Time | the time signature 4/4 |
| Compiacevole, Compiacevolmente, Compiacimento (noun) | (Italian) pleasing, pleasingly, pleasure |
| Componiert (Ger.), Composé (Fr.) | composed |
| Compter | (French) to count |
| Con | (Italian) with |
| Concertante, Concertino | (Italian) in the form of a concerto |
| Concertstück | (German) concert-piece |
| Concitato | (Italian) roused, stirred |
| Concitamento, Concitazione | (Italian) agitation |
| Conductus | a 12th century church composition in which extra parts are added to an existing non-plainsong melody, called 'canto fermo' |
| Conserver | (French) to preserve, to retain |
| Con sordino | (Italian) with mute |
| Conte | (French) tale |
| Continuo | keyboard line in an orchestral work |
| Contrabass | Double-bass |
| Contradanza (It.), Contredanse (Fr.), Country Dance (Eng.) | dances drawn from tradition dance forms of the British Isles |
| Coperto | (Italian) muting of drums with a cloth |
| Copla | Spanish songs set to popular poems |
| Coppel | (German) coupler (on the organ) |
| Coprifuoco, Coprifoco | (Italian) a piece with bell-like effects |
| Cor (Fr.), Corno (It.) | horn |
| Corno inglese (It.), Cor anglais (Eng.) | an alto obe |
| Corda (It.), Corde (it. plural), Corde (Fr.) | string, strings |
| Corde à jour, corde à vide | (French) open string |
| Cor de chasse (Fr.), Corno da caccia (It.) | hunting horn |
| Cor de nuit | (French) watchman's horn, an organ stop |
| Corea | (Spanish) a dance accompanied by song |
| Cornetta (It.), Cornetto (It.) | cornet |
| Corno a macchina, Corno a pistoni, Corno cromatico, Corno ventile | (Italian) valve horn |
| Corno a mano | (Italian) the natural French horn |
| Corno di bassetto | (Italian) Basset horn, an organ stop producing a clarinet-like sound |
| Corno dolce | a soft organ pipe |
| Cornopean | trumpet-like organ stop |
| Coro | (Italian) choir, chorus |
| Corps de Ballet | (French) the whole ballet troupe of a ballet company |
| Corps de réchange | (French) brass instrument crook, different length sections of an early flute allowing it to perform at different pitches |
| Cor simple | (French) natural horn |
| Cortège | (French) procession |
| Corto, Corta, Corti, Corte | (Italian) short |
| Cosacco, Cosacca | (Italian) in the Cossack style |
| Cosaque | (French) Cossack dance in simple dupal time |
| Cotillon | a country dance of imitative style popular in the 19th century as the closing dance of the evening |
| Coulisse | (French) trombone slide |
| Countertenor | male alto |
| Coup d'archet | (France) bow-stroke, bowing |
| Coupé | (French) like the Chassé but the displaced foot is raised into the air |
| Couplet | duplet, a two-note slur, an episode in the early French rondo |
| Coupure | (French) omitted section, a 'cut' |
| Courante, Corrento, Coranto, Corant | an Italian dance of rapid tempo in simple triple time, a French dance that mixes simple triple and compound duple time |
| Courroie | (French) strap |
| Couvert, Couverte | (French) covered |
| Cracovienne (Fr.), Krakowiak (Polish) | a lively duple time Polish dance from Krakow |
| Crécelle | (French) rattle |
| Crescendo | (Italian) increasingly loud |
| Croche | (French) quaver, eight-note |
| Croiser | (French) to cross |
| Croma | (Italian) quaver, eight-note |
| Cromatico, Cromatica, Cromatici, Cromatice | (Italian) chromatic |
| Crot | crwth |
| Crotchet | a quarter-note, a note one quarter the time value of a whole-note or semi-breve |
| Crowd | crwth |
| Cruit | crwth |
| Crwth | an ancient bowed lyre |
| Cuckoo | a simple two-note wind-instrument |
| Cuivre | (French) copper, brass |
| Cuivré | (French) brassy |
| Cupo | (Italian) dark, sombre |
| Cushion Dance | an old dance in which a participant selects a partner by dropping a cushion before him or her |
| Cyklus | (German) cycle |
| Cymbalon | dulcimer |
| Cymbalum orale | (Latin) Jew's Harp |
| Czardas, Csárdás | a Hungarian national dance that alternates slow and fast passages |
| Czimbal, Czimbalom, Czimbalon | a Hungarian dulcimer |
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