| Rabbia | (Italian) rage |
| Raddolcendo, Raddolcente | (Italian) becoming gentler, calming down |
| Raddoppiare | (Italian) to double |
| Raddoppiamento | (Italian) doubling |
| Raffrenando | (Italian) checking the speed, slowing |
| Rageur | (French) ill-tempered |
| Ralentir | (French) to slow down |
| Rallentare, Rallentando, Rallentato | (Italian) to slow, slowing, slowed |
| Rallentamento | (Italian) slow |
| Rant | old English dance |
| Rapido, Rapidamente, Rapidità | (Italian) rapid, radily, rapidity |
| Rapproacher | (French) bring closer together |
| Rapsodia | (Italian) rhapsody |
| Rasch, Rascher | (German) quick, quicker |
| Ratsche | (German) rattle |
| Rattenere, Rattenendo, Rattenuto | (Italian) to hold back, holding back, held back |
| Rauh | (German) rough, coarse |
| Rauschend | (German) rustling, murmuring |
| Ravvivando, Ravvivato | (Italian) quickening, quickened' |
| Rebec, Rebeck | a family of bowed stringed-instrument of Moorish origin |
| Rebute | (French) Jew's harp |
| Recht, Rechte | (German) right |
| Récit | (French) Swell organ, also abbreviation for recitative |
| Recitando or Recitante (It.), Récitant (Fr.) | more speech than song |
| Recueilli | (French) meditative |
| Redend | (German) speaking |
| Redoubler, Redoublement | (French) doubling |
| Redowa | a fast, triple-time dance from Bohemia |
| Reduire (Fr.), Reduzieren (Ger.) | to arrange |
| Reel | a quick dance in simple quadruple time from Scotland and Ireland |
| Refrapper | (German) to strike again |
| Regal (Eng.), Regale (It.), Régale (Fr.) | originally a small portative reed-organ but later fitted with flue pipes |
| Registrieren, Registrierung | (German) to register, registration |
| Registro | (Italian) register |
| Reigen, Reihen | (German) a round dance |
| Rein | (German) pure |
| Relâché | (French) loosened (as with the snare of a drum) |
| Religieux, Religieuse | (French) religious |
| Remettre | (French) to put back, to go back to an original choice of registration |
| Renforcer | (French) increase |
| Renforcez | (French) increase! |
| Rentrée | (French) re-entry |
| Renvoi | (French) the repeat sign |
| Répétiteur (Fr.), Repetitore (It.), Repetitor (Ger.) | choir-master in an opera house, an assistant teacher, a coach |
| Répétition (Fr.), Repetizione (It.) | rehearsal |
| Replica | (Italian) repeat |
| Replicato | (Italian) doubled |
| Repos | (French) repose |
| Reprendre | (French) to take up again |
| Reprenez | (French) take up again! |
| Reprise | (French) repeat, recapitulation, revival |
| Requiem | a Mass for the Dead |
| Résolument | (French) resolutely |
| Resoluto, Risoluto | (Italian) resolute |
| Resoluzione, Risoluzione | (Italian) firness, steady rhythm |
| Ressortir | (French) to make a melody stand out |
| Restez | (French) remian on a note or string |
| Retardando | (Italian) ritardando |
| Retenant, Retenu | (French) ritenuto, to hold back immediately (not gradually as with rallentando) |
| Retirer | (French) remove stop from use |
| Retrouvez | (French) re-attain |
| Réunis | (French) coupled |
| Reveille | (French) the military signal annoucing the start of the day, 'wake-up' call |
| Revenir | (French) to return |
| Rêveur | (French) dreamy |
| Revidiert | (German) revised |
| Rezitativ | (German) recitative |
| Rhythm | the disposition of strong and weak beats in a piece of music |
| Rhythmé, Rhythmique | (French) rhythmic |
| Rhythmisch | (German) rhythmic |
| Rhythmus | (German) rhythm |
| Ribible | rebec |
| Ributhe | (Scottish) Jew's harp |
| Ricercare, Ricercarta | (Italian) an elaborate contrapuntal piece of music |
| Richettato | (Italian) spiccato |
| Richtig | (German) right, precise |
| Rideau | (French) curtain |
| Ridotto | (Italian) a reduction, an arrangement, an 18th century entertainment in which audience and musicians would take part |
| Riduzione | (Italian) reduction, arrangement |
| Rigaudon (Fr.), Rigadoon (Old Eng.) | a dance in simple duple or quadruple time not unlike a bourrée |
| Rigore, Rigoroso | (Italian) strict time |
| Rilasciando, Rilasciante, Rilassando, Rilassato | (Italian) rallentando |
| Rimettendo, Rimettendosi | (Italian) returning to the original tempo |
| Rinforzando, Rinforzato | (Italian) accenting, accented |
| Ripetizione | (Italian) repetition |
| Ripieno | (Italian) a term used to distinguish passages played by soloists (concertante) and those played by the whole orchestra (ripieno) |
| Riposo, Riposata | (Italian) repose, reposeful |
| Riprendere | (French) resume original tempo |
| Ripresa | (Italian) repeat, recapitulation |
| Riscaldano | (Italian) livelier |
| Risoluto, Risolutamente | (Italian) resolute, resolutely |
| Risoluzione | (Italian) resolution |
| Rispetto | a type of Italian folk-song |
| Ristringendo | (Italian) quickening |
| Risvegliato | (Italian) animated |
| Ritardare, Ritardando, Ritardato | (Italian) to hold back, holding back, held back (gradual change of tempo) |
| Ritardo | (Italian) the gradual diminishing of speed |
| Ritmo | (Italian) rhythm |
| Ritmico | (Italian) rhythmic |
| Ritornel (Eng.), Ritournelle (Fr.), Ritornello (It.), Ritornell (Ger.) | a piece or section returned to |
| Ritorno | (Italian) return |
| Ritterlich | (German) knightly |
| Robusto | (Italian) robust, strongly voiced |
| Roco | (Italian) raucous |
| Rococo | (French) a florid musical style generally applied to the music of the sons of Bach, early Haydn and Mozart and late Telemann |
| Roh | (German) coarse, rough |
| Rolltrommel | (German) tenor drum |
| Romalis | a type of seguidilla |
| Romance | a type of ballad, a song-like instrumental piece |
| Romancero | (Spanish) a collection of romantic songs |
| Romance sans paroles | (French) song without words, a type of romantic piano piece |
| Romanesca (It.), Romanesque (Fr.) | a dance rather like the galliard, a particular melody often used as a ground bass, an Italian song from the Renaissance |
| Romanza | (Italian) romance |
| Rombando | (Italian) humming |
| Ronde | (French) the whole-note, the semibreve |
| Rondeau, Rondel | (French) a type of song, sometimes danced, in which a refrain alternates with a number of contrasted passages |
| Rondeña | a kind of fandango |
| Rota | a round, the Latin name for hurdy-gurdy |
| Rote, Rotte | crwth |
| Rotondo | (Italian) a full tone |
| Roulade | (French) a vocal variation or division |
| Roulant, Roulante | (French) rolling |
| Round | a short vocal canon |
| Rubato | a limited freedom of rhythm and tempo when performing a piece of music |
| Rubible | the rebec |
| Rücksicht | (German) consideration |
| Rudement | (French) roughly |
| Rueda | a Spanish round dance in quintuple time |
| Ruhe | (German) peace |
| Ruhepunkt, Ruhezeichen | (German) the fermata sign |
| Ruhig | (German) peaceful |
| Rullante, Tamburo | (Italian) tenor drum |
| Rumba | a rhythmically complex Cuban dance |
| Russo, Russa | (Italian) Russian |
| Rute, Ruthe | (German) a birch brush used with the bass drum |
| Rythme, Rythmique | (French) rhythm, rhythmic |
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