Song forms

thumb|'s Man Singing Hymn (1884) A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word hymn derives from Greek (hymnos), which means "a song of praise". A writer of hymns is known as a hymnist. The singing or composition of hymns is called hymnody. Collections of hymns are known as hymnals or hymn books. Hymns may or may not include instrumental accompaniment. Polyhymnia is the Greek goddess of hymns.

thumb|Lullaby by

thumb|The farewell aria of Sultan Bajazet in George Frideric Handel|Handel's opera [[Tamerlano (note the da capo instruction). First edition, London, 1719.]]

thumb|Musical notation for the chorus of "Jingle Bells"

thumb|upright=1.5|The Lute Player (Caravaggio)|The Lute Player () by Caravaggio. The lutenist reads madrigal music by the composer [[Jacques Arcadelt. (Hermitage, Saint Petersburg)]]

later version of a song recorded by an earlier performer

A (, ; , ) is generally any lyric-driven French song. The term is most commonly used in English to refer either to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval and Renaissance music or to a specific style of French pop music which emerged in the 1950s and 1960s. The genre had origins in the monophonic songs of troubadours and trouvères, though the only polyphonic precedents were 16 works by Adam de la Halle and one by Jehan de Lescurel. Not until the ars nova composer Guillaume de Machaut did any composer write a significant number of polyphonic chansons.

thumb|right|300px|This score for Handel's ''[[Lascia ch'io pianga'' shows the simple accompaniment for a recitative; much of the time, the basso continuo (the lower staff in bass clef) play half notes and whole notes underneath the vocalist's recitative part.]] thumb|right|200px|A recitative from J.S. Bach's Cantata 140, "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme" Recitative (, also known by its Italian name recitativo (), is a style of delivery (much used in operas, oratorios, and cantatas) in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms and delivery of ordinary speech. Recitative does not repeat lin

Spirituals (also known as Negro spirituals, African American spirituals, Black spirituals, or spiritual music) is a genre of Christian music that is associated with African Americans, which merged varied African cultural influences with the experiences of being held in bondage in slavery, at first during the transatlantic slave trade and for centuries afterwards, through the domestic slave trade. Spirituals incorporate the "sing songs", work songs, and plantation songs that evolved into the blues and gospel songs in church. In the nineteenth century, the word "spirituals" referred to all these

A barcarolle ( ; from French, also barcarole; originally, Italian barcarola or barcaruola, from 'boat') is a traditional folk song sung by Venetian gondoliers, or a piece of music composed in that style. In classical music, two of the most famous barcarolles are Jacques Offenbach's "Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour", from his opera The Tales of Hoffmann; and Frédéric Chopin's Barcarolle in F-sharp major for solo piano.

An instrumental, instrumental music, or sometimes "instrumental song" is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word "song" may refer to instrumentals. The music is primarily or exclusively produced using musical instruments. An instrumental can exist in music notation, after it is written by a composer; in the mind of one or more composers in question (especially in cases where he/they will perform the piece, as in the case of a blues solo guitarist or

right|thumb|Franz Schubert's early masterpiece [[Gretchen am Spinnrade, which he wrote at age 17 to verse by Goethe, is one of the earlier of his lieder that is widely performed today.]] In the Western classical music tradition, '''''' ( , ; , ; ) is a term for setting poetry to music. The term is used for any kind of song in German, but among English speakers, is often used interchangeably with "art song" to encompass works that the tradition has inspired in other languages as well. The poems that have been made into lieder often center on pastoral themes or themes of romantic love.

type of traditional Christmas song

sounds birds use to communicate

sounds produced by whales

musical composition that achieved popularity or hit the charts

song intended for children

music genre and type of dance

A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meanings that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually through the use of one or more advertising slogans. Ad buyers use jingles in radio and television commercials; they can also be used in non-advertising contexts to establish or maintain a brand image. Many jingles are also created using snippets of popular songs, in which lyrics are modified to appropriately advertise the product or service.

An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to short sacred choral work (still frequently seen in Sacred Harp and other types of shape note singing) and still more particularly to a specific form of liturgical music. In this sense, its use began in English-speaking churches; it uses English language words, in contrast to the originally Roman Catholic 'motet' which sets a Latin text.

Chastushka (, chastushki) is a traditional musical genre of short Russian humorous folk song. Usually associated with high beat frequency, thus the name, coined from in the meaning of "quick". While the root of chastushki can be traced to ancient folklore of dance and wedding songs as well as performances of balagurs (Russian version of minstrels), the genre itself had crystallized fairly recently, in the last third of the 19th century, under the influence of social shifts caused by the abolition of serfdom and industrialization. Spread of the squeezebox in the mid-19th century and its use for

250px|right The frottola (; plural frottole) was the predominant type of Italian popular secular song of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century. It was the most important and widespread predecessor to the madrigal. The peak of activity in composition of frottole was the period from 1470 to 1530, after which time the form was replaced by the madrigal.

Literally 'song' in Italian, a canzone (; : canzoni; cognate with English to chant) is an Italian or Provençal song or ballad. It is also used to describe a type of lyric which resembles a madrigal. Sometimes a composition which is simple and songlike is designated as a canzone, especially if it is by a non-Italian; a good example is the aria "Voi che sapete" from Mozart's Marriage of Figaro.

Muwashshah ( '''' 'girdled'; plural '; also ' 'girdling,' pl. ') is a strophic poetic form that developed in al-Andalus in the late 10th and early 11th centuries. The ', embodying the Iberian rhyme revolution, was the major Andalusi innovation in Arabic poetry, and it was sung and performed musically. The muwaššaḥ features a complex rhyme and metrical scheme usually containing five '''' ( 'branches'; sing. '), with uniform rhyme within each strophe, interspersed with ' ( 'threads for stringing pearls'; sing. '') with common rhyme throughout the song, as well as a terminal kharja'' ( 'exit'), t

The villancico (Spanish, ) or vilancete (Portuguese, ) was a common poetic and musical form of the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America popular from the late 15th to 18th centuries. Important composers of villancicos were Juan del Encina, Pedro de Escobar, Francisco Guerrero, Manuel de Zumaya, Juana Inés de la Cruz, Gaspar Fernandes, and Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla.

song sung while drinking alcohol

traditional form of music from Latvia

The canzona, also known as the canzon or canzone, is an Italian musical form derived from the Franco-Flemish and Parisian chansons.

liturgical plainchant repertory of the Ambrosian rite of the Roman Catholic Church

3-part musical form consisting of first section, second section and a repitition of section 1

prominent chord progression in popular music

type of lyrical, narrative poem

film, song or game that becomes successful gradually with little promotion

Cabaletta is a two-part musical form particularly favored for arias in 19th century Italian opera in the bel canto era until about the 1860s during which it was one of the era's most important elements. More properly, a cabaletta is a more animated section following the songlike cantabile. It often introduces a complication or intensification of emotion in the plot.

type of song dealing with love

group of songs designed to be performed in sequence as a single entity

song that peaks in its popularity during summer

In music, a canzonetta (; pl. canzonette, canzonetti or canzonettas) is a popular Italian secular vocal composition that originated around 1560. Earlier versions were somewhat like a madrigal but lighter in style—but by the 18th century, especially as it moved outside of Italy, the term came to mean a song for voice and accompaniment, usually in a light secular style.

A cantiga (cantica, cantar) is a medieval monophonic song, characteristic of the Galician-Portuguese lyric. Over 400 extant cantigas come from the Cantigas de Santa Maria, narrative songs about miracles or hymns in praise of the Holy Virgin. There are near 1700 secular cantigas but music has only survived for a very few: six cantigas de amigo by Martín Codax and seven cantigas de amor by Denis of Portugal.

musical form prevalent in the Baroque era

music genre; type of farcical or nonsensical singing or instrumentals

Plainsong or plainchant (calque from the French ; ) is a body of chants used in the liturgies of the Western Church. When referring to the term plainsong, it is those sacred pieces that are composed in Latin text. Plainsong was the exclusive form of the Western Christian church music until the ninth century and the introduction of polyphony.

slower emotional type of song within popular music

song (otherwise one of a few songs) that a popular and well-established recording artist or band is most closely identified with or best known for

thumb|The bertsolari Mattin Treku composing a bertso in Sare in 1960

form of vernacular sacred song in Italy in the late medieval era and Renaissance

liturgical plainchant repertory of the Visigothic/Mozarabic rite of the Catholic Church,

single sheet of paper printed on one side; type of ballad

Andalusian musical genre

joyful song that celebrates a seasonal Christian festive, most often Christmas but also the coming of Easter and Easter, appeared an accompaniment to medieval carole dance

musical setting of a literary ballad; poetic and musical genre in the 18th and 19th centuries, popular with the Romantics and their later epigones

song related to a fictional work, sung in-character

music genre

various song-like vocal or instrumental compositions

vocal music composition, usually written for one voice with piano accompaniment, and usually in the classical art music tradition

The ' or (Sardinian) or goigs''''' (Catalan) are a kind of devotional and paraliturgical songs sang pertaining to the folk tradition that are dedicated to the Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ, or a saint. They are typical of the Catalan Countries and Sardinia, and written in the Catalan, Sardinian or Spanish languages. They are sung during religious ceremonies, processions, pilgrimages and the votive festivals.

Modinha is the affectionate (grammatically called 'diminutive') form of the Portuguese noun "moda", meaning "fashion". The word "moda" is also used in Portugal, today, generally referring to traditional regional songs. In Portugal, "modinha" was, from the last third part of the 18th to the beginning of the 19th century, a general term designating sentimental songs in Portuguese.

activity based on a particular verse or rhyme, usually associated with a set of actions and movements.

sentimental song

ballad subgenre