| Term | Description |
|---|
| eco | the Italian word for "echo"; an effect in which a group of notes is repeated, usually more softly, and perhaps at a different octave, to create an echo effect |
| ein wenig (Ger) | a little |
| Empfindung (Ger) | feeling |
| encore (Fr) | again; i.e., perform the relevant passage once more |
| en dehors (Fr) | prominently |
| energico | energetic, strong |
| enfatico | emphatically |
| en pressant (Fr) | hurrying forward |
| en retenant (Fr) | slowing |
| eroico | heroically |
| espirando | expiring; i.e., dying away |
| espressivo | expressively |
| estinto | extinct, extinguished; i.e., as soft as possible, lifeless |
| etwas (Ger) | somewhat |
| facile | easily, without fuss |
| fermata | finished, closed; i.e., a rest or note is to be held for a duration that is at the discretion of the performer or conductor (sometimes called bird's eye) |
| feroce | ferociously |
| feurig (Ger) | fiery |
| festivamente | cheerfully, celebratory |
| fieramente | proudly |
| fill (English) | a sound (or combination of sounds) which "fills" the brief time between lyrical phrases and lines of melody |
| fine | the end, often in phrases like al fine (to the end) |
| flebile | mournfully |
| focoso or fuocoso | fiery; i.e., passionately |
| forte or f | strong; i.e., to be played or sung loudly |
| fortepiano or fp | strong-gentle; i.e., 1. loud, then immediately soft (see dynamics), or 2. an early pianoforte |
| fortissimo | as loudly as possible |
| forzando or fz | see sforzando in this list |
| freddo | cold(ly), depressive or terror emphasizing |
| fresco | freshly |
| fugue | flight |
| fuoco | fire; con fuoco means with fire |
| furioso | furiously |
