The article examines the terms of musical performance, such as discrezione (discretion), con discrezione, à la discretion and avec discretion in their process of evolution and in a diachronic perspective. Special emphasis is placed on the keyboard work of J. J. Froberger. Materials from the works of S. de Brossard, J. G. Walther, J. Grassineau, J. Mattheson, &c. are examined, as well as explanations from early general vocabulary dictionaries. A critical revision of modern scientific publications on the topic presented in this paper was carried out. Numerous inaccuracies, errors and contradictions in the interpretation of terminology made by scholars and editors of music publications of the 20th — 21th century are revealed. As a result, the authors of the article came to the conclusion that the meaning of the term discrezione (discretion) and its derivatives has radically changed over the course of a century and a half, and the term itself has become polysemic. Interpretation of the prescriptions of early musicians discrezione (discretion), con discrezione, à la discretion, avec discretion, &c. each time should be individual and depending on a number of factors of the genre and type of musical composition, the style of the composer’s writing, the time and place of creation of the work, the professional background of the composer, &c.
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