Capriccio (music)

For other uses, see Capriccio (disambiguation).

A capriccio or caprice (sometimes plural: caprices, capri or, in Italian, capricci), is a piece of music, usually fairly free in form and of a lively character. The typical capriccio is one that is fast, intense, and often virtuosic in nature.

The term has been applied in disparate ways, covering works using many different procedures and forms, as well as a wide variety of vocal and instrumental forces. The earliest occurrence of the term was in 1561, by Jacquet de Berchem and applied to a set of madrigals. In the late 16th and early 17th centuries it could refer to madrigals, music intended alternatively for voices or instruments, or for strictly instrumental pieces, especially keyboard compositions (Schwandt 2001). In the Baroque era it was often used for short keyboard pieces (for example, by Girolamo Frescobaldi, and J.S. Bach concluded his C minor keyboard Partita BWV 826 with a Capriccio which, despite its title, is a densely contrapuntal piece carefully and methodically exploiting its lively, almost humorous, subject). Niccolò Paganini used it for a set of twenty-four virtuoso solo violin works, Luigi Legnani used it for a set of thirty-six virtuoso solo guitar works, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov used it for orchestral works (the Capriccio Italien and Capriccio espagnol respectively). Johannes Brahms wrote many capricci for piano during the later years of his life, all of which are considered to be among the most unusual and thoughtful pieces of the late Romantic music era. Camille Saint-Saëns wrote an Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso for violin and orchestra, the solo violin part of which contains concerto-like virtuoso writing.

See also

• Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra by Igor Stravinsky

References

• Schwandt, Erich. 2001. "Capriccio (i)". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.