capriccio

1. Music. An instrumental work with an improvisatory style and a free form.
2. A prank; a caper.
3. A whim.

[Italian. See caprice.]

(It. : ‘whim’, ‘caprice’)

Term for a variety of compositions usually showing some freedom of manner; Frescobaldi and others used it for a keyboard piece in a fugal texture, Brahms for a short piano piece, Paganini for a virtuoso violin study, Tchaikovksy for an orchestral work and Strauss for an opera. In the 18th century it often indicated an improvised cadenza. ‘A capriccio’ (‘following one's fancy’) is a performance instruction permitting a free and rhapsodic approach to tempo, and even style.

Opera in one act by Richard Strauss to a libretto by Krauss and others (1942, Munich).

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: an instrumental composition that doesn't adhere to rules for any specific musical form and is played with improvisation

Capriccio may refer to:

• A capriccio, a tempo marking
• Capriccio (Janáček), a chamber music composition
• Capriccio (music), a piece of music which is fairly free in form
• Capriccio (opera), a 1942 German-language opera by Richard Strauss
• Capriccio (painting), a painted architectural fantasy

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