capriccio (It.); caprice (Eng. and Fr.).
1. Term applied to some 16th-cent. It. madrigals and, later, to a kind of free fugue for kbd. instr., and later to any light quick comp.

2. In early 18th cent. sometimes used for ‘cadenza’.

3. a capriccio means 'according to the fancy (caprice) of the performer’, hence a comp. which has unexpected and orig. effects. Stravinsky and Janáček both wrote works for pf. and orch. which they called Capriccio, Janáček's being for left hand only and wind ens. (comp. for the Cz. pianist Otakar Hollmann). 2nd movt. of Haydn's Sym. No.86 (Hob. I:86) is called Capriccio, unusual in a sym.

ca·pric·ci·o / kəˈprēchēˌō; -chō/ • n. (pl. -os) a lively piece of music, typically one that is short and free in form. ∎  a painting or other work of art representing a fantasy or a mixture of real and imaginary features.

Capriccio. R. Strauss's last opera, comp. 1940–1, styled a ‘conversation piece’, written in 1 act but usually perf. in 2-act Munich version. Lib. by Clemens Krauss and composer, incorporating elements by Hans Swarowsky, Josef Gregor, S. Zweig, and Hofmannsthal, and loosely based on Casti's comedy Prima la musica, poi le parole (1786). Prod. Munich 1942, London CG 1953, NY 1954 (Juilliard). F.p. of version in Eng. trans., GTO 1976.

caprice. See capriccio.