capriccio

The capriccio has meant different things in different eras. In the Baroque, it was a fugal keyboard work with a playful character. In the Classical period, it became a brilliant virtuoso piece with surprising turns. In the Romantic era, Brahms wrote capriccios for piano that are passionate and structurally rigorous. Orchestral capriccios by Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Strauss are dazzling showpieces. The common thread is wit, energy, and a sense of unpredictable invention.