capriccio

American  

[kuh-pree-chee-oh, kah-preet-chaw] / kəˈpri tʃiˌoʊ, kɑˈprit tʃɔ /

noun

• capriccios,
  plural
• capricci
  plural

1. Music. a composition in a free, irregular style.

2. a caper; prank.

3. a whim; caprice.

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capriccio British  

/ kəˈprɪtʃɪˌəʊ /

noun

1. music a lively piece composed freely and without adhering to the rules for any specific musical form

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• capricci
  plural
• capriccios
  plural

Etymology

Origin of capriccio

First recorded in 1595–1605; Italian “sudden startle,” possibly from capra “nanny goat” or capro “billy goat” (as of the skipping of a kid or goat), from Vulgar Latin capriceus “goat” (unattested); possibly from capo capo ² ( def. ) and riccio (adjective) “curly,” (noun) “hedgehog” ( see arriccio ( def. ))

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

capriccio capricci capriccios

Finally, Conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos appeared and gave the downbeat, and the perplexed audience settled down to the first U.S. performance of Ferruccio Busoni's "theatrical capriccio," Harlequin.

From Time Magazine Archive

The stillness returned, save for the little voices of the night—the owl's recitative, the capriccio of the crickets, the concerto of the frogs in the grass.

From Roads of Destiny by O. Henry

This is not too fast for the capriccio, with its pretty and ingenious rhythmical transformations.

From Chopin : the Man and His Music by James Huneker

Glazunof's Third Symphony; Rachmaninof's capriccio "Tzigane"; and Scriabin's Pianoforte Concerto with the composer as soloist, given by the Russian Symphony Orchestra, in New York City. 1906-7.

From Annals of Music in America A Chronological Record of Significant Musical Events by Henry Charles Lahee

She did not go so far as to wish herself a sharer in the sentiment, but she thought it heroism on her part to repress the capriccio, as the Italians say.

From Beatrix by Katharine Prescott Wormeley

Artists like Pannini and Piranesi specialized in composite views of ancient buildings, and these architectural fantasies, or capricci, enjoyed an immense vogue.

From Time Magazine Archive

The celebrated twenty-four violin capricci, written early in Paganini's career, have been rendered familiar by their transcriptions to the pianoforte by Schumann and Liszt.

From A History of the Nineteenth Century, Year by Year Volume Two (of Three) by Edwin Emerson

Both these artists were much celebrated for those capricci, or fancy pieces, which afterwards fell into disuse.

From The History of Painting in Italy, Vol. IV (of 6) from the Period of the Revival of the Fine Arts to the End of the Eighteenth Century by Luigi Antonio Lanzi

Only the crudest works of plastic art, capricci and arabesques, have no intellectual content; and even these are good in so far as they convey the playfulness of fancy.

From Sketches and Studies in Italy and Greece, First Series by Horatio Robert Forbes Brown

Others he retrofitted into capriccios of the multifaith city, whose inhabitants worshiped a collection of Babylonian, Phoenician and Greek gods.

From New York Times ● Feb. 15, 2017

Between are alternately dreamy and lively capriccios by both; all is played with style, flair and velvety touch by Mr. Wosner, given spirited support by Mr. Collon and the Danes.

From New York Times ● Dec. 15, 2016

Mr. Rose was at his most varied and flexible in the Fantasy Pieces, in which his assertive renderings of the outgoing capriccios were offset by graceful, richly detailed playing in the more subtle intermezzos.

From New York Times ● Jul. 18, 2011

In later life, painting steadily until his death in 1768, Canaletto essayed fanciful variations on his theme with almost surreal capriccios, whose brooding ruins bespoke the ancient grandeur that dissolved in carnival.

From Time Magazine Archive

She used to smile at my capriccios; and once she kissed me—actually.

From A Simpleton by Charles Reade