scherzo
Americannoun
-
scherzos,
plural
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scherzi
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of scherzo
First recorded in 1850–55; from Italian: literally, “joke,” derivative of scherzare “to joke,” of Langobardic origin (compare German Scherz “a joke, jest”)
Explanation
A scherzo is a very fast section of classical music, often within a larger composition. A scherzo is usually upbeat and sometimes even humorous. The plural form of scherzo is scherzi. Many symphonies and sonatas include scherzi, often in their second or third movements. The scherzo developed from the minuet, another lively musical form which itself came from a French dance. In Italian, scherzo means "joke" or "sport," from the root word scherzare, "to jest or joke," and this describes the lighthearted mood of many scherzi.
Vocabulary lists containing scherzo
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
A bulldozer of a scherzo intensified what was a lingering menace, and the fourth movement rondo released it from its cage.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 28, 2022
His scherzo had a wonderfully light air about it.
From New York Times ● Sep. 30, 2022
Taylor’s entrance into the scherzo was nimble but overwhelmingly wonky, tunewise — a hippo on ice skates.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 21, 2022
They had to make decisions, like determining whether a sketch indicated the starting point of a scherzo, which is a very lively part of the symphony, typically in the third movement.
From Salon ● Oct. 9, 2021
It is a scherzo intensely swift in its movement and almost ethereal in its dainty, graceful rhythm.
From The Standard Cantatas Their Stories, Their Music, and Their Composers by George P. (George Putnam) Upton
Notwithstanding the grandeur and beauty of the grave, the power and passion of the scherzo, this Sonata in B flat minor is not more a sonata than it is a sequence of ballades and scherzi.
From Chopin : the Man and His Music by James Huneker
She could think of no tunes but dances—andantes turned scherzi, the Handelian largo became a Castilian tango.
From We Can't Have Everything by Rupert Hughes
He write the scherzi, the ballades, the études?—you make me enraged.
From Melomaniacs by James Huneker
These scherzi, however, brought him more note than profit, and soon afterwards he returned to Martinique.
From The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 16 by Sir Richard Francis Burton
The valses are the most objective of the Chopin works, and in few of them is there more than a hint of the sullen, Sargasson seas of the nocturnes and scherzi.
From Chopin : the Man and His Music by James Huneker
Her scintillating accounts of the scherzos deftly balance bursts of breathless passagework and plaintive lyricism.
From New York Times ● Oct. 28, 2021
Then there is Beatrice Rana in her remarkable new recording of the second book, along with the four scherzos.
From New York Times ● Oct. 28, 2021
Once the excitable St. Lawrence enters, those dotted Beethoven rhythms from the scherzos of his late quartets and symphonies become manic.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2016
Rather than CDs containing all the scherzos or mazurkas, he chose instead to mix genres, with the result being an unusually refreshing listening experience.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 31, 2015
And yet almost none of the comparatively few scherzos that have been written here have had any sense of the hilarious jollity that makes Beethoven's wit side-shaking.
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