scherzo

American  

[skert-soh] / ˈskɛrt soʊ /

noun

Music.

• scherzos,
  plural
• scherzi
  plural

1. a movement or passage of light or playful character, especially as the second or third movement of a sonata or a symphony.

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scherzo British  

/ ˈskɛətsəʊ /

noun

1. a brisk lively movement, developed from the minuet, with a contrastive middle section (a trio) See minuet

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• scherzi
  plural
• scherzos
  plural

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

scherzo scherzi scherzos

Many conductors treat the third-movement scherzo as an exercise in dance rhythm; here, the energy was certainly propulsive, but Thomas also coaxed out a riot of colors and textures.

From New York Times ● Mar. 10, 2023

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

These were followed by Klaus Simon’s exquisite 2007 chamber arrangement of Mahler’s fourth symphony of 1901, its swinging scherzo further altered by Gil-Ordóñez and PostClassical executive producer Joseph Horowitz to make way for Taylor.

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

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

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

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

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

The fact that no scherzos were included in the two sonatas that followed, strengthened my opinion in regard to this.

From Edward MacDowell by Lawrence Gilman