Capriccios

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A series of musical pieces that are playful and free in form or style
2. variations in mood or theme that provide an element of surprise and whimsy
3. a work characterized by spontaneity and imaginative creativity in its structure and execution

Etymology: "Capriccios" is simply the plural of "capriccio", and the singular has a playful origin. Italian "capriccio" combines "capo", meaning "head", with "riccio", meaning "hedgehog" (from Latin "ericius"). The image is of a head bristling like a hedgehog, the way hair stands on end when a person is startled or moved by a sudden fancy. The Italian word came to mean a sudden whim or fancy, and from there a lively, unpredictable piece of music. English borrowed the term from Italian directly. It is a doublet of "caprice", which entered English through French and shares the same ancestry, so the two words are cousins that arrived by different routes. The "capriccio" form keeps the Italian spelling and musical sense, while "caprice" remains the everyday word for a sudden change of mind.

Synonyms: whims, fancies