nounplural noun scherzos, plural noun scherzi/ˈskɛːtsi/

• A vigorous, light, or playful composition, typically comprising a movement in a symphony or sonata.

  ‘Often, at pedagogy conferences, we witness prodigiously talented fourteen-year-olds taking a master lesson in huge pieces like Prokofiev sonatas or Chopin scherzos.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘The symphony takes the idea through a more classically-oriented structure: an opening allegro, a slow movement, a scherzo, and a dead-march finale.’
  • ‘Allusion to the trio, as in some of Beethoven's symphonic scherzos, briefly turns up in the coda.’
  • ‘On the other hand, I tend to judge on the basis of the opening movement and the slow one, rather than of the scherzo and the choral finale.’
  • ‘The trio's third movement is a scherzo, full of fleeting and magical tunes very reminiscent of the Midsummer's Night Dream overture, a piece that Mendelssohn wrote when he was just 17.’