Scherzo
(It.:
‘joke’).
A
term applied to a number of types of piece since the early 17th century. The
Italian word scherzo and its derivatives came from the German Scherz
and scherzen (‘to joke’) in the late Middle Ages. Since Beethoven’s time
it has been applied generically to any movement that takes the place of a
minuet in a sonata cycle (whether or not specifically labelled ‘scherzo’), and
it has also been used to indicate a comic or ironically comic composition,
usually fast-moving and often one movement within a larger work.
1. Origins, types.
2. Haydn, Beethoven.
3. Later repertory.
4. Related
terminology.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
TILDEN A. RUSSELL (1, 4), HUGH MACDONALD
(2, 3)
Scherzo
1. Origins, types.
The
word ‘scherzo’ was first applied to musical compositions in Italy in 1605
(Gabriello Puliti, Scherzi, capricci et fantasie, per cantar a due voci);
soon after, Praetorius introduced it in Germany as a synonym for aria (Syntagma
musicum, 1619). ‘Scherzo’ first referred to a strophic song for one or two
voices with basso continuo. Examples appear in collections alongside other
vocal types such as madrigal, aria and canzonetta. Publications including
scherzos are numerous within the brief period roughly demarcated by
Monteverdi’s two collections of Scherzi musicali of 1607 and 1632. At
this stage scherzo, like madrigal, designated a verse form, and it was only
secondarily applied to musical settings of the same or similar types of poetic
texts. The originator of the poetic scherzo, and apparently the sole author of
scherzos for many years, was Gabriello Chiabrera, whose first scherzos were
published in 1599; examples next appeared in anthologies of 1603 and 1605. The
first musical publications with the word in the title role are those of Puliti
(1605) and Domenico Brunetti (1606), followed by Monteverdi.
The
modifier musicali in Monteverdi’s title may suggest the unfamiliarity of
‘scherzo’ as a musical term; few other scherzo publications include it. The
term was neither widely nor long known as a poetic title but was soon adopted
as one for musical settings of various verse types; indeed Monteverdi selected
Chiabrera’s canzonette, not his scherzi, as texts for the Scherzi
musicali. The comic import of the word was never apparently taken
literally. Among the musical scherzos of the early 17th century were the Scherzi
musicali ecclesiastici of Bernardino Borlasca (1609), the Arie, scherzi,
canonetti, madrigali of Antonio Brunelli (1613), the Scherzi spirituali
of Pietro Pace (1615, 1617), the Scherzi sacri of Antonio Cifra (1616,
1618), the Scherzi e canzonette op.5 of Biagio Marini (1622) and the Scherzi
di sacra melodia of Chiara Margarita Cozzolani (1648).
The
term also appears during this period as the title of instrumental collections
or multi-movement works. This seems to have originated with collections
intended more for playing than for singing. Puliti’s may be the earliest; in
spite of the words ‘per cantar’, no texts are provided. The same applies to
Antonio Troilo’s Sinfonie, scherzi … per cantar et sonar (1608). The
earliest specifically instrumental publication is Cangiasi’s Scherzi
forastieri per suonare op.8 (1614). Later publications of the 17th and
early 18th centuries, by Francesco Asioli (1674), G.A. Guido (c1720),
Johann Martin Rubert (1650), G.M. Ruggieri (1690), Johannes Schenck (1698),
G.P. Telemann (1731, 1734) and J.J. Walther (1676) are unambiguously
instrumental. Scherzos may be suites (Rubert, Schenck), studies (Troilo,
Asioli), solo sonatas (Walther), trio sonatas (Ruggieri, Telemann – III
trietti methodici e III scherzi and Scherzi melodichi) and concertos
(Guido’s Scherzi armonici sopra le quattro stagioni dell’anno, concerti
op.3).
In
the early 18th century, scherzos began to appear as movements within larger
works. This continued up to the time of Haydn’s op.33 string quartets (1781),
some works by Beethoven and on into the 20th century. A few such pieces are
finales but most, especially after op.33, are dance movements and primarily
serve, in effect, as replacements where a minuet would be expected. Examples
from before op.33 appear in works by Bonporti (Invenzioni, 1712), J.S.
Bach (A minor Partita, bwv827), J.J. Agrell, W.F. Bach,
F.F. Hengsberger, C.F. Hurlebusch, J.M. Kraus, Karl von Ordonez and
Henri-Joseph Rigel, as well as in other works by Haydn himself (for example his
Piano Sonata hXVI:9, finale). Nearly all of these are in
duple metre and lack any trio section; almost half are finales. In the 19th
century scherzos occur in non-traditional cycles such as Schumann’s Ouvertüre,
Scherzo und Finale op.52 (1841) and Liszt’s Faust Symphony (1857: as
‘Mephistopheles’, the finale).
The
earliest examples of scherzos as independent movements are three by J.S. Bach (bwv844, Anh.134 and 148), of which the last two, for musical
clock, probably date from his Köthen period. Leopold Mozart included two
scherzos, one of them attributed to Wagenseil, in his Notebook for Nannerl
(1759). Some of the examples that appear to belong to this category may in fact
have been extracted from multi-movement works. Again, most of these examples
are in duple metre and lack trios.
This
type of scherzo flourished in the 19th century piano literature; the numerous
examples include the four scherzos of Chopin, and one by Brahms. Many were
written or arranged for piano four hands. Piano scherzos are usually either
virtuoso display pieces (such as those by Sigismond Thalberg, Edward Wolff and
Stephen Heller, from around 1840) or character-pieces or a combination of
those. The orchestral scherzo appeared during the first half of the 19th
century, an early example being that by Clara Wieck (woo5,
by 1831); it gained importance later in the century and in the early 20th with
works by Dvořák, Dukas (L’apprenti sorcier, 1897), Goldmark and
Stravinsky.
Some
scherzos have been composed or published in groups, as sets of instrumental
pieces. An early example is Salieri’s Scherzi istrumentali a quattro di
stile fugato (late 18th century). In the early 19th century several such
collections for keyboard were published, including J.G.H. Voigt’s 6 Scherzos
op.22 for piano four hands (reviewed in AMZ, 1810); the genre continued
in modest numbers in the solo and four-hand literature. Two rare programmatic
sequences are T. Oesten’s Olympische Spiele: 3 Scherzi op.113 (1857:
wrestling, discus throwing and boxing are the sports) and A.M. de Pusch’s 3
Scherzos depicting morning, noon and evening.
Scherzo
2. Haydn, Beethoven.
The
scherzo’s decisive admission to the canon of movements in regular Classical
usage dates from Haydn’s quartets op.33 (1781), sometimes known as ‘Gli
scherzi’ since the movement that would then conventionally have been a minuet
is headed either ‘scherzando’ or ‘scherzo’. Haydn’s intention with this unusual
title is not clear, since the movements are not, as a body, lighter or more
humorous than his usual type of minuet, and one (no.3) is decidedly serious,
even sombre, in colour. Playfulness and jocularity are frequent enough in
Haydn’s music, but instead of concentrating these qualities into a regular
alternative to the minuet in his sonatas and symphonies, he preferred to
exploit the scherzo spirit in his finales, as for instance in two of the piano
sonatas (hXVI:50 and 51) written in London in 1794.
It
was Beethoven who established the scherzo as a regular alternative to the
minuet and as a classic movement-type. From his earliest works the scherzo
appears regularly in place of the minuet, and he took the term literally by
giving the movement a light and often humorous tone. His scherzos are
generally, too, very swift. His need for variety at this juncture was all the
greater since he presumed from the beginning, unlike Haydn and Mozart, that
piano sonatas and the smaller chamber combinations might embrace the full
four-movement design, like symphonies and quartets. As early as op.10 he was
having doubts about this and four movements ceased to be a regular quota in
such works. Schindler recorded that towards the end of his life Beethoven was
contemplating revising some of his earlier works and removing the scherzos.
The
wind octet of 1792, published posthumously as op.103, is his first true
scherzo, anticipating that of the Septet op.20. The scherzo of the Piano Trio
op.1 no.1 is very fast and brittle, with a touch of humour and a clear sense of
one pulse to a bar, quite foreign to the minuet. The second Trio of op.1 also
has a scherzo, this time employing cross-accents, another favourite feature of
Beethoven’s scherzos that reaches an extreme point in the string quartets op.18
no.6 and op.135. With his highly sophisticated sense of musical humour,
Beethoven often invested his scherzos with elements of surprise or caprice. The
Quartet op.18 no.2 has a scherzo with very short, flippant phrases in rapid
exchange and some Haydnesque surprises. The most unashamedly capricious of his
scherzos is that in the ‘Spring’ Sonata op.24, where the violin and piano seem
constantly out of step with one another. The Violin Sonata op.30 no.2 in C
minor is similarly whimsical, and the Cello Sonata in A op.69 has a scherzo of
teasing syncopations.
It
was Beethoven’s introduction of the scherzo into the symphony that was to have
the most far-reaching effect. The First Symphony’s third movement is marked
‘Menuetto’ (this is surprising when he had already given the title ‘scherzo’ to
less scherzo-like pieces; though some scherzos are found marked as minuets in
the sketchbooks); its pace marks it as something altogether different from the
Classical minuet. Thereafter all his symphonies contain scherzos except the
Eighth, where the movement is marked ‘Tempo di menuetto’. The title ‘scherzo’
is in fact found only in the Second and Third. In his symphonic scherzos
Beethoven generated great forward momentum by a combination of pace and rapidly
alternating textures, and he maintained the Classical tradition of offering a
different speed or character, or both, in his trios. The symphonies, too, show
the broadest expansion of form in scherzo movements, beginning with the
‘Eroica’ with its tripartite trio and its written-out da capo, this time pianissimo
and leading to a forceful coda. With second and fourth movements grown to so
large a scale, the scherzo’s form expanded correspondingly. The Fifth
Symphony’s scherzo is linked to the finale, during which it reappears. In the
Fourth and Seventh Symphonies the trios appear twice, and in the Seventh there
is a further brief reference to the trio before the coda. The scherzo of the
Ninth, which comes second in order rather than in the more traditional (but by
no means invariable) third place, is both humorous in its unpredictable opening
and sophisticated in its rapid fugal textures, and is developed on a scale to
match that of the whole symphony.
In
his middle and late periods Beethoven did not always give titles to movements
of scherzo-like character; and by the time of the late quartets he introduced
movements in 2/4 or 4/4 where the effect of a scherzo is obviously intended.
The Presto movements of op.127 and op.131 illustrate this clearly, even though
scherzos in time signatures other than 3/4 are found much earlier. In the
String Trio op.9 no.3 the scherzo is in 6/8. The finale of the Piano Sonata
op.14 no.2, entitled ‘Scherzo’, is an extended movement in 3/8, and the Piano
Sonatas op.31 no.3 and op.110 both have scherzos in 2/4. Beethoven often used
the terms ‘scherzando’ and ‘scherzoso’, not so much of true scherzos but as an
indication of character and pace, especially in his jog-trot Allegretto
movements such as the second movement of op.18 no.4. In the String Quartet
op.127 the Andante con moto is marked ‘poco scherzoso’.
In
the wake of Beethoven the scherzo can be said to be normal in Schubert’s
sonatas and symphonies, where the two halves of the outer section have grown
from the simple binary pattern of the Classical minuet into an expanded
movement, often, as in the ‘Great’ C major Symphony, in full sonata form. His
trios provide lyrical contrast, generally with a change of key and character.
In Spohr’s output minuets and scherzos are equally common, and in Hummel’s
Septet op.74 a movement is headed ‘minuet or scherzo’. A new and dazzling
aspect of the scherzo was revealed by Mendelssohn’s brilliant studies in
fleetness of foot, known best in the scherzos of the Octet (1825) and of the
music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1843). Mendelssohn’s fairy-like
touch extends to other movements besides scherzos, as for example the last
movements of the ‘Italian’ Symphony and the Violin Concerto, and the scherzos,
many of them in duple time, are unfailingly light; the delicate pianissimo
ending is almost a mannerism. Other fine examples are found in the String
Quintet in A op.18, the String Quartet in E minor op.44 no.2 and the Piano
Trios opp.49 and 66. Some of his scherzos dispense with a trio.
Scherzo
3. Later repertory.
Berlioz’s
‘Queen Mab’ scherzo in Roméo et Juliette (1839), a tour de force of
gossamer orchestration, owes something to Mendelssohn’s model, and so do a
number of Schumann examples, including that in the Piano Quartet op.47. But
Schumann and Brahms, especially the latter, were generally content to build
scherzos after Beethoven’s pattern. Schumann particularly favoured the
alternation with more than one trio. Because Brahms avoided the conventional
scherzo in his symphonies it has been said that the scherzo was not congenial
to him, but this was by no means true, and he is to be credited with
introducing a scherzo into the Piano Concerto in B
op.83 as an additional movement, an idea
that was originally put forward by Schumann and put into practice by Litolff in
his ‘concerto-symphonies’. In Brahms’s First and Third Symphonies the scherzo
is replaced by a lyrical movement of moderate tempo, but neither light nor
jocular in tone. In the Second Symphony the scherzo and trio are seemingly
inverted as well as being thematically linked. The Fourth Symphony contains, in
Tovey’s words, ‘the greatest scherzo since Beethoven’, a 2/4 movement of
intense seriousness and energy. Mendelssohn’s delicacy and Beethoven’s humour
are absent from Brahms’s scherzos, but they can be swift, as in the C major
Piano Trio op.87, or rhythmically teasing, as in the Sonatensatz for
violin and piano. Furthermore Brahms was fond of combining slow movement and
scherzo in a single movement, as in the A major Violin Sonata op.100 – an idea
which goes back to Beethoven’s Serenade op.8 and which was also fruitfully taken
up by Lalo in his Cello Concerto.
While
in the later 19th century the scherzo was sometimes replaced by a dance
movement of national character, as by Dvořák with the furiant, or by a
balletic movement, as by Tchaikovsky with the waltz, its standing as a
symphonic movement has remained essentially unchallenged, indeed strengthened
by its wholehearted acceptance by all major symphonists from Bruckner to
Shostakovich. Bruckner’s range of scherzos is somewhat narrow, since he
favoured a heavy scherzo of great rhythmic impetus with much emphasis on the
regular bar-line. The trios normally offer quiet contrast, with ländler-type
sections in the earlier symphonies. In the last two symphonies the scherzo is
placed second, not third, following the example of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
Mahler too adopted the ländler, as for example in his First, Fifth and Ninth
Symphonies, but he could also give the scherzo a touch of grotesquerie, as in
the Fourth Symphony with its scordatura violin, and even horror, as in the
Sixth and Seventh Symphonies. The grotesque is more evident than the jocular in
the scherzos of Prokofiev and Shostakovich; Vaughan Williams has a scherzo of
pure diablerie in his Sixth Symphony, while Walton marked the scherzo of his
First Symphony ‘Presto, con malizia’. It is significant that in Holst’s The
Planets it is Uranus the Magician that evokes a scherzo, not Jupiter the
Bringer of Jollity; and in Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra the second movement
is entitled ‘Giuoco delle coppie’: though it is a joke, it is not a scherzo.
As
an independent movement, detached from the frame of sonata or symphony, the
scherzo came vigorously to life with Chopin’s four scherzos, all of which are
extended works, broadly ternary in structure (except for the Scherzo in C sharp
minor) and presto in 3/4 time. Brahms’s Scherzo op.4 is of the same kind, with
two trios. Smaller unattached scherzos are found in Schumann. Independent
orchestral movements of a scherzo type followed, and a number of symphonic
poems exploited the scherzo’s attributes of grotesquerie, delicacy, or speed.
Saint-Saëns’s Danse macabre is a scherzo in diabolic vein, and Dukas’ L’apprenti
sorcier, subtitled ‘scherzo’, is both swift and jocular. Strauss’s Burleske
for piano and orchestra was originally entitled ‘Scherzo’, and his Till
Eulenspiegel is a scherzo in all but name. With models like Stravinsky’s Scherzo
fantastique and Scherzo à la Russe, scherzos for orchestra or other
instruments, even for voices, were common during the 20th century.
Scherzo
4. Related terminology.
A
number of terms related to ‘scherzo’ occasionally appear, among them the
performance direction ‘scherzando’ and the diminutive ‘scherzetto’.
‘Scherzando’ (‘jokingly’), from the gerund of scherzare, is used
primarily as a performing direction and as a title, usually as the heading of a
movement. It is also, exceptionally, the title of six small-scale,
four-movement works by Haydn (hII:33–8), written before
1765, and also a further set of works advertised alongside these in the Breitkopf
catalogue of 1765. Variants include ‘scherzante’ (‘joking’), preferred by
Ordonez; its superlative, ‘scherzantissimo’, appears in Salieri’s Scherzi
istrumentali. A commoner variant, derived directly from scherzo, is
‘scherzoso’ (literally ‘joke-full’, or ‘playful’), used by Beethoven and
others; a further variant is ‘scherzevole’.
Loosely
used by musicians, ‘scherzando’ may serve equally as noun or modifier. As a
movement title, it appears from 1770 onwards, sometimes coupled with a tempo or
movement designation (‘Allegro scherzando’, ‘Rondo scherzando’). It was used
from the early 18th century as a performing direction. Whether or not the
‘scherzando’ for the gigue following Pachelbel’s canon is authentic, it is used
in the overtures of five lute or keyboard suites by Telemann (twv3:32/5–9,
undated). From the 1760s it is applied predominantly to finales, probably
replacing minuet-finales just as scherzos would replace minuets. A scherzando
finale of a keyboard sonata by C.S. Binder dates from about 1761. Many such
movements are in 6/8 metre. Three scherzando finales of Haydn symphonies
(nos.42, 46 and 66) present his typical comic techniques but are by no means
unique among his finales, and it is clear that the term does not indicate a
specific type of movement. By the first decade of the 19th century there are
fewer scherzando finales but the number of dance-type movements bearing
the title increases: such movements tend to follow the familiar minuet pattern
of triple metre and da capo form. The Allegretto scherzando of Beethoven’s
Eighth Symphony, in duple metre, is an unusual but not unique example of a scherzando
slow movement, with a minuet to follow as the dance movement. From the late
18th century onwards there are examples of scherzando movements
published individually, sometimes as supplements to journals or as parts of
longer, non-cyclic works or collections; ‘Rondo [Rondoletto, Rondino]
scherzando’ remained a popular sub-genre from the 1820s to the end of the
century. Examples of published sets include P.L.L. Benoit’s 2 Scherzandos
op.3 (Leipzig, before 1860).
Two
diminutives of scherzo are ‘scherzino’ and ‘scherzetto’. The former is the more
widely used; among the first to use it was Schumann, Faschingsschwank aus
Wien op.26 (1839–40); there is also a brief Scherzino (1832) in his Albumblätter
op.124. The term continued in use throughout the 19th century either for a
movement in a cycle of piano miniatures or for a character-piece, less often
for an independent work (an example is Czerny’s Scherzino alla tarantella,
op.763). ‘Scherzetto’, which appears in the second half of the century, is
applied more often to individual pieces than to movements within longer works.
The whimsicality implicit in these terms is exemplified in Alkan’s usage in his
48 motifs op.63 – one a ‘scherzetto’ with a ‘trioletto’, the other a
‘scherzettino’. None of these terms necessarily indicates a composition
significantly smaller (i.e. shorter, lighter or simpler) than an ordinary
scherzo.
Scherzo
BIBLIOGRAPHY
MGG1 (W. Steinbeck)
SchillingE
G. Becking: Studien zu
Beethovens Personalstil: das Scherzothema (Leipzig, 1921)
B. Motylewska: ‘Scherzo w okresie przedklasycznym’, Muzyka, iv (1959), 72
J. Gmeiner: Menuett und
Scherzo: ein Beitrag zur Entwicklungsgeschichte und Soziologie des Tanzsatzes
in der Wiener Klassik (Tutzing, 1979)
A. Sopart: ‘Claudio Monteverdis “Scherzi musicali” (1607) und ihre Beziehungen zum
“Scherzo”– Begriff in der italienischen Barocklyrik’, AMw, xxxviii (1981), 227–34
W. Steinbeck: ‘“Ein wahres Spiel mit musikalischen Formen”: zum Scherzo Ludwig van
Beethovens’, AMw, xxxviii (1981),
194–226
T. Russell: Minuet,
Scherzando, and Scherzo: the Dance Movement in Transition, 1781–1825 (diss., U. of North Carolina, 1983)
T. Russell: ‘“Über das Komische in der Musik”: the Schütze-Stein Controversy’, JM, iv (1986), 70–90
W. Steinbeck: ‘Scherzo’ (1986), HMT
G. Wheelock: Haydn’s
Ingenious Jesting with Art: Contexts of Musical Wit and Humor (New York, 1992)
E. Platen: ‘Scherzo’, Das neue
Lexikon der Musik, ed. G. Massenkeil (Stuttgart, 1996)