Scherzo
A fast, often humorous movement in triple meter that frequently replaces the minuet.
What it means
The scherzo, Italian for 'joke,' is a fast movement usually in triple meter whose name points to a playful, humorous character, which can appear in surprising accents, sudden dynamic leaps, or blunt rhythmic displacements.
Like the minuet, the scherzo is usually built in three sections, with a calmer middle section, the trio, followed by a return of the main section.
Musical use
As an independent movement type in the symphony and sonata, the scherzo was established above all by Ludwig van Beethoven, who from his Second Symphony onward regularly used it in place of the more courtly, sedate minuet, often giving it a markedly more energetic, at times almost menacing character. Composers such as Schumann, Brahms, Bruckner, and Mahler subsequently made the scherzo a fixed, often highly individual movement type of the symphony.
Beyond its role as a symphonic movement, the scherzo also exists as an independent character piece, as in Chopin's four large-scale piano scherzos, which go far beyond the original playful tone and at times take on dramatic, dark qualities.
The scherzo should be distinguished from the minuet, whose more leisurely tempo and courtly dance character it replaced, and from scherzando, which is not an independent movement type but merely a performance direction indicating a playful character within any movement.
Performance practice
Play the scherzo with clear rhythmic precision so that surprising accents and syncopations can achieve their humorous or startling effect. In the calmer trio, deliberately create a contrast in timbre and dynamics before returning to the more energetic main section.