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A lively, often humorous movement in triple meter that replaced the minuet in symphonies and sonatas from Beethoven onward. Literally "joke."
Beethoven transformed the genteel minuet into the vigorous scherzo. Write scherzos with rhythmic energy, unexpected accents, and humor. The standard form is scherzo-trio-scherzo (ABA), with the trio providing contrast — often smoother and more lyrical.
Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, second movement (Molto vivace) — a titanic scherzo with thunderous timpani and relentless energy.
Scherzo is one of 228 terms in the Gradus musical dictionary, where every definition is written around how composers actually use the word.
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