The Big "Joke"

[euphony131]

Scherzo, Italian for "joke." But the joke was on the audience -- they were expecting a number they could daintily dance to -- the Minuet, instead they got a blast in the face courtesy of the Master. heehee

I'd like to know more about the history of the Scherzo. I'd always assumed it was B. who invented it, but apparently it exited before in some form? Anyone?

[Peter]

Monteverdi published in 1628 some pieces titled 'Scherzi musicali' (musical jokes) and there are pieces of earlier date using the term as well.
Haydn was actually the first composer to use the term as we know it, replacing the minuet with the Scherzo in an early sonata and in his Op.33 String Quartets. He reverted to the Minuet, but in his later works the pace of the minuet is quicker.
Beethoven was of course the first to develop the Scherzo, giving us the greatest ever written - 2nd Movement of the 9th Symphony.

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'Man know thyself'