10 Most Favouritest Scherzi (with or without Trios)

[amw]

2 is from Robert Simpson's Symphony No. 9 (admittedly an obscure choice, but it's a fairly popular symphony on this forum) and 9 is from Fauré's Piano Quartet No. 1 (one of his early masterpieces)

[ritter]

I really don't feel up to the task of providing a list of ten, but when I think of the word "scherzo", I always think of this delightful piece:

https://www.youtube.com/v/q3lGqWjZDF4

[(poco) Sforzando]

It's actually 176 to the half note—the metronome mark gets a bit smudged on the old Muzgiz scores, but is very clear in the new critical edition.

I have the Dover reprint, which was published in 1995 but apparently is no longer in print due to copyright. The number is a bit smudged at the top of the woodwinds, but the half note is clear enough, and half = 176 is perfectly clear at the top of the violins.

As Jo498 asks, can you please fill in any examples of yours we haven't caught?

Regarding Beethoven's 8th, the movement there with the true scherzo character is the second, which however is in duple meter (marked 2/4, but I would say more truly 4/8) and in sonata form. I would have to give some thought as to when Beethoven first wrote ABA scherzos in duple meter; he was probably the first to do so with examples like 110, 130, 131, and the B minor bagatelle from 126. Were there any earlier ones? The second movement of op. 31/3 is a scherzo in character while being both in duple meter and sonata form.

I would agree that Roméo as a whole does not work, but the Mab scherzo and Love Scene are to my mind two of the irreplaceable miracles of 19th-century music.

[Karl Henning]

Which is terrifyingly fast and not even the man himself (with Mieczysław Weinberg on second piano) can keep up—perhaps it was a typo and he did mean a quarter note, but he plays faster than that...

To be sure, that the composer could not keep up that tempo in a piano transcription, does not necessarily mean that it was an "error."

[(poco) Sforzando]

One would expect examples from Verdi's Falstaff, and there probably are. But the truest scherzo in Verdi I can think of now is the overhearing scene from Act 3 of Otello, which preserves something of an ABA character even within the dramatic context. The Sanctus from the Requiem might qualify too, depending on how tightly you define the form.

[ritter]

Well, you also have the whole of Siegfried, viewed as the scherzo of the Ring. 

[Karl Henning]

Well, you also have the whole of Siegfried, viewed as the scherzo of the Ring. 

That's it!  It's all a joke!! 

[ritter]

That's it!  It's all a joke!! 

Glad to see you're so proficient in Italian, Karl. 

scherzo[schér-zo] s.m.
1 Comportamento in cui si dice o si fa qlco. non sul serio, ma per divertimento o per burla: prendere, volgere tutto in s.; atto o parola con cui ci si prende gioco di qlcu. SIN beffa, burla || stare allo s., non prendersela a male per uno scherzo ricevuto | s. da prete, nel l. fam., beffa poco piacevole e non simpatica | per s., non seriamente | nemmeno per s., in nessun caso | senza scherzi, seriamente | a parte gli s. o scherzi a parte, parlando seriamente
2 estens. Evento inatteso, imprevisto: la strada bagnata mi ha giocato un brutto s.
3 fig. Bazzecola, cosa da nulla: scalare il monte non è mica uno s.!
4 mus. Componimento vivace e brioso diffuso in Europa a partire dal sec. XVII; si presenta dapprima come parte di una sinfonia, e poi, in età romantica, come pezzo autonomo per pianoforte

Distinti saluti,

[Christo]

There are many scherzi from many symphonies that I love, especially those by composers like Vaughan Williams (particularly those from symphonies Nos. 2, 5, 6 and 9) and Shostakovich. Just one other favourite springs to mind, an extended scherzo: Josef Suk, Scherzo Fantastico Op. 25 per orchestra 

https://www.youtube.com/v/wj1Kh2NxGas

[vandermolen]

There are many scherzi from many symphonies that I love, especially those by composers like Vaughan Williams (particularly those from symphonies Nos. 2, 5, 6 and 9) and Shostakovich. Just one other favourite springs to mind, an extended scherzo: Josef Suk, Scherzo Fantastico Op. 25 per orchestra 

https://www.youtube.com/v/wj1Kh2NxGas

Certainly agree with all this and should have added Bruckner's Symphony 9 (as well as eight) to my list. Also Martinu Symphony 4 and Tchaikovsky's 'Pathetique' Symphony. Williamson's 'Elavimini' (Symphony 1). Copland Third Symphony. I think that makes 10 now added to my original list.

[Jo498]

As has been said, "scherzo" and "scherzando" have been around as *characterisation" of pieces that are in some way "funny" or picturesque since the baroque. (There is a "scherzo" in Bach's a minor clavier partita, and I think also in several of Telemann's suites with programmatic titles, like the Hamburg water music.)

One probably would have to look at lots of music between ca. 1740 and 1770 to determine when the first movements appeared that were called scherzo and followed the tripartite form with a contrasting middle section and da capo. Haydn called all menuets "scherzo" in op.33 but later on he used "menuetto" again, although the ones marked "presto" in op.77 are much closer in character to Beethoven's scherzi.

In Haydn's c# minor piano sonata (a few years older than the quartets op.33) the middle movement is called "Scherzando" and has a rondo-like (roughly ABA'B'A'' or so) structure (but all written out, no dacapo). There are also some fast scherzando movements in the early divertimenti but I don't remember whether they have the tripartite form.

[Karl Henning]

As has been said, "scherzo" and "scherzando" have been around as *characterisation" of pieces that are in some way "funny" or picturesque since the baroque. (There is a "scherzo" in Bach's a minor clavier partita, and I think also in several of Telemann's suites with programmatic titles, like the Hamburg water music.)

Many of the French clavecin pieces have titles with a witty bent, of course.

[Karl Henning]

Thread Duty (insofar as I may comply) . . .

. . . I find myself unable to fixate on 'em, but (as I have been observing in the week's listening) am pretty well content to call my 10 most-favored scherzi, the ten I listened to most recently.

There may be scherzi I don't think well of, but they probably haven't been written by the composers I listen to  0:)

[Jo498]

Interestingly, Telemann also called some short and "light" multi-movement pieces "Scherzo" and Haydn wrote in the early 1760s 6 "Scherzandi" which are rather short but multi-movement orchestral divertimenti or sinfoniettas.
But this usage seems fairly rare later on, although Bartok wrote an early "Scherzo" that is actually a multi-sectional quasi-concerto for piano & orchestra and lasts about half an hour!

[(poco) Sforzando]

I don't think the scherzo from Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream has been mentioned. Rachmaninoff did a marvelous transcription for piano too.

And the "scherzo vocale" episode for boys' choir from the magnificent Prologue to Boito's Mefistofele.

[jochanaan]

Perhaps it's time to recount the sad tale of a conductor who could never do justice to the third movement of a symphony.
.
.
.

...because he was scherzo.

[kyjo]

Symphonic:

Atterberg 1
Casella 2
Dvorak 6
Hanson 3
Korngold F-sharp
Rachmaninoff 2
Raff 5
Saint-Saëns 3
Suk 1
Tchaikovsky 3 (mvt. 4)


Chamber:

Bartok: Piano Quintet
Beethoven: String Quartet no. 10 "Harp"
Bloch: String Quartet no. 1
Brahms: Piano Quintet
Dvorak: String Quartet no. 13
Enescu: Octet
Ravel: Piano Trio
Schubert: String Quintet
Taneyev: Piano Quintet
Vaughan Williams: Phantasy Quintet

[Brian]

Taneyev: Piano Quintet

LOL - this is one of my very favorite romantic chamber works, but have you seen this live? I feel very lucky to say I have, with the Escher Quartet and Alessio Bax. And the beginning of the scherzo, where the pianist plays that one note over and over, is just funny to watch. The four string players are chugging away, and Alessio Bax is sitting there with his right index finger on the key going plonk, plonk, plonk, with his left hand in his lap. He made it even more unintentionally amusing by cocking his head left after one note, then right after another, as if bored out of his mind. My girlfriend and I both giggled.

[kyjo]

LOL - this is one of my very favorite romantic chamber works, but have you seen this live? I feel very lucky to say I have, with the Escher Quartet and Alessio Bax. And the beginning of the scherzo, where the pianist plays that one note over and over, is just funny to watch. The four string players are chugging away, and Alessio Bax is sitting there with his right index finger on the key going plonk, plonk, plonk, with his left hand in his lap. He made it even more unintentionally amusing by cocking his head left after one note, then right after another, as if bored out of his mind. My girlfriend and I both giggled.

Now that's hilarious! Lucky you to have seen the piece live; I haven't had the opportunity.

[André]

Chopin, # 1

Beethoven: sonata no 29

Mendelssohn: symphony no 3

Dvorak: symphony 6

Vieuxtemps: violin concerto no 4

Brahms: piano concerto no 2

Bruckner: symphonies nos 3 and 9

Mahler: symphony no 9

Shostakovich: 3rd mvmt of symphony no 8. Technically the symphony's scherzo is the 2nd mvmt, while the 3rd is a toccata. But I don't care  .