Capriccio

Capriccio, in Music, is a species of free composition, not subject to rule as to form or figure. The earliest application of the term was to pieces in a fugued style, upon a lively subject. Last century capriccios were of the nature of studies, in which one single figure predominates. It is used in the modern form 'caprice,' as equivalent to 'fantasia,' though sometimes deviating little from regular sonata or rondo form, as in Mendelssohn's several examples.