The capriccio is a sectional imitative genre featuring a rhythmically active subject not altogether unlike the canzona. It is not the most common of genres, and it appears that his capriccios have some tie to those of Frescobaldi, his teacher and mentor in Rome. Frescobaldi's capriccios all have an element of thematic unity, with each section using a variation on the same subject of imitation. This capriccio is the third of the six capriccios included in Froberger's Libro Quarto of 1565, a book of keyboard music consisting of toccatas, capriccios, ricercares, and suites, with six examples of each genre type. This capriccio is in the Phrygian mode, one of the most poignant of the modes due to the lowered half step in its second scale degree. By 1565 use of the Phrygian mode was relatively rare, but it is not unique in Froberger's output. The second fantasia from the Libro Secondo of 1649 is also in the Phrygian mode. The capriccio FbWV 509 is in three sections, each including a featuring a different rhythmic permutation of essentially the same subject creating a sort of theme with two variations. The first is in common time, the second in 3/1, the third in 12/8. The last two sections end with free rhapsodic material much like that normally found in toccatas.

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