The capriccio was a somewhat quirky genre which was not unlike the canzona, an imitative genre which favored subjects with snappier rhythms and also included some passages with free rhapsodic rambling not unlike the sort of improvisatory material in Froberger's toccatas. Not too many composers wrote capriccios, but Frescobaldi, Froberger's teacher in Rome published a set of capriccios, and Froberger appears to have written his capriccios modeled after Frescobaldi's works in the genre. Like Frescobaldi, each of Froberger's capriccios are multi-sectional works with each section featuring a different rhythmic permutation of the same subject of imitation. This capriccio is the fifth of the six capriccios in Froberger's Libro Quarto of 1656. The book of pieces contained toccatas, ricercares, capriccios, and suites with six examples of each genre. It was dedicated to Froberger's patron and employer the Emperor Ferdinand III of the Hapsburg Empire. This capriccio is in four sections each of which ends with strict polyphony decaying into a brief and spontaneous eruption of intense free improvisatory passage work. The second section plugs the otherwise common time subject of imitation into a triple meter, the third section returns to common time and adds a chromatic passing tone to the subject. The last adds a snappy arpeggiated figure to the subject.

© Andrus Madsen, All Music Guide