Although not actually a part of the series of Spanish Dances released by Pablo de Sarasate between 1878 and 1882, the Caprice basque for violin and piano, Op. 24, of 1881 falls very much in line, musically speaking (and chronologically speaking, for that matter), with those eight folk-dance oriented pieces. In the Caprice basque it is not just the shape and genre that are pulled from the Spanish (or in this case Basque) folk catalog, but also the very melodies themselves. The piece is in two halves, the first a Moderato in D minor that moves along atop a stern, peculiarly unsmooth rhythmic ostinato, the second a series of ever more daring and inventive virtuoso variations on an Allegro moderato tune in A minor. Intricate left-hand pizzicati and, at the very end, a high-flying arpeggio excursion up the violin's fingerboard provide plenty of fodder for the technically-minded, but the Caprice basque is better than a mere etude—it has, especially in the opening section, a great deal of charm and sophisticated earthiness.

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