Editing Scherzo (section)

==Origins==
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The [[Italian language|Italian]] word ''scherzo'' means "[[joke]]" or "jest." More rarely, the similar-meaning word ''badinerie'' (also spelled ''battinerie''; from [[French language|French]], "jesting") has been used. Sometimes the word ''scherzando'' ("joking") is used in [[musical notation]] to indicate that a passage should be executed in a playful manner.
An early use of the word ''scherzo'' in music is in light-hearted [[madrigal]]s of the [[Baroque music#Early baroque music (1580–1630)|early baroque period]], which were often called ''scherzi musicali'', for example:
* [[Claudio Monteverdi]] wrote two sets of works with this title, in 1607 and in 1632.
* [[Antonio Brunelli]] wrote ''Scherzi, Arie, Canzonette e Madrigale'' for voices and instruments in 1616.
* [[Johann Baptist Schenk]] wrote ''Scherzi musicale'' (fourteen suites for [[viol|gamba]] and [[Figured bass|continuo]]).<ref name=CEM483>Sir [[Jack Westrup]] & F. Ll. Harrison, ''Collins Encyclopedia of Music'' (1976 revised edition, Chancellor Press, London, {{ISBN|0-907486-49-5}}), p. 483</ref>

Later, composers applied the term ''scherzo'' (plural scherzos or scherzi) and sometimes ''badinerie''<ref>Boyd, Malcolm. ''Oxford Composer Companions: J.S. Bach'', Oxford University Press, 1999, p. 58</ref> to certain instrumental works in fast tempos in [[duple meter]] [[time signature]], for example:
* The scherzo of [[Johann Sebastian Bach]]'s [[Partitas for keyboard (Bach)|Partita No. 3 for keyboard]].<ref name=CEM483 />
{{Listen|type=music|filename=Bach, Johann Sebastian - Suite No.2 in B Minor - X. Badinerie.ogg|title=7. Badinerie|description=J. S. Bach, Suite No. 2 in B minor, BWV 1067}}
* The best-known "Badinerie" is the final movement of Bach's [[Orchestral suites (Bach)#Suite No. 2 in B minor, BWV 1067|Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B minor]]. 
* Badineries in French ''ouvertures'' by [[Christoph Graupner]] and [[Georg Philipp Telemann]].

The scherzo, as most commonly known today, developed from the [[minuet and trio]], and gradually came to replace it as the third (sometimes second) movement in [[symphony|symphonies]], [[string quartet]]s, [[sonata]]s, and similar works. It traditionally retains the [[triple meter]] [[time signature]] and [[ternary form]] of the minuet, but is considerably quicker. It is often, but not always, of a light-hearted nature.

The main features include a 6 - 8 bar melody with one beat per bar feel.