How to Use scherzo in a Sentence

scherzo

noun
  • The inner movements went along just fine, with horns in fine fettle in the jolly scherzo.
    — Dallas News, 18 Nov. 2022
  • But in the lightning-fast scherzo, the group maintained total control.
    — Tim Diovanni, Dallas News, 16 Apr. 2021
  • Alsop drew gorgeous playing from the strings in the slow movement, vivid work from winds and brass in the scherzo and finale.
    — Tim Smith, baltimoresun.com, 16 June 2017
  • Even the scherzo, marked con fuoco (with fire), is also marked Allegro non troppo — fast, but not too fast.
    — Scott Cantrell, Dallas News, 3 May 2023
  • Even the scherzo, which can be craggy, had a wonderful malleable quality.
    — Washington Post, 11 Oct. 2019
  • The trio of the scherzo was properly exhilarating, and the finale’s tenor solo quite briskly urged us on our way.
    — Dallas News, 13 May 2022
  • The scherzo and finale were taken at fleet tempos that would feel scrambled on the piano, but worked well enough with the chamber ensemble.
    — Dallas News, 27 Feb. 2023
  • The scherzo bristled with a kind of angular ferocity, at once robust and tender.
    — Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle, 16 Mar. 2018
  • There was grandeur in the marchlike second movement; an aptly rolling tempo in the scherzo; and shades of Mussorgsky in the finale.
    — Howard Reich, chicagotribune.com, 13 June 2019
  • The trio blasted through the scherzo, a quintessential Ivesian clangor that mashes together a whole sheaf of folk tunes and hymns.
    — Zoë Madonna, BostonGlobe.com, 3 July 2019
  • Tempos one notch faster than Trevino’s would have given the opening more urgency, and the lush trios of the scherzo more coherence.
    — Scott Cantrell, Dallas News, 29 Feb. 2020
  • Only in the tricky scherzo did orchestral coordination slip slightly and briefly.
    — Scott Cantrell, Dallas News, 31 Oct. 2020
  • The third movement scherzo is apocalyptic; crashing, thunderous chords are used as a merciless refrain in a danse macabre.
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Apr. 2022
  • At times, his interpretive focus felt somewhat blurry and the trio section of the scherzo was taken at an awkwardly slow tempo.
    — Jeremy Eichler, BostonGlobe.com, 10 Feb. 2023
  • There was, however, plenty of rhythm in the scherzo, and the finale had a sometimes playful question-and-answer character.
    — Richard S. Ginell, latimes.com, 26 Apr. 2018
  • So when the scherzo movement misfired and required a retake, the audience seemed to care about as much as when a drink spills at a boisterous party, which is to say, not at all.
    — Jeremy Eichler, BostonGlobe.com, 17 June 2018
  • To a young listener, the belligerent scherzo or the supremely peppy and vigorous final movement may have the most appeal.
    — Daniel Gelernter, National Review, 2 Nov. 2019
  • The crucial woodwind solos of the scherzo and third movement brought superb teamwork from the principals, with molten brass and incisive percussion to match.
    — John Von Rhein, chicagotribune.com, 4 May 2018
  • Only twice in 65 minutes — once in the final pages of the scherzo and again near the close of the soloists with chorus — did Kalmar achieve a surpassing level of tension.
    — Alan G. Artner, chicagotribune.com, 19 Aug. 2017
  • There was no doubting the scherzo’s rhythmic buoyancy, Masur and friends conjuring its high spirits with vigor and clarity.
    — Howard Reich, chicagotribune.com, 22 Oct. 2019
  • But trumpets were repeatedly too loud in balances, as occasionally were horns, although the latter made jolly sounds in their scherzo summonses.
    — Scott Cantrell, Dallas News, 24 May 2023
  • Underpinning the piece is the impatient rhythmic motif from the scherzo of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
    — Corinna Da Fonseca-Wollheim, New York Times, 10 Mar. 2017
  • Thursday’s performance was out to dazzle and definitely succeeded, leaving the impression of the piece being one breathless scherzo.
    — David Patrick Stearns, Philly.com, 11 May 2018
  • However, the second movement scherzo didn’t match the rest for clarity or energy, and Nelsons’s conservative tempo dragged it down.
    — Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 14 July 2019
  • However, the order of those movements doesn’t follow the classical model of fast sonata form followed by a slow movement, a dance movement (usually a minuet or scherzo), and a fast sonata or rondo finale.
    — Jessica Rudman, courant.com, 13 Oct. 2019
  • From the emphatic opener to the scherzo’s heroic chords, the pianist’s versatility and inventiveness were evident.
    — Washington Post, 18 Nov. 2019
  • The movement was most arresting for the ensemble’s energy, which lent sufficient drama to the many musical gasps Beethoven inserts to regain the scherzo’s composure.
    — Michael Andor Brodeur, Washington Post, 11 Dec. 2022
  • Honeck paced the scherzo as moderately as Mahler specified in the score, bringing a truly idiomatic grace to those lilting evocations of Viennese landler and waltz.
    — John Von Rhein, chicagotribune.com, 26 Jan. 2018
  • The second movement, a galloping scherzo in triple time, was brimming with character, and benefited greatly from Cox’s locomotive approach.
    — Washington Post, 8 Apr. 2022
  • The scherzo is an essay in syncopation and section work; strings and winds parry through fleeting arpeggios and transitions in and out of the lilting trio test an orchestra’s ability with unison ritardandi.
    — Lukas Schulze, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 June 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'scherzo.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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