Intermezzo

Originally, a composition which fits between other musical or dramatic entities, such as acts of a play or movements of a larger musical work. The musical analog of an interstitial. In the mid-to-late nineteenth the application of the term intermezzo was also applied to a character piece which could stand on its own. The most famous of these were a series composed by Johannes Brahms. The use of the term during the ragtime era was loosely applied, as some intermezzos were actually veiled marches or lightly sycnopated rags, or even reveries. Intermezzos share similar structure to piano rags and marches, but are generally non-syncopated and less rhythmic than either. The practical application of the term is nebulous in many cases, but it is usually equated with a 2/4 or 4/4 parlor piece in multi-part form that is difficult to categorize within other genres or subgenres.