CAPRICCIO

capriccio, or caprice (ital. for a sudden motion or fancy), a musical term for a lively composition of an original and fantastic nature, not following a set musical form, although the first known, written for the harpsichord, partook of the nature of a fugue. the word is also used for pieces of a fanciful type, in the nature of transcriptions and variations. capricornus ("the goat"), in astronomy, the tenth sign of the zodiac (q.v.), represented by the symbol [symbol] intended to denote the crooked horns of this animal. the word is derived from lat. _caper_, a goat, and _cornu_, a horn. it is also a constellation of the southern hemisphere, mentioned by eudoxus (4th century b.c.) and aratus (3rd century b.c.); ptolemy and tycho brahe catalogued 28 stars, hevelius gave 29. it was represented by the ancients as a creature having the forepart a goat, and the hindpart a fish, or sometimes simply as a goat. an interesting member of this constellation is [alpha]-_capricorni_, a pair of stars of 3rd and 4th magnitudes, each of which has a companion of the 9th magnitude.