ETYM Italian.
A brilliant solo passage occuring near the end of a piece of music.
Music, virtuoso passage immediately preceding close of work or section.
In music, an unaccompanied exhibition passage in the style of an improvisation, inserted by the soloist at the climax of a concerto movement.
The practice of improvising a cadenza largely ceased around 1780, composers thereafter supplying their own in written form. Recently, however, the practice of the interpreter composing a cadenza has re-emerged, with Stockhausen writing new cadenzas for Haydn and Mozart and Nigel Kennedy recording Beethoven’s 1805 Violin Concerto with a cadenza of his own devising.