The Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra (French: Capriccio pour piano et orchestre) was written by Igor Stravinsky in Nice between 1926 and 1929. The score was revised in 1949.
Stravinsky designed the Capriccio to be a virtuosic vehicle which would allow him to earn a living from playing the piano part. The Capriccio, together with the Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments, belonged to a catalogue of breadwinning pieces which Stravinsky composed to support himself after fleeing the Russian Revolution to live in Western Europe.
History
The Allegro capriccioso movement that would become the finale was begun first, in Nice on Christmas Day 1928, and provided the musical material from which the other movements grew. It was followed by the second movement, completed at Echarvines on 13 September 1929, and then by the opening Presto. The orchestration of the first movement was completed on 26 October and that of the last movement on 9 November, 1929 (White 1979, 355–56).