Cadenza

Origin of: Cadenza

Cadenza

A cadenza is a musical term in the form of a spirited musical flourish towards the close of the first or last movement of a concerto. To have a cadenza is South African informal meaning to become very agitated or excited and derives from a 1940s recording by Danny Kaye called The Little Fiddle in which he sings about a trumpet who gets so excited he has a big cadenza. The song was very popular in South Africa and the expression was adopted thereafter.