Cadenza
![Cadenza indication from Beethoven's Piano Concerto in C minor: fermata over rest indicates beginning, fermata over shake indicates close.[1] Play](/uploads/202501/02/Beethoven_-_Concerto_in_C_minor,_cadenza2423.png)

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![Written-out cadenza from Mozart's K. 398 (end of Variation 6) demonstrates the often unmetered quality of cadenzas[3] Play](/uploads/202501/02/Mozart_-_6_Variations_on_an_aria_from_I_Filosofi_Immaginarii_K._398_(416e),_first_movement,_cadenza_written_out2423.png)
In music, a cadenza (from Italian:cadenza [kaˈdɛntsa], meaning cadence; plural, cadenze [kaˈdɛntse]) is, generically, an improvised or written-out ornamental passage played or sung by a soloist or soloists, usually in a "free" rhythmic style, and often allowing for virtuosic display. Indicated by a fermata in all parts if improvised, a cadenza is usually over a final or penultimate note in a piece or important cadence and the accompaniment rests or sustains a note or chord. Thus it is often before a final coda or ritornello.