Tchaikovsky, during a stay in Italy, gathered together some native folk-songs that he found in collections or heard in the streets, and made out of them an Italian Caprice, full of the spirit of peasants in rude health.
The opening Trumpet call is a reminiscence of the military music the Composer heard when he stayed near a barracks in Rome. Then various folk-songs are brought in. The last section of the work consists of a lively Tarantella. One of the folk-tunes looks in for a moment, and then the Tarantella is resumed, and the piece sweeps on to its riotous conclusion.