Laszlo Lajtha is recognized, along with Bartok, Kodaly and Dohnanyi, as one of the great Hungarian composers of the first half of the twentieth century. He established his reputation as his country’s foremost symphnist but also showed a strong affinity for the stage, writing his one-act ballet Capriccio in 1944. Despite the darkness of the times the ballet is filled with light and set in the period around 1700, the age of Watteau. Taking commedia dell’arte as his model, Lajtha’s characterization brims with wit and elegance.