On hearing Joseph Anton Steffan's (1726-1797) numerous songs or piano works, he can immediately be identified as an original precursor of Romanticism. His harmonically refined "Capricci" - whose tempi and metre often change - are particularly attractive, although to date they have lain around in archives in manuscript form. We have dug up these treasures and are offering a first edition of the five Capricci with excellent Henle engraving and with a short introductory preface.