Fantasia

The fantasia (also English fantasy, fancy, German fantasie, French fantaisie) is a musical composition with its roots in the art of improvisation. Because of this, it seldom approximates the textbook rules of any strict musical form.

In the Baroque and Classical music eras, a fantasia was typically a piece for keyboard instruments with alternating sections of rapid passagework and fugal texture. From the Baroque period, J. S. Bach's Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue, BWV 903, for harpsichord; Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, BWV 542, for organ; and Fantasia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 537, for organ are examples. For an example from the Classical period, see Mozart's Fantasia in D minor, K397 (see Köchel) for fortepiano. In contemporary music, Busoni's Fantasia Contrappuntistica or Corigliano's Fantasia on an ostinato are examples of a fantasia.