A continuous composition, not divided into what are called movements, or governed by the ordinary rules of musical design, but in which the author's fancy roves unrestricted by set form.

an highly imitative but improvised-sounding composition in which "fantasy" (freedom) takes precedence over rigid form.

A free-form composition, a flight of fancy. In keyboard works of the Baroque period it was often a prelude-like introduction to something more rigorous, like a fugue. In the Romantic period it was used to describe character pieces by Schubert, Liszt, and Brahms. The fantasia frequently draws on a familiar melody, as in Ralph Vaughan William's "Fantasia on Greensleeves."

a musical composition of a free form usually incorporating several familiar themes

an imaginative, almost improvisational composition

A musical piece in which the composer has not been bound to any conventional form.

(it.)/Fantasie (ger.)/Fantaisie (Fr.) - A compositions that is not in any of the regular forms. [back

Free instrumental piece of fairly large dimensions, in an improvisational style; in the Baroque, it often served as an introductory piece to a fugue.

a musical composition of no fixed form, with a structure determined by the composers fancy

A term adopted in the Renaissance for an instrumental composition whose form and invention “spring solely from the fantasy and skill of the author who created it.

an unstructured instrumental composition, often characterized by exaggeration, distortion and unpredictability. Throughout its use, fantasia often meant free improvisation, and was used to describe a work that gave the impression of flowing spontaneously from a player’s imagination. The term was sometimes used interchangeably with capriccio, voluntary, toccata and canzona, among others. work of unstructured form, originally an improvisation.

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.

Fantasia is the title of a side-scrolling video game developed by Infogrames and produced by Sega for its own Mega Drive/Genesis system. The game was loosely based on the popular Walt Disney musical of the same name.