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FANTASIA (Italian for " fantasy," a c...

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 171 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FANTASIA (See also:Italian for " fantasy," a causing to be seen, from See also:Greek, 4aivew, to show)  , a name in See also:music sometimes loosely used for a See also:composition which has little structural See also:form, and appears to be an improvization; and also for a See also:combination or medley of See also:familiar airs connected together with See also:original passages of more or less brilliance . The word, however, was originally applied to more formal compositions, based on the See also:madrigal, for several See also:instruments . Fantasias appear as distinct compositions in See also:Bach's See also:works, and also joined to a See also:fugue, as in the " See also:Great See also:Fantasia and Fugue " in A See also:minor, and the " Fantasia cromatica " in D minor . See also:Brahms used the name for his shorter piano pieces . It is also applied to orchestral compositions " not See also:long enough to be called symphonic poems and not formal enough to be called overtures " (See also:Sir C . See also:Hubert See also:Parry, in See also:Grove's See also:Dictionary of Music, ed . Igoe) . The See also:Italian word is still used in See also:Tunis, See also:Algeria and See also:Morocco, with the meaning of " showing off," for an acrobatic See also:exhibition of See also:horsemanship by the See also:Arabs . The riders See also:fire their guns, throw them and their lances into the See also:air, and catch them again, See also:standing or kneeling in the See also:saddle, all at a full gallop .

End of Article: FANTASIA (Italian for " fantasy," a causing to be seen, from Greek, 4aivew, to show)
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