[a. It. fantasia (see FANTASY), lit. ‘fancy,’ hence ‘an instrumental composition having the appearance of being extemporaneous’ (Tommaseo).]
1. Mus. ‘A composition in a style in which form is subservient to fancy’ (Stainer and Barrett).
1724. Explic. Foreign Words in Music, 30. Fantasia, is a Kind of Air, wherein the Composer is not tied up to such strict rules as in most other airs, but has all the Freedom and Liberty allowed him for his Fancy or Invention, that can reasonably be desir’d.
1776. Sir J. Hawkins, Hist. Music, IV. iv. 47. His [Hilton’s] Compositions were for the most part Fantasias for the viols and organ.
1815. European Mag., LXVIII. July, 46/1. The first movement, termed ‘Fantasia’ (in allegro brillante), is a most spirited and effective effort.
1879. Grove, Dict. Mus., I. 503/1. Fantasia is a term of very respectable antiquity as applied to music … the immediate predecessor of the term Sonata.
ǁ 2. The It. word is current in the Levant and North Africa, in the senses: a. Ostentation, pomp, self-importance; b. A kind of Arab dance; also, an exhibition of evolutions on horseback by a troop of Arabs.
1838. Sparks, The Library of American Biography, IX., William Eaton, viii. 263. The minister professed a willingness to maintain the peace with the Americans on the same footing as with the other small Christian nations, but they must have a consul with less fantasia, and more friendly to the Barbary interests.
1859. Wraxall, trans. R. Houdin, II. viii. 239. Our captain had arranged for us the surprise of a fantasia.
1873. Tristram, Moab, ii. 28. They rewarded us with a capital ‘fantasia,’ or Arab dance and recitative, round our camp fire, which they continued till far into night.
