Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A free composition structured according to the composer's fancy.
  • noun A medley of familiar themes, with variations and interludes.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In music: Originally, any instrumental piece.
  • noun Any composition not in strict form or style, particularly when somewhat capricious.
  • noun An irregular composition, consisting of well-known airs arranged with interludes and florid decorations, similar to a potpourri.
  • noun Also fantasy, phantasy.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Mus.) 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.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun music An unstructured orchestral composition.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

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

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Italian, from Latin phantasia, fantasy; see fantasy.]

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word fantasia.

Examples

  • I found it worthy of integrating it into my artsy jargon and combined it with the word fantasia, which is an animated film, produced by Walt Disney.

    souldish (( high frequency culture )) 2010

  • I found it worthy of integrating it into my artsy jargon and combined it with the word fantasia, which is an animated film, produced by Walt Disney.

    souldish (( high frequency culture )) Salma 2010

  • When I speculated that due to the exigencies of the project it's unlikely Oliver Stone will be allowed to wander far afield from the rescue-mission story -- turning it into a Jim Morrison acid trip "fantasia" -- Mickey quizzed:

    Oliver Stone--The 20th Hijacker?: James Wolcott Wolcott, James, 1952- 2009

  • the third installment of fantasia is called fantasia world and will be released along with fantasia 2000 and the original fantasia on blu-ray in the upcoming future beauty and the beast will be released in 3D in 2011 to meet with its 20th anniversary movie fan on Jan 20, 2010

    Disney's Beauty and the Beast 3-D Theatrical Release Delayed « FirstShowing.net 2010

  • Prior's insistent Angel -- whose arrival is an indelible coup de theatre engineered by director Michael Greif, lighting designer Ben Stanton, sound designer Ken Travis, costume designer Clint Ramos and aerial designer Paul Rubin -- is important to the "fantasia" element of the subtitle.

    David Finkle: First Nighter: Tony Kushner's Angels in America Flies on Gossamer Wings David Finkle 2010

  • Prior's insistent Angel -- whose arrival is an indelible coup de theatre engineered by director Michael Greif, lighting designer Ben Stanton, sound designer Ken Travis, costume designer Clint Ramos and aerial designer Paul Rubin -- is important to the "fantasia" element of the subtitle.

    David Finkle: First Nighter: Tony Kushner's Angels in America Flies on Gossamer Wings David Finkle 2010

  • Prior's insistent Angel -- whose arrival is an indelible coup de theatre engineered by director Michael Greif, lighting designer Ben Stanton, sound designer Ken Travis, costume designer Clint Ramos and aerial designer Paul Rubin -- is important to the "fantasia" element of the subtitle.

    David Finkle: First Nighter: Tony Kushner's Angels in America Flies on Gossamer Wings David Finkle 2010

  • The tipsy harmonies of the string "fantasia" which precedes the graveyard scene were superbly dark, ghoulish and expertly played.

    The Rake's Progress; BBC Prom 35; Three Choirs festival 2010

  • The "fantasia" of the subtitle refers to the play's nonlinear structure, as it follows the shifting and interlocking relationships among the characters.

    A Seven-Hour Gay Fantasia 2008

  • He had heard Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony, so, taking Goethe's Laune des Verliebten, he started a kind of fantasia, concocting words and music together.

    Richard Wagner Runciman, John F 1913

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Recorded in fantasound.

    March 20, 2009

  • context: Beethoven's "Quasi una fantasia"

    April 22, 2009

  • fantasia - rite of spring

    March 3, 2013