Fantasia

What it means

Fantasie is the German form of the title Fantasia and designates the same thing: a piece without a fixed formal scheme that gives the impression of free invention. The spelling with Ph — Phantasie — is met in older editions and with individual composers with the same meaning. The extent ranges from a short piece to a large-scale work that combines several movements in one.

Musical use

Two uses are to be distinguished. On the one hand the fantasia stands as a free prelude before a strictly worked movement, usually a fugue; the pair of the free and the bound belongs to the tradition of keyboard instruments and has numerous examples in organ and piano music. On the other hand the fantasia is an independent work that uses formal freedom for itself: movements pass into one another, themes return transformed, keys change over wide spans. In the nineteenth century this becomes a possibility of building large coherences without the scheme of the sonata. In addition the title also designates arrangements on themes by others.

Other names

Fantasia is the Italian form, Phantasie the older German spelling. In the Renaissance, fantasia designated an imitative instrumental piece, later an improvisation-like, formally free work. The Romantic character piece often appears as a Phantasiestück.

Performance practice

First get an overview of the sections and plan their relations to one another; without this planning the piece falls apart. Shape transitions deliberately — the effect of the free arises from controlled handling of time, not from arbitrariness. Keep recitative-like passages speaking and give general pauses their full length. If the fantasia stands before a fugue, plan both as a unit and bear in mind that the ending of the fantasia must lead to the beginning of the fugue. Note your decisions so that they remain reproducible.

Bear in mind that fantasias are often notated without a fixed metre or contain recitative-like sections: such passages demand a speaking shaping that is nevertheless planned. Work with goal points instead of shaping bar by bar. Check the key relationships between the sections, because they order the course. With works that draw a fugue after them, orient the ending on its beginning. Use the pedal sparingly so that figurations stay clear, and note your decisions.

With multi-part works, check whether the sections are meant to pass into one another without interruption, and arrange the endings accordingly.

Also check whether the edition has added bar lines, because free sections are often notated without them.