fantasian.
1.
a. Music. ‘A composition in a style in which form is subservient to fancy’ (Stainer and Barrett).
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > piece of music > type of piece > [noun] > fantasia or rhapsody
fantasy1597
fantasia1724
extravaganza1797
arabesque1824
rhapsody1832
1724 Short Explic. Foreign Words Musick Bks. 30 Fantasia, is a Kind of Air, wherein the Composer..has all the Freedom and Liberty allowed him for his Fancy or Invention, that can reasonably be desir'd.
1776 J. Hawkins Gen. Hist. Music IV. iv. 47 His [Hilton's] Compositions were for the most part Fantasias for the viols and organ.
1815 European Mag. & London Rev. July 46/1 The first movement, termed ‘Fantasia’..is a most spirited..effort.
1879 G. Grove Dict. Music I. 503/1 Fantasia..was the immediate predecessor of the term Sonata.
b. transf. and fig.
ΚΠ
1818 E. Blaquière tr. F. Pananti Narr. Residence Algiers xix. 367 These excesses called fantasias, or paroxysms of passions.
1880 J. H. Shorthouse John Inglesant xxvi. 372 Wandering amid this brilliant fantasia of life, Inglesant's heart smote him.
1896 ‘J. O. Hobbes’ (title) The Herb-Moon. A Fantasia.
1919 G. B. Shaw Heartbreak House p. xlix, Heartbreak House: a Fantasia in the Russian manner on English themes.
1921 D. H. Lawrence Sea & Sardinia 41 Every wretched bit of would-be extra chic is called a fantasia.
1922 D. H. Lawrence (title) Fantasia of the Unconscious.
1935 H. G. Wells Things to Come v. 33 Long lines of steel-helmeted men. Lorries full of men. Lorries full of shells. Great dumps of shells. A fantasia of war material in motion.
1957 T. S. Eliot On Poetry & Poets 83 A suspension of the action in order to enjoy a poetic fantasia: these passages are really less related to the action than are the choruses in Murder in the Cathedral.
2. The Italian word is current in the Levant and North Africa, in the senses:
Thesaurus »
a. Ostentation, pomp, self-importance.
b. A kind of Arab dance; also, an exhibition of evolutions on horseback by a troop of Arabs.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > dancing > types of dance or dancing > dances of other countries > [noun] > North Africa and the Levant
fantasia1838
Zar1931
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > a public show or spectacle > type of show or spectacle > [noun] > show of skill > in riding, etc.
rodeo1824
bull riding1835
fantasia1838
Wild West show1885
1838 J. Sparks Amer. Biogr. IX. Eaton viii. 263 But they must have a consul with less fantasia.
1859 F. C. L. Wraxall tr. J. E. Robert-Houdin Mem. II. viii. 239 Our captain had arranged for us the surprise of a fantasia.
1873 H. B. Tristram Land of Moab ii. 28 A capital ‘fantasia’ or Arab dance..round our camp fire.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1895; most recently modified version published online June 2013).
<
n.1724