Fanto

This name derives from the Latin “phantasĭa,” closely linked to the term “imaginātio.” In turn, it derives from the Ancient Greek “phaínesthai (φαίνεσθαι) phantós (φαντός) phainō (ϕαίνω) phantasía (ϕαντασία),” meaning “Appear, to show, make known, display, exhibit, visible,” linked to the word “phantom” (transliterated as ‘feign, pretend’). In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Phantasos is one of the thousand sons of Somnus (Sleep). He appeared in dreams in the form of inanimate objects, putting on “deceptive shapes of earth, rocks, water, trees, all lifeless things.” The fantasia (Italian: fantasia) is a musical composition with its roots in the art of improvisation. Because of this, it seldom approximates the textbook rules of any strict musical form (as with the impromptu).