fantasias

Noun

fantasia (plural fantasias)

1. (also, figuratively) A form of instrumental composition with a free structure and improvisational characteristics; specifically, one combining a number of well-known musical pieces.
   • The Fantasia, by Mr. [Pio] Cianchettini, is upon [Gioachino] Rossini's air "Tu che accendi," so often made the theme of piano forte lessons. […] Mr. Cianchettini's imagination is very vivid and full, and we know of nothing more florid or requiring lighter and more delicate touching than this...1821, “ […] Fantasia, for the Piano Forte, on Di Tanti Palpiti, by Pio Cianchettini. London. Mitchell. [review]”, in The Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review, volume III, number X, London: […]...
2. (broadly) Any work which is unstructured or comprises other works of different genres or styles.
   • It is, however, a ceremony of immense antiquity, and the chief civil festival of the year among the Arabs, who love nothing more dearly than a "phantasia" of this sort.1872 October 19, “The Cutting of the Nile: From The Pall Mall Gazette”, in Littel’s Living Age, volume XXVII (Fourth Series; volume CXV overall), number 1480, Boston, Mass.: Littel & Gay, →OCLC, page...
3. A traditional festival of the inhabitants of the Maghreb (in northwest Africa) featuring exhibitions of horsemanship.
   • As for the wonderful feats of horsemanship one hears of or sees among the Arabs, they are due to sharp spurs like razors, and to bits strong enough to break an animal's jaw. […] The favourite feat at their fantasias or fêtes of suddenly pulling up their horses short while at a hand-gallop, ruins...1868, Mrs. H. Lloyd Evans, “Across the Atlas”, in Last Winter in Algeria, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 100

See all 5 meanings of fantasia