Fantasia No. 3 (Mozart)

"Fantasia No. 3 in D minor, K. 397" ("Fantasy" in English, "Fantasie" in German) is a piece of music for solo piano composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1782. Despite being unfinished at Mozart's death, the piece is nonetheless one of his more popular compositions for the piano. Because of its somewhat unusual rhythm, its constantly changing tempo (seven different tempi occur throughout the piece, some of which are quite fast), and its complete lack of any recognizable musical form (as indicated by the "Fantasy" title), the "Fantasia" is considered to be a relatively challenging piece to perform.

Although the title indicates that the home key is D minor, approximately one third of the piece -- the last third -- is written in the tonic major. This is not necessarily unusual in itself; however, it is unusual for a smaller piece like the "Fantasia" to conclude in a key other than its home key. This is largely due to the fact that the manuscript has not survived and the final measures of the piece have been lost. (The ending as it currently exists is believed to have been written by August Eberhard Müller, one of the composer's admirers).Fact|date=March 2008 As a result, some performers choose to repeat the introductory material at the conclusion in order to create a sense of completion.Fact|date=March 2008

The "Fantasia" runs to just over 100 measures, and a full performance takes approximately seven minutes.