Fantaisie-Impromptu

Frédéric Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu in C-sharp minor, Opus posthumous 66, is a solo piano composition and one of his most well-known pieces. It was composed in 1834 and dedicated to Julian Fontana. Some aspects of this piece are similar to Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. Two measures after the melody begins, an abrupt run and down has the exact same notes as the cadenza in the presto agitato of the moonlight sonata, movenment 3. Also the tempo marking is identical to the famous third movement.Fact|date=May 2008. Despite Chopin's request that the piece not be published, Fontana did so anyway.

The piece uses many cross-rhythms (the right hand plays sixteenth-notes against the left hand playing triplets) and a ceaselessly moving note figuration and is in cut time. The opening tempo is marked "allegro agitato". The tempo changes to "largo" and later "moderato cantabile" when the key changes to D-flat major, the enharmonic equivalent of the more obscure tonic major key of C-sharp major. The piece then changes back to the original tempo where it continues in C-sharp minor as before. It ends off in an ambiguous fantasy-like ending, in a quiet and mysterious way, where the left hand repeats the first few notes of the moderato section theme, while the right hand continues playing sixteenth notes (semiquavers).

In popular culture

* The 1991 film "Impromptu" takes its name from the Fantaisie-Impromptu, which is both heard in the soundtrack and performed a number of times by the character Chopin. In the film, a different reason is given for the Fantaisie-Impromptu's not being published: Chopin (played by Hugh Grant) tells George Sand (played by Judy Davis) that he is not satisfied with it - that a true impromptu should have a feeling of perfect spontaneity.
* In season 4, episode 20 ("Elegant Iggy") of the TV-Series "Taxi", Jim Ignatowski (played by Christopher Lloyd) startles everybody at an art-society party by, after some initial difficulties, playing this piece on the piano.
* An excerpt of the piece was featured in an early segment of the survival horror video game "Clock Tower 3".
* The piece is also featured in the Japanese role playing game Eternal Sonata in the third chapter's intercalary section, highlighting the history of the piece as well as its relation to Chopin's personality (as Chopin is a featured character in the video game).
* A lengthy portion of the piece also appears in the introduction to the Afrikaans (but not the English) version of the South African film Lost in the Desert, in which the central character's father, who is a concert pianist, is shown playing the piece in a recital, and then bowing to receive applause.Fact|date=December 2007
*The middle section of the piece was later adapted by Harry Carroll for the opening verse of the popular song "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows".
*The piece is apparently the inspiration for the song "Electro Fantasy" available in the online rhythm-matching game O2Jam.
* An excerpt of the piece was featured in the Tom & Jerry episode "Snowbody Loves Me".
*The excerpt of the composition was also played in the anime series Kin'iro no Corda by character Ryoutarou Tsuchiura in episode 3 and episode 10 for the 2nd selection.
*This piece was used as the ringtone of Bob Harris' cell phone in the film Lost in Translation.
*Florida politician Christopher Kriado has expressed interest in the piece, and has played portions of it at political gatherings.
*The middle section of the piece was used in Orson Welles’ famous “The War of the Worlds” broadcast.

Media

External links

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvm2ZsRv3C8 Video of a performance of the piece, by Yundi Li]
* [http://www.superopera.com/mp3/pclassics/pclassics.htm Recording of Fantaisie-Impromptu performed by the pianist Alberto Cobo] , MP3 format
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* [http://icking-music-archive.org/scores/chopin/Chopin_Fantaisie-Impromptu.pdf Free score via icking-music-archive.org]