'''Fantasia No. 3 in D minor, K. 397''' (or '''Fantasy''' in English) 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), 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.) Of course, it is impossible to know how Mozart himself would have concluded the piece; however, it would have been much more typical of the era, and more consistent with
Mozart's style, to return to D minor. As a result, some performers choose to repeat the introductory material at the conclusion in order to create a sense of completion.
The ''Fantasia'' runs to just over 100 measures, and a full performance typically takes approximately seven minutes.
External links
★