Fantaisie-Impromptu
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| Image:Eugène Ferdinand Victor Delacroix 043.jpg | |
| Key/Time Signature: | C sharp minor, 4/4 cut time |
|---|---|
| Form: | Impromptu |
| Date of composition: | 1834, Published Posthumously |
| Opus Number: | 66 |
| Movements/Sections: | - |
| Dedication: | J. Fontana |
Fantaisie-Impromptu, opus 66 is a piano composition by Frédéric Chopin. It is one of his most well-known pieces. It uses many cross-rhythms (the right hand plays semiquavers against the left hand playing triplets) and a ceaselessly moving note figuration.
It was said that Chopin disliked the piece. As a result, it was not published until after his death. A possible reason for this was that it was written when he was still quite young (it is the first of the impromptus written) and he either thought himself immature, or that the piece lacked substance. Others speculate that Chopin may have felt the piece was too similar to another piece that Felix Mendelssohn had recently published. However, a more likely reason was that there is a passage in the piece (measure 7/8) which is exactly the same (note-wise, at least) as a passage in the third movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, Op. 27 No. 2 (a mini-cadenza prior to the coda, measure 187). Chopin had enormous amounts of respect for Beethoven towards the end of his life, and had instructed his student and secretary, Julian Fontana, to destroy the piece.
The piece's tempo is allegro agitato. It is in C-sharp minor and is in cut time. The tempo changes to largo and moderato cantabile when the key changes to its harmonically equivalent major relative, D-flat major. This section of the piece was later adapted by Harry Carroll for the popular song "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows".
This piece has been widely recognized as one of the most popular pieces of the 19th century.
[edit] In popular culture
Like Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata", this piece has also been played in part several times by the character, Zoisite, in the Japanese Live Action series, Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon.
