impromptu
American Heritage Dictionary:
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im·promp·tu
(ĭm-prŏmp'tū, -tyū) 
adj.
With little or no preparation; extemporaneously.
n.
adj.
- Prompted by the occasion rather than being planned in advance: an impromptu party.
- Spoken, performed, done, or composed with little or no preparation; extemporaneous: a few impromptu remarks. See synonyms at extemporaneous.
With little or no preparation; extemporaneously.
n.
- Something, such as a speech, that is made or done extemporaneously.
- Music. A short composition, especially for the piano, performed in an offhand or extemporized style.
[French, from Latin in prōmptū, at hand : in, in; see in-2 + prōmptū, ablative of prōmptus, readiness, from past participle of prōmere, to bring forth. See prompt.]
Fowler's Modern English Usage:
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impromptu
as a noun meaning 'an extempore speech or performance' or 'a short piece of instrumental music', has the plural form impromptus.
| imprint, impresario, impracticable, impractical | |
| improvable, improvise, in |
Roget's Thesaurus:
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impromptu
adjective
- Spoken, performed, or composed with little or no preparation or forethought: ad-lib, extemporaneous, extemporary, extempore, improvised, offhand, snap, spur-of-the-moment, unrehearsed. Informal off-the-cuff. See prepared/unprepared.
noun
- Something improvised: ad-lib, extemporization, improvisation. See planned/unplanned, prepared/unprepared.
Antonyms by Answers.com:
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impromptu
adj, adv
Definition: unrehearsed, improvised
Antonyms: deliberate, designed, planned, premeditated, prepared, rehearsed
Oxford Grove Music Encyclopedia:
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Impromptu
A title used for single-movement piano pieces; it implies a free, casual nature to the composer's inspiration. Among the earliest examples are Schubert's; later composers include Chopin, Schumann, Skryabin and Fauré.
Word Tutor:
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impromptu
IN BRIEF: Without preparation; spur of the moment.
It takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.
— Mark Twain, American writer, pen name for Samuel Langhorne Clemens.
LearnThatWord.com is a free vocabulary and spelling program where you only pay for results!
Random House Word Menu:
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categories related to 'impromptu'
- Relative Time - impromptu: (adv) extemporaneously; (adj) done without previous preparation
See crossword solutions for the clue Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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Impromptu
For other uses, see Impromptu (disambiguation).
An impromptu (
/ɪmˈprɒmptjuː/, French: [ɛ̃prɔ̃pty], loosely meaning "offhand") is a free-form musical composition with the character of an ex tempore improvisation as if prompted by the spirit of the moment, usually for a solo instrument, such as piano. The first recorded use of the term impromptu in this sense occurred in 1817, in the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, an idea of the publisher to describe a piano piece by Jan Václav Voříšek.
Since the very concept of unpremeditated, spur-of-the-moment inspiration without studied care is at the heart of Romantic artistic theory, it did nоt take long before the first generation of Romantic composers took up the idea:
- Jan Václav Voříšek was the first one to compose impromptus published under that title, in 1822.
- Franz Schubert published two sets of four Impromptus for piano op. 90 and 142 (1827). After his death 3 more unnamed piano compositions (Klavierstücke) were sometimes named Impromptus.
- Frédéric Chopin composed 4 Impromptus, including the famous Fantaisie-Impromptu.
- Robert Schumann wrote some Impromptus, published as Op. 5.
- Franz Liszt composed an Impromptu in F sharp (sometimes called Nocturne) and a piano piece named Valse-Impromptu.
- Alexander Scriabin is known to have written at least nine impromptus for the piano in his early period.
- Jean Sibelius composed six impromptus for piano op. 5 (1893)
The impromptu genre remained popular all throughout the 19th century.
In the 20th century, there are also several examples of composers naming their compositions "Impromptu", such as:
- Gabriel Fauré composing six Impromptus between 1881 and 1913.
- Richard Rodney Bennett composing five Impromptus for guitar in 1968
- Maurice Journeau composing six Impromptus between 1971 and 1974.[1]
- Donald Martino composing Fantasies and Impromptu in 1980.
- Nikolai Kapustin composing four Impromptus between 1991 and 1997.
- Lowell Liebermann composing Three Impromptus Op.68 in 2000.
- Vince Mendoza's Epiphany, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and published in 1999. The first piece of the album is named Impromptu.
- One of Queen's compositions, performed at Wembley Stadium and other performances is named Impromptu.
Notes
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Translations:
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Impromptu
Dansk (Danish)
adj. - improviseret
adv. - improviseret, uden forberedelse
n. - improvisation
Nederlands (Dutch)
geïmproviseerd, impromptu (muziekstuk)
Français (French)
adj. - impromptu
adv. - impromptu
n. - impromptu
Deutsch (German)
adj. - improvisiert
adv. - improvisiert
n. - (mus.) Impromptu, etwas Improvisiertes
Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - αυτοσχέδιος, απροετοίμαστος, πρόχειρος
adv. - αυτοσχεδίως, εκ του προχείρου
n. - πρόχειρο σχεδίασμα, αυτοσχεδιασμός, (μουσ.) εμπρομπτί
Italiano (Italian)
improvvisato
Português (Portuguese)
adj. - improvisado
adv. - improvisadamente
n. - improviso (m)
Русский (Russian)
импровизированный, без подготовки
Español (Spanish)
adj. - improvisado, sin preparación, impremeditado
adv. - improvisadamente, de repente, en el acto
n. - cosa hecha de repente, improvisación, impromptu musical
Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - oförberedd, improviserad
adv. - oförberett, improviserat
n. - improvisation, oförberett tal, impromptu (mus.)
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
即席的, 即席, 即席演出, 即兴曲
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 即席的
adv. - 即席
n. - 即席演出, 即興曲
한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 즉석의, 준비 없이의
adv. - 즉석에서, 임시변통으로
n. - 즉석 연설, 즉석 연주
日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 即席の
adv. - 即席に
n. - 即席演説, 即興詩, 即興曲
v. - 即席に作る, 間に合わせに作る
العربيه (Arabic)
(صفه) مرتجل (ظرف) ارتجالا (الاسم) شيء مرتجل
עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - מאולתר
adv. - בצורה מאולתרת, מניה וביה
n. - יצירה מאולתרת
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