stylus fantasticus
Latin composer
Definition
The free, improvisatory style of North German Baroque keyboard writing — alternating between wild toccata passages and strict imitative fugues with no fixed metre. Athanasius Kircher coined the term in 1650; Buxtehude was its supreme practitioner.
Interpretive Guidance
Stylus fantasticus passages demand sudden changes of pace and character within a single piece. The unmeasured sections should feel genuinely free — as though improvised at the keyboard. Contrast these sharply with the rigorous counterpoint of the fugal sections. Never let the rubato become arbitrary; each tempo fluctuation should be motivated by harmonic tension or melodic direction.