According to the New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians, "impromptu" as a title was first used for a piano piece by Vořišek published in the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung in 1817, and it was the publisher's idea. Publishers also named Schubert's D. 899 "impromptus". The title gained popularity during the latter half of the 19th century going into the early 20th. The New Grove cites Donald Martino's 1980 Fantasies and Impromptu as the one of the few uses of the title in the late 20th century.

This article is about the musical form. See also