Stile antico (literally "ancient style",Italian pronunciation:[ˈstiːleanˈtiːko]), is a term describing a manner of musical composition from the sixteenth century onwards that was historically conscious, as opposed tostile moderno, which adhered to more modern trends.Prima pratica (Italian, 'first practice') refers to earlyBaroque music which looks more to the style ofPalestrina, or the style codified byGioseffo Zarlino, than to more "modern" styles. It is contrasted withseconda pratica music. These terms are synonymous tostile antico andstile moderno, respectively.
Stile antico has been associated with composers of the highBaroque and earlyClassical periods of music, in which composers used controlled dissonance andmodal effects and avoided overtly instrumental textures and lavish ornamentation, to imitate the compositional style of the lateRenaissance.Stile antico was deemed appropriate in the conservative confines ofchurch music, or as a compositional exercise as inJ. J. Fux'sGradus Ad Parnassum (1725), the classic textbook on strictcounterpoint. Much of the music associated with this style looks to the music ofPalestrina as a model.
The termprima pratica was first used during the conflict betweenGiovanni Artusi andClaudio Monteverdi about the new musical style.[1] For 18th-century composers such asJohann Sebastian Bach,stile antico can refer to music composed as late as the early years of that century (e.g. byAntonio Lotti,Pietro Torri), a style Bach would imitate more frequently in his later compositions (starting in the 1730s, up to his death in 1750).[2]
In the early BaroqueClaudio Monteverdi and hisbrother coined the termprima pratica to refer to the older style of Palestrina, andseconda pratica to refer to Monteverdi's music.
At first,prima pratica referred only to the style of approaching and leavingdissonances. In hisSeconda parte dell'Artusi (1603),Giovanni Artusi writes about the new style of dissonances, referring specifically to the practice of not properly preparing dissonances (seeCounterpoint), and rising after a flattened note or descending after a sharpened note. In another book, his L'Artusi, overo Delle imperfettioni della moderna musica (1600) ("The Artusi, or imperfections of modern music") Artusi had also attacked Monteverdi specifically, using examples from his madrigal "Cruda Amarilli" to discredit the new style.[1]
Monteverdi responded in a preface to his fifth book of madrigals, and his brotherGiulio Cesare Monteverdi responded inScherzi Musicali (1607) to Artusi's attacks on Monteverdi's music, advancing the view that the old music subordinated text to music, whereas in the new music the text dominated the music. Old rules of counterpoint could be broken in service of the text. According to Giulio Cesare, these concepts were a hearkening back to ancient Greek musical practice.[1]
The great composers of the late Baroque all wrote compositions in thestile antico, especiallyBach. HisMass in B minor has sections written instile antico which contrast with up-to-date Baroque idioms. Later composers such asHaydn andMozart also usedstile antico.Beethoven'sMissa Solemnis, written after the composer's study of Palestrina, is a late flowering of the style; Beethoven integratesstile antico in various sections of his mass, through the employment of devices such ascantus firmus,church modes andplagal cadences, with the music constantly flowing inimitativepolyphony.[3]
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For 18th-century composers such asBach,stile antico can refer to music composed as late as the early years of that century, for example byAntonio Lotti andPietro Torri. Bach's interest in this style grew in the 1730s, and in the last two decades of his life (1730s–1740s) he would write in this style more frequently, leading to an outspoken style shift in this composer's work around 1740.[2][4]
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