Seconda pratica

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Seconda pratica, literally "second practice", is the counterpart to prima pratica and is more commonly referred to as Stile moderno. The term "Seconda pratica" was coined by Claudio Monteverdi to distance his music from that of e.g. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and Gioseffo Zarlino and describes early music of the Baroque period which encouraged more freedom from the rigorous limitations of dissonances and counterpoint characteristic of the prima pratica.

Stile moderno was coined as an expression by Giulio Caccini in his 1602 work Le nuove musiche which contained numerous monodies. New for Caccini's songs were that the accompaniment was completely submissive in contrast to the lyric; hence, more precisely, Caccini's Stile moderno-monodies has ornamentations spelled out in the score, which earlier had been up to the performer to supply. Also this marks the starting point of basso continuo which also was a feature in Caccini's work.

The stile moderno can also be seen in the concertos of Felix Mendelssohn and the piano works of Arnold Schoenberg.

[edit] References

• Foxon, Tom (2004). "Explain what Monteverdi meant by seconda pratica and show how this 'second practice' is reflected in three of his madrigals" (PDF). Musical Resources. Retrieved on November 8, 2006.
• Hanning, Barbara Russano. "General Characteristics of Baroque Music". Chronology Baroque. iclassics.com. Retrieved on November 8, 2006.
  • Excerpted from Hanning, Barbara Russano (1998). Concise History of Western Music, 1st edition, New York: W.W. Norton. ISBN 0-393-97168-6.