Stile antico

Stile antico, literally 'ancient style', is a term which has been used to describe music from the sixteenth through the twentieth centuries. It generally refers to a manner of composition which is historically-conscious, as opposed to music which is "up to date", called stile moderno. It has been associated with composers of the high Baroque and early Classical periods of music, in which composers imitate, to a certain degree, the compositional style of the late Renassaince, i.e. controlled use of dissonance, modal effects and the avoidance of overtly instrumental textures or the lavish ornamentation which is otherwise the Baroque norm. Such a style was deemed appropriate especially in the conservative confines of church music, or as a compositional exercise as in J. J. Fux's Gradus Ad Parnassum (1725), the classic text-book on strict counterpoint. Much of the music associated with this style looks to the music of Palestrina as a model.

In the early Baroque Claudio Monteverdi and his brother coined the term prima pratica to refer to the older style of Palestrina, and seconda pratica to refer to Monteverdi's music.

The great composers of the late Baroque all wrote compositions in this style, especially Bach whose Mass in B Minor has sections in stile antico, jostling with up-todate Baroque idioms, as did later composers Haydn and Mozart. Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, which was written after the composer's study of Palestrina, may be considered a late flowering of the style.