A new way of composing music: a cultural revolution

Towards the end of the 16th century, the theorist Giovanni Maria Artusi had enough of seeing the lack of respect young composers exhibited toward the old and “natural” rules of counterpoint, and wrote a book about it. There, he quoted some excerpts from not yet published madrigals by Monteverdi, and without naming him, criticized him and his attitude severely. This opened one of the most famous musical debates in music history. It included testimonials by Monteverdi himself, and brought forth the famous dichotomy prima prattica VS seconda prattica. In this episode we will focus in on what exactly upset Artusi, trying to see it as much as possible from his point of view. In addition, we will debunk some of the misconceptions that surround this discussion.