prima prattica

noun

pri·​ma prat·​tica ¦prē-mä-prä-¦tē-kä 

variants or prima pratica

: the standard musical practice of 16th-century polyphony in Europe

The Kyrie II is composed in the old Renaissance style, the prima prattica, the purely contrapuntal, a remote and mysterious sacred sound recalling the effect and compositional style of Palestrina's Masses.

—George J. Buelow, A History of Baroque Music, 2004

compare seconda prattica

Word History

First Known Use

1932, in the meaning defined above

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