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In Western music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions. Western music is the genres of Music originating in the Western world (Europe and its former colonies including Western classical music, American For the musical composition see Chorale. A choir, chorale, or chorus is a Musical ensemble of Singers

The name comes either from the Latin movere, ("to move") or a Latinized version of Old French mot, "word" or "verbal utterance. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Old French was the Romance Dialect continuum spoken in territories which span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium " The Medieval Latin for "motet" is "motectum". If from the Latin, the name describes the movement of the different voices against one another.

According to Margaret Bent (1997), "'a piece of music in several parts with words' is as precise a definition of the motet as will serve from the thirteenth to the late sixteenth century and beyond. This is actually very close to one of the earliest descriptions we have, that of the late thirteenth-century theorist Johannes de Grocheio. Johannes de Grocheio ( Grocheo) (c 1255 &ndash c 1320 was a Parisian musical theorist of the early fourteenth century " Grocheio was also one of the first scholars to define a motet. Grocheio believed that the motet was "not intended for the vulgar who do not understand its finer points and derive no pleasure from hearing it: it is meant for educated people and those who look for refinement in art. "[1]

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Medieval motets

The earliest motets arose, in the thirteenth century (Bent, 1997), out of the organum tradition exemplified in the Notre Dame school of Léonin and Pérotin. Organum (ˈɔrgənəm though the stress is now sometimes incorrectly put on the second syllable from Ancient Greek ὄργανον - organon "organ instrument Léonin (also Leoninus, Leonius, Leo) ( fl 1150s — d ? 1201) is the first known significant Pérotin ( fl c 1200 also called Perotin the Great, was a European Composer, believed to be French, who lived The motet arose from discant (clausula) sections, usually strophic interludes, in a longer sequence of organum, to which upper voices were added. Discant (discantus meaning "singing apart" was a style of liturgical setting in the Middle Ages associated with the development of the Notre Dame school A clausula (plural clausulae) is a Polyphonic composition performed as a musical alternative to the original Plainchant passage that it is intended to replace In Music, strophic form (or chorus form) is a sectional and/or Additive way of structuring a piece of Music based on the Usually the discant represented a strophic sequence in Latin which was sung as a discant over a cantus firmus, which typically was a Gregorian chant fragment with different words from the discant. This article is about Latin poems and songs For the Early music group see Sequentia (music group. In Music, a cantus firmus ("fixed song" is a pre-existing Melody forming the basis of a polyphonic composition. History Gregorian chant was organized codified and notated mainly in the Frankish lands of western and central Europe during the 12th and 13th centuries with later additions The motet took a definite rhythm from the words of the verse, and as such appeared as a brief rhythmic interlude in the middle of the longer, more chantlike organum.

The practice of discant over a cantus firmus marked the beginnings of counterpoint in Western music. In Music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and Rhythm, and interdependent in Harmony From these first motets arose a medieval tradition of secular motets. The term medieval music encompasses European music written during the Middle Ages. Secularity ( adjective form secular) is the state of being separate from Religion. These were two or three part compositions in which several different texts, sometimes in different vernacular languages, were sung simultaneously over a Latin cantus firmus that once again was usually adapted from a passage of Gregorian chant. Vernacular refers to the Native language of a country or a locality It is suspected that, for the sake of intelligibility, in performance the cantus firmus and one or another of the vocal lines were performed on instruments.

Increasingly in the 14th and 15th centuries, motets tended to be isorhythmic; that is, they employed repeated rhythmic patterns in all voices—not just the cantus firmus—which did not necessarily coincide with repeating melodic patterns. Isorhythm (from the Greek for "the same rhythm" is a musical technique that arranges a fixed pattern of pitches with a repeating Rhythmic pattern Philippe de Vitry was one of the earliest composers to use this technique, and his work evidently had an influence on that of Guillaume de Machaut, one of the most famous named composers of late medieval motets. Philippe de Vitry ( October 31, 1291 &ndash June 9, 1361) was a French Composer, music theorist and Poet Guillaume de Machaut, sometimes spelled Machault (c 1300 – April 1377 was an important Medieval French Poet and Composer.

Renaissance motets

Luca della Robbia: fragment from a choir. Museo dell'Opera del Duomo
Luca della Robbia: fragment from a choir. Luca della Robbia (1400-1482 was an Italian sculptor from Florence, noted for his Terracotta roundels Museo dell'Opera del Duomo

The name of the motet was preserved in the transition from medieval to Renaissance music, but the character of the composition was entirely changed. Renaissance music is European music written during the Renaissance, approximately 1400 - 1600 While it grew out of the medieval isorhythmic motet, the Renaissance composers of the motet generally abandoned the use of a repeated figure as a cantus firmus. Guillaume Dufay was a transitional figure in this regard; he wrote one of the last important motets in the medieval, isorhythmic style, Nuper rosarum flores (1436), and written to commemorate the completion of Filippo Brunelleschi's dome in the Cathedral of Florence. Guillaume Dufay ( Du Fay, Du Fayt) ( August 5, 1397 ? &ndash November 27, 1474) was a Franco-Flemish composer Filippo Brunelleschi (1377 – April 15, 1446) was one of the foremost architects and engineers of the Italian Renaissance. A dome is a common structural element of Architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a Sphere. This article is about the history and organisation of the cathedral Florence ( Italian: Firenze Florentia and Fiorenza) is the Capital City of the Italian region of Tuscany During this time, however, the use of cantus firmi in works such as the parody mass tended to stretch the cantus firmus out to great lengths compared to the multivoice descant above it. A parody mass is a musical setting of the mass, typically from the 16th century that uses multiple voices of another pre-existing piece of music such as a fragment of a This tended to obscure the rhythm supplied by the cantus firmus that had been apparent in the medieval isorhythmic motet. The cascading, passing chords created by the interplay between multiple voices, and the absence of a strong or obvious beat, are the features that distinguish medieval and renaissance motet styles.

Instead, the Renaissance motet is a polyphonic musical setting, sometimes in imitative counterpoint, for chorus, of a Latin text, usually sacred, not specifically connected to the liturgy of a given day, and therefore suitable for use in any service. In Music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent Melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice ( Monophony A liturgy is the customary public worship done by a specific religious group according to their particular traditions The texts of antiphons were frequently used as motet texts. This article is about the musical term See Antiphon (person the orator of ancient Greece This is the sort of composition that is most familiarly named by the name of "motet," and the Renaissance period marked the flowering of the form.

In essence, these motets were sacred madrigals. A madrigal is a type of Secular vocal music composition written during the Renaissance and early Baroque eras The relationship between the two forms is most obvious in the composers who concentrated on sacred music, especially Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, whose "motets" setting texts from the Canticum Canticorum, the Biblical "Song of Solomon," are among the most lush and madrigal-like of Palestrina's compositions, while his "madrigals" that set poems of Petrarch in praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary would not be out of place in church. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (between 3 February 1525 and 2 February 1526 - 2 February 1594 was an Italian Composer of the Renaissance. Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin Francesco Petrarca ( July 20, 1304 – July 19, 1374) known in English as Petrarch, was an Italian scholar This ecumenical article is about general Christian views on and veneration of the Virgin Mary The language of the text was the decisive feature: if it's Latin, it's a motet; if the vernacular, a madrigal. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Religious compositions in vernacular languages were often called madrigali spirituali, "spiritual madrigals. A madrigale spirituale (Italian pl madrigali spirituali) is a madrigal, or madrigal-like piece of music with a sacred rather than a secular text " Like their madrigal cousins, Renaissance motets developed in episodic format, with separate phrases of the source text being given independent melodic treatment and contrapuntal development; contrapuntal passages often alternate with monody.

Secular motets continued to be written however. These motets typically set a Latin text in praise of a monarch, commemorating some public triumph, or even praising music itself. Nevertheless, the themes of courtly love often found in the medieval secular motet were banished from the Renaissance motet. Courtly love was a Medieval European conception of ennobling love which found its genesis in the ducal and princely courts of Aquitaine, Provence Many secular motets are known as "ceremonial motets" [1] Characteristic of ceremonial motets was a clarity of diction, for the audience was not presumed to be familiar already with the text (as would have been true with Latin hymns) and also a clear articulation of formal structure, for example a setting apart of successive portions of text with sharp contrasts of texture or rhythm. Adrian Willaert, Ludwig Senfl, and Cipriano de Rore were among the most prominent composers of ceremonial motets during the first half of the 16th century. [2]

The motet was one of the pre-eminent forms of Renaissance music. Renaissance music is European music written during the Renaissance, approximately 1400 - 1600 Other important composers of Renaissance motets include:

In the latter part of the 16th century, Giovanni Gabrieli and other composers developed a new style, the polychoral motet, in which two or more choirs of singers (or instruments) alternated. Alexander Agricola (1445 or 1446 &ndash August 15, 1506) was a Franco-Flemish Composer of the Renaissance. Gilles Binchois, also known as Gilles de Binche or Gilles de Bins (c Antoine Busnois (also Busnoys) (c 1430 &ndash November 6, 1492) was a French Composer and Poet of the early William Byrd (c 1540 &ndash 4 July 1623 was an English Composer of the Renaissance. Johannes Vodnianus Campanus ( Jan Vodňanský Campanus; also Jan z Vodňan, Jan Campanus-Vodňanský, Jan Kampánus Vodňanský, Ionnes Campanus Josquin des Prez (c 1450 to 1455 &ndash August 27 1521 often referred to simply as Josquin, was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance. John Dunstaple or Dunstable (c 1390 &ndash December 24, 1453) was an English composer of polyphonic Music of the late Antoine de Févin (c 1470 &ndash late 1511 or early 1512 was a French composer of the Renaissance. Francisco Guerrero ( October 4 (? 1528 – November 8, 1599) was a Spanish composer of the Renaissance. Nicolas Gombert (c 1495 &ndash c 1560 was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance. Heinrich Isaac (also known as Ysaac, Henricus, Arrigo d'Ugo, and Arrigo il Tedesco – Tedesco meaning "Flemish" or "German" Pierre de La Rue (c 1452 &ndash November 20, 1518) called Piersson, was a Franco-Flemish composer and singer of the Renaissance Orlande de Lassus (also Orlandus Lassus, Orlando di Lasso, Roland de Lassus, or Roland Delattre) (1532 (possibly 1530 &ndash June Cristóbal de Morales (c 1500 – between September 4 and October 7, 1553) was a Spanish composer of the Renaissance. Jean Mouton (c 1459 &ndash October 30, 1522) was a French composer of the Renaissance. Jacob Obrecht (1457/1458 &ndash late July 1505 was a Dutch composer of the Renaissance. Johannes Ockeghem (also Jean de; surname Okeghem, Ogkegum, Okchem, Hocquegam, Ockegham; other variant spellings are also Martin Peerson (or Pearson) (born between 1571 and 1573 died December 1650 or January 1651 and buried 16 January 1651 was an English composer, organist Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (between 3 February 1525 and 2 February 1526 - 2 February 1594 was an Italian Composer of the Renaissance. Thomas Tallis (c 1505 &ndash 23 November 1585) was an English Composer. Not to be confused with John Tavener John Taverner (c 1490 &ndash 18 October 1545) was an English Composer Tomás Luis de Victoria (sometimes spelled 'da Vittoria' (1548 &ndash August 20, 1611) was a Spanish composer of the late Renaissance. Giovanni Gabrieli (c 1554/1557 &ndash August 12 1612 was an Italian Composer and organist. This article is about the musical term See Antiphon (person the orator of ancient Greece For the musical composition see Chorale. A choir, chorale, or chorus is a Musical ensemble of Singers This style of motet was sometimes called the Venetian motet to distinguish it from the Netherlands or Flemish motet written elsewhere.

Baroque motets

The name "motet" was preserved into Baroque music, especially in France, where the word was applied to petits motets, sacred choral compositions whose only accompaniment was a basso continuo; and grands motets, which included instruments up to and including a full orchestra. Baroque music describes an era and a set of styles of European classical music which were in widespread use between approximately 1600 and 1750. Figured bass, or thoroughbass, is a kind of integer Musical notation used to indicate intervals, chords and Nonchord tones in relation An orchestra is an instrumental ensemble, usually fairly large with string brass woodwind sections and possibly a percussion section as well Jean-Baptiste Lully was an important composer of this sort of motet. Jean-Baptiste de Lully ( Giovanni Battista di Lulli) (ʒɑ̃batist də lyˈli in French (November 28 1632 &ndash March 22 1687 was a French Composer of Italian Lully's motets often included parts for soloists as well as choirs; they were longer, including multiple movement in which different soloist, choral, or instrumental forces were employed. Lully's motets also continued the Renaissance tradition of semi-secular Latin motets in works such as Plaude Laetare Gallia, written to celebrate the baptism of King Louis XIV's son; its text by Pierre Perrin begins:

Plaude laetare Gallia
Rore caelesti rigantur lilia,
Sacro Delphinus fonte lavatur
Et christianus Christo dicatur. In Christianity, baptism ( Greek, "immersing" "performing Ablutions " is the ritual act with the use of water by which one is admitted Early years Birth and ancestry Louis XIV was born in the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye on September 5 1638 and bore the Heir apparent Pierre Perrin (? 1620, Lyon - April 24, 1675, Paris) was a French Poet and Librettist.
(Rejoice and sing, France: the lily is bathed with heavenly dew. The Dauphin is bathed in the sacred font, and the Christian is dedicated to Christ. The Dauphin of France (Dauphin de France—strictly Dauphin of Viennois ( Dauphin de Viennois)—was the title given to the Heir apparent of the )

In Germany, too, pieces called motets were written in the new musical languages of the Baroque. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Heinrich Schütz wrote many motets in a series of publications called Symphoniae sacrae, some in Latin and some in German. Heinrich Schütz (October 8 ( JC) 1585 Köstritz - November 6 1672 Dresden) was a German Composer and organist, generally regarded

Johann Sebastian Bach also wrote seven surviving works he called motets; Bach's motets were relatively long pieces in German on sacred themes for choir and basso continuo. WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section.2 This article is written in British English including maximised use of "-ise" The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. Bach's motets are:

There is also a piece of a cantata that is classified as a motet. Year 1726 ( MDCCXXVI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Year 1729 ( MDCCXXIX) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Jesu meine Freude is a Motet composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. Year 1730 ( MDCCXXX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a

The motet since Bach

Later 18th-century composers wrote few motets, although Mozart's well-known Ave verum corpus is in this genre. Year 1736 ( MDCCXXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year Year 1737 ( MDCCXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Ave verum corpus is a short Eucharistic Hymn dating from the 14th century and attributed to Pope Innocent VI (d

In the 19th century German composers continued to write motets occasionally, notably Johannes Brahms (in German) and Anton Bruckner (in Latin). Johannes Brahms ( pronounced ˈbʁaːms (May 7 1833 &ndash April 3 1897 was a German Composer Anton Bruckner (4 September 1824 &ndash 11 October 1896 was an Austrian composer known primarily for his symphonies, masses, and Motets French composers of motets included Camille Saint-Saëns and César Franck. Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (/ʃaʁl kamij sɛ̃sɑ̃s/ (9 October 1835 &ndash 16 December 1921 was a French Composer, Organist, conductor, and César Franck (December 10 1822 – November 8 1890 a Composer, Organist and music teacher of Belgian and German origin who lived in France Similar compositions in the English language are called anthems, but some later English composers, such as Charles Villiers Stanford, wrote motets in Latin. The term anthem means either a specific form of Anglican church music (in Music theory and religious contexts or more generally a song (or composition of Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (30 September 1852 &ndash 29 March 1924 was an Irish composer resident in England for much of his life The majority of these compositions are a cappella, but some are accompanied by organ. A cappella (Italian or Latin "From the chapel/choir" Music is Vocal music or Singing without instrumental Accompaniment

In the 20th century, composers of motets have often consciously imitated earlier styles. Examples include works by Charles Villiers Stanford, Edmund Rubbra, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Hugo Distler, and Ernst Krenek. Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (30 September 1852 &ndash 29 March 1924 was an Irish composer resident in England for much of his life Edmund Rubbra ( Charles Edmund Duncan-Rubbra) ( 23 May 1901 &ndash 14 February 1986) was a British composer Ralph (reɪf Vaughan Williams OM (12 October 1872 &ndash 26 August 1958 was an English Composer of symphonies, Chamber music Hugo Distler ( June 24, 1908 – November 1, 1942) was a German Composer. Ernst Krenek ( August 23 1900 &ndash December 22 1991) was an Austrian born (and from 1945 an American) Composer

Sources

Notes

  1. ^ Gangwere, p. 451.
  2. ^ Gangwere, p. 454.

Dictionary

motet

-noun

  1. A composition adapted to sacred words in the elaborate polyphonic church style; an anthem.
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