InWestern classical music, amotet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from highmedieval music to the present. The motet was one of the preeminentpolyphonic forms ofRenaissance music. According to the EnglishmusicologistMargaret Bent, "a piece of music in several parts with words" is as precise a definition of the motet as will serve from the 13th to the late 16th century and beyond.[1] The late 13th-century theoristJohannes de Grocheo believed that the motet was "not to be celebrated in the presence of common people, because they do not notice its subtlety, nor are they delighted in hearing it, but in the presence of the educated and of those who are seeking out subtleties in the arts".[2]
In the early 20th century, it was generally believedmotet came from theLatinmovere (to move), though a derivation from the Frenchmot ("word", or "phrase") had also been suggested. TheMedieval Latin for "motet" ismotectum, and the Italianmottetto was also used.[3] If the word is from Latin, the name describes the movement of the different voices against one another. Today, however, the Frenchetymology is favoured by reference books, as the word "motet" in 13th-century French had the sense of "little word".[4][5][6][7] Thetropedclausulas that were the forerunner of the motet were originally calledmotelli (from the Frenchmot, "word"), soon replaced by the termmoteti.[8]
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The earliest motets arose in the 13th century from theorganum tradition exemplified in theNotre-Dame school ofLéonin andPérotin.[8] The motet probably arose fromclausula sections in a longer sequence oforganum. Clausulae represent brief sections of longer polyphonic settings of chant with a note-against-note texture. In some cases, these sections were composed independently and "substituted" for existing setting. These clausulae could then be "troped," or given new text in the upper part(s), creating motets.[9] From these first motets arose amedieval tradition ofsecular motets. These were two- to four-part compositions in which different texts, sometimes in differentvernacular languages, were sung simultaneously over a (usually Latin-texted)cantus firmus usually adapted from amelismatic passage ofGregorian chant on a single word or phrase. It is also increasingly argued that the term "motet" could in fact include certain brief single-voice songs.[10]
The texts of upper voices include subjects as diverse as courtly love odes, pastoral encounters with shepherdesses, political attacks, and many Christian devotions, especially to the Virgin Mary. In many cases, the texts of the upper voices are related to the themes of the chant passage they elaborate on, even in cases where the upper voices are secular in content.[11] Most medieval motets are anonymous compositions and significantly re-use music and text. They are transmitted in a number of contexts, and were most popular in northern France. The largest surviving collection is in theMontpellier Codex.[12]
Increasingly in the 14th and 15th centuries, motets made use of repetitive patterns often termedpanisorhythmic; that is, they employed repeated rhythmic patterns in all voices—not only thecantus firmus—which did not necessarily coincide with repeating melodic patterns.Philippe de Vitry was one of the earliest composers to use this technique, and his work evidently had an influence on that ofGuillaume de Machaut, one of the most famous named composers of late medieval motets.
Other medieval motet composers include:
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The compositional character of the motet changed entirely during the transition from medieval toRenaissance music, as most composers abandoned the use of a repeated figure as acantus firmus.Guillaume Dufay was a transitional figure in this regard, writing one of the last important motets in the medieval, isorhythmic style,Nuper rosarum flores, in 1436.[13][14] During the second half of the fifteenth century Motets stretched thecantus firmus to greater lengths compared to the surrounding multi-voice counterpoint, adopting a technique of contemporary 'tenor masses'.[15] This obscured thecantus firmus rhythm more than in medieval isorhythmic motets. Cascading,passing chords created by the interplay of voices and the absence of an obvious beat distinguish medieval and renaissance motet styles.
Motet frequently used the texts ofantiphons and the Renaissance period marked the flowering of the form. The Renaissance motet ispolyphonic, sometimes with an imitative counterpoint, for a chorus singing a Latin and usually sacred text. It is not connected to a specificliturgy, making it suitable for any service.
Motets were sacredmadrigals and the language of the text was decisive:Latin for a motet and the vernacular for a madrigal.[16] The relationship between the forms is clearest in composers of sacred music, such asGiovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, whose "motets" setting texts from theCanticum Canticorum are among the most lush and madrigal-like, while his madrigals usingPetrarch's poems could be performed in a church. Religious compositions in vernacular languages were often calledmadrigali spirituali, "spiritual madrigals". These Renaissance motets developed in episodic format with separate phrases of the text given independent melodic treatment and contrapuntal development.
Secular motets, known as "ceremonial motets",[17] typically set a Latin text to praise a monarch, music or commemorate a triumph. The theme ofcourtly love, often found in the medieval secular motet, was banished from the Renaissance motet. Ceremonial motets are characterised by clear articulation of formal structure and by clear diction, because the texts would be novel for the audience.Adrian Willaert,Ludwig Senfl, andCipriano de Rore are prominent composers of ceremonial motets from the first half of the 16th century.[17]
The motet was one of the preeminent forms ofRenaissance music. Important composers of Renaissance motets include:
In the latter part of the 16th century,Giovanni Gabrieli and other composers developed a new style, thepolychoral motet, in which two or morechoirs of singers (or instruments) alternated. This style of motet was sometimes called theVenetian motet to distinguish it from theNetherlands orFlemish motet written elsewhere. "If Ye Love Me" by Thomas Tallis serves the demand of the Church of England for English texts, and a focus on understanding the words, beginning inhomophony.
InBaroque music, especially in France where the motet was very important, there were two distinct, and very different types of motet:petits motets, sacred choral or chamber compositions whose only accompaniment was abasso continuo; andgrands motets, which included massed choirs and instruments up to and including a full orchestra.Jean-Baptiste Lully,Michel Richard de Lalande,Marc-Antoine Charpentier were important composers of this sort of motet. Their motets often included parts for soloists as well as choirs; they were longer, including multiple movements 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 asPlaude Laetare Gallia, written to celebrate the baptism of KingLouis XIV's son; its text byPierre Perrin begins:
Plaude laetare Gallia
Rore caelesti rigantur lilia,
Sacro Delphinus fonte lavatur
Et christianus Christo dicatur.("Rejoice and sing, France: the lily is bathed with heavenly dew. TheDauphin is bathed in the sacred font, and the Christian is dedicated to Christ.")
In France,Pierre Robert (24 grands motets),Henry Dumont (grands & petits motets), Marc-Antoine Charpentier (206 different types of motets),Michel-Richard de La Lande (70 grands motets),Henry Desmarest (20 grands motets),François Couperin (motets lost),Nicolas Bernier,André Campra,Charles-Hubert Gervais (42 grands motets),Louis-Nicolas Clérambault,François Giroust (70 grands motets) were also important composers. In Germany, too, pieces called motets were written in the new musical languages of the Baroque.Heinrich Schütz wrote many motets in series of publications, for example three books ofSymphoniae sacrae, some in Latin and some in German.Hans Leo Hassler composed motets such asDixit Maria, on which he also based a mass composition.
Six motets attributed toJohann Sebastian Bach and catalogued BWV 225–230 are relatively long pieces combining German hymns with biblical texts, several of them composed for funerals. Mostly written ina cappella style,basso continuo, with instruments playingcolla parte, several of them composed for funerals. The first five, for double chorus, are almost certainly composed by Bach and are written ina cappella style, though strings and oboes appear to have accompaniedcolla parte.Lobet dem Herrn is forSATB withbasso continuo.
The funeralcantataO Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht, BWV 118 (1736–37?) is regarded as a motet, though it has independent instrumental parts. The motetSei Lob und Preis mit Ehren, BWV 231 is an arrangement of a movement from Bach's Cantata 28, and the authenticity of the arrangement is not certain. For a few more motets, such asIch lasse dich nicht, BWV Anh 159, Bach's authorship is debated.
Later 18th-century composers wrote few motets.Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach composed an extendedchorale motetWachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, combining Baroque techniques with thegalant style.Mozart'sAve verum corpus (K. 618) is this genre.Rameau,Mondonville andGiroust also wrote grands motets.
In the 19th century, some German composers continued to write motets.Felix Mendelssohn composedJauchzet dem Herrn, alle Welt,Denn er hat seinen Engeln befohlen andMitten wir im Leben sind.Johannes Brahms composed three motets on biblical verses,Fest- und Gedenksprüche. Josef Rheinberger composedAbendlied.Anton Bruckner composed about 40motets, mainly in Latin, includingLocus iste. French composers of motets includeCamille Saint-Saëns andCésar Franck. In English similar compositions are calledanthems. Some later English composers, such asCharles Villiers Stanford, wrotemotets in Latin. Most of these compositions area cappella and some, such asEdward Elgar's three motets Op. 2, are accompanied by organ.
In the 20th century, composers of motets have often consciously imitated earlier styles. In 1920, Ralph Vaughan Williams composedO clap your hands, a setting of verses fromPsalm 47 for a four-part choir, organ, brass, and percussion, called a motet.Carl Nielsen set inTre Motetter three verses from different psalms as motets, first performed in 1930. Francis Poulenc set several Latin texts as motets, firstQuatre motets pour un temps de pénitence (1938).Maurice Duruflé composedQuatre Motets sur des thèmes grégoriens in 1960, andNotre Père in 1977. Other examples include works byRichard Strauss,Charles Villiers Stanford,Edmund Rubbra,Lennox Berkeley,Morten Lauridsen,Edward Elgar,Hugo Distler,F. Melius Christiansen,Ernst Krenek,Michael Finnissy,Karl Jenkins[18] andIgor Stravinsky.
Arvo Pärt has composed motets, includingDa pacem Domine in 2006,[19] as haveDave Soldier (Motet: Harmonies of the World, with rules from Johannes Kepler),Sven-David Sandström,[20]Enjott Schneider,[21]Ludger Stühlmeyer[22] andPierre Pincemaille.[23]
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