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MOTET
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MOTET , a musical See also:art-See also:form of See also:paramount importance in the 16th See also:century. The word is of doubtful See also:etymology, and probably its various uses and forms in the 13th and 14th centuries connect with more than one origin. Thus motulus suggests modulus or See also:melody; and probably represents the notion underlying the use of the See also:term motetus or motellus to designate one of the See also:middle parts in a vocal See also:combination. On the other See also:hand the obvious connexion between the See also:Italian word mottetto (diminutive of See also:motto) with the See also:French mot (in the sense of bon mot) is in conformity with the use of a profane art-form contemporary with the conductus and See also:rondel of these See also:early epochs of See also:music.
The only really definite and mature art-form denoted by the word motet is that of the 16th-century pieces of ecclesiastical music in one or two (rarely more) continuous movements, for the most See also:part on Biblical or other ecclesiastical See also:prose texts. The word is, however, used for any single Latin-See also:text See also:composition in continuous form, not set sectionally See also:verse by verse, and not forming a permanent part of the See also:mass. Thus See also:Palestrina's Stabat mater is included among his motets; though the text is metrical and rhymed, and the See also:style, though continuous, is far from being that of the typical polyphonic motet. The See also:title of motet is also occasionally loosely used for non-ecclesiasticalworks, such as many of the See also:numbers in the Magnum See also:opus musicum of Orlando di See also:Lasso and the dedicatory motet at the beginning of Palestrina's fifth See also:book. And in this way it is sometimes applied to compositions not to Latin text; as in Josquin's Deploration da .Iehan Okenheim, where all except the See also:canto See also:fermo is in French.
The most important See also:kind of motet is that which is intimately connected with the See also:solemn mass for a particular See also:holy See also:day. Such motets are sung between the Credo and the Sanctus of the mass. They are, in typical cases, founded on the Gregorian tones of their texts, and the mass is founded on the same themes, thus giving the whole service a musical unity which has never since been approached in any See also: When a motet was not founded on Gregorian tones it was still possible for the composer to See also:design a mass on the same themes, and most of the titles of 16th-century masses, when they _ do not indicate a See also:secular origin, indicate either the motet or the Gregorian tones on which they are founded. Thus Palestrina's masses Assumpta est Maria; 0 admirabile commercium; Dum complerentur; Hodie Christus natus est; See also:Dies santificatus; Veni sponsa Christi, and the second Missa Tu es Petrus, are magnificent examples selected almost at See also:random from the masses which the composer has founded on his own motets of the same name. When such masses are performed, whether in a See also:concert-See also:room or church, it is indisputable that the motet ought always to be included. Sometimes one composer founded a mass on another composer's motet; thus Soriano's See also:fine Missa, Nos autem gloriari, is based upon a motet by Palestrina. When a motet was in two movements the second See also:movement almost always ended with the last clauses of the first, both in text and in music, thereby sometimes producing a distinctly See also:modern impression of da See also:capo form. In later times the term motet is little more than a name for any choral composition of clearly single design; and the fact that such compositions have often been sung, like the 16th-century motet, between the Credo and Sanctus of High Mass, has nothing to do with their See also:character as an art-form. Bach's motets are See also:great See also:German choral See also:works in several movements, with no written See also:accompaniment, though there is See also:internal and See also:external See also:evidence that they were accompanied from See also:score by the See also:organ. See also:Handel's motets belong to his Italian See also:period and are simply Latin cantatas of various kinds, with instrumental accompaniment. The later meanings attached to the word are quite indefinite, and have no See also:common See also:idea, except that the motet is nowadays the shortest kind of sacred choral music. (D. F. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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