motet

motet
/moh tet"/, n. Music.
a vocal composition in polyphonic style, on a Biblical or similar prose text, intended for use in a church service.
[1350-1400; ME < MF; see MOT, -ET]

* * *

Latin choral composition, generally in one movement.

Its origins are in the 13th century, when words (French mots) began to be added to originally wordless polyphonic lines in settings of plainchant. It grew directly out of the clausula, a polyphonic decoration of a portion of organum, but it soon split off to become a separate composition, while retaining a meaningless fragment of chant text and melody in the tenor part. The upper texts often became a confusing mixture of sacred and secular
and even anticlerical
poems, indicating its intended performance in courtly as well as ecclesiastical settings. The motet was the most important musical genre of the 13th century and an essential vehicle for the development of polyphony. In the Renaissance, sacred motets, now employing a single text, were written by composers such as Josquin des Prez, Orlande de Lassus, and William Byrd, though it remains unclear how often they were performed in church settings. In the 17th–18th centuries, motets were written by Jean-Baptiste Lully, Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Heinrich Schütz, and Johann Sebastian Bach. After с 1750 the genre declined, and its distinguishing characteristics became diffuse.

* * *

      (French mot: “word”), style of vocal composition that has undergone numerous transformations through many centuries. Typically, it is a Latin religious choral composition, yet it can be a secular composition or a work for soloist(s) and instrumental accompaniment, in any language, with or without a choir.

      The motet began in the early 13th century as an application of a new text (i.e., “word”) to older music. Specifically, the text was added to the wordless upper-voice parts of descant clausulae. These were short sections of organum, a 13th-century and earlier form consisting of a plainchant melody in the tenor, above which were added one, two, or three simultaneous melodies; in descant clausulae, as opposed to other organum, all the voice parts were set in short, repeated rhythmic patterns called rhythmic modes.

      In forming motets from descant clausulae, two or even three parts were each given a text. Although the earliest motets were usually in Latin and intended for church use, there later arose bilingual motets (French–Latin, English–Latin) on secular and sacred texts or combinations of both. Particularly during the late 13th century, the motet was secular in its added texts, which were often all in French. Tenors were sometimes chosen from French popular songs, rather than from plainchant. Rhythmic patterns became freer and more varied, and the rhythmic modes fell into disuse. Instruments apparently played the lower voice parts as accompaniment to a singer's performance of the upper part, so that the motet became an accompanied solo song.

      In the 14th century secular motets were largely serious in content (e.g., on historical topics) and were used for ceremonial occasions. Both sacred and secular motets often used the technique of isorhythm: the repetition of an often complex rhythmic pattern throughout the composition. This pattern often overlapped but did not always coincide with the repetition of a melody.

      By the second half of the 15th century, motets were normally sung in all voice parts. Nearly always all parts now shared the same text. The musical texture was largely contrapuntal (i.e., consisting of interwoven melodies). Syllables and words were not always sung simultaneously in the different voice parts except in contrasting sections based on chords. The tenor melodies were largely chosen from plainchant, and sacred Latin texts predominated. The use of cantus firmus plainchant declined during the 16th century.

      Motets were frequently written for a particular holy day and were sung at mass between the Credo and Sanctus or at Vespers in the divine office. Such motets were often based on plainchants associated with their texts. The music of the mass might also be founded on the same musical themes, giving the entire service a musical unity not approached in any later church music, even under J.S. Bach. Even when a motet was not founded on a plainchant fragment, it was possible for a composer to design a motet and a mass setting on the same themes. Titles of 16th-century masses often indicate either the motet or the plainchant on which they are founded. Thus, the Missa nos autem gloriari by the Roman composer Francesco Soriano was based on the motet Nos autem gloriari by Giovanni da Palestrina. When a motet was in two movements, or self-contained sections, the second movement usually ended with the last musical phrases and text of the first.

      After about 1600 the term motet came to indicate any composition setting a serious nonliturgical but often sacred text. In the late 16th century, Venetian composers such as Giovanni Gabrieli wrote motets for multiple choirs and contrasting instruments. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the musical style varied from instrumentally accompanied motets for solo voice to the large choral motets of Bach, which may have been sung with instrumental accompaniment. In Lutheran Germany motets were based on the texts, and often the melodies, of chorales (German hymns). In England motets with English texts for use in Anglican services were called anthems (anthem) (see anthem). They were either for chorus (full anthems) or for soloist(s) and chorus (verse anthems). Instrumental accompaniment was common in both types. After the end of the Baroque era in the mid-18th century, the motet became a less prominent form. Motets continued to be written; e.g., by Mozart in the 18th century, Brahms in the 19th century, and in the 20th century by the German Hugo Distler and the French composer Francis Poulenc.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • motet — motet …   Dictionnaire des rimes

  • MOTET — Le motet est une forme musicale dont les origines remontent aux XIIe et XIIIe siècles. Généralement appliqué à la musique sacrée, bien que s’inspirant aussi de chants profanes, ce terme a recouvert, au cours des siècles, des réalités différentes …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Motet — • A short piece of music set to Latin words, and sung instead of, or immediately after, the Offertorium, or as a detached number in extra liturgical functions Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Motet     Motet …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • motet — MOTÉT, motete, s.n. Compoziţie muzicală polifonică, în care fiecare voce îşi are melodia sa, uneori şi text propriu. – Din fr. motet. Trimis de ana zecheru, 02.06.2004. Sursa: DEX 98  motét s. n., pl. motéte Trimis de siveco, 10.08.2004. Sursa:… …   Dicționar Român

  • motet — Motet. s. m. Paroles de devotion qui sont mises en Musique pour estre. chantées à l Eglise, & qui ne font point partie de l Office divin. Faire un Motet, un beau Motet. composer un Motet. chanter un Motet …   Dictionnaire de l'Académie française

  • motet — (n.) choral composition on a sacred text, late 14c., from O.Fr. motet (13c.), dim. of mot word (see MOT (Cf. mot)) …   Etymology dictionary

  • motet — mòtēt m <G motéta> DEFINICIJA 1. glazb. pov. višeglasna vokalna kompozicija, razvija se od 13. do 18. st. 2. knjiž. kratki francuski pjesnički oblik s rimovanim stihovima (obično jedanaestercima i sedmercima) u epigramnome tonu ETIMOLOGIJA… …   Hrvatski jezični portal

  • Motet — Mo*tet , n. [F., a dim. of mot word; cf. It. mottetto, dim. of motto word, device. See {Mot}, {Motto}.] (Mus.) A composition adapted to sacred words in the elaborate polyphonic church style; an anthem. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • mòtēt — m 〈G motéta〉 1. {{001f}}glazb. pov. višeglasna vokalna kompozicija, razvija se od 13. do 18. st. 2. {{001f}}knjiž. kratki francuski pjesnički oblik s rimovanim stihovima (obično jedanaestercima i sedmercima) u epigramnome tonu ✧ {{001f}}tal. ← fr …   Veliki rječnik hrvatskoga jezika

  • motet — фр. [мотэ/], англ. [моутэ/т] Motette нем. [мотэ/тэ] motetto ит. [мотэ/то] motetus лат. [мотэ/тус] мотет …   Словарь иностранных музыкальных терминов

  • motet — ► NOUN ▪ a short piece of sacred choral music. ORIGIN Old French, little word …   English terms dictionary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”