Meaning of Motet in Music
A motet is a style of vocal composition in Western classical music. It is a highly diverse form and style of music that has evolved over many centuries . The term "motet" is derived from the French word "mot," which means "word"
**Key Points:**- A motet is a vocal composition that can be sacred or secular, in any language, and can be performed by a choir or soloist(s) with or without instrumental accompaniment.- Motets were often written for specific holy days and were sung during mass or Vespers in the divine office.- The music of a motet could be based on plainchants associated with their texts or on other musical themes, giving the entire service a musical unity.
The motet is considered one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. It represents the first great flowering of polyphony, which is the simultaneous singing of multiple independent vocal lines. The motet emerged as a medium for complex virtuosic composition, with dynamically contrasting vocal lines and a profusion of texts.
**Note:** The motet can also refer to specific compositions, such as Mozart's "Ave Verum Corpus," which is a sacred motet composed for a small-town church choir
A polyphonic vocal style of composition. The motet was popular in the middle ages, when it consisted of a tenor foundation upon which other melodies were added. The texts of these voices could be sacred or secular, Latin or French, and usually had little to do with each other, with the result that the composition lacked unity and direction. During the 14th century, isorhythm came into use and other rhythmic refinements, somewhat unifying the sound and texture of the motet. By the Renaissance, the separate voices of the motet had adopted the same text (by this time the texts were religious almost without exception) and each voice was considered a part of the whole rather than a whole in itself, thus finally giving the motet unity and grace.
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