Motet

Motet, in music, vocal composition, usually on a sacred text and historically intended to be performed in Roman Catholic services. The motet originated in the early 13th century. At that time composers often took a florid passage of Gregorian chant, wrote it out in long note values, and added other voice parts above it. Such compositions, which were performed during the course of the chant from which the excerpt was taken, were called clausulae. Because the original chant segment had often been set over a single word or syllable, this same text fragment was used throughout a clausula in all voice parts. The motet arose when words (French, mots) were added to the upper voice parts. After about 1250, motets were composed expressly as separate compositions and not merely as clausulae. The chief characteristics of the genre were the use of more than one text simultaneously, sometimes in different languages, and the use of a segment of Gregorian chant for the lowest voice part.

The musical structure of motets became extremely complex during the 14th century and incorporated the isorhythmic technique, the repetition of separate, overlapping rhythmic and melodic patterns, usually in the tenor part. Sometimes the upper parts were even in different metres simultaneously.

The motet declined in popularity during the early 15th century, when a lighter, more tuneful style of music emerged. After about 1450, the motet was revived and became the chief vehicle for experimentation in musical composition. The 15th- and 16th-century motets were generally choral compositions on a single text and a uniform polyphonic texture. After 1600, however, instruments and solo voices were often employed, and motets tended to resemble other kinds of music, such as the cantata or solo songs and duets. After 1750 the motet declined, although composers up to the present time have continued to write sacred vocal works that they term motets. In Anglican church music, from the mid-16th century onwards, the English-language anthem largely took over the function of the motet.