In
Western music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied
choral musical compositions. The name comes either from the
Latin movere, ("to move") or a Latinized version of
Old French mot, "word" or "verbal utterance." The Medieval Latin for "motet" is "motectum". If from the Latin, the name describes the movement of the different voices against one another.According to Margaret Bent (1997), "'a piece of music in several parts with words' is as precise a definition of the motet as will serve from the thirteenth to the late sixteenth century and beyond. This is actually very close to one of the earliest descriptions we have, that of the late thirteenth-century theorist
Johannes de Grocheio." Grocheio was also one of the first scholars to define a motet. Grocheio believed that the motet was "not intended for the vulgar who do not understand its finer points and derive no pleasure from hearing it: it is meant for educated people and those who look for refinement in art."
[1]
See more at Wikipedia.org...
Free Download Now!
