The motet is a form that played a central role in music history for five hundred years, from the 1200's to the 1700's. During that time, most of the changes and developments in musical style and structure were mirrored in the evolution of the motet, and for that reason there’s no single definition that covers every kind of motet. Generally speaking, however, a motet is a choral setting of a religious text, performed as part of church services, and usually without instrumental accompaniment. For the first three hundred years of so of the motet’s history, before the Protestant Reformation, motet texts were always in Latin, the language of the Roman Catholic Church. Later, composers set texts in their native languages, especially in England and Germany. Renaissance motets, the four- and five-voice unaccompanied motets of the fourteen and fifteen hundreds, are probably the most familiar to today’s early music lovers, but various famous Baroque composers, including J. S. Bach, also wrote motets, sometimes just for chorus, sometimes with solo voices, and often with instruments.
A Minute with Miles - a production of ETV Radio made possible by the JM Smith Corporation.
