Motets are polyphonic choral songs that were sung to explain the Bible during the European Middle Ages and Renaissance. At the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries, an unaccompanied polyphonic chorus song with a fixed tune using a plain song melody with several notes per syllable was called "Clausula".

Among them, Latin lyrics are sung in a fixed tune, while other parts do not sing lyrics like the current vocal training songs. At the beginning of the 13th century, the upper part of the unsung lyrics in Clausula was often filled with lyrics, which was called "motetus". This word originated from the French "mot", which means lyrics, and was later called the entire polyphonic chorus song. For "motet".

Extended information:

Style development

13th century motet, the fixed tune is maintained in the tenor part, as the bass, singing Latin Scripture lyrics; the two upper voices sing different lyrics (Latin or French).

There were two types of motets in the second half of the 13th century, one was Franconian and the other was Petronian. Both contrast in rhythm. The voices from top to bottom are fast, medium and slow. The former subdivides the notes into three tones, while the latter subdivides the notes into three tones and above.

The motet represented by the French composer Machaud in the 14th century is a polyphonic chorus song of equal rhythm. The fixed tune in the tenor part is processed into an equal rhythm of 2 segment or 3-segment structure.

In fifteenth-century motets, each part often sang the same Latin lyrics. The motets of the Flemish composer G. Dufer canceled the fixed tune and composed free polyphonic vocal music in the form of secular songs.

Baidu Encyclopedia - Motet