MOTET. — In its earliest sense, the term *m.* (*moteus*, *motetus*) designates the vocal part superimposed upon the *tenor* in medieval polyphony. Later, it denotes the composition itself, which in the 13th century consists of 2 or 3 voices (*tenor*, *motetus*, *triplum*), more rarely 4 (in which case a *discantus* is added above the *triplum*). The *tenor* performs the *cantus firmus*, subjected, with the necessary note prolongations and displacements, to the theory of the six rhythmic modes (series of trochees, iambs, dactyls, anapests, spondees, and tribrachs). The various voices have different texts. The concordance of the parts themselves is, of course, quite different from that codified by the theorists of classical art; it admits, for example, parallel successions of 2nds and even 5ths. Here, the concept of the independence of the parts and their contrasting movement within a harmonious and rich whole reaches maturity, from which springs that exquisite wonder that is characteristic of all dawns and, in this specific case, of the (already advanced) dawn of polyphony.
These qualities deepened in the 14th century, leading to rapid figurations, the halting interruptions of the *hocket*, the collaboration with instruments that marks the *ars nova*, and the technical peculiarities emerging in Philippe de Vitry and Guillaume de Machaut. Yet in the sacred genre, it also led to those abuses and inconveniences against which the Church protested (Constitution *Docta sanctorum* of John XXII, 1324). After the use of multiple texts was abandoned and a single text was adopted for all voices, the *m.* became part of the finest liturgical and extraliturgical production. Its history, therefore, merges with that of Franco-Flemish polyphony: it follows its periods through the masters of the first generation (Dufay, Binchois), then the second (Busnoys, Ockeghem), and the third (Obrecht, Josquin, to name only the most famous); and with them it evolves, gradually acquiring a more valid rhythmic homogeneity among the voices and greater stylistic coherence, tending toward the balance of verticality and horizontality, homophony and polyphony, singability and thematicism, strophic structure and the expansive principle of contrapuntal variation. These balances and merits were fully achieved when the *m.* entered the heart of the classical era.
Technically, the *m.* is based on the segmentation and exploitation of a Gregorian melody, so that each fragment of it gives rise to a polyphonic episode. The greatest polyphonists of the 16th century favored this form and made use of II. Palestrina, in addition to his six books of *m.* for 4 and 8 voices, in which he had given ample demonstration of the limitless possibilities of this form in the purely choral sphere, and his two books of spiritual madrigals, as well as his other two books of secular madrigals and his offertories—including the celestial motet-like poem for five voices on texts from the Song of Songs (*ex canticis Salomonis*), interpreted in their lofty prophetic sense—also composed other works. Alongside Palestrina, it is fitting to recall the finest masters of vocal polyphony, from Animuccia to the two Anerios, from Orlando di Lasso and Victoria to Giovannelli.
Surviving the golden age of sacred polyphony, the *m.* was cultivated even in the 17th and 18th centuries, when the *a cappella* style was no longer a creative imperative but had become a tradition and rapidly lapsed into academicism. In the 17th century, however, drawing on the tendencies introduced with the advent of accompanied monody and opera—and thus also on the new functions assumed by associated instruments and the expressive possibilities arising from their growing prominence—the *m.* evolved into the so-called "concertante" form: it appropriated the *basso continuo*, adorned itself with descriptive elements, and expanded into soloistic passages sometimes not devoid of difficulty, becoming an interpreter of the world of human passions not always veiled by sacred motifs. After T. L. Grossi da Viadana, Monteverdi (in the *Sacri concentus* appended to the Mass in six voices for the Blessed Virgin Mary, published in 1610) achieved a brilliant and highly personal synthesis of the old and new styles: "the gravity of ancient polyphony mingled with the inventions of opera" (A. Pirro).