How many voices are in a motet?
three voices
A. Motets are now quite often for three voices (two voices with text and the Tenor). The Tenor at first is still organized into its repeatable rhythmic cells and moves at about the same speed of the other voices. The upper voices generally have two different French texts.
Are motets sacred or secular?
motet, (French mot: “word”), style of vocal composition that has undergone numerous transformations through many centuries. Typically, it is a Latin religious choral composition, yet it can be a secular composition or a work for soloist(s) and instrumental accompaniment, in any language, with or without a choir.
What is the rhythm of motet?
The motet took a definite rhythm from the words of the verse, and as such appeared as a brief rhythmic interlude in the middle of the longer, more chant-like organum. The practice of discant over a cantus firmus marked the beginnings of counterpoint in Western music.
Are motets Medieval?
A motet is a piece of polyphonic choral music commonly associated with the Renaissance period of classical music. The form emerged in the Medieval period as an early form of vocal polyphony.
What does Spem in alium stand for?
Spem in alium. Spem in alium ( Latin for “Hope in any other”) is a 40-part Renaissance motet by Thomas Tallis, composed in c. 1570 for eight choirs of five voices each, considered by some critics to be the greatest piece of English early music. Along with Tallis’s Lamentations, H. B. Collins described it in 1929 as Tallis’s “crowning achievement”.
What is the structure of the motet Spem in alium?
Spem in alium. An excerpt of the first 2 minutes of the motet. The motet is laid out for eight choirs of five voices (soprano, alto, tenor, baritone and bass). It is most likely that Tallis intended his singers to stand in a horseshoe shape.
Is the Tallis motet the same as the Missa Spem in alium?
The Tallis motet is not the source for Palestrina ‘s Missa Spem in alium, which was published almost contemporaneously in 1570. Palestrina’s parody mass is based on a 4–part motet with a similar text, by Jacquet de Mantua, dating from 1539.
Who presented England with Spem in alium?
Legend credits two of England’s leading Catholic noblemen – Thomas Howard, the fourth Duke of Norfolk, and Henry Fitzalan, the twelfth Earl of Arundel – with issuing a commission to the most senior and revered English composer of the day to match Striggio’s accomplishment. And that composer, Thomas Tallis, presented England with Spem in alium.