Sacred Music: The Motet and Mass

In the Middle Ages, the development of the motet (a vocal piece for three or four voices) was used in both sacred and secular settings. In the Renaissance, the motet became a purely sacred form. Also in the Middle Ages, the motet had more than one text, often a different text for each line of melody, and sometimes in multiple languages. In the Renaissance, the motet had only one text, and it was always a Latin text. The most popular motets were usually in three or four voices. Later in the Renaissance, the motets gained additional voices, until as many as five or six voice parts could be written in a motet. (The most voice parts in one motet was 40 - If you can name the piece and the composer, and email it to Mrs. Alderman it will be worth 20 extra credit points. Hint: there is only one 40-voice motet from the Renaissance)

The mass was another extremely important form of music in the Renaissance. The mass is the most important religious service in the Roman Catholic church. It consists of two different parts. The proper has a number of different sections that change each day. The ordinary has five sections, and the order of the five sections never changes. The five sections of the ordinary of the mass are the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei. The Kyrie is a prayer for mercy; the Gloria is a joyful hymn of praise; the Credo is a confession of faith; the fourth section, teh Sanctus, is the section that lauds the holiness of God; and the Agnus Dei, the last section, praises the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Most of the settings of the mass in the Renaissance period were based on a fragment of a Gregorian chant. That fragment became the basic melody upon which all the other parts of a mass were written. There are a number of masses for special occasions, but perhaps the most important is the mass for the dead, the Requiem, which is sung at funerals and memorial services.

The mass and motet represent two of the most important forms of sacred music in the Renaissance. In later periods of music, these forms would be further developed and embellished.

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