: a polyphonic choral composition on a sacred text usually without instrumental accompaniment
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the WebAn early breakthrough came from listening to a traditional singer of the Serer people, whose plaintive melody reminded Catta of a Renaissance motet. Julian Lucas, The New Yorker, 29 Aug. 2022 Philippe Herreweghe led his Ghent choir in a fine performance of Mendelssohn’s motet. Jay Nordlinger, National Review, 28 Aug. 2022 As well as hymns, a motet and a sermon, the solemn vespers would include a gigantic two-part oratorio composed by the church’s Cantor—the director of music—with a text taken from St. Matthew’s gospel. Boyd Tonkin, WSJ, 14 Apr. 2022 The ceiling is tall and arched, like the hallways of a cloister, and offers acoustics befitting a motet. Gregory Barber, Wired, 10 Feb. 2022 But the motet ends with the calm assurance of a Lutheran hymn. Scott Cantrell, Dallas News, 4 Oct. 2021 After this is a setting of a Whitman poem for chorus a cappella in the style of a sixteenth-century madrigal, followed by a section in which a line from Dante’s Inferno is sung by a vocal trio in the style of a medieval motet. Walter Simmons, Harper's Magazine, 25 May 2021 Conducting a joyful Mozart motet, Riccardo Muti sent a resounding message Sunday night, that live classical music has returned to the Italian stage after the coronavirus lockdown. Colleen Barry, The Christian Science Monitor, 22 June 2020 In 1990, the conductor Craig Smith and the chorus of Emmanuel Music in Boston recorded a superb album of 21 Schütz motets.New York Times, 20 Mar. 2020 See More
Word History
Etymology
Middle English, from Middle French, diminutive of mot