Editing Motet (section)

==Renaissance examples==
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The compositional character of the motet changed entirely during the transition from medieval to [[Renaissance music]], as most composers abandoned the use of a repeated figure as a ''cantus firmus''. [[Guillaume Dufay]] was a transitional figure in this regard, writing one of the last important motets in the medieval, isorhythmic style, ''[[Nuper rosarum flores]]'', in 1436.<ref>[[Alec Robertson (music critic)|Alec Robertson]] and [[Denis Stevens]], eds., ''A History of Music'', Volume 2 (New York: Barnes and Noble, Inc., 1965), 85.</ref><ref>Edgar H. Sparks, Cantus Firmus in Mass and Motet 1420&ndash;1520 (New York: Da Capo Press, 1975), 86.</ref> During the second half of the fifteenth century Motets stretched the ''cantus firmus'' to greater lengths compared to the surrounding multi-voice counterpoint, adopting a technique of contemporary 'tenor masses'.<ref name="NewGrove2">Leeman L. Perkins and Patrick Macey, "Motet, §II: Renaissance", ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', second edition, edited by [[Stanley Sadie]] and [[John Tyrrell (musicologist)|John Tyrrell]] (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001).</ref> This obscured the ''cantus firmus'' rhythm more than in medieval isorhythmic motets. Cascading, [[passing chord]]s created by the interplay of voices and the absence of an obvious beat distinguish medieval and renaissance motet styles.

Motet frequently used the texts of [[antiphon]]s and the Renaissance period marked the flowering of the form. The Renaissance motet is [[polyphony|polyphonic]], sometimes with an imitative counterpoint, for a chorus singing a Latin and usually sacred text. It is not connected to a specific [[liturgy]], making it suitable for any service.

Motets were sacred [[madrigal (music)|madrigal]]s and the language of the text was decisive: [[Latin]] for a motet and the vernacular for a madrigal.<ref>The [[Hilliard Ensemble]], ''Palestrina: Canticum canticorum, Motets Book IV; Spiritual madrigals'' (Virgin Classics, 1994; sound recording liner notes)</ref> The relationship between the forms is clearest in composers of sacred music, such as [[Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina]], whose "motets" setting texts from the ''[[Song of Solomon|Canticum Canticorum]]'' are among the most lush and madrigal-like, while his madrigals using [[Petrarch]]'s poems could be performed in a church. Religious compositions in vernacular languages were often called ''[[madrigale spirituale|madrigali spirituali]]'', "spiritual madrigals". These Renaissance motets developed in episodic format with separate phrases of the text given independent melodic treatment and contrapuntal development.

Secular motets, known as "ceremonial motets",<ref name="blanche">Blanche Gangwere, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=v5Oz7vPCQXoC Music History During the Renaissance Period, 1520–1550]'' (Westport, CT, Praeger Publishers: 2004), pp. 451–54.</ref> typically set a Latin text to praise a monarch, music or commemorate a triumph. The theme of [[courtly love]], often found in the medieval secular motet, was banished from the Renaissance motet. Ceremonial motets are characterised by clear articulation of formal structure and by clear diction, because the texts would be novel for the audience. [[Adrian Willaert]], [[Ludwig Senfl]], and [[Cipriano de Rore]] are prominent composers of ceremonial motets from the first half of the 16th century.<ref name="blanche" />

===Renaissance composers===
The motet was one of the preeminent forms of [[Renaissance music]]. Important composers of Renaissance motets include:

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* [[Alexander Agricola]]
* [[Gilles Binchois]]
* [[Antoine Boësset]]
* [[Antoine Brumel]]
* [[Antoine Busnois]]
* [[William Byrd]]
* [[Johannes Vodnianus Campanus]]
* [[Pierre Certon]]
* [[Jacobus Clemens non Papa]]
* [[Loyset Compère]]
* [[Thomas Crecquillon]]
* [[Josquin des Prez]]
* [[John Dunstaple]]
* François-[[Eustache Du Caurroy]]
* [[Antoine de Févin]]
* [[Carlo Gesualdo]]
* [[Nicolas Gombert]]
* [[Francisco Guerrero (composer)|Francisco Guerrero]]
* [[Heinrich Isaac]]
* [[Claude Le Jeune]]
* [[Pierre de La Rue]]
* [[Orlando di Lasso]]
* [[Jean Maillard]]
* [[Cristóbal de Morales]]
* [[Étienne Moulinié]]
* [[Jean Mouton]]
* [[Jacob Obrecht]]
* [[Johannes Ockeghem]]
* [[Andreas Pevernage]]
* [[Lucrezia Orsina Vizzana]]
* [[Martin Peerson]]
* [[Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina]]
* [[Thomas Tallis]]
* [[John Taverner]]
* [[Robert Carver (composer)|Robert Carver]]
* [[Tomás Luis de Victoria]]
* [[Manuel Cardoso (composer)|Manuel Cardoso]]
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In the latter part of the 16th century, [[Giovanni Gabrieli]] and other composers developed a new style, the [[polychoral]] motet, in which two or more [[choir]]s of singers (or instruments) alternated. This style of motet was sometimes called the ''Venetian motet'' to distinguish it from the ''Netherlands'' or ''Flemish'' motet written elsewhere. "[[If Ye Love Me]]" by Thomas Tallis serves the demand of the Church of England for English texts, and a focus on understanding the words, beginning in [[homophony]].