A motet is one of the most important vocal genres of early European music, which arose as far back as the 13th century. It is a polyphonic work in which several voices sing at once, interweaving into a complex polyphonic fabric; the texts are mostly Latin and sacred.
The motet went through a long evolution: from the complex isorhythmic constructions of the ars nova era to the perfect, “angelic” harmony of the Renaissance masters — Josquin des Prez, Palestrina, Orlando di Lasso. In the Baroque era, motets (often now with instrumental accompaniment) were written by J.S. Bach as well. The motet demanded of the composer the highest mastery of polyphonic writing, and so it was always a kind of “examination” of professional maturity and remains a model of pure choral polyphony.
