The Motet in the Post-Tridentine World: An Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book assesses the status of the motet in relation to liturgy and spirituality, urging us to further explore the sometimes quite subtle interconnections between motets and ritual macrotexts. It considers the use of motets during Vespers, letting Kurtzman recognised knowledge of seventeenth-century Vesper liturgy reflect back on post-Tridentine motet collections such as those by Andrea Gabrieli, Palestrina, Victoria and G. F. Anerio. The book explores how motets composed in Lutheran and Catholic areas circulated throughout the Holy Roman Empire, crossing inter-confessional borders which proved to be more permeable than music historiography has traditionally led us to think. It considers the English motet in the aftermath of the English Reformation, which completely removed Latin works from Anglican rites. The book focuses on printed tablature for keyboard and plucked instruments and their non-liturgical use for purposes of entertainment, individual musical enjoyment and instruction.