Making the Motet

Making the motet explores the ways in which the genre of the motet—frequently held up as one of the most important genres of vocal music—has been constructed and subsequently deconstructed through over 1000 years of music.

Through a narrative beginning in the 12th century, Making the motet takes audiences to the very moment monophony became polyphony in the medieval period, highlights the aspects that made the motet a favourite among musicians and audiences alike, and charts how the motet has been constantly reinterpreted into the present day.

The programme includes early plainchant, anonymous verses, tropes and organa from the 12th/13th century, some of the earliest Latin motets ever written, genre-defining Renaissance motets by composers such as Dunstaple, Binchois, and Palestrina, popular works by Mendelssohn and Josquin, and exciting motet reinterpretations by composers such as Eisler and Tavener.