Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 2.djvu/384

372 by the Church, in common with the Rondellus, another kind of popular melody, and the Conductus, a species of Sæcular Song, in which the subject in the Tenor was original, and suggested the other parts, after the manner of the Guida of a Canon. Again, it is just possible that the varying orthography to which we have alluded may, originally, have involved some real distinction, no longer recognisable. But, in opposition to this view it may be urged that the charge of licentiousness was brought against the Motet under all its synonyms, though Ecclesiastical Composers continued to use its themes as Canti fermi, as long as the Polyphonic Schools remained in existence—to which circumstance the word most probably owes its present conventional signification.

The earliest purely Ecclesiastical Motets of which any certain record remains to us are those of Philippus de Vitriaco, whose Ars compositionis de Motetis, preserved in the Paris Library, is believed to have been written between the years 1290 and 1310. Morley tells us that the Motets of this author 'were for some time of all others best esteemed and most used in the Church.' Some others, scarcely less antient, are printed in Gerbert's great work De Cantu et musica sacra—rude attempts at two-part harmony, intensely interesting, as historical records, but intolerable to cultivated ears.

Very different from these early efforts are the productions of the period, which, in our article,, we have designated as the First Epoch of practical importance in the history of Polyphonic Music—a period embracing the closing years of the 13th Century, and the first half of the 14th, and represented by the works of Guglielmo Du Fay, Egydius Bianchoys, Eloy, Dunstable, Vincenzo Faugues, and some other Masters, whose compositions are chiefly known through the richly illuminated volumes which adorn the Library of the Sistine Chapel, in which they are written, in accordance with the custom of the Pontifical Choir, in characters large enough to be read by the entire body of Singers, at one view. These works are full of interest; and, like the earliest Masses, invaluable, as studies of the polyphonic treatment of the Modes.

Equally interesting are the productions of the Second Epoch, extending from the year 1430 to about 1480. The typical Composers of this period were Giovanni Okenheim (or Ockegem), Caron, Gaspar, Antonius de Fevin, Hobrecht, and Giovanni Basiron, in whose works we first begin to notice a remarkable divergence between the music adapted to the Motet and that set apart for the Mass. From the time of Okenheim, the leader of the School, till the middle of the 16th Century, Composers seem to have regarded the invention of contrapuntal miracles as a duty which no one could avoid without dishonour. For some unexplained reason, they learned to look upon the Music of the Mass as the natural and orthodox vehicle for the exhibition of this peculiar kind of ingenuity: while, in the Motet, they were less careful to display their learning, and more ready to encourage a certain gravity of manner, far more valuable, from an æsthetic point of view, than the extravagant complications which too often disfigure the 'more ambitious compositions they were intended to adorn. Hence it frequently happens, that, in the Motets of this period, we find a consistency of design, combined with a massive breadth of style, for which we search in vain in contemporary Masses.

The compositions of the Third Epoch exhibit all the merits noticeable in those of the First and Second, enriched by more extended harmonic resources, and a far greater amount of technical skill. It was during this period, comprising the two last decads of the 15th Century, and the two first of the 16th, that the Great Masters of the Flemish School, excited to enthusiasm by the matchless genius of Josquin des Prés, made those rapid advances towards perfection, which, for a time, placed them far above the Musicians of any other country in Europe, and gained for them an influence which was everywhere acknowledged with respect, and everywhere used for pure and noble ends. The Motets bequeathed to us by these earnest-minded men are, with scarcely any exception, constructed upon a Canto fermo, supplied by some fragment of grave Plain Chaunt, or suggested by the strains of some well-known Sæcular Melody. Sometimes, this simple theme is sung, by the Tenor, or some other principal Voice, entirely in Longs, and Breves, while other Voices accompany it, in florid Counterpoint, with every imaginable variety of imitation and device. Sometimes, it is taken up by the several Voices, in turn, after the manner of a Fugue, or Canon, without the support of the continuous part, which is only introduced in broken phrases, with long rests between them. When, as is frequently the case, the Motet consists of two movements—a Pars prima, and Pars secunda—the Canto fermo is sometimes sung, by the Tenor, first, in the ordinary way, and then backwards, in Retrograde Imitation, cancrizans. In this, and other cases, it is frequently prefixed to the composition, on a small detached Stave, and thus forms a true Motto to the work, to the imitations of which it supplies a veritable key, and in the course of which it is always treated in the same general way. [See .] But, side by side with this homogeneity of mechanical construction, we find an infinite variety of individual expression. Freed from the pedantic trammels, which at one period exercised so unhealthy an influence upon the Mass, the Composer of the Motet felt bound to give his whole attention to a careful rendering of the words, instead of wasting it, as he would certainly have done under other circumtances, upon the concoction of some astounding Inversion, or inscrutable Canon. Hence, the character of the text frequently offers a tolerably safe criterion as to the style of work; and we are thus enabled to divide the Motets, not of this Epoch only, but of the preceding and following periods also, into several distinct classes, each marked by some peculiarity of more or less importance.

Nowhere, perhaps, do we find more real