Isorhythmic Motet

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the rise of the isorhythmic motet in the fourteenth century, as exemplified in the works of Guillaume de Machaut and John Dunstable. It will also consider the relationship of this motet form to the shift from the Ars Antiqua to the Ars Nova in the fourteenth century.

From the Paper:

"This paper discusses the rise of the isorhythmic motet in the fourteenth century, as exemplified in the works of Guillaume de Machaut and John Dunstable. It will also consider the relationship of this motet form to the shift from the Ars Antiqua to the Ars Nova in the fourteenth century.
The motet was the most important form of vocal music during the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance. It was polyphonic and usually for three voices, although many examples of two- and four-part motets are known (Hughes, 353). Used in both court and church, it also penetrated into the sphere of popular music.

The thirteenth-century motet still bore, to modern ears, a great resemblance to Gregorian chant. Even though the motets are polyphonic and the Gregorian chant monophonic, most motets of the Ars Antiqua move with such solemnity and present such a bland ...."

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