Contents -- MOTET Online Database

		Dr. Jennifer Thomas Associate Professor Music History
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Works Included

WORKS INCLUDED:

most Latin-texted, non-strophic, polyphonic compositions apart from settings of the Ordinary of the Mass
all works designated in original sources and in secondary literature as motets or as Mass Propers, as well as compositions displaying the usual characteristics of these genres.

Although sources frequently distinguish between motets and Mass Propers, their shared use of liturgical texts, and in some cases similar musical styles, coupled with continuing uncertainty about the motet's liturgical function, makes it advisable to include Propers in the database. Chanson-motets, when identified as such, Psalm-motets, and instrumental intabulations of motets are also indexed.

WORKS NOT INCLUDED:

Pieces designated as

·        Magnificats

·        Lamentations

·        canticles

·        strophic Psalms

·        strophic hymns

These are distinct genres comprising a significant body of music in their own right. Though these genres sometimes appear in the same manuscripts with motets, they are usually assigned to different sections; printers normally issued them in separate publications. However, works labeled as hymns and Psalms in secondary literature have been included if they appear in manuscript sections consisting overwhelmingly of motets; it is possible that the compiler of the inventory may have labeled the work strictly on the basis of its text, which should not be the sole criterion of its musical classification. Whenever the genre of a Latin-texted work is uncertain, the work has been included. Works fitting any of these categories falling outside a strict interpretation of what constitutes a motet account for a very small percentage of the total catalogue.