motet notes - Palestrina

Today’s motet comes from the 1593 Offertoria totius anni secundum Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae consuetudinem of Palestrina. It contains sixty-eight pieces for all the Sundays and festivals of the church year. In these motets, Palestrina uses melodies of his own invention, rather than taking the plainchant as his musical starting point as he does in his masses. The motets epitomize his restrained compositional style, using dissonance only with careful preparation. He writes graceful and poised lines for each voice and, features that would sound too secular, such as dance meters or graphic word-painting, are studiously avoided. Yet within this restrained style there is still a subtle correspondence between the music and the evocative texts.

Just as each motet is an exercise in highly controlled polyphony, Palestrina took pains to give order to the printed collection. He arranged the first thirty-two pieces (the offertories from Advent Sunday to Trinity Sunday) according to the church modes. "Ad te levavi" is in the Dorian mode. The compass and principal notes of the mode are outlined in the opening point of imitation. It is set for five voices, Palestrina’s favorite combination, with the addition of a second tenor.  

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