The grand motet (plural grands motets) was a genre of motet cultivated at the height of the French baroque, although the term dates from later French usage. At the time, due to the stylistic feature of employing two alternating choirs, the works were typically described as motet pour deux choeurs - motet for double choir.
In the context of French baroque music the grand motet primarily contrasted with the petit motet. The first distinction is evident in the name; the grand form was truly grand (big) in proportion calling for double choirs and massed orchestral forces, whereas the petit form was a chamber genre for one or two solo voices, one or two solo instruments, and basso continuo - the basso continuo typically provided by the harpsichord at home or organ in a smaller church. These two French baroque motet types are also very distinct from the medieval motets of Dufay and renaissance motets of Lassus, and the German motet style of J. S. Bach. The French motet type was also connected to, and determined by, the occasion and venue; whereas the grand motet was cultivated at Versailles, the Chapelle royale; the petit motet - unless accompanying a larger event, could also be for private often domestic devotions. The texts varied also; a grand motet was generally a Latin psalm, hymne, Biblical cantique or Dies irae, while the petit motet could be shorter Latin verses from a variety of religious sources.
The grand motet also had a set of stylistic conventions, even if some of the distinctive musical conventions of the grand motet - such as entrusting the initial intonation to a soloist - were not new.[1] The grand motet also had operatic contrast, so a grand motet was a sequence of autonomous numbers (numeros) much like choruses, arias and recitative in Italian than French baroque opera.[2] The operatic effect was a part of the embellishment of the Sun King's splendour.[3]
Although the grand motet was distinct from the early 13th-century motet, bar the use of Latin text, they too combine elements of secular and sacred nature. By incorporating theatrical elements of French spectacle and concerto elements inherited from Italian music, the French grand motet became the archetypal genre of the Versailles style, the "ne plus ultra of French Baroque music."[4] As a grandiose genre, the grand motet "took on the aspects of a sacred concert right from its inception,"[5] lacking the liturgical significance of the first motets, serving to signify the grandeur associated with the monarchy.
These grand motets extend and elaborate upon preexisting conventions; they epitomize Versailles style and are lengthier and more musically interesting than their forerunners. The motet Versaillais, which reached its apex under the talent of Michel Richard Delalande, is characterized by its unprecedented length (Lully's Te Deum, for instance, has over 1200 bars) and a sectional structure that incorporates the alternation of a grand choeur with a petit choeur composed of (at least) four soloists.
The first generation of grands motets, the works of Henry Du Mont, were purely royal occasions. However, after the death of Louis XIV the crown became less proprietary with grands motets and the genre, and specifically the works of Delalande, moved into the Concert spirituel from the first concert on 18 March 1725.[6][7] Composers who may not have often been heard at court wrote grands motets for a new audience.
Virtually all major, and some minor, composers of the French baroque tried their hand at the genre, but only performance at court or, later, the Concert spirituel conferred approval.