Mottetti sacri nella Milano del XVIII secolo

In the second half of the 18th century, the liturgical-musical practice of Milan’s churches viewed the sacred motet as sealing a particularly exciting era in the history of Modern-age Milanese sacred music. Political and economic stability produced a flowering of the arts which led to frequent stagings in the city’s churches involving music chapels and the most acclaimed musici. Inserting itself into the wake of a centuries-old tradition, the sacred motet reached full maturity in the mid-18th century and stood as a distinctive trait of contemporary sensibilities by virtue of adopting the most current and effective musical language. This can be seen reverberating in both the textual and stylistic components of the subjects composers adopted: on the one hand we see the motets of blessed angelic contemplation (with Mozart’s Exultate, jubilate standing out) while on the other hand are those in tempesta. This paper follows the development of the sacred motet in Milan from the mid-18th century until it naturally died out in the years of the Restoration.