The Motet

The Motet is an American funk, afrobeat and jazz influenced group based in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1998 by drummer and bandleader Dave Watts, The Motet is Watts, guitarist Ryan Jalbert, bassist Garrett Sayers, keyboardist Joey Porter, trumpeter Gabe Mervine, and saxophonist Matt Pitts.

Known for energetic live shows including an annual Halloween concert, the band has released seven studio albums. Their latest self-titled album was co-written and produced by all the band members, and was cut on analog recording equipment to capture their instruments' live sounds. They continue to tour nationally and have performed at festivals such as Bonnaroo, North Coast Music Festival, Wakarusa and Summer Camp Festival.

History

1998–2004: Founding and first albums

The Dave Watts Motet was founded in Boulder, Colorado, in 1998 by drummer and arranger Dave Watts as a musical collective with a rotating cast of musicians. By 2000 the group had changed its name to The Motet and become a sextet consisting of Watts on drums, percussionist and vocalist Jans Ingber, percussionist Scott Messersmith, guitarist Mike Tiernen, bassist Kurt Reeber, and organist-keyboardist Steve Vidiac. Watts, Ingber, and Messersmith had also traveled to Cuba twice to study bata drums of the Santeria religion, which at the time heavily influenced the band's sound, as can be heard on their first two albums.

Motet

In classical music, a motet is a highly varied choral musical composition. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music.

According to Margaret Bent, "a piece of music in several parts with words" is as precise a definition of the motet as will serve from the 13th to the late 16th century and beyond. The late 13th-century theorist Johannes de Grocheo believed that the motet was "not to be celebrated in the presence of common people, because they do not notice its subtlety, nor are they delighted in hearing it, but in the presence of the educated and of those who are seeking out subtleties in the arts."

Etymology

In the early 20th century, it was generally believed the name came from the Latin movere, ("to move"), though a derivation from the French mot ("word", or "phrase"), had also been suggested. The Medieval Latin for "motet" is motectum, and the Italian mottetto was also used. If the word is from Latin, the name describes the movement of the different voices against one another. Today, however, the French etymology is favoured by reference books, as the word "motet" in 13th-century French had the sense of "little word".

Jesu, meine Freude

"Jesu, meine Freude" (Jesus, my joy) is a hymn in German, written by Johann Franck in 1650, with a melody by Johann Crüger. The song first appeared in Crüger's hymnal Praxis pietatis melica in 1653. The text addresses Jesus as joy and support, versus enemies and the vanity of existence. The poetry is bar form, with irregular lines from 5 to 8 syllables. The melody repeats the first line in the last, framing each of the six stanzas.

The hymn is the base for Johann Sebastian Bach's funeral motet, BWV 227, and his chorale prelude, BWV 610, among many setting by other composers. In the current German Protestant hymnal, Evangelisches Gesangbuch, it is No. 293.

The hymn was translated to English in several versions, including "Jesu, priceless treasure" by Catherine Winkworth in 1869, and has appeared in 40 hymnals.

Text

The text is presented in six stanzas of nine lines each. It is in bar form, three lines form the Stollen, three the Abgesang, with the meter 6.6.5.6.6.5.7.8.6. The last line of the last stanza repeats the first line of the first stanza. The song is written in the first person, addressing Jesus.

Vail, Colorado

The Town of Vail is a Home Rule Municipality in Eagle County, Colorado, United States. The population of the town was 5,305 in 2010. The town was established and built as the base village to Vail Ski Resort, with which it was originally conceived. Vail Ski Resort's first season was in December 1962; it is the largest ski mountain in Colorado.

History

Vail was incorporated in 1966, four years after the opening of Vail Ski Resort. The ski area was founded by Pete Seibert and local rancher Earl Eaton in 1962, at the base of Vail Pass. The pass was named after Charles Vail, the highway engineer who routed U.S. Highway 6 through the Vail Valley in 1940, which eventually became Interstate 70. Seibert, a New England native, served in the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division during World War II, which trained at Camp Hale, 14 miles south of Vail between Red Cliff and Leadville. He was wounded in Italy at the Battle of Riva Ridge but went on to become a professional skier after he recovered.

The Fountain

The Fountain is a 2006 American drama film that blends elements of fantasy, history, spirituality, and science fiction. It is directed by Darren Aronofsky, and stars Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz. The film consists of three story lines, in which Jackman and Weisz play different sets of characters who may or may not be the same two people: a modern-day scientist and his cancer-stricken wife, a conquistador and his queen, and a space traveler in the future who hallucinates his lost love. The story lines—interwoven with use of match cuts and recurring visual motifs—reflect the themes of love and mortality.

Aronofsky originally planned to direct The Fountain on a $70 million budget with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett in the lead roles, but Pitt's withdrawal and cost overruns led Warner Bros. to shut down production. The director rewrote the script to be sparser, and was able to resurrect the film with a $35 million budget with Jackman and Weisz in the lead roles. Production mainly took place on a sound stage in Montreal, Quebec, and the director used macro photography to create key visual effects for The Fountain at a low cost.