Duruflé's choral setting of "Ubi caritas" is one of the most popular sacred a cappella works of the twentieth century; it is, however, only one of a group of four works of equally high caliber. The Four Motets, written just before the final version of the composer's Requiem, are dedicated to Auguste Le Guennant, the director of the Gregorian Institute in Paris at the time. Each is based on a different Gregorian chant tune which remains prominent throughout; this process is similar to that employed in the Requiem, lending the pieces a flexible, speech-like rhythm. The incipit (the first few notes) of the original melody is given in neumatic chant notation at the beginning of each motet.

Each of the motets is quite short—a trait that is typical of Duruflé (even the Requiem, his largest work, is composed of nine much smaller units). Also typical is his use of Renaissance contrapuntal techniques in the service of a rich harmony derived from that of Fauré and Ravel. Performed as a set, the Four Motets have a classic arch shape, reaching a climax in the third motet ("Tu es Petrus"), then, in "Tantum ergo," returning to the mood of serene contemplation first established in "Ubi caritas."

The text of "Ubi caritas" ("Where charity and love are, there is God") is an antiphon usually sung on Maundy Thursday during the washing of the feet. This is the most famous of the motets, and an example of Duruflé's style at its best: rhythmic flexibility, strong part-writing, and rich harmony provide a serene background for the chant melody. The opening phrase returns briefly at the end (Duruflé, like Chopin and other composers who tended toward shorter compositions, usually composed in ternary form), and leads to an appended "amen."

"Tota pulchra es" ("You are all-beautiful") is a setting of antiphons from the feast of the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary, and is sung only by the sopranos and altos. The opening melody serves as a kind of refrain, coming back twice. The pace is rather faster than in the "Ubi caritas," and leads into the climactic third motet.

"Tu es Petrus" ("You are Peter") is the shortest of the motets, and is a setting of the Jesus's renaming of his disciple Simon by the Greek for "rock," and then saying that "upon this rock will I build my church" (Matthew 16:18). The latter phrase is stated three times in Duruflé's setting, perhaps reflecting Peter's later three denials of Jesus. "Tu es Petrus" is much more rhythmic than the other motets, and builds to a loud climax.

In "Tantum ergo" (the last two verses of the "Pange lingua" eucharistic hymn traditionally attributed to Thomas Aquinas), the chant is sung in long notes by the sopranos. The melody is imitated and varied by the tenors, while the other voices are freely composed, with an effect similar to cantus firmus settings of chants from the Renaissance period. There are no accidentals (notes outside the key in which it is written), and very little harmonic tension. The motet, like the "Ubi caritas," ends peacefully on a low chord with the word "amen."

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2.Tota pulchra es (3 voix de femmes)

When Maurice Duruflé first encountered the music of the Catholic liturgy as a choirboy at Rouen Cathedral, it placed a spark in his heart that would fuel much of his compositional career. From this formative musical experience and from the tutelage of Charles Tourniere, Duruflé garnered a lifelong fascination with the roots of Catholic music in Gregorian chant and its free modality; his studies with Louis Vierne only added a deeper reverence for musical proportions. Duruflé published relatively few pieces over his 84-year life, but the spirit of Catholic plainchant—supple syllabic rhythms and relaxed modal harmonies—are never far from the surface. Even in his Requiem, Op. 9, the more adventuresome tonal sounds he borrows from the likes of Ravel, Debussy, and Dukas only support the foundational Requiem chants sung by the Church for millennia. It comes as no surprise that Duruflé's very next publication should be four "motets on Gregorian themes" (Op. 10): four reifications of famous and traditional melodies from the liturgy into twentieth century choral guise.

Tota pulchra es Maria, the second of the "Gregorian" motets, adopts its text from a composite set of Marian antiphons. The second Vespers that closes the high feast of Mary's Immaculate Conception contain five pithy and sensual Psalm antiphons lauding the physical and spiritual beauty of the Blessed Virgin. The five texts, taken from the Song of Songs and the apocryphal book of Judith, call her "completely beautiful," "without stain," and "white as snow." These verses, with their associated plainchants, had served the Virgin's Feast for centuries, though the Doctrine only had been official since 1854. Duruflé took the text and melody of the first three (Song of Songs 4:7, 6:9, and Judith 15:10) and set them for three women's voices; the opening chant Tota pulchra es Maria appears clearly in the opening soprano melody and serves as a refrain throughout the motet. He uses the remaining chant melodies more or less faithfully, weaving rich modal harmonies about them. His rhythms, though sprightly, remain characteristically supple after their Gregorian models. Throughout, he continues to exploit the ethereal qualities of the higher women's vocal ranges.

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