Honora patrem et matrem

Diogo Dias Melgás was a Portuguese composer of sacred music active in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. This motet, Honora patrem et matrem, is for SATB choir and sets a Latin text drawn from scripture. The words emphatically stress the commandment to honour one's parents, quoting from Exodus and Leviticus with a severe warning of the penalty for disobedience. Melgás’s setting, written in the tradition of Iberian polyphony, powerfully underscores the gravity of this biblical injunction through its musical setting.