Antiphon

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Antiphon

This article is about the musical term. See Antiphon (person)
Antiphon (person)

Antiphon the Sophist lived in Athens probably in the last two decades of the 5th century BC. There is an ongoing controversy over whether he is one and the same with Antiphon of the Athenian deme Rhamnus in Attica, Greece , the earliest of the ten Attic orators....
the orator of ancient Greece.

An antiphon (Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
??t?f????, ??t? "opposite" + f??? "voice") is a response, usually sung in Gregorian chant

Gregorian chant

Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainsong, a form of monophony liturgy chant in Western Christianity that accompanied the celebration of Mass and other ritual services....
, to a psalm or some other part of a religious service, such as at Vespers

Vespers

Vespers is the evening prayer service in the Roman Catholic, Byzantine Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglican, and Lutheran Liturgy of the canonical hours....
or at a Mass

Mass (music)

The Mass, a Musical form of sacred music, is a choir composition that sets the fixed portions of the Eucharistic liturgy to music. Most Masses are settings of Mass in Latin, the traditional language of the Roman Catholic Church, but there are a significant number written in the languages of non-Catholic countries where vernacular worship h...
. This meaning gave rise to the antiphony style of singing, see call and response

Call and response (music)

In music, a call and response is a succession of two distinct phrase usually played by different musicians, where the second phrase is heard as a direct commentary on or response to the first....
.

A piece of music which is performed by two semi-independent choir

Choir

A choir, chorale, or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral Music, in turn, is the music written specifically for a choir to perform....
s interacting with one another, often singing alternate musical phrases, is known as antiphonal.

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Encyclopedia

An antiphon (Greek

Greek language

Gregorian chant

Vespers

Vespers is the evening prayer service in the Roman Catholic, Byzantine Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglican, and Lutheran Liturgy of the canonical hours....
or at a Mass

Mass (music)

Call and response (music)

Choir

Singing

Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the human voice, which is often contrasted with regular speech. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist....
or musical playing of psalms by alternating groups of performers. The peculiar mirror structure of the Hebrew psalms

Psalms

Psalms is a book of the Hebrew Bible , included in the collected works known as the "Writings" or Ketuvim....
renders it probable that the antiphonal method originated in the services of the ancient Israelites. According to the historian Socrates of Constantinople, its introduction into Christian worship was due to Ignatius of Antioch

Ignatius of Antioch

Ignatius of Antioch was among the Apostolic Fathers, was the third Bishop and Patriarch of Antioch, and was possibly a student of John the Apostle....
(died 107

107

Events...
), who in a vision had seen the angels singing in alternate choirs. In the Latin Church it was not practised until more than two centuries later, when it was introduced by Ambrose

Ambrose

Saint Ambrose was a Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milan who became one of the most influential ecclesiastical figures of the fourth century. He is counted as one of the four original doctors of the Church....
, bishop of Milan, who compiled an antiphonary
Antiphonary

An Antiphonary, Antiphonal, or Antiphoner is one of the present Catholic liturgical books. It is intended for use in choro , and originally characterized, as its name implies, by the assignment to it principally of the antiphons used in various parts of the Roman liturgy....
, or collection of works suitable for antiphonal singing (also known as an antiphonal). The antiphonary still in use in the Roman Catholic Church

Roman Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church, officially known as the Catholic Church is the world's largest Christianity Ecclesia , representing over half of all Christians and one-sixth of the world population....
was compiled by Gregory the Great (590

590

Events...
).

Antiphony is particularly common in the Anglican

Anglicanism

Anglicanism is a tradition of Christianity faith. Churches in this tradition either have historical connections to the Church of England or have similar beliefs, worship and church structures....
musical tradition, where the choir divides into two equal halves on opposite sides of the quire

Quire

A quire can be any of several things:* Quire , part of a church* Paper quire, a quantity, usually 24 or 25, of sheets of paper* a variant spelling of Choir ...
as Decani

Decani

The side of a church choir occupied by the Dean. In English churches this is typically the choir stalls on the south side of the chancel, although there are some notable exceptions, such as Durham Cathedral....
and Cantoris

Cantoris

Cantoris is the side of a church choir occupied by the Cantor . In English churches this is typically the choir stalls on the north side of the chancel, although there are some notable exceptions, such as Durham Cathedral....
.

Antiphons are also used as an integral part of the worship in the Greek Orthodox church

Greek Orthodox Church

The term Greek Orthodox Church refers to several churches within the larger full communion of Eastern Orthodox Church Christianity sharing a common cultural tradition and whose liturgy is traditionally conducted in Koine Greek, the original language of the New Testament....
and the Eastern Catholic churches.

The Indian

Music of India

The music of India includes multiple varieties of folk music, popular music, pop music, and Indian classical music. India's classical music tradition, including Carnatic music and Hindustani music, has a history panning millennia and, developed over several eras, it remains fundamental to the lives of Indians today as sources of religio...
concept sawal-jawab ("question" and "answer") can be considered antiphonal. The alteration of individual notes or pitches is hocket

Hocket

In music, hocket is the rhythmic linear technique using the alternation of note , pitch , or chord s. In medieval practice of hocket, a single melody is shared between two voices such that alternately one voice sounds while the other rests....
.

Antiphon can also be used outside of a strict musical or liturgical

Liturgy

A liturgy is the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to their particular traditions. The word may refer to an elaborate formal ritual such as the Eastern Orthodox Divine Liturgy and Mass , or a daily activity such as the Muslim salat and Jewish Jewish services....
context to mean a more general response. When used in this way the word often maintains its religious

Religion

A religion is an organized approach to human spirituality which usually encompasses a set of myth, symbols, beliefs and practices, often with a supernatural or transcendence quality, that give meaning to the practitioner's experiences of life through reference to a higher power or truth....
connotation

Connotation

Connotation is a Subjectivity culture and/or emotional coloration in addition to the explicit or denotation Meaning of any specific word or phrase in a...
.

Polychoral Antiphony

When two or more groups of singers sing in alternation the style of music can also be called polychoral. Specifically, this term is usually applied to music of the late Renaissance

Renaissance music

Baroque music

Baroque music describes a period or style of European classical music approximately extending from Dates of classical music eras. This era is said to begin in music after the Renaissance music and was followed by the Classical music era....
. Polychoral techniques are a definitive characteristic of the music of the Venetian school

Venetian School

In music history, the Venetian School is a term used to describe the composers working in Venice from about 1550 to around 1610; it also describes the music they produced....
, exemplified by the works of Giovanni Gabrieli

Giovanni Gabrieli

Giovanni Gabrieli was an Italian composer and organ . He was one of the most influential musicians of his time, and represents the culmination of the style of the Venetian School, at the time of the shift from Renaissance music to Baroque music idioms....
; this music is often known as the Venetian polychoral style

Venetian polychoral style

The Venetian polychoral style was a type of music of the late Renaissance music and early Baroque music eras which involved spatially separate choirs singing in alternation....
. The Venetian polychoral style was an important innovation of the late Renaissance

Renaissance music

Renaissance music is European music written during the Renaissance, approximately 1400 - 1600. Dates of classical music eras, given the lack of abrupt shifts in musical thinking during the 15th century....
, and this style, with its variations as it spread across Europe after 1600, helps to define the beginning of the Baroque

Baroque music

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
in the Renaissance; it was popular in Spain and Germany, and there are examples from the 19th and 20th centuries, from composers as diverse as Hector Berlioz

Hector Berlioz

Louis Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic music composer and guitarist, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Requiem . Berlioz made great contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation and by utilizing huge orchestral forces for his works; as a conductor, he performed several c...
, Igor Stravinsky

Igor Stravinsky

Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian-born composer, considered by many to be the most influential composer of 20th century music. He was a quintessentially Cosmopolitanism Russian who was named by Time as one of the 100 most influential people of the century....
and Karlheinz Stockhausen

Karlheinz Stockhausen

Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries....
.

Antiphon

Polychoral Antiphony

Greater Advent Antiphons

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