Anthem

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An anthem is an English choral composition with spiritual text used in services of the Anglican liturgy. In English usage, the term is also generally used for a festive song (cf. National Anthem  - national anthem ).

history

The word "Anthem" is derived from the Greek ἀντίφωνα via the Old Saxon antefn , a word originally having the same meaning as antiphon .

In a narrower sense, however, the term describes a special genre of church music , especially in the Church of England service , in whose liturgy an anthem is provided for morning and evening services ("in choirs and places where they sing"). Anthems are performed by the choir and differ in shape and complexity from the hymns (church songs ) and psalms (simpler psalmodies ). The traditional English coronation ceremony includes several anthems. The texts set to music come from the Bible or sometimes from the liturgy. There are anthems for solo voices ( Verse Anthem ), for the entire choir ( Full Anthem ) or for a combination of choir and solo sections ( Full with verse ). Anthems in which a possible instrumental accompaniment goes beyond the colla parte playing are called symphony anthems .

Within the Anglican liturgy, the anthem has roughly the same status as the motet within the Catholic or Lutheran liturgy. Nevertheless, it is an independent, English musical form that has inspired contemporary composers such as Thomas Tallis , Christopher Tye , William Byrd and Richard Farrant to compose since the Church of England was founded in the 16th century . In the 17th century u. a. Orlando Gibbons , John Blow and Henry Purcell ( Remember not, Lord, our Offences ), in the 18th then William Croft , William Boyce , James Kent , James Nares , Benjamin Cooke and Samuel Arnold , and later also George Frideric Handel ( Coronation Anthems , Chandos Anthems).

Anthems originated in the Church of England instead of the Catholic "votive antiphon", which has its place at the end of evening prayer ( Compline ) and is usually dedicated to the Virgin Mary or other saints .

literature