Antiphon (music)
Antiphon ( Feminine , Reformed spelling: Antifon ; from ancient Greek ἀντίφωνος antiphonos "counter- singing , answering") means counter- song or alternating song . The term denotes both a type of music making (antiphony) and specific pieces of this type, especially in church music .
Antiphony
Antiphony in a broader sense can be found in all cultures and at all times. This is understood to be antiphonal types of music-making, in which given musical elements are answered by other voices or instruments. This also includes call and response chants.
Liturgy and church music
See also: psalmody
In a narrower sense, an antiphon in Gregorian chant describes a preliminary verse, refrain or refrain that frames verses of a psalm or a canticle . It is sung before and after the verses, possibly repeated after several verses. The antiphonal chants belong to the proprium and therefore change according to the church year or the feast of the day. The text of the antiphon is either taken from the psalm it includes or from the liturgy of the day - often the epistle - and thus forms a commentary or reflective element of the divine service.
These parts of the liturgy of the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours are called antiphonal because they are performed as alternating chants between two choirs or between cantor (s) and the Schola or congregation, but also because the antiphon and verse face each other in inner tension.
Antiphonal chants accompany a liturgical act during mass. They include the introit as an accompaniment to the entry , the offertory as an accompaniment to the preparation of gifts and the communion as an accompaniment to communion . Their length is based on the duration of the accompanying action, with more or fewer verses or just the antiphon being sung alone. The antiphonal chants also include the gradual and the chant before the Gospel in the celebration of mass and the answer chant after the readings in the Liturgy of the Hours. Here, however, one speaks of responsory . The Latin names of church Sundays ( Judica , Laetare etc.) usually consist of the first words of the antiphon to the introit of the respective Sunday.
Special forms
Marian antiphons
Marian antiphons are chants addressed to the Blessed Mother . The term antiphon has become common, although strictly speaking it is not an antiphonal chant, even if the chorale was previously followed by a short responsory and an oration. In the Liturgy of the Hours , the Marian antiphon corresponding to the liturgical time of the church year is sung as the closing chant at the end of the daily Liturgy of the Hours: Salve Regina , Alma redemptoris mater , Ave Regina caelorum , Regina coeli . It has its place after Compline , but it is customary to sing it after Vespers , when this is the last common prayer time of the day. In many regions it is also customary to sing the Salve Regina at the burial of a consecrated person or a priest at the grave.
O antiphons
In the last seven days of Advent , the antiphons to the Canticum Magnificat in Vespers are invocations, which refer to the messianic titles of Jesus Christ from the Old Testament : O wisdom, O Adonai, O scion from Jesse’s root, O key of David, O morning star, O King of All Nations, O Immanuel. In the Roman book of hours there are seven of these O-antiphons , eight are sung regionally, and in the Middle Ages there were up to twelve.
literature
- Heinrich Rennings: Antiphon . In: Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 3. Edition. tape 1 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1993.
