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In the Roman rite, a liturgical chant with a prose text associated with psalmody sung by two choirs in alternation. It is usually a refrain to psalm or canticle verses and its melodies are often simple and syllabic. Categories include antiphons from the psalter, antiphons of Matins, Lauds and Vespers, antiphons to the Benedictus and Magnificat, and Mass antiphons for the Introit and Communion. Marian and processional antiphons are not associated with psalmody and rhymed antiphons evolved a style of their own during the 13th century. The Latin antiphona was borrowed from the Greek, where it meant the octave; it had appeared in the West by the 4th century.



 
 

(flourished c. 480 – 411 BC) Orator and statesman. The first Athenian known to practice rhetoric professionally, he wrote speeches for others to give in court but was reluctant to appear in public debate. He may have instigated the revolution of the oligarchic Council of the Four Hundred, an attempt to seize the Athenian government in the midst of war. When the oligarchy fell, he defended his role in the overthrow in a speech called by Thucydides the greatest defense ever made, but he was nonetheless executed for treason.

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Antiphon (c.480–411 BC), Attic orator whose surviving speeches are the earliest we have. He gained a great reputation by writing speeches for others to deliver on their own behalf (litigants at Athens were required to plead in person), but he himself remained in the background until he revealed his ability by guiding the oligarchic revolution and establishing the rule of the Four Hundred in Athens in 411. After their overthrow he was put to death by the restored democracy. The speech he delivered in his own defence was widely admired; a few fragments of it have been found on papyrus. His name is a common one in Attica and this fact together with his many-sided activity make it difficult to separate him from the sophist Antiphon, with whom he is often confused or identified; it does not, however, seem likely that the extreme right-wing views of Antiphon the orator and the sophist's proclamation of the equality of all men could co-exist in the same person. We possess three of the orator's speeches for murder trials, and twelve more that are rhetorical exercises on imaginary lawsuits.

 

(c. 480-411 BC) Athenian orator and Sophist. Scholars have disagreed whether there are two Antiphons or whether, as is now generally believed to be the case, the orator is identical with the Sophist. The oratorical Antiphon had a distinguished public career, mainly composing speeches for others. He was the brains of the oligarchic conspiracy, and when that failed was condemned to death, although his own speech in his defence was regarded as the best of its kind ever made. The sophistical Antiphon is mentioned by Xenophon and Aristotle as an opponent of Socrates.

 
(ăn'tĭfŏn, –fən) , c.479–411 B.C., Athenian orator. He rarely spoke in public but wrote defenses for others to speak. Of his 15 extant orations 3 were for use in court, the rest probably for the instruction of his pupils. A few fragments of other speeches survive. Antiphon did much to advance Attic prose writing. His position in politics was with the conservative aristocrats, and he was instrumental in setting up the Four Hundred in 411 B.C. When they fell, Antiphon was among the first to be executed before Alcibiades returned.

Bibliography

See R. K. Sprague, The Older Sophists (1972); Antiphon and Lysias (tr. by M. Edwards and S. Usher, 1985).


 
Wikipedia: antiphon
This article is about the musical term. See Antiphon (person) the orator of ancient Greece.

An antiphon is a response, usually sung in Gregorian chant, to a psalm or some other part of a religious service, such as at Vespers or at a Mass. This meaning gave rise to the antiphony style of singing, see call and response.

The word is of Greek origin, αντί (opposite) + φωνη (voice).

A piece of music which is performed by two semi-independent choirs interacting with one another, often singing alternate musical phrases, is known as antiphonal. In particular, antiphonal psalmody is the singing or musical playing of psalms by alternating groups of performers. The peculiar mirror structure of the Hebrew psalms renders it probable that the antiphonal method originated in the services of the ancient Israelites. According to the historian Socrates, its introduction into Christian worship was due to Ignatius of Antioch (died 117), 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, bishop of Milan, who compiled an antiphonary, or collection of works suitable for antiphonal singing (also known as an antiphonal). The antiphonary still in use in the Roman Roman Catholic Church was compiled by Gregory the Great (590).[1]

Antiphony is particularly common in the Anglican musical tradition, where the choir divides into two equal halves on opposite sides of the quire.

Antiphons are an used as an integral part of the worship in the Greek Orthodox church[2] and the Eastern Catholic churches.[3]

The Indian concept sawal-jawab ("question" and "answer") can be considered antiphonal. The alteration of individual notes or pitches is hocket.

Antiphon can also be used outside of a strict musical or liturgical context to mean a more general response. When used in this way the word often maintains its religious connotation.

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 and early Baroque. Polychoral techniques are a definitive characteristic of the music of the Venetian school, exemplified by the works of Giovanni Gabrieli; this music is often known as the Venetian polychoral style. The Venetian polychoral style was an important innovation of the late Renaissance, and this style, with its variations as it spread across Europe after 1600, helps to define the beginning of the Baroque era. Polychoral music was not limited to Italy 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, Igor Stravinsky and Karlheinz Stockhausen.

The Greater Advent Antiphons

O sapientia: [1]

O Adonai: [2]

See O Antiphons

References

  1. ^ "Antiphon". Catholic Encyclopedia. (1913). New York: Robert Appleton Company. 
  2. ^ "Antiphon (in the Greek Church)". Catholic Encyclopedia. (1913). New York: Robert Appleton Company. 
  3. ^ "Antiphon (in Greek Liturgy)". Catholic Encyclopedia. (1913). New York: Robert Appleton Company. 
  • Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Oxford University Press

 
 

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Music Encyclopedia. The Concise Grove Dictionary of Music. Copyright © 1994 by Oxford University Press, Inc.. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Classical Literature Companion. The Concise Oxford Companion to Classical Literature. Copyright © 1993, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
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Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Antiphon" Read more

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