Antiphon

What it means

An antiphon is a short liturgical chant that frames a psalm or canticle: it is intoned before the psalm and repeated after it. Its text usually picks up a motif from the psalm or recasts it in the light of a particular feast, so the same psalm can carry a different emphasis depending on which antiphon precedes it.

Antiphons are among the oldest elements of Christian worship and are especially widespread in the Divine Office of the Catholic and Orthodox churches, as well as in the Mass. Well known are the four closing Marian antiphons of the Office, including Salve Regina.

In the notation

In Gregorian chant books, antiphons are notated with their own melody above the associated psalm tone, usually in square notation on a four-line staff. The antiphon's melody often also determines which of the eight church modes the following psalm is sung in.

Musical use

The word antiphon originally probably denoted alternating song between two choirs or between a cantor and the congregation; in today's liturgical usage, however, it chiefly means the fixed framing piece around the psalm, regardless of whether one group or several sing it.

The antiphon should therefore be distinguished from the adjective antiphonal, which describes a performance practice of alternation between two sound groups and is not tied to any particular genre. It differs from the responsory in that a responsory is led by a soloist to whom the congregation answers with an unchanging refrain, while the antiphon frames the psalm as a whole. The collected antiphons and other chants of the Office are gathered in the antiphonary.

Performance practice

When singing an antiphon, notice how its text colors the psalm that follows, and shape the transition between antiphon and psalm tone deliberately so the antiphon's return at the end is audible as a frame. Listen to older chant recordings to hear how differently the same psalm tone can sound depending on which antiphon precedes it.