Antiphon

Antiphons are short chants with prose texts and generally simple melodies. They were sung by a soloist or the choir before and after the psalms of the medieval daily Office, which were sung by the ecclesiastical community. The medieval repertoire of antiphons is huge; most medieval Antiphoners contain in the region of 1500. The choral portions of the Introit chants of the Mass are also known as antiphons, and they alternate with a solo psalm verse (antiphon-psalm verse-antiphon). Psalms can be performed in a variety of ways. In responsorial psalmody, a soloist sings the verses and a larger group of singers responds with the same text and melody each time. In antiphonal psalmody, two...