Marian Antiphon
  • henrik.hank
    Posts: 103
    Pax!
    I have two questions:
    1. Why are the Marian antiphons called antiphons?
    2. Do the congregation at your parish really sing the Marian antiphons like they should be sung? I assume that all people aren't great singer (but it sounds good anyway). They must be extremly easy to sing.
  • Protasius
    Posts: 468
    ad 2.: Yes, at least Salve Regina and Regina caeli. They are contained in the german hymnal in their simple version.
  • MarkThompson
    Posts: 768
    And ad 1., anti- means "against" and phon- means "sound." An antiphon is traditionally something sung by choirs in response to each other. OED has the definition, "2.2 A composition, in prose or verse, consisting of verses or passages sung alternately by two choirs in worship; = ANTHEM in the original sense, but passing also early into the modern sense of anthem." An antiphon does not have to be just a single versicle sung before and after a psalm, if that's what you were thinking.
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