antiphon (music)

Antiphon , c.479-411 BC, 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 BC 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).

antiphon Alternate short verses or phrases (usually of a psalm or canticle) sung by two spatially separated halves of a choir (designated decani and cantoris). More generally, antiphon refers to a short piece of plainsong during the recitation of divine office. The text of the antiphon usually serves to reinforce a psalm's Christian significance. The music and text of antiphons is contained in an antiphonal or antiphonary.

an·ti·phon / ˈantəˌfän/ • n. (in traditional western Christian liturgy) a short sentence sung or recited before or after a psalm or canticle. ∎  a musical setting of such a sentence or sentences.