anthem [ultimately from antiphon], short nonliturgical choral composition used in Protestant services, usually accompanied and having an English text. The term is used in a broader sense for "national anthems" and for the Latin motets still used occasionally in Anglican services. A full anthem is entirely choral, while a verse anthem includes parts for solo singers. The anthem arose in the Anglican Church, as the English counterpart of the Latin motet, through the work of Christopher Tye (c.1500–1573), Thomas Tallis, and William Byrd (1543–1623). Early anthems were often in the style of Latin motets, sometimes being merely an English text set to well-known motets. In the late 17th cent. composers such as Henry Purcell and John Blow, under Italian influences, wrote verse anthems with several movements, as in cantatas. George F. Handel's anthems, in the tradition of the full anthem, are, like those of Purcell and Blow, too elaborate for ordinary church use. Since the 19th cent. extracts from oratorios, masses, passions, etc., are commonly used as anthems, but these pieces are not anthems in the original sense of the term.

See M. B. Foster, Anthems and Anthem Composers (1901, repr. 1970); W. L. Reed and M. J. Bristow, ed., National Anthems of the World (1988).

anthem. The English-speaking Protestant Churches' equivalent of the Latin motet, from which it sprang. An Anglican creation, with a place in the C of E liturgy. It constitutes in ordinary churches the one great occasion when the choir alone undertakes the duty of song, and when an elaborate vocal setting impossible and unsuitable in other parts of the service becomes proper and effective. It is usually but not necessarily acc. by organ, and frequently incl. passages for solo vv., individually or in combination. The anthems of Purcell and Blow are like cantatas. S. S. Wesley was prolific composer of anthems nearer to the style favoured today. The term is also less strictly used, as in the phrase ‘National Anthem’, to denote a solemn, hymn-like song.

an·them / ˈan[unvoicedth]əm/ • n. 1. a rousing or uplifting song identified with a particular group, body, or cause: the song became the anthem for hippie activists. ∎  (also national anthem) a solemn patriotic song officially adopted by a country as an expression of national identity. 2. a choral composition based on a biblical passage, for singing by a choir in a church service.

anthem Choral composition in Anglican and other English-language church services, analogous to the Roman Catholic motet in Latin. Developed in the 16th century as a verse anthem with soloists, the anthem was later performed with orchestral accompaniment and by a choir without soloists. Composers of anthems include Henry Purcell and Ralph Vaughan Williams.

anthem a musical setting of a religious text to be sung by a choir during a church service, especially in Anglican or Protestant Churches. Recorded from Old English in the form antefn, antifne (denoting a composition sung antiphonally), from late Latin antiphona ‘antiphon, a short sentence sung or recited before or after a psalm or canticle’.

anthem OE. antef(e)n — late L. anti-phona, for antiphō-na ANTIPHON. The pronunc. developed: antevne, ante m ne), anthem, aċnthem, the last from XV; the sp. with th finally affected the pronunc., as in author.

Anthem (from Gk., antifōnon, ‘that which is sung by alternate voices’). A musical setting of words usually from the Bible, sung by a choir in church.

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