[German Version]

(from Lat. antiphonale, antiphonarium [liber] antiphonarius). An antiphonary is a liturgical songbook of the Western Church containing choir chants for the prayer office (Matins-Compline). Early antiphonaries also contained choral chants for the mass, but eventually these were collected separately in the Gradual. Fragments of antiphonaries date from as early as the second half of the 8th century, one complete 9th-century antiphonary survives, and the earliest notated antiphonaries date from the late 10th century. Antipho…