Anglican chant - Definition and Overview

Anglican chanting is a method of singing prose translations of the Psalms in the Anglican church. Each verse or pair of verses is set to a simple harmonized melody of seven or fourteen bars, with the majority of the syllables freely chanted on the extendable reciting notes, which occupy the first, fourth, eighth and eleventh bars. The origins of the method are obscure, but it was well established by the eighteenth century.

Canticles such as the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis may also be sung in this manner.

See also

• Anglican church music
• List of Anglican church composers