Cantor (church)
A cantor is the chief singer in Jewish or Christian worship. The cantor's duties and qualifications have varied a lot in different times and places. In Roman Catholic and Anglican worship the cantor is the person (usually a man) who sings the solo parts of a chant, while the choir sing the choral parts. In the Middle Ages the cantor came to be the supervisor or director of the choir. In Anglican cathedrals they are often known as the precentor.
Cantor (church) Media
Precentor, painting by Štefan Straka, 1927
"A Parish Cantor," comic lithograph by C. J. Traviès and Delaunois (1830s)
John Koukouzeles, saint and one of the most famous maistores of Psaltic Art at Constantinople, leading a choir by the cheironomic gesture of Ison (picture of a 15th-century chant manuscript at the Great Lavra Monastery, Mount Athos)
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References
- The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie 1980 vol 3; ISBN 1-56159-174-2
