cantor

This article deals with the cantor as a church musician. For further meanings see Cantor (disambiguation) .

Cantor's desk in the Basilica of St. Stephanus and St. Vitus in Corvey

A cantor ( Latin cantare - to sing; cantor - singer) is the name given to the lead singer, choirmaster or musically active director in a church service . In the Christian context, this liturgical activity developed into a full-time church musician , whose most famous representative is Johann Sebastian Bach .

Cantor in the Abrahamic religions

There are cantors in Judaism ( Chasan ) as well as in Christianity . The role of the cantor is of great importance in the Orthodox churches or the Eastern Churches united with Rome , which are in the Byzantine tradition, since many contacts or litanies are sung here in the liturgy . In Islam , the role of the imam as a prayer leader is comparable to that of the cantor.

Cantor as liturgical office

In the medieval church service the cantor was the “initiator and soloist” at the hourly prayer ; in the monasteries this office changed on a weekly basis and was exercised by the Cantor Hebdomadarius .

In the renewed liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church , the office of cantor is envisaged as a liturgical office. The basic order of the Roman Missal of 2007 stipulates for the celebration of the parish mass : “It is recommended that the celebrating priest usually be accompanied by an acolyte , a lecturer and a cantor.” (No. 117) “There should be a cantor or give a choirmaster to guide and sustain the singing of the people. If there is no schola available at all , the cantor is responsible for the various chants, in which the people take part in his own way. ”(No. 104) In Holy Mass, these chants are the singing for the entrance , the response and accompanying chants , the chants of the ordinarium and the acclamations . The cantor starts the chants and sings them, alternating with the school or the community if necessary. The office of cantor is mostly exercised by laypeople and is open to men and women.

Cantor as a Christian church musician

In addition to the liturgical role as cantor in church services , the term cantor also describes the person responsible for church music in a congregation , whereby cantors must have completed a degree in church music at least at the Protestant and Catholic Church and are usually employed full-time or part-time. In good musical performances and related activities of the title can also church musicians are awarded without probationary church music.

The tasks of the cantor usually include liturgical and concert organ playing and accompanying the parish singing, as well as leading choirs and music groups, such as a choir , which also includes a children's choir , church choir , trombone choir , a choral schola and an instrumental ensemble for the performance of cantatas or mass settings. In the field of the new sacred song , the cantor also took on the training and management of youth schools and bands in the second half of the 20th century.

Regionally and in earlier times, the office of cantor was often associated with the office of local teacher, so that the term “cantor” (also pronounced “canter”) was identical with the term “teacher” (e.g. in the Magdeburg Börde ). Many cantors were or are well-known composers . The best-known examples include the Leipzig Thomaskantor Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Philipp Telemann , who was cantor at the Johanneum and music director of the five main churches in Hamburg.

Job titles and job characteristics

The following terms describe cantors and their different areas of activity:

• a cantor as choirmaster and organist in a Protestant or Catholic parish,
• a city ​​cantor as the first full-time church musician in a city based at the main or city church,
• a cathedral cantor as a full-time church musician alongside the cathedral organist and conductor of a cathedral or cathedral church,
• a vicariate cantor as church musician of a vicariate of the Roman Catholic Church ,
• A pastoral area choirmaster as a leading church musician, mostly full-time, who coordinates church music within an amalgamation of different churches to form a parish association and exercises it together with the part-time staff,
• a district cantor (deanery cantor ) as a full-time church musician in a deanery who is active outside the parish , with an office at a central church of this deanery,
• a regional cantor as a full-time church musician of the Roman Catholic Church, whose area of ​​responsibility includes a region with several deaneries, or a district cantor as a full-time church musician in a parish of the Protestant church . District, district or regional cantors often have the technical supervision of those involved in church music in the parishes of their region.
• The name has also been established in the 21st century Pop cantor with a focus on Christian popular music . This subject, which is relevant for the main focus of activity, can be chosen at some German music academies as a supplement to church music studies.

Well-known cantors and their places of work (selection)

Johann Sebastian Bach , cantor at the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig Ingo Bredenbach , cantor at the collegiate church in Tübingen Friedrich Nicolaus Bruhns , cathedral choirmaster at the Mariendom in Hamburg Matthias Grünert , cantor at the Frauenkirche in Dresden Georg Hagel , regional cantor at the Vierzehnheiligen basilica in Bad Staffelstein

Wolfgang Helbich , Cathedral Cantor at St. Petri Cathedral in Bremen Markus Karas , regional cantor at the cathedral basilica in Bonn Gerd-Peter Münden , cathedral cantor at the St. Blasii cathedral in Braunschweig Ludger Stühlmeyer , city and deanery cantor at the city ​​church of St. Marien in Hof Johann Walter , cantor at the Marienkirche in Torgau (is considered the original cantor of the Protestant church )

literature

• Franz Karl Praßl : Cantor, cantor . In: Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 3. Edition. tape 5 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1996, Sp. 1205 .
• Joachim Werz: Cantata! The cantor service. Practical tips for establishing a liturgical service in the worship life of the parishes. In: Gottesdienst 17/2018, Herder Verlag Freiburg, Basel, Vienna, September 2018, pp. 185–187.

Web links

Wiktionary: Cantor  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Cf. also Willibald Gurlitt : On the history of the meaning of musicus and cantor in Isidor von Sevilla (= treatises of the Academy of Sciences and Literature. Humanities and social science class. Born 1950, Volume 7). Verlag der Wissenschaft und der Literatur in Mainz (commissioned by Franz Steiner Verlag, Wiesbaden).
2. ^ Franz Karl Praßl: Cantor, cantor . In: Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 3. Edition. tape 5 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1996, Sp. 1205 .
3. ^ Franz Karl Praßl: Cantor, cantor . In: Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 3. Edition. tape 5 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1996, Sp. 1205 .
4. ^ Website of the Evangelical College for Church Music in Halle an der Saale
5. ^ Website of the University for Catholic Church Music in Regensburg
6. ↑ "First Popkantor" website of the Church of Hanover