In antiquity and the Middle Ages the generic term for a singer of sacred or secular music. In monasteries and cathedrals the office of cantor grew to include responsibility for the supervision of the liturgy and the training of young singers (see Decani and cantoris); in secular cathedrals of the Middle Ages the cantor directed the choir and ranked second in the chapter. Organum treatises of the period assign the term cantor to the singer of the chant melody to which the discantor added a counterpoint. Medieval theorists tend to portray the cantor unflatteringly as deficient in the sophisticated theoretical knowledge possessed by the musicus.
The office of cantor survives in modern Jewish and Christian practice. During the Middle Ages the leading singer in many English cathedrals became known as the Precentor, who continues to fulfil a vital role in Anglican choral foundations today. In the Lutheran church the role of cantor traditionally combined educational duties with musical responsibilities (see Kantor (ii) and Kantorat). In Jewish congregations the cantor (hazzan) remains the principal singer, second in importance only to the rabbi as the leader of congregational worship. In the Roman Catholic church, the Second Vatican Council revived the late antique role of the cantor as a congregational song leader (see Roman Catholic church music, §VIII).
P. Thomas: ‘Le chant et les chantres dans les monastères bénédictins’, Mélanges Bénédictins (St Wandrille, 1947), 405–47
E. Reimer: ‘Musicus-Cantor’, HMT (1978)
E. Foley: ‘The Cantor in Historical Perspective’, Worship, lvi (1982), 194–213
M. Fassler: ‘The Office of the Cantor in Early Western Monastic Rules and Customaries: a Preliminary Investigation’, EMH, v (1985), 29–51
JOSEPH DYER