cantor

/kan"teuhr, -tawr/, n.

1. the religious official of a synagogue who conducts the liturgical portion of a service and sings or chants the prayers and parts of prayers designed to be performed as solos.

2. an official whose duty is to lead the singing in a cathedral or in a collegiate or parish church; a precentor.

[1530-40; < L: singer, equiv. to can(ere) to sing + -tor -TOR]

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In Judaism and Christianity, an official in charge of music or chants.

In Judaism the ḥazzan (cantor) leads liturgical prayer and chanting. In medieval Christianity the cantor had charge of a cathedral's music

specifically, of supervising the choir's singing. The term also designated the head of a college of church music.

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▪ ecclesiastical official

(Latin: “singer”),also spelled  Kantor,  also called  Chanter,  Hebrew  Ḥazzan (“overseer”),  also spelled  Ḥazan, Chazzan, or Chazan,  

      in Judaism and Christianity, an ecclesiastical official in charge of music or chants.

      In Judaism the cantor, or ḥazzan, directs liturgical prayer in the synagogue and leads the chanting. He may be engaged by a congregation to serve for an entire year or merely to assist at the ceremonies of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. Cantors in many American congregations also act as religious-school directors.

      In former times the duties of the Jewish ḥazzan ranged over a broad area: he had overall care of the synagogue, announced the beginning and the end of the sabbath, removed the Torah scrolls from the ark of the Law and replaced them after the service, cared for the sick and the needy, and saw to the religious education of children. His knowledge of music and Hebrew gradually transformed his role of assistant to the reader into that of director of the chanting during liturgical services.

      In medieval Christianity the cantor was an official in charge of music at a cathedral. His duty, later undertaken by the organist, was to supervise the choir's singing, particularly the singing of the psalms and the canticles. (In responsorial chants—those divided between a choir and a soloist—the term cantor still refers to the soloist.) The term was also used for the head of a college of church music—e.g., the Roman schola cantorum of the early Middle Ages and the singing schools founded by Charlemagne.

      In German Protestant churches of the 17th and 18th centuries, the cantor was the choirmaster and organist of a school or college subordinate to the rector; J.S. Bach held this post at the Thomasschule in Leipzig.

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