Well, I don't know about a liturgical reason, but as a baritone, singing in the tenor range for seven verses of the Communion chant is a bit of a stretch. Next time 'round, I'm alternating verses with a friend.

I've experienced the spectre of duo cantors at St. Matthew's Cathedral, Washington, DC (and if you think exaggerated cantorial gestures from ONE cantor are bad, try them in stereo).

You can do it nicely if their hands are tied to their sides to prevent superfluous gesturing.

Maybe can you have a seperate psalmist and a cantor. Are you thinking of a cantor who kind of cheering the congregation to sing the hymns? or intoning the chants? Do you have to use microphone?

I have a husband/wife psalmist couple. They are both excellent singers (he's pursuing grad degree in voice) and well trained in rendering the verses of the psalms properly and without affect. He (a tenor) sings the melodic tones (R&A) and she (an alto) harmonizes with the alto tone. Their synchronicity is perfect. They back away from the ambo mic on the responses after the initial introduction of the responsorial in unison. They are the only "cantors" I have "cultivated" to so perform the psalms in that manner. I know it works on many levels, both aesthetically and philosophically. And, BTW, they don't "animate" with raised arms.

Lord knows, Mr. Osborn, I hope the above wasn't targeted in my general direction. Whew.

The Responsorial Psalm in the Liturgy of the Word is a lesson. (See James McKinnon, The Advent Project, for convincing evidence.) Anciently its verses were sung by only one cantor, and GIRM directs that the be so rendered now.

The use of more than one cantor as a festal adornment, to which Jackson referred, was a late medieval development. Still, in many of the late medieval uses, the gradual and alleluia verses were sung from a lectern. Although the style of the Gregorian graduals was no longer remotely akin to the style of a lesson, their verses were still rendered as though they were.

While the verses of the antiphonal psalms used at the entrance and communion were originally sung by solo voices, the 1974 Graduale Romanum allows them to be sung by a cantor or cantors: "Antiphona a choro decantata, versus a cantore vel a cantoribus proferatur..." (p. 11)
Although the 1974 Graduale is a private edition, the rubrics are quoted verbatim from the 1972 Ordo Cantus Missae, which is an official part of the Missale Romanum.

The 1974 Graduale also prescribes the the verses of the tract be sung alternatim between two parts of the choir or between "cantors" and choir.
The tract was originally a solo, however. Furthermore, in current circumstances having it sung by a soloist may advisable. Getting the whole choir to sing the elaborate verses of the tracts well is no easy feat.

Thank you, all! Yes, it makes sense for the psalm to be cantored by one person. I wonder if the 1974 Roman Missal has been superceded in any way by the new GIRM or what is coming just around the corner with the new Roman Missal. I wonder if it would be liturgically correct, for example to use 2 cantors alternating with the full schola and congregation on the Gloria, sung in an antiphonal style (i.e. at the double bar lines), or something similiar? I wouldn't want to initiate a practice that has no precedent liturgically, merely because it sounds "nice". The Church's ideal is our ideal, and Mother Church has a variety of wonderful possibilities... it's just to know what those are. Thank you for all your comments so far. Any other lights are most welcome!

Well, I'm not exactly sure why, but I think I have heard it on some gregorian chant CDs if I'm not mistaken, and also, I think the practice, if well done, is very beautiful - the alternation of a couple singers who match tone well vs. the larger group. It has a kind of beautiful anonymity to it, as well as the variety in the tone colour - I think (if well done) that the tone colour will be more pleasing to the ear and will have more nuance to it . I think it could sound nice intoning (some of) the Mass parts some of the time (I still think the idea of festival rank is interesting). Not that I think it should be exclusively one or the other... I am just interested in what the Church permits, and what has historically been done and why, and what is allowed now. Actually, at the first training session, one of the girls asked me if they could sing together, but I told them that for the sake of the clarity of the text it should be only one singer. However, another Sister and I chant the communion antiphon (with only one intoning) and we can match sound and diction (note length and dynamic too) quite well. In fact, it sounds almost like one voice, except it has a certain fullness to it. I think it is a great kind of sound for sacred music and wondered what place (if any) it had/had actually has.

I will pray that your workshop goes very well, Charles in CenCA! Thank you for taking an interest in this topic!
Sr. Bernadette

imagine this:

New church, two cantors decide to team sing the Litany, side by side. New microphone turns on and off automatically when infrared senses person.

Sensor unable to sense person when two people stand shoulder to shoulder.

So, the tradition remains unbroken. No one sings over microphones in our church.

There IS a benefit to advanced technology.