The Bona Fide Cantor -
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,365
    There is a book listed in the current issue of The American Organist (pp. 48-49) which should be of great interest to all of us on this our Forum and to all church musicians in the world at large. It concerns the cantor and is entitled Mediaeval Cantors and Their Craft: Music, Liturgy, and the Shaping of History, 800-1500, edited by Katie Ann-Marie Bugyis, A.B. Kraebel, and Margot Elsbeth Fassler; Woodbridge, York Mediaeval Press, 370 pp., ISBN 9781903153673. That is a 'long-winded' title, but one not inapt for a subject which has gotten far too little attention in a world which has seen the (attempted) rebirth of the cantor in fulfilling a liturgical ministry. There are no discussions here about those pirouettists and arm-flailers who imagine themselves to be cantors. No, this is a scholarly book about bona fide cantors in the Church's history, and the comprehensive knowledge of modes and the chant repertory, their important liturgical role, their vocal skills and projection in the pre-electronic ages, and more. Here is a golden opportunity to educate ourselves and our cantors about the knowledge and training of early cantors - real cantors. The cantor is not, is not, a novelty which followed in the disordered wake of a Council which should have seen that its wishes were more intelligently implemented. Perhaps this book could be profitable for the education of our own cantors, bringing them to a more mature understanding of the august footsteps in which they follow, and educating both them and the people into a loftier praxis of liturgical music. My only regret about this book is that it begins at the year 800. There is much in the literature about the role of cantors in the early church and into the early mediaeval era. There is, though, much in this book which could inform how a modern cantor perceives him- or herself, and could be a guide to a more sober realisation of what to do and what not to do in fulfilling his or her very important role.
    Thanked by 4a_f_hawkins Richard Mix MichaelDickson CHGiffen
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,369
    Contents :
    https://www.academia.edu/27082492
    Introduction :
    https://www.academia.edu/32169632
    Thanked by 1M. Jackson Osborn
  • MichaelDickson
    Posts: 419
    It is an interesting book. It is on my shelf, thus far only half-read, I'm afraid, but I will finish it this summer.

    It is worth bearing in mind (and I'm not taking myself to contradict anything that MJO says above) that the medieval cantor's responsibilities went well beyond singing. His roles changed over time and in different places, but in many ways the cantor was some combination of lead singer, music director, liturgist, and historian.

    The essays in this book are especially interested in the last of these roles.

    It is also worth bearing in mind -- always! -- that medieval history is a highly speculative business. Even when (as it does at some points in this book) it appears to be nothing more than 'textual analysis', there is a great deal of supposition involved as well (by which I do not necessarily mean wild speculation or unjustified assumption).
  • MichaelDickson
    Posts: 419
    MJO -- I also meant to react to your complaint (book beginning at 800).

    I don't have the book with me (I am traveling right now), but I recall that it is largely concerned with monastic cantors. There is precious little mention of the 'office' of cantor prior to 800 or so in monastic documents. In fact (and I just happen to know this fact right now for uninteresting academic reasons) there is no mention of the words 'cantor', 'armarius', or 'precentor' (later medieval terms for the cantor) in Clement's Lexique des anciennes regles monastiques occide. There is occasional mention of singers, but not of the office per se. For example, the Rule of St Benedict mentions that those who are authorized ("at the behest of the abbot") to read or sing do so only "if they are able to benefit the listeners" (meaning, I think, that they should be good at what they do), and that they are to do so "with humility, seriousness and reverence". (Already words worth taking to heart for any modern-day cantor!)

    Cathedral cantors are also discussed in the book, I think. I am less familiar with those sources -- perhaps there is good material there for study of their role prior to 800. I suspect there is, or at least if not specifically for cathedral cantors, at least for clerical (as opposed to monastic) cantors.

    Also, as I mentioned above, the book is largely concerned with the role of the cantor as 'historian', and I'm not sure there is much material prior to 800 on that aspect of the office, or its precursors. I'm not even sure whether that aspect of the office really was 'a thing' (as my teenage children would say) prior to 800.

    EDIT: I now recall that there is an article by Foley from the 1980s on the 'ancient' cantor. If I remember, I'll try to find it once I can search via my university's library again.

    EDIT to the EDIT: I've looked around a bit. There is indeed plenty (Foley, but much else besides) out there about -- let's call them 'singers' -- prior to 800 but not monastic cantors, and not really holding the sort of office discussed in this book. I think last paragraph prior to my edits is the main explanation of why they begin at 800. The Carolingian reforms, and especially changes and additions to the rule of St. Benedict, mark a useful point from which to begin, in part because those reforms establish more clearly the monastic office of cantor as one that includes the 'historian/librarian' aspect of the job.
    Thanked by 2M. Jackson Osborn CHGiffen
  • Andrew_Malton
    Posts: 1,156
    Anyone interested in this subject should also read the very accessible Christopher Page
    Thanked by 4a_f_hawkins MichaelDickson CHGiffen M. Jackson Osborn
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