Ordering of Cantors in the Office
  • OMagnumMysterium
    Posts: 340
    When the Divine Office is sung (1962 and earlier), what is the traditional rotation of cantors?

    I'm guessing that this was a matter of local custom, not strict rubrics, so probably there was variation between different religious orders over the ages.

    I'd like to learn general principles and rules for all the hours, but my nearest practical application is Easter Sunday Vespers. If you had, say, six cantors for Vespers, how would you divide up parts? Does one cantor intone each antiphon, along with the accompanying psalm? Does the cantor with the lowest seniority start, or the cantor with the highest seniority? Is the vesicle sung by two cantors in the middle aisle, and the antiphons + psalms just intoned by one cantor from his seat?

    I'm eager to hear how this has been done in various places, and if any authors have written specifically on this.
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,374
    Well you would have two cantors in the Roman usage. The assistants are not cantors. The division of roles between assistants (and especially at Vespers with two assistants) at Vespers with two, four or six assistants is described in Fortescue and in other sources (Stercky for those who can read French).

    You could have more people singing the odd verses with the two cantors. But you still technically only have two cantors for a given service.

    The ICRSP has some good videos that they streamed during the pandemic restrictions; Saint-Eugène in Paris also streams weekly.

    The antiphons are intoned in place by clerics in order of seniority. We let seminarians do it. Sometimes the schola too. Lately it has just been me. If you have two assistants in cope (who are supposed to be tonsured but are not at Saint-Eugène) the cantors go to intone the antiphon; otherwise the assistants do it. It’s all in Fortescue. If you have no assistants and no clergy then the cantor has to do it all.

    But the psalm is always intoned by the same person. If you have no ceremonies (not the case on Easter but maybe during the week) then it can be intoned in place. Otherwise the pair go to the middle for the intonations and for the versicle. I have always assumed that only the one cantor (sitting on the epistle side) intoned.
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