Decani and cantoris

{{Short description|Sides of a church choir occupied by the Dean and the Cantor}} {{distinguish|Dečani (disambiguation)}} thumb|Evensong in York Minster, looking down the nave from beside the main altar; notice the choir arrangement into ''decani'' or Dean's side (as seen here, the left side) and ''cantoris'' or Cantor's side (here, the right side). thumb|Stalls assigned to Decanus (left) and Praecentor (right) at Lincoln Cathedrals's St Hugh's Choir

'''Decani''' ({{IPAc-en|d|ɪ|ˈ|k|eɪ|n|aɪ}}; Latin: 'of the dean') and '''Cantoris''' (Latin: "of the cantor"; /kænˈtɔːrɪs/) are the sides of a church choir occupied by the Dean and the Cantor, respectively.<ref>{{cite book |last=Latham |first=Alison |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780198662129/page/345 |title=The Oxford Companion to Music |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-19-866212-9 |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780198662129/page/345 345] |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite web |title=Decani vc. Cantoris |url=https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2013/5-july/news/uk/decani-v-cantoris |website=The Church Times |accessdate=1 March 2020}}</ref> The abbreviations "Dec." and "Can." are used.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ashley |first1=Martin |title=Where have all the singers gone, and when will they return? Prospects for Choral Singing after the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic |url=https://www.abcd.org.uk/storage/Choral_Directions_Research/Where_have_all_the_singers_gone_publication_version.pdf |publisher=Association of British Choral Directors |access-date=29 April 2024 |page=21 |quote=e.g. just Dec or Can on alternate days}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Morning and Evening Canticles |journal=Quarterly News Sheet |date=April 1928 |volume=1 |page=3 |url=http://www.rscm.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/AboutUs/SECM01.pdf |access-date=29 April 2024 |publisher=School of English Church Music |quote=Verses are allotted to full choir, Dec. and Can.}}</ref> In English churches, the decani is typically in the choir stalls on the south side of the chancel, and the cantoris is on the left (liturgical North) side. <ref name=":0" />

The association of the Dean with the south side has propagated from the Sarum (now Salisbury Cathedral) liturgical norm, a practice that then propagated through pre-Reformation England and Wales.<ref name=Hughes>{{cite web|last1=Hughes|first1=Gareth|title=Pass Decani on the Gospel Side: and other adventures in spiritual choreography|url=https://christhum.wordpress.com/2016/05/19/pass-decani-on-the-gospel-side-and-other-adventures-in-spiritual-choreography/|website=Ad Fontes|accessdate=14 June 2016|date=19 May 2016}}</ref> There are some notable exceptions in the monastic cathedrals, where the senior cleric under the bishop was the prior; he often sat on the liturgical north.<ref name=Hughes/> Hence, in Durham Cathedral, Ely Cathedral, St Davids Cathedral, Carlisle Cathedral, and Southwell Minster, decani is on the north.

While the cantoris side of the ''choir'' corresponds to the Gospel side of the ''altar'' (so called from the custom of reading the Epistle from the south end of the altar, and the Gospel from the north end of the altar), cantoris and decani properly refer only to sides of the choir, not to the sides of the altar. The arrangement of the cantoris and decani sections is called the "split chancel" model, which favors antiphonal and responsorial performance.

==See also== * Epistle side, another name for decani

== References == {{Reflist}}

Category:Choirs Category:Church architecture