CHOIR (0. Fr. cuer from

See also:

• LAT

Lat.

See also:

• CHORUS (Gr. xopbs)Z

chorus; pronounced

See also:

• QUIRE (in earlier forms quaer, quaer and quere, from the O. Fr. quaier, modern cahier, a copy-book, manuscript book; Lat. quaterni, set of four, from quattuor)

quire, and until the end of the 17th

See also:

• CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century so spelt, the spelling being altered to agree with the Fr. chceur)  , the body of singers who perform the musical portion of the service in a church, or the place set apart for them . Any organized body of singers per-forming full part choral works or oratorios is also called a choir . In English cathedrals the choir is composed of men (vicars-choral or lay clerks) and boys (choristers) . They are divided into two sets, sitting on the north and south sides of the chancel respectively, called cantoris and decani, from being on the same side as the cantor (precentor) or the decanus (dean) . This arrangement, together with the custom of vesting choirmen and choristers in surplices (traditional only in cathedrals and collegiate churches), has, since the middle of the 19th century, been adopted in a large number of parish and other churches . Surpliced choirs of women have occasionally been introduced, notably in America and the British colonies, but the practice has no warrant of traditional usage . In the Roman Catholic Church the choir plays a less conspicuous role than in the Church of England, its members not being regarded as ministers of the church, and non-Catholics are allowed to sing in it . The singers at Mass or other solemn services are usually placed in a gallery or some other inconspicuous place . The word " choir," indeed, formerly applied to all the clergy taking part in services of the church, and the restriction of the term to the singing men and boys, who were in their origin no more than the representatives to the use of the grotesque . His brother Gottfried (1728–1781) and son Wilhelm.(1765–1803) painted and engraved after the style of Daniel, and'sometimes co-operated with hitii .