Cantor comes from the Latin word cantare, which means to sing. Therefore, the term singer refers to the lead singer or musician, the person who plans, guides, and guides people to sing and offer musical worship. In the first centuries of Lutheranism, the singer was responsible for getting people to sing the liturgy and hymns. Lutherans sang hymns in the streets, in their homes, in churches and schools while teaching their children and counseling one another in difficult times.
Festival worship services became increasingly musical in line with the growing economic independence of these cities in the 17th and 18th centuries. The Lutheran Church Musicians Association states that the singer is responsible for coordinating all the musical expression of the liturgical life of the church. Music in the Lutheran liturgy thus fulfilled the multifaceted function of proclaiming the Christian faith, educating about the Scriptures and thanking God for the salvation that is freely given to all. According to Charles Garside, when Calvin proposed to reorganize the entire vocal and musical life of the Christian community around the singing of the Psalms, it was because the words of the Psalms were words of God, placed by God in the mouths of the singers, just as He had first put them in the mouth of David.
In 1537, Calvin tried to codify the practice of exclusive psalmody throughout the city; he went to the city hall in Geneva to present a series of articles intended to bring the church in Geneva into conformity with what he considered the New Testament pattern of worship. Trinity is part of a growing number of Lutheran congregations in North America and around the world that are willing to return this historic title to those who are called to care for and promote the musical voice of the congregation. Not only did Luther exert a profound influence on the religious and cultural life of 16th century Europe, but he also freed music from the rule of the Roman Catholic Church, opening the door to a revolution in music and in the arts in general. One of the reasons why I detect this coloring aspect in Calvin's worship reform program is due to the lack of biblical continuity between images, instruments and the exclusive use of the psalms in congregational singing.
One cannot help but wonder if, in his quest for doctrinal and ecclesiastical purity, the reformer did not throw the preverbal baby with the bath water by eliminating the instruments and images of worship from the churches under his care. He was so committed to the high place that music held in the life of the Church that men had to demonstrate their musical competence before they could be accepted for ministerial training. Although congregational singing with organ accompaniment was not a common practice until the early 18th century, the creation of community music in Lutheran worship became a symbol of social and economic equity for the emerging democratic bourgeoisie, especially in prosperous German cities such as Hamburg and Lübeck. Unlike Protestants, who banned or limited the use of instruments, songs and hymns, Lutherans of all times and places have dedicated themselves to music as a way of teaching and confessing the faith.
Just as Calvin thought that obedience to one's own vocation creates an orderly environment for the fulfillment of God's will and purposes in history, order, not innovation, must prevail in the worship of God. Luther was well aware of the central role of iconography in the false teaching of the Roman Catholic Church.
