Choir (architecture)

The placement of the choir within a large Latin cross church

A choir, also sometimes called quire,^[1] is the area of a church or cathedral that provides seating for the clergy and church choir. It is in the western part of the chancel, between the nave and the sanctuary, which houses the altar and Church tabernacle. In larger medieval churches it contained choir-stalls, seating aligned with the side of the church, so at right-angles to the seating for the congregation in the nave. Smaller medieval churches may not have a choir in the architectural sense at all, and they are often lacking in churches built by all denominations after the Protestant Reformation, though the Gothic Revival revived them as a distinct feature.

As an architectural term "choir" remains distinct from the actual location of any singing choir – these may be located in various places, and often sing from a choir-loft, often over the door at the liturgical western end.^[2] In modern churches, the choir may be located centrally behind the altar, or the pulpit.^[3] The place where the singers are based is sometimes called the ritual choir, as opposed to the architectural choir or constructional choir.^[4]

The back-choir or retroquire is a space behind the high altar in the choir of a church, in which there may be a small altar standing back to back with the other.^[5]

^ OED, "Choir"
^ Schloeder, Steven J. (1998). Architecture in Communion: Implementing the Second Vatican Council Through Liturgy and Architecture. Ignatius Press. p. 137. ISBN 9780898706314. In monasteries, when the choir of schola cantorum was composed of religious, it was usually within the cancelli in front of the sanctuary. The liturgical movement of the Baroque age removed it to a choir loft at the back of the church, thus enabling the sanctuary to be more integrated with the nave.
^ White, James F. (1 December 2007). Christian Worship in North America: A Retrospective, 1955–1995. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 243. ISBN 9781556356513. One of the two dominant types is the concert-stage arrangement with tiers of choir stalls behind a pulpit platform at the foot of which appears the altar-table. The other type is the so-called divided chancel with the choir stalls and altar-table within the chancel and the pulpit at one side of its entrance. In both cases the liturgical space allotted to the congregation tends to be similar: a long, rectangular nave.
^ "Ritual Choir from the McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia". McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia Online.
^ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Back-Choir". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

[1] OED, "Choir"

[Schloeder1998-2] Schloeder, Steven J. (1998). Architecture in Communion: Implementing the Second Vatican Council Through Liturgy and Architecture. Ignatius Press. p. 137. ISBN 9780898706314. In monasteries, when the choir of schola cantorum was composed of religious, it was usually within the cancelli in front of the sanctuary. The liturgical movement of the Baroque age removed it to a choir loft at the back of the church, thus enabling the sanctuary to be more integrated with the nave.

[White2007-3] White, James F. (1 December 2007). Christian Worship in North America: A Retrospective, 1955–1995. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 243. ISBN 9781556356513. One of the two dominant types is the concert-stage arrangement with tiers of choir stalls behind a pulpit platform at the foot of which appears the altar-table. The other type is the so-called divided chancel with the choir stalls and altar-table within the chancel and the pulpit at one side of its entrance. In both cases the liturgical space allotted to the congregation tends to be similar: a long, rectangular nave.

[4] "Ritual Choir from the McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia". McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia Online.

[5] One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Back-Choir". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

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