SINGER, JOSEF:
Austrian cantor; born in Galicia Oct. 15, 1842. His father, an itinerant ḥazzan, destined him for a theatrical career, but the boy evinced an inclination for study, and after taking a four-year course at the Conservatorium at Prague he accepted a position as cantor in Beuthen, Prussian Silesia. In 1873 he was called to Nuremberg as "Oberkantor," and in 1881, when Salomon Sulzer retired from active service, Singer succeeded him as chief cantor of the Wiener Cultusgemeinde, which position he still (1905) occupies.
Singer, who is an ardent student and investigator in the domain of synagogal music, is the author of "Die Tonarten des Traditionellen Synagogengesanges im Verhältniss zu den Kirchentonarten und den Tonarten der Vorchristlichen Musikperiode" (Vienna, 1886, ed. E. Wetzler), a critical study of the forms of melodious intonation (see Ḥazzanut). He has published also numerous articles in "Der Jüdische Kantor" (Bromberg) and in the "Oesterreichisch-Ungarische Kantoren-Zeitung" (Vienna); of his contributions to the latter periodical may bementioned "Biographien Berühmter Fachgenossen Aelterer Periode" (1881-82) and "Ueber Entwickelung des Synagogengesanges" (1883-90).
