The history and origin of the word CHAZAN comes from the Hebrew language and means “Cantor”.
The early times of the chazan in the synagogues goes back to the final period of the Renaissance, previous to the Baroque period.
During this old times, the professional Chazan began to lead religious services in the synagogues of Eastern and Southern Europe.
Until then, the person leading religious services was the “Baal Tefilah”, member of the congregation, with knowledge in praying, who did it honorably and for free.
The Baal Tefilah, wrapped in his Talit, sang the prayers with dedication and fervor.
He was familiar with the melodies and intonations of the prayers.
Anyway, towards the end of the sixteenth century, in the synagogues, people who had acquired a more refined musical taste, no longer considered it appropriate for the prayers to be directed by an amateur person, without any kind of musical training.
The dissatisfaction with the non-professional singer can be attributed to the fact that the Jewish community gradually developed greater purchasing power, and became more educated and world people.
Along with the wealth and social cultural growth, appear a desire for greater splendor in the execution of the synagogal religious services and the Jewish weddings.
They admired the form and were attracted by opulence and perfection that had Catholic and Protestant Churches, both in the cities and major towns, at the time of conducting religious services.
That increased the inclination of Jewish communities to have a professional singer, a Chazan to lead prayers and officiate Jewish weddings.
In this way, began to take hold the need and desire in the Jewish communities for the presence of a Chazan, with valuable qualities as professional singer, specialist in liturgy to officiate the religious daily and festive prayers.