By Robert R. Schwarz
The organ and cantor rested for a few bars. Then the cantor, an attractive woman of 63 years, gently yet commandingly raised her outstretched arms to invite the hundred or so mourners to sing the refrain: And he will raise you up on eagle's wings, bear you on the breath of dawn, make you to shine like the sun, and hold you in the palm of his hand .The cantor will later say this was a magical, transcendent moment for her.
As the sanctuary swelled with her singing "On Eagle's Wings", a hymn equally loved at weddings as well as funerals, the voice of this accomplished soprano both heightened and soothed her listeners' mourning. They sensed an inexplicable quality about her voice that was different, perhaps unlike anything they had appreciated at Ravinia or the Lyric Opera.
For those who had come from afar, she was a stranger, suddenly appearing in the midst of their delicate, intimate hour; and so, no doubt some wondered just how much this "hired" cantor, this woman in her long sleeve black dress, could really share their sorrow. After all, had she not sung this same hymn at hundreds of funerals, so often that surely this matter of mourning and funeral liturgy had become just a bit mechanical—no matter how soulful she sounded?
True, Mary Ann Beatty had been a professional cantor for 42 years and had sung regularly at St. James Catholic Church in Arlington Heights, Illinois, where several other artistically talented cantors sing today. But here was a cantor—maybe a rare one—who makes a practice of developing empathetic relationships with the deceased by acquainting herself with the deceased's life prior to singing hymns like "On Eagle's Wings.”
"It’s not a job, it's not a gig,” Mary Ann said as we later walked up to the choir loft to talk. She moved quickly and gracefully, a dexterity acquired from a variety of her many solo stage performances and as a member of the Chicago Symphony Chorus.
We sat in a pew, and I noticed she had blue eyes and brown hair, subtle (and unnecessary) makeup, wore wooden, jade-colored earrings, and a necklace with a solitary diamond (a Valentine gift from her husband who, on a later Valentine Day, dearly presented her with malted milk bars). She soon revealed her passion for Roman culture; it was easy to visualize this statuesque woman hosting a musical event on some imperial portico in ancient Rome. Not as easy was to see Mary Ann as the Latin teacher she is at a junior high school nor as someone who has balanced a busy singing career with the raising of three daughters and a son while also being a cooking homemaker for her husband Carter, now a retired accountant.
We began with the question: "What were you feeling when you sang " On Eagle's Wings" ? Mary Ann obviously likes to take her time developing her answers.
"A cantor can get jaded over the years unless he or she personalizes their singing. When you do that, you’re doing justice to the person and to God's work. You also participate in God's word that happens to be coming through the music." She explained that when singing "On Eagle's Wings" and recalling that the deceased had been a pilot, she was also thinking about "how pilots are up in the air and close to God.” She reflected a moment on her words, then added: "I guess when I sang that, I was concentrating on ethereal questions.”
But would her singing had sounded the same if she hadn't done homework about the deceased?
"It's a magical thing about singing,” she said , now patiently waiting for my note-taking to catch up with her speech before making her point : "When you can link the song to the person, this colors what you are singing."
(Earlier, St. James director of music, Scott Arkenberg, had told me that the criteria for a good cantor are : to sing the prayer, be respectful of the music, know the acoustical levels of the setting, and be in tune with her or his own spirituality… and Mary Ann has deep spirituality.”)
Can this "magic" occur in a secular setting?
Animated by the question, the soprano shifted her posture, glanced pensively down at the now empty sanctuary , and exclaimed: "Sometimes when I'm singing with the Chicago Symphony Chorus , everything is as perfect as it can get—musicians, the conductor, and me are all in sync—I have a transcendent experience. "
"Like what?" I asked.
"Like what?" I asked.
"Well, it was like the other day when a student of mine came so close to what I had hoped she would do in developing her voice. For me, this was a heavenly experience. "
As for opera, Mary Ann admits she is not a big fan. “I’ve been to the Lyric Opera four times and each time I looked at my watch and asked myself what I could have done in the last two or three hours that would have been more worth my time.” Her sister, who, like Mary Ann, is of Slovak heritage "one hundred percent,” has sung opera throughout Europe. ( Her stage name is Joanna Porackova. )
Mary Ann's professional singing biography is a seemingly endless list of guest soloist appearances in the Midwest with symphony orchestras, musical theaters, and churches of all denominations. She has recorded five CDs: “Requiem" on the Classical Angst label, “Don We Now…” released by the Windy City Gay Chorus ; "Gentle Woman: Songs of Mary" and "On that Blessed Night" with the St. Thomas of Villanova Choirs; and "You Are for Me", The Liturgical Music of Tony Barr.
“When I was a toddler,” she said, "my parents found out I could carry a tune pretty well.” Her parents encouraged her singing, and soon she was singing in the church choir in Whiting, Indiana. “So, I have sung in church since second grade but did not have a voice lesson until age 25.” At Indiana University she studied classical languages and literature. Then came a master's degree in Latin from the University of Wisconsin, which later led to her teaching high school Latin in Freeport, Illinois. While a student at the U. of W. from l972-73, she and the university's highly rated concert choir were given an all-expense paid trip to Venezuela to sing at the president’s palace, churches, and in several villages.
Shorty thereafter, Mary Ann married, and she and Carter moved to Des Plaines, Illinois. Then came one of her two career turning points: She successfully auditioned for the Chicago Symphony Chorus after singing—in Latin, of course--an impressive " Ave Maria", followed by a melody which no doubt raised a few eyebrows among the classicists there: "As Long as I Have You," from the musical "Oliver."
Her comment on this audition came with an raised eyebrow and a laugh: "Now, mind you, I had had no vocal training up to then.”
Her other career juncture appeared when she was offered a full-time position as a voice teacher in a high school near Chicago. She subsequently taught private voice lessons for 14 years. "Music had always been a part of my life but to make it full time was a shock.”
Reminded that the overarching theme of our interview today was about the experiences of people who are trekking an exodus trail similar in spirit to the Biblical Exodus, I asked this grandmother of a three-year-old child about her life challenges.
“As a teacher and a mother, I’ve had numerous roadblocks put in front of me by people trying to reduce me to mediocrity.” One example she cited was once being confronted by fellow teachers who felt that her passion for teaching Latin and music—a passion which had motivated her to work many hours before and after school-- was undermining their teaching contracts. Mary Ann reacted to this particular confrontation somewhat rebelliously, she confessed, by not compromising any of her “trouble-making” zeal for producing on a successful celebration of Latin Week for the sole benefit of her students. "I'm not the person who is striving for notoriety. I just want to make sure that I'm working the best and the hardest I can with the gifts God had given me. "
Mary Ann said she prays almost daily to see more evidence of a denominational Christian faith in her husband, a non-Catholic who attends church with his wife only on holidays. She is quick, however, to ward off any judgmental opinions about Carter. "He's a better Christian person than I am. He would drop anything to help someone. " Their children were raised Catholic.
At her home with Carter in wooded area a short drive from Arlington Heights, Mary Ann sighs and says she doesn't do very much for fun. “Carter and I watch the television program 'House', I love to needlepoint when time for it. I also, when with friends, re-write song lyrics. I read the Wall Street Journal arts section, saw the movie ' The King's Speech'—that was really, really good. We like to try new restaurants. There isn’t any food I don't like, but I am allergic to eggplant. "
We rose to leave the choir loft. “Something else..." she reminded herself. “Above all things I'd like to do-- anytime-- is see a dance or a ballet performance. "
I grabbed my camera for an outdoor photograph of her. “We’ll have to hurry," she said. "I have two more funerals today."
