`End of an era” is a phrase long since reduced to banality, for which journalistic overuse must be held sternly accountable. But it is no cliche in the case of Margaret Hillis, who this season is drawing to a close 35 distinguished years as director of one of the world`s foremost choral organizations, the Chicago Symphony Chorus.
This changing of the guard at Orchestra Hall may not command stentorian trumpet fanfares the way Georg Solti`s retirement did last year, yet anyone familiar with Hillis` enormous impact on choral music locally, nationally and internationally must acknowledge its significance.
It is typical of the self-effacing musician someone once dubbed ”Mama Chorus” that she is making her exit as gracefully as possible, prefering to divert the applause to the organization she founded in 1957 at the request of Fritz Reiner and has directed continuously to this day.
The weekend performances under Daniel Barenboim`s direction of the Brahms ”German Requiem” (a fourth and final subscription performance is set for Tuesday night) represent her official valedictory, although next April and May will bring a second Hillis ”swan song”-CSO performances of Beethoven`s
”Missa Solemnis,” postponed from last season because of the players`
strike.
Hillis says she had considered retiring from the chorus well before Solti announced he would leave after the orchestra`s 1990-91 centennial but that his announcement spurred her to draw a double bar on her own CSO career. That, and her age. ”The calendar tells me I am 70 years old, although I certainly don`t feel it,” she says with her characteristic baritonal voice, smiling broadly. When the orchestra announced her retirement in 1991 she offered to stay on through Barenboim`s first year as music director or until a successor could be found. But with no replacement yet chosen, Hillis` name remains on the CSO masthead as chorus director and the lady says she might stay on if no new chorus master can be installed before 1993-94.
According to CSO executive director Henry Fogel, who heads up the search committee charged with recommending a successor to Barenboim (Hillis also serves on that committee, along with four chorus members), meeting a strict timetable is less urgent than making sure the best qualified candidate is chosen.
”I think we are blessed, because Margaret does not have to leave by a certain date,” he explains. ”It`s not like she is leaving to become the director of some other chorus and will be gone forever as of X date. That allows us the luxury of taking our time.”
In fact, from 50 national applicants for Hillis` position the committee has narrowed the field to three candidates, all former Hillis students. The short list comprises Robert Porco, choral department head at Indiana University; Amy Kaiser, a New York-based choral director; and Vance George, director of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus. Porco and Kaiser prepared the choruses for performances this past summer at Ravinia. George`s audition will consist of readying the chorus for Barenboim performances of Stravinsky`s
”Symphony of Psalms” in January.
But whoever succeeds Hillis will find her a daunting act to follow, for her reputation looms as large as that of the chorus she has lovingly nurtured for the past 35 years.
Like Solti and Reiner, she is a rigorous perfectionist who knows how to transfer that perfectionist zeal to those working under her. It is her refusal to compromise her musical standards that has made the CSO Chorus one of the finest ensembles of its kind.
Over the years thousands of Chicagoans have sung in her chorus-trained musicians as well as housewives, doctors, lawyers, college professors, students, garage mechanics and at least one professional burglar-donating hours of hard work (about 100 of the 186 members are paid) for the privilege of singing for Hillis and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under major conductors.
The chorus has appeared with the parent orchestra more than 600 times, won seven Grammy awards and accompanied the orchestra on several domestic and foreign tours, including the chorus` 1989 European debut. It costs the Orchestral Association $664,000 a year to maintain and, most observers would agree, is worth every penny of it.
Under Hillis` direction the chorus is almost routinely praised for its distinctively rich, full sound, clear diction and amazing facility with musical styles ranging from Bach to Boulez. The ensemble has been a major catalyst for the growth of other choral organizations in the area, as well as the model for many orchestra choruses in America.
One can trace the growing strength, experience and flexibility of Hillis` ensemble through the years. Solti prepared Schoenberg`s fiendishly difficult opera, ”Moses und Aron,” twice in Chicago, and on both occasions Hillis had her choruses learn their parts in six weeks; the Covent Garden chorus needed a full year.
”When I came here (in the 1950s) the city had no other professional vocal ensembles, apart from the Lyric Opera,” Hillis recalls. ”They didn`t understand what being a professional meant. Musicians can be paid and be hacks, but to be professional is a matter of being committed and having control over certain technical facilities.
”I did as much as I could when it came to rhythm, diction, intonation, all the thousands of things it takes to produce a first-class performance with a chorus. I think my most satisfying moment came in 1965 when I heard Jean Martinon conduct the chorus in Brahms` Requiem. It was the first time I was not terrified the chorus would make a mistake. I had real confidence in them
(because) I had finally built it to the point where they had true solidity.”
To less dedicated choristers, her insistence on methodical preparation may seen tedious; but others appreciate the difference it can make in the finished performance.
”She will push us as far as we are willing to be pushed (because) she assumes a total professionalism from each of her singers,” says Mary Jo Cally, a chorus member since 1985. ”Her profound sense of responsibility to the integrity of her work means that she never lets her ego get in the way of the music.”
Yet Hillis says she cannot explain how she gets her trademark choral sound.
”I do have a sound in my ear that comes from hearing Kirsten Flagstad sing when I was a child. I hated choruses but I loved opera and particularly I adored Flagstad,” she recalls. The director does admit that one of the primary factors behind the CSO Chorus sound is that she invariably has a specific tonal ideal in her ears well before she sets foot on the podium-and she works tirelessly to achieve that ideal. ”I refuse to accept compromises from this gang,” adds Hillis.
Her impact as choral director and musical mentor has been felt well beyond Chicago. Indeed, it`s fair to say that Hillis, along with her former teacher Robert Shaw, transformed the performance of choral music in the United States. Partly through her efforts, the number of professional choruses in the country has jumped from 8 to 70 over the last 15 years. Name any important American choral director and chances are you will find a Hillis student, or someone who studied with one of her pupils.
Honors will continue flowing to the Kokomo, Ind. native in her post-CSO years. But the kudo she is likely to recall most fondly is the 10-minute standing ovation she received at New York`s Carnegie Hall in 1977 when she stepped in, on two days` notice, for an injured Solti and led the CSO, its chorus and an army of soloists in an inspired performance of Mahler`s massive Symphony No. 8. The event made a sung heroine out of a woman conductor who had long been unsung.
Hillis points out she is retiring only from the CSO, not from music. In addition to guest conducting, she has planned several books, including a CSO Chorus manual in which she promises to share the secrets of her trade with younger directors. Next spring she is scheduled to direct Beethoven`s ”Missa Solemnis” with the Mikhail Glinka Choir, Russia`s oldest, in St. Petersburg. And she plans to maintain her Wilmette residence, so her influence on the local musical scene will be very much felt for years to come. To say that Hillis will miss the CSO Chorus-her proudest legacy-is to risk gross understatement. ”The last rehearsal I do with the chorus I`ll probably break down and bawl, because I really do love each and every one of them.”
