Sr. Rita Clare remembered
It sounds cliche to say that the sudden passing of Sister Rita Clare, CND, marks the end of an era, but those of us who were fortunate enough to have been influenced by her when she was in her prime as a teacher, an administrator and a musical artist will now tend to see her as inseparable from the times during which she dominated the choral music scene Cape Breton.
Sister Rita was a consummate musician; her innate musicality, reinforced by an exhaustive scholarship, set an imposing – some would say intimidating – standard for her students and colleagues.
Yet the rewards of striving after it were rich enough to inspire many disciples. Forty years ago Holy Angels Convent housed one of the premier high schools in the province and its crown jewel, the Holy Angels Chorale, an auditioned women’s choir, was unrivalled in its day. Gaining membership meant personal sacrifice. I remember my younger sister and her friends walking miles across the city for rehearsals when buses were on a limited Sunday schedule.
The founding members of the Cape Breton Chorale were the first in a long line of men and women to experience Sister Rita’s definition of commitment as it applied to serious music.
At the same time, Sister Rita thrived on a diversity of performance experiences. When she prepared the chorus for a Sydney Rotary Production of Hello Dolly, the audience was treated to a vibrant, finely-tuned ensemble that elevated the entire show. Many high-profile events such as the opening ceremonies of the Cape Breton-hosted 1987 Canada Winter Games found Sister Rita on the conductor’s podium – coolheaded and in charge.
Her organizational acumen extended to supervising the music education program for the entire Sydney School System. Her capacity for hard work was astounding, including many audio recordings and radio and television broadcasts of her choirs. She did not dwell on her successes, but strove toward the next challenge, always refining as she went.
As a personality, Sister Rita was reserved in temperament; at heart, unaffected and caring. Her sense of community – the island, the province, and Canada itself – was something she passed on to others in tangible ways. I remember the early performances of the Cape Breton Chorale offering programs that connected the excitement of blended part-singing to repertoire that celebrated the ethnic diversity and geographic grandness of our country, allowing impressionable younger members like myself to experience what love of country felt like.
Her zeal for musical excellence was perhaps matched only by her love for her religious order, the Congregation of Notre Dame. If she showed a proud side, it was for the accomplishments of her fellow sisters in the order, whose history she took a hand in preserving.
When Holy Angels Convent was closing several years ago, Sister Rita gave me many scores from her music library to use in my own teaching. Among them I found several of her song books from her years of graduate study at Colombia University in New York. When I have occasion to use these scores, I feel connected to that younger Sister Rita Clare, who made judicious notes in the score and meticulously translated the foreign texts into their exact English meaning. No need for Google.