From The American singer; a hundred years of success in opera (1937) by Thompson, Oscar, 1887-1945:
𝐀𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐲
𝑨𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂'𝒔 𝑭𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝑨𝒎𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰𝒕𝒔 𝑭𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝑾𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝑾𝒂𝒈𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝑹ô𝒍𝒆𝒔-𝑨 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒐 𝑩𝒆𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒂 𝑪𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒐.
Annie Louise Cary and Clara Louise Kellogg were born in the same year, but their careers otherwise were less parallel than legend helped along by the rhythmic affinity of their names-has led a later generation to believe. Miss Cary sang for a time in Miss Kellogg's company. There were concert as well as opera ap-pearances together, not always as harmonious as fond friends of one or the other could have desired. Miss Cary was much later in making her début, and there was, of course, a fundamental differ-ence in their voices, Kellogg being a true soprano, capable of light coloratura parts as well as of more dramatic rôles such as the then new Aïda; and Cary a mezzo-soprano who, in spite of an extensive upper voice, was an exponent chiefly of contralto parts. As the first woman to sing a Wagnerian character in this country and as Amer-ica's first Amneris, she occupies an individual niche in the operatic hall of fame that has no need for borrowed illumination from Kel-logg's bright, particular corner.
Maine has the privilege of claiming Annie Louise Cary, for it was in Wayne, Kennebec County, she was born, the youngest of six children, on Oct. 22, 1841.* Her mother, Marie Stockbridge, was a direct descendant of Elder Brewster of the Mayflower company. It is told of Annie Louise that she could sing before she could talk plainly. The Puritan legend to the contrary, music was a daily in-dulgence of the Cary family in Wayne and in Gorham, where the Carys resided during most of Annie Louise's girlhood. James G. Blaine, on hearing her sing the day of her graduation from Gorham Seminary, predicted that with the proper training she would have a career as a singer and advised against her remaining in Gorham to teach school. as her friends expected her to do.
Thus encouraged by so notable a politician, Miss Cary studied for a brief time in Portland. In 1859 she went to Boston, where for the next six years she furthered her musical progress under the super-vision of G. Q. Weatherbee and Lyman W. Wheeler. During her stay in Boston, the congregations of Dr. Bartol, Dr. Stowe, Dr. Lowell and Dr. Huntington heard her sing at one time or another, at their Sunday services. Convinced that she should study abroad, she gave a testimonial concert, the proceeds of which, together with loans from friends, enabled her to sail for Europe in Aug. 1866. On arrival at Milan she began a year's study with Giovanni Corsi. By the end of the year Miss Cary was confronted with debts of nearly $6,000 and was in doubt about remaining abroad, when she met Lorini, an impresario, who had little difficulty in persuading her to join his company. Under his auspices she began her career in 1867, making her début as Azucena in Il Trovatore at Copenhagen, with the royal family present. The following spring she made a tour of Norway and Sweden under the management of Ferdinand Stra-kosch. The success of these events enabled her to pay her debts.
Prior to a season at Hamburg, she went to Baden-Baden and availed herself of study with Mme. Viardot-Garcia. Her singing at this time attracted the attention of Max Strakosch, who immediately engaged her for the season of 1868 at Stockholm. At the Royal Swedish Opera, Miss Cary was obliged to sing in Italian, while the other soloists and the chorus sang in Swedish. Berlin next heard her for a short period before she departed for Paris for still further study, this time with Bottesini. The manager of the Salle Ventadour offered her a three-year engagement which she declined, accepting instead one for the same length of time with the Strakosches. Before leaving for London she arranged to sing in Brussels.
On arrival in London, she devoted the winter of 1869-70 to lessons with Henry C. Deacon. Her début at Covent Garden was made as Mlle. Cari on April 12, 1870, when she sang the rôle of Maffio Orsini in Lucrezia Borgia with Graziani as the Duke.
The London Times of April 16 gives the following account of her initial performance:
"The novelty of the evening was the first appearance of Mlle. Cari, a young American, who at Brussels has earned a certain repute as a singer in concerts, and who, in the character of Maffio Orsini… produced a highly favorable impression. The voice of Mlle. Cari is rather a mezzo soprano than a contralto; but that she can use it to good purpose was at once apparent in the opening scene of the Prologue, by her easy delivery of the air, 'Nella fatal di Rimini e memorabil guerra,'… However, as might have been expected, it was not until the scene where the famous drinking song, 'Il segreto per esser felice,' occurs that the success of the newcomer was decided. Here Mlle. Cari exhibited both dramatic spirit and vocal fluency; wisely refraining, by the way, from any attempt at imitating that wonderfully prolonged and wonderfully rounded off shake on the high note, just before the last return of the theme, with which Alboni used to move the audience into ecstasies of delight and nightly win a 'double encore.' There was no 'high shake' in Mlle. Cari's version of the Brindisi (any more than there is in Donizetti's), and no 'double encore' resulted; but the air was well and unaffectedly sung, and the single 'encore' awarded to the last couplet was hearty and unanimous."
That autumn she left for America as a member of the Strakosch concert company, which included Christine Nilsson, Verger and Brignoli, and the violinist, Vieuxtemps. On Sept. 19, 1870 she first appeared in her native country as an assisting artist for Nilsson at the latter's concert début at Steinway Hall. Though the reports of this event were much more extensively concerned with Mme. Nilsson, nevertheless the New York Herald did not fail to recognize in Annie Louise Cary a contralto of great purity, and an artist of more than ordinary merit." Anton Rubinstein was present at this concert and is reported to have said: "It is the most beautiful voice I have ever heard in the whole world!"
The season of 1873-74 brought with it Miss Cary's most memorable achievement, the creation for America of the rôle of Amneris, at the Academy of Music on Nov. 28. On that night, under the musical direction of Emanuel Muzio, Aïda was introduced to this country with Ottavia Torriani in the title rôle, Campanini as Radames, Mau-rel as Amonasro, Nannetti as Ramfis, Scolara as the King, and a Signor Boy as the messenger. Miss Cary shared the chief honors with Campanini. In subsequent productions of the then new Verdi opera in Europe as well as America she was acclaimed as the foremost in-terpreter of Amneris. In January 1877 she sang Ortrud in the com-pany's production of Lohengrin, given, as Wagner customarily was given in those times, in Italian. The music was not suited to her voice, necessitating some transpositions and omissions, but she was given credit for being the first American woman to present a Wagnerian part in this country.
The season of 1875-76 was divided between Moscow and St. Peters-burg. On her return to America she was engaged to sing at a festival and on arrival in the festival city, found that Adelaide Phillipps also was to sing. The two contraltos became the best of friends and spent many hours singing duets together. One morning at the hotel Miss Phillipps was awaiting breakfast when Miss Cary entered the dining alcove, whereupon the former waved her hand to every one present, exclaiming: "I wish to introduce you to Miss Annie Louise Cary, the greatest living contralto." Thereafter Miss Phillipps made a practice of referring to Miss Cary as the "G. L. C." * This is the more inter-esting because Clara Louise Kellogg asserts in her memoirs that she never received a kind word from Adelaide Phillipps.
Opera in New York was not always of the highest artistic stand-ards, nor did it appeal to all types and shades of intellectuals. Many persons of education and influence found their artistic pleasures else-where. One such was Charles Monson Raymond, a young and pros-perous Wall Street broker, who only after much coaxing was persuaded to see a performance of Faust at Booth's Theatre. At the conclusion he startled the companion who had done the coaxing by announcing that he was going to marry the woman who sang Siébel. Although it was nearly two years before he met Miss Cary, this was the beginning of a romance which was to prove that Charles Mon-son Raymond was a man of his word.
Annie Louise Cary became a member of Colonel Mapleson's opera company in 1877 and sang with it for two years, contributing mate-rially to the record of the company at the Academy of Music. Of her singing of Pierotto in Linda on Oct. 29, 1879, the New York Herald said:
"Miss Cary's voice is much the same full, rich organ that it was last season. It has changed a trifle, but not for the worse. In facility of execution there is no improvement, but the year has added a little more to the general excellence of the registers: it is a little more even throughout and the effect is that of a voice riper in its power. Miss Cary's abilities are too well known to need extended comment or detailed statement of the dramatic and vocal talents that are the component parts of her general excellence upon the stage. Her sing-ing of the score of the young Savoyard was graceful and finished, and the 'Per sua madre' and the duo 'Al bel destin' were charmingly rendered. The house took the first very quietly, however, which can only be accounted for on the score that the music of the number is more artistic than brilliant and not so taking with a popular audience as a more showy and less difficult composition. It calls for delicate phrasing and nicely toned shading, which Miss Cary gave it in all notes. The duo with Mme. Valleria, on the contrary, was generally applauded from 'the stalls to the gods.' Miss Cary's return greatly strengthens the company, improves the chances of the season's ulti-mate success, and her reception must have been pleasant to her friends and instructive as well as agreeable to the management."
The singer's throat began to trouble her soon thereafter and in-dispositions necessitated the breaking of many engagements. She last sang in opera in Philadelphia in 1881 in A Masked Ball, one of the operas of her first engagement in Copenhagen. The following Spring she made her last public appearance at a festival concert in the Seventh Regiment Armory, New York. A month later-June 1881-she married Mr. Raymond. Thereafter she gave of her time and money to charity. Week days she devoted to the New York Diet Kitchen, where she personally distributed food and clothing to the poor. Saturday afternoons were spent at the Metropolitan Opera House, where she was a regular subscriber from the year of its open-ing. During the World War she turned to knitting and emerged with a record of having made 150 pairs of socks. When Mrs. Ray-mond died, April 3, 1921, she left an estate of $350,000. Of this, $50,-ooo was designated for the Peoples Symphony Orchestra of New York, and more than $100,000 went to charity. Living are many who recall the sound of the voice that made this fortune. It was rich and full and in her earlier years on the stage was credited with the phenomenal range of about three octaves.
