Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Cary, Annie Louise

CARY, Annie Louise, singer, b. in Wayne, Kennebec co., Me., 22 Oct., 1842. She is a daughter of Dr. Nelson Howard Cary and his wife, Maria Stockbridge. After an early education in the common schools, she attended the female seminary at Gorham, Me., and was graduated in 1862. In 1866, her natural gifts as a singer becoming evident, she went to Italy and studied in Milan with Giovanni Corsi until January, 1868. Thence she went to Copenhagen, and, under the direction of Achille Lorini, made her first appearance in Italian opera as a profundo contralto singer. During the succeeding winter and spring she continued to sing in Copenhagen and in Gothenburg and Christiania. The following summer was spent at Baden-Baden in study with Madame Viardot-Garcia, and in the autumn she began an engagement for Italian opera at Stockholm under the direction of Ferdinand Strakosch. After two months she engaged to sing at the Royal Swedish opera, and sang her part in Italian to the Swedish of the other artists. The following summer she spent in Paris, studying with Signor Bottesini, the famous contra-bassist. In the autumn she went to Brussels to sing in Italian opera, and there made a contract with Messrs. Maurice and Max Strakosch for three years in the United States. In the winter of 1869-70 she studied in Paris, and during the spring in London with Mr. Henry C. Deacon, and sang at Drury Lane theatre under the direction of Manager Wood. She returned to America in September, 1870, to make her début, in concert at Steinway hall, New York, with Nilsson, Vieuxtemps, and Brignoli. For twelve years from that time she was constantly engaged for opera or concerts, appearing with Carlotta Patti, Mario, Albani, and others in America, until the winter of 1875-'6, when she visited Moscow and St. Petersburg, and repeated the tour in the following winter. Returning to America for the seasons of 1877-'8 and 1878-'9, she sang in opera with Clara Louise Kellogg and Marie Rose, under the management of director Strakosch. The three seasons following were given to opera with the Mapleson company, and to concerts and festivals in great variety. During the most active part of her professional career she sang at all the festivals given in New York, Boston, Cincinnati, Chicago, and Worcester. She also sang frequently in oratorio, and regularly participated in the concerts of the Brooklyn (N. Y.) philharmonic society. Miss Cary was always a favorite with the American public, and, though she harvested abundant honors wherever she went in foreign lands, she always seemed especially to value the plaudits of her own people. On 29 June, 1882, she married Charles Monson Raymond, of New York city. Since then she has sung only in private and for charity, though she occasionally assists the choir at the church where, with her husband, she is a regular attendant.