Los Angeles herald., 1908-04-19
Musicians and Their Work
RY aENEYRA JoHNsroNE.BIsHoP
ANNE LOUISE CARY
MARIE BREMA


4 NNIE LOUISE CARY was born
IN 1S46 at Wayne, state of Maine,
IA and is one of the greatest con-
traltos of our own country-in fact'
one of the very best in the world. l1er
family were all musical, she pelhs Il,e p'.
voungest of six musical children. Dy
the time Annie was 16 her voice . nau
developed wonderfully, ana she ,oS
able TO sing from = IN tiIe pe.aS .s,st.Stes
10 Il in alto-a range of three ocsSNeS
and a half-and the voice was ol - oA
ouisite quality, rich, sympaonetic' St'o,,t part
and true At the age OF 10 sHo " ~
to Boston and secured a posllloih On ~
a church choir, while she stuuleu .iisi .t.a -
Her career In that city was IiuIn I,u'-t .its
@ &C. tbat of many young aspirants
~. artistic honors-"church cnolr an"
nhorae,' II has been facetiously cdlleu'
Nv this ii may be understood lhat stie %
earned her board by assisting ~ , sno
household duties OF q lllehu, VIZ, viz So.
Nu;," "rSesi+ion enabled her to pay Tor
1ac vocal lessons. Her splendld voice,
,nusical intelligence soon enapleo neF
to Obtain concert engagements, anu pe~
fore going abroad to study she sang
IN MANY festivals, and at the t1ailues
a,,d HAYDN society concerts, on one oi
isioi, onca sions She was associated
vim the great artist, Parepa-hosd;
laoine nossessed of much ambltlon anu
with the energy which characteriIes
the natives of the state or Name aiss
cary organized and gave concert III
The old Music hall, which brought her
,o,,ch funds for a years trip abroad.
1Ier Puritan training forbade the luea
ZION of opera.-her intention was 10
study for concert and oratorlo' Llke
almost every American girl VINO goes
10 Europe to study, at the ehu OF l nel
tirst wear Miss Cary was dlscoufaseo
and declared that she sang no petter
+han when she arrived. To this ner
teacher. Giovanni Cont, made no as
sent. for his one idea OF singing was
onera-and he insisted that she nlust
sing in opera. MISS Cary huhs vi Ss
har music and left the room IN ols
pust And now comes curious mentdl
Tevolution Having refused to consider
singing In opera, having on TINS ac-
count left her teacher, she shorlly AIT
erwards met an impresar1o nalneo Lo
rini, for whom she sang. he 9n1iou 1io
her a fine engagement to sing IN ltallall
onera-and she. accepted it, but vowed
She would never wear tights. For TWO
wears she was with the Lorlm COM
nany. taking all kinds of parts IN
1869 she went to Parls 10 stuuy, l anu
there met Maurice Stralosch, who was
at that time forming the Nilsson Con-
oert company for a tour of America.
Miss Cary was offered the engagement
as contralto and accepted IL. NILSSON
soprano; Cary. contralto; BTlgnon'
tenor; Verger, baritone, ana Vleux-
tennis. violinist, formed the company,
This tour lasted two years, and In 1873
Miss Cary again appeared in opera
singing Ortude in "Lohengrin, Great
ing the part of Amneris with Campa-
mini as Rhadames when Aida was
produced at the Academy or MUSIC IN
New York. In 1879 and 1880 Miss Cary
was a member of the Clara Louise rel
logg Concert company, but she again
returned to opera, and during the last
years of her career added to her reper-
toire "Favorita," Campanfni and Gers
ter being the soprano and tenor. Yes
and she wore tights In many operas
and although large woman, was very
graceful and always refined, possess
ing n charming personality, generous
heart, always meeting with the great
est success wherever she appeared.
know of no artist that was so beloved
as Miss Cary. In 1881 she made her
last appearance in opera In Phtladel-
phia. and In 1889 sang for tho last
time, at the Cincinnati festival, having
taken part In each one given from 1873.
So well was she known at these res.
tiyals that when, in 1884. she attended
as a member of the audience, she was
at once recognized and received an oVa-
ton in taking her seat. She retired
from the stage in 1852 and married DR..
c. II. Raymond, putting an end TO her
height of her popularity. All young
singers may take her early career as
model, for it should give hope and
courage to the many who are today
making a similar struggle. If you
have the voice. and will work, work,
work, you are bound to succeed.
A contralto of much merit, who vis-
ite1 the United States in 1884 with the
Mapleson Opera company, was Anna
de Bolocca. She was the daughter of
NJ. de Bellokh, scholar of st. Peters
burg, and acting then as imperial
five languages and because OF her aris-
tocratic birth was sought after by the
highest circles of society. She was
unusually attractive personally, with
large, black eyes and hair, dead white
complexion and fine figure. Her voice
was limited in range, but of rich quail
ity. and she sang artistically and was
a hne actress, appearing with Gerster,
Nilsson, Patti and all the leading prima
donnas of the SOS.
A contralto who is considered one
of the greatest interpreters of Wagner
is Marie Brema. Miss Brema was born
In Scotland and made her first appear
ance in concert at st. James hall, Lon
don. q think she was married lately).
In 1896 Miss Brema sang In America,
having immense success, being the
principal contralto at the festival at
Cincinnati! that year, and at the Thom-
as concerts in Chicago She was then
introduced to Frau Wagner, who was
so delighted with her voice she offered
her an engagement to sing the part of
Ortude in "Lohengrin," and gave her
personal instruction. She was a fine
actress A London manager saw her
play in some amateur theatricals in
1888 in London and was so enchanted
he wanted TO star her as an actress
She declined and entered the operatic
field When she appeared Beyreuth
in 1884 as KundrY and Ortude she
made an immense triumph. She sang
with no apparent effort naturally; her
voice was full. round, well placed, and
her Colorlng perfect Not deep con-
tralto. rather mezzo contralto She
has visited America since 1894 with the
Damrosch company, also Abbey and
Grau, and in 1898 her work elected the
highest praise of the critics at Covent
Garden in London. Miss Brema (now
married and living in Berlin) Is com
paratively young, and is likely to hold
a high rank among singers for many
years to come. OF late years we have
heard little Of her. and at one time
it was reported she had passed away,
but / understand this was another
Mrs. Brema," in Vienna.
The article in next Sundays Herald
will speak of Alboni considered the
greatest contralto of the middle of the
nd ri