page_title: Abbie Carrington
section_title: Career
hierarchical_section_title: Abbie Carrington / Career
caption_attribution_description: English: Abbie Carrington
context_page_description: Abbie Beeson Carrington Lewys was one of America's leading coloratura sopranos of the 19th century. When the Grand Opera House opened in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, for the first time on August 11, 1883, Carrington sang the title role in The Bohemian Girl.
context_section_description: Abbie Beeson's musical talents showed themselves at an early age. In September 1875, she went to Boston and studied under J. H. Wheeler and Eben Tourjée, meanwhile singing in Temple street church. In 1887 she was graduated from the New England Conservatory. She then went to Italy, where she began the study of opera under Perenini and Giovanni, and after one year of study she made her debut in Milan, in La Traviata. In Cervia and Ravenna she won a triumph as Gilda Rigoletto. Subsequently, she sang in Dinorah and Lucia di Lammermoor. She was next engaged for a season of two months in Turin and for one month in Brescia; then she went to Venice to sing during the Carnival season.
  In 1879 she returned to the United States and sang in Milwaukee in April with the Mendelssohn Quartet Club. On October 7, 1879, in Boston, she sang with the Stakosch Opera Company. She next appeared in New York City with Theodore Thomas and the Philharmonic Society at the Steinway Hall. In January 1879, she made a tour of the main American cities, supported again by the Mendelssohn Quartet Club of Boston. In 1880–81 she made her first operatic tour with the C. D. Hess Grand Opera Company (also known as Strakosh-Hess Opera Company). In 1881–82 she was reengaged by Mr. Strakosch to sing on alternate nights with Etelka Gerster and Marie Roze.
  When the Grand Opera House opened in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, for the first time on August 11, 1883, Carrington sang the title role in The Bohemian Girl.
  In 1883–84 Carrington visited Mexico and achieved so pronounced a success that in Vera Cruz, Orizaba, Pueblo, Monterey and the City of Mexico she received in writing the thanks of the municipality for the great pleasure she had given their people during her stay among them, and as a declaration of their esteem and appreciation made and presented her subscriptions to the amount of $31,000, to revisit them the following season with her own company.
  Carrington returned to the United States early in April, and immediately sailed for Europe at the solicitation of Manager Ernest Gye, of Covent Garden Theater, London. While there she secured some of the excellent talent that supported her during the following season, commencing in Richmond, Virginia, going directly South and to Mexico.
  During 1884/85 the Abbie Carrington Grand Opera Company proved to be one of the most successful of the organizations on the road. During 1885/86 Carrington reappeared in Italian opera with Her Majesty's Grand Opera Company. In 1887, after six consecutive seasons in grand opera, having sung the leading soprano roles in twenty different operas, Carrington took a much-needed rest, which resulted in opening a new sphere of work, and since that time she traveled only with her own company in concert and oratorio. The season of 1890–91, the most successful and extended of her career, was a tour of the Pacific Coast and British Columbia.
caption: Abbie Carrington
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