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Jenny Lind
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Johanna Maria Lind (October 6, 1820 – November 2, 1887), better known as Jenny Lind, was a Swedish opera singer, often known as the "Swedish Nightingale". One of the best regarded singers of the 19th century, she is known for her performances in soprano roles in Sweden and the rest of Europe, and for an extraordinarily popular concert tour of America beginning in 1850. She was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music from 1840.
Lind became famous after her performance in Der Freischütz in Sweden in 1838.
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Johanna Maria Lind (October 6, 1820 – November 2, 1887), better known as Jenny Lind, was a Swedish opera singer, often known as the "Swedish Nightingale". One of the best regarded singers of the 19th century, she is known for her performances in soprano roles in Sweden and the rest of Europe, and for an extraordinarily popular concert tour of America beginning in 1850. She was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music from 1840.
Lind became famous after her performance in Der Freischütz in Sweden in 1838. After this, she was in great demand throughout Sweden and the rest of Europe for a decade. After three acclaimed seasons in London, she was invited to America by P. T. Barnum, where she gave 93 large-scale concerts. She earned $250,000 from these concerts. She returned to Europe, where she became a philanthropist, and, for some years, a professor of singing at the Royal College of Music.
Early life and career
Lind was the illegitimate daughter of a schoolteacher named Anne-Marie Fellborg (1793–1856), who married her father, Niclas Jonas Lind (1798–1858), a bookkeeper, when Lind was 14 years old. Her October 6, 1820 recorded birthdate in Stockholm, Sweden, is not conclusive, however, because when Lind arrived in New York City from Liverpool, England on the ship S. S. Atlantic on September 1, 1850, she listed her age as 39. If true, then Lind would have been born around 1810 and been a child resulting from her mother's earlier relationships. It is recorded that Lind's mother gave birth to a girl about 1810. Lind married Otto Goldschmidt (1829–1907) in February 5, 1852. She had children in 1853 in Germany, in 1857 and 1861 in England, which makes the birthdate of 1820 more likely.
Lind's mother, Anne Marie, ran a day school for girls out of her home. Lind was noted for her singing voice from a very young age. When she was about nine years old, her singing was overheard by the maid of Mademoiselle Lundberg, the principal dancer at the Royal Swedish Opera. The maid, astounded by Lind's extraordinary voice, returned the next day with the ballet dancer, who arranged an audition and who helped her get accepted at the Royal Theater School, where she studied with Karl Magnus Craelius, the singing master at the Royal Theater. She also studied drama at Dramatens elevskola under Karolina Bock, though her dramatic career was never to be as great as her singing career.
Lind began to sing on stage when she was ten, and by the age of 17 she was a favorite in the Royal Swedish Opera. At age 20 she was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music and court singer to the King of Sweden and Norway. Her first great role was Agathe, in Carl Maria von Weber's Der Freischütz in 1838 at the Swedish Royal Opera. Thereafter, she was received throughout Europe with tremendous acclaim, but she suffered from stage fright throughout her career. She studied French and Italian opera in 1841–42 with Manuel Patricio Rodríguez García in Paris, extending her talents, but her time was lonely there.
Lind had many male suitors for her romantic or musical affections before marrying Otto Goldschmidt in 1852. Some of these romantic affections were not mutual on the part of Lind. She was 31 at the time of her first and only known marriage. Among Lind's earlier known suitors of any nature beside Goldschmidt were: Von Schneidau, Andersen, Mendelssohn and Chopin. Von Schneidau was a Swedish friend of Lind and later become known as the first American photographer of Lind in 1850.
Lind toured Denmark where, in 1843, Hans Christian Andersen met and fell in love with her, but while the two became good friends, she had no romantic feelings for him. Three of his fairy tales were inspired by her: "The Ugly Duckling," "The Angel," and "The Nightingale", the latter making her known as The Swedish Nightingale.
1840s: Mendelssohn; Britain
During most of the 1840s, Lind performed widely in Germany, especially with Felix Mendelssohn in Leipzig, and in Vienna. She traveled to London in 1847, where her first performance, in the presence of Queen Victoria at Her Majesty's Theatre on 4 May 1847, was in the role of Alice in Giacomo Meyerbeer's opera Robert le diable. Mendelssohn was present at this debut, and his friend, the critic H. F. Chorley, who was with him, wrote "I see as I write the smile with which Mendelssohn, whose enjoyment of Mdlle. Lind's talent was unlimited, turned round and looked at me, as if a load of anxiety had been taken off his mind. His attachment to Mlle. Lind's genius as a singer was unbounded, as was his desire for her success". Mendelssohn worked with Lind on many occasions and wrote the beginnings of an opera, Lorelei, for her, based on the legend of the Lorelei Rhine maidens; the opera was unfinished at his death. He included a high F sharp in his oratorio Elijah ("Hear Ye Israel") with Lind's voice in mind.
An affadavit from Lind's husband, Otto Goldschmidt, which is currently held in the archive of the Mendelssohn Scholarship Foundation at the Royal Academy of Music in London, reportedly describes Mendelssohn's 1847 request for Lind (who was then not married) to elope with him to America. The affadavit, though unsealed, is currently unreleased by the Mendelssohn Scholarship Foundation, despite requests to make it public. Mercer-Taylor writes that although no hard evidence has been found of a physical affair between the two, "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." 2003 biographer Clive Brown writes that "it has been rumoured that the [affidavit] papers tend to substantiate the notion of an affair between Mendelssohn and Lind, though with what degree of reliability must remain highly questionable."
In July of 1847, Lind starred in the world première of Giuseppe Verdi's opera I masnadieri in London. Her successes around this time included her regional tour of Britain and Ireland as well as to her performances on the Continent, and she became extremely popular and wealthy. Lind was devastated by the premature death of Mendelssohn in November 1847. She did not feel able to sing the soprano part in his oratorio, Elijah, which he had written for her, for a year afterwards. The performance in London's Exeter Hall in late 1848 raised £1,000 to fund a "Mendelssohn Scholarship". The first recipient of the scholarship was composer Arthur Sullivan, whom she encouraged in his career.
Lind became also known for her philanthropy of cultural and humanitarian causes, which continued for many years. In January 1849, she performed in a concert in Norwich, organised by the Norwich Choral Society. She stayed with the Bishop of Norwich, whom she credited with developing her charitable spirit. She liked the city so much that she gave two free concerts, a month later, which raised £1,253 for charitable purposes. The money raised was used to buy a house in Pottergate, Norwich, which was converted and opened as the 20-bed Jenny Lind Infirmary for Sick Children, on 3 April 1854.
Following a visit to Paris, Lind became, in the winter of 1849–1850, a member of the student fraternity Burschenschaft Hannovera in Goettingen, Germany. She was the only female member in a classical German fraternity. Her membership in the fraternity earned her the name "Little Lady Jenny" among the appreciative male members of the organization.
American tour
By 1849, when Lind was in the midst of her third triumphant London season, P. T. Barnum had become aware of her success and the large audiences she attracted. Earlier in 1845 and 1846 Barnum had toured Europe with his first great attraction, General Tom Thumb. Although he had never heard Lind sing, Barnum knew that concert halls sold out wherever she sang and that she was known for her virtue and charity as well as for her voice. In October 1849, Barnum hired an Englishman, John Wilton, to locate Lind and make her an offer.
Lind wanted to fund new schools in Sweden, and Barnum's offer would allow her to earn a great deal of money. After checking Barnum's credit with a London bank, on January 9, 1850, Lind accepted Barnum's offer of $1,000 a night (plus expenses) for up to 150 concerts in the United States. Lind insisted on the services of Julius Benedict, a German conductor, composer and pianist with whom she had worked in England, and of Italian baritone Giovanni Belletti as assisting artist, since solo recitals were still unknown to American audiences. Benedict's fee was $25,000 and Belletti's $12,500. All told, Barnum had committed to $187,500 (plus expenses) to bring Lind and her musical troupe to America.
Lind's contract called for the total fee to be deposited in advance with the London banking house of Baring Brothers. Barnum had not anticipated front-end payments for Lind, since he always had paid performers as performances were completed. To raise the money, Barnum sought loans from New York bankers, who refused to make the loans based on a percentage of the Lind tour, so Barnum mortgaged all his commercial and residential properties. Still a bit short, Barnum finally persuaded a Philadelphia minister, who thought that Lind would be a good influence on American morals, to lend him the final $5,000. Barnum sent the $187,500 to London.
Few Americans had ever heard of Lind, and Barnum's first press release set the tone of the promotion. "A visit from such a woman who regards her artistic powers as a gift from Heaven and who helps the afflicted and distressed will be a blessing to America." Her biographical pamphlet and photograph proclaimed: "It is her intrinsic worth of heart and delicacy of mind that produces Jenny's vocal potency." Barnum heavily promoted her record of giving frequent benefit concerts for hospitals and orphanages. Before Lind had even left England, Barnum had made her a household name in America. In August 1850, before Lind left England, Barnum arranged for her to give two farewell concerts in Liverpool. A critic engaged by Barnum to cover the concert wrote of the enthusiasm of the Liverpool audience and its grief at Lind's imminent departure. This review was widely circulated in English, European and American newspapers a week before Lind arrived in New York on September 1, 1850. Over 40,000 people greeted her arrival, trying to get a glimpse of the star.
Barnum and Lind renegotiated their contract on September 3, 1850, giving Lind the original $1,000 per concert agreed to, plus the remainder of each concert's profits after Barnum's $5,500 concert management fee was paid. Lind was represented by her lawyer John Jay. Lind gave 93 concerts in America for Barnum, earning over $250,000, while Barnum netted at least $500,000. Lind gave the majority of her U.S. concert earnings to charities, including $1,000 to help build a church in Chicago.
Lind's first two American performances were given as charity concerts in New York City on September 11 and 13, 1850 at the Castle Garden Theater, now better known as Castle Clinton, with thousands attending and collecting an astonishing $10,141 and $14,200. The first "Regular Concert" was given on September 17, 1850.
In September 1850, Lind gave $5,000 to her Swedish friend, Poly Von Schneidau, to purchase a new camera for his Chicago studio – a camera later used to create one of the earliest images of Abraham Lincoln. On September 14, 1850, Von Schneidau took the first American daguerrotype of Lind at the New York Mathew Brady Studio. His photo of Lind is in the Collection (Call Number DAG 509X).
In Washington, DC during the 1850 tour, Lind was the first performer in the newly renovated National Theater. The "New National Hall" was enlarged to seat 3,400 people for her arrival. The entire police force was called out to keep order in the crowd clamoring for tickets. Congress was adjourned, and the Supreme Court justices attended.
Lind visited Mammoth Cave in central Kentucky in 1851: at least one feature in the cave was named in her honor, variously described as "Jenny Lind's Armchair" or "Jenny Lind's Table."
She left to return to Europe on May 29, 1852.
Later years
While in the United States, on February 5, 1852, Lind married pianist Otto Goldschmidt, at 20 Louisburg Square, Beacon Hill, Boston, Massachusetts. Afterwards, she signed her name "Jenny Lind-Goldschmidt". The couple returned to Europe together in May 1852 on the same ship she came to America on, the S.S. Atlantic. They had three children: Walter Otto Goldschmidt, born September 1853 in Germany, Jenny Maria Katherine Goldschmidt, born March 1857 in England, and Ernest Svend David Goldschmidt, born January 1861 in England.
Following a new tour of Europe after her return from America, Lind paid tribute in many different ways to Chopin's music and his musical legacy.
Although she ceased her professional singing career with her return to Europe, Lind continued to perform in a number of oratorios, concerts, and choruses, with a particular interest in Bach. She lived first in Dresden, Germany, and then in England for the remainder of her life, where she became a philanthropist, and for some years, a professor of singing at the Royal College of Music. Her last public performance was at Düsseldorf on January 20, 1870, where she sang in "Ruth", an oratorio composed by her husband.
Lind died on November 2, 1887 in Malvern, Worcestershire from cancer. She lived her last years at Wynd's Point, behind the Little Malvern Priory, and was buried in the Great Malvern Cemetery to the music of Chopin's Funeral March. She bequeathed a considerable part of her wealth to help poor Protestant students in Sweden receive an education.
Legacy
Lind's fame garnered her many commemorations. The artwork on the Swedish 50 kronor banknote has a musical theme, the front of the note featuring a large as a tribute to her memory.
In Britain, when the Pottergate infirmary in Norwich was closed in 1898, a new Jenny Lind Infirmary for Sick Children was built in Unthank Road, which opened in 1900. The Infirmary closed in 1975, with the children's services transferred to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, St Stephen's Road where, in 1982 a wing of the hospital was named the Jenny Lind Children's Department. When the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital was established in 2001, the moved with it, where it remains today.
Under the name "Jenny Lind-Goldschmidt", she is commemorated in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey, London. Among the "eminent guests" at the unveiling ceremony on 20 April 1894 was Sir Charles Halle, one of Chopin's close friends from Paris. There is also a plaque commemorating Lind in The Boltons, Kensington, London.
Many places and objects have been named for Lind, including Jenny Lind locomotive. Place names include a children's park in Rupert Street, Norwich, England, a district in the Scottish city of Glasgow, streets in McKeesport, Pennsylvania and North Easton, Massachusetts, Jenny Lind Island in Canada, and the gold-rush town of Jenny Lind, California (despite the fact that she only performed on the East Coast while in the United States). During her visit to America, she was reported to have slept in a bed with turned spindles, leading to the naming of a bed or crib with vertical bars on all sides as a "Jenny Lind cot" (or crib or cradle). A chapel is named for Lind at the University of Worcester City Campus.
Many artistic works have honored or featured Lind. Anton Wallerstein composed the in 1845. In the 1930 Hollywood film A Lady's Morals, Grace Moore starred as Lind, and Wallace Beery appeared as P.T. Barnum. In 1941 Ilse Werner starred as Lind in the German-language film Schwedische Nachtigall, with Joachim Gottschalk as Hans Christian Andersen. In 2001, a semi-biographical film about Hans Christian Andersen featured actress Flora Montgomery portraying Lind. In January 2005, Elvis Costello announced that he was writing an opera about her, called The Secret Arias. It includes songs by Hans Christian Andersen, who had fallen in love with Lind.
Since 1948, the legacy of Lind has been honored by the Barnum Festival, which takes place each June and July in Bridgeport, Connecticut. P. T. Barnum once served as mayor of Bridgeport, and a museum there bears his name. Through a national competition, the Festival selects a soprano as the Jenny Lind winner. Her Swedish counterpart, chosen by the Royal Swedish Academy of Music and the People's Parks and Community Center in Stockholm, visits during the festival and the two perform several concerts together. The Singing Society Norden (est. 1902) of Bridgeport also hosts the Swedish Jenny Lind winner. In July, The American Jenny Lind winner traditionally travels to Sweden for a similar joint concert tour.
The Jenny Lind archive is at North Park University in Chicago.
See also
External links
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