JENNY LIND

Evening Post, Issue 11, 13 July 1936, Page 4

JENNY LIND

GREAT PERSONALITY

THE SWEDISH NIGHTINGALE

A LIFE OF SUCCESS

It is difficult to believe that it is nearly fifty years since Jenny Lind died, says a writer in the Melbourne "Age." Born in 1820, her name was a household word in the.days of Queen Victoria, who had a remarkable liking for her. When a child of four she was able to pick out on the old spinet in the attic a tune played by passing soldiers. Her grandmother discovered her doing this, and found her hiding under the piano in fear of reproof. With wise encouragement her gifts opened out like a flower to the sun, and she sang everything she heard and with every step she took. A dancer at the Royal Opera brought her under the notice of the authorities, and these gentlemen were so impressed with her voice that they admitted her at the age of nine as a pupil of the Royal Theatre School. There she learned not only to sing, but to walk and hold herself with correct poise and simple dignity, besides giving special attention to the study of French. During a period of enforced rest in Paris she studied Italian and improved her German.

Our information regarding this gifted woman is derived mainly from her daughter, Mrs. Maude, and from memoirs compiled by Canon H. Scott Holland and Mr. Rockstro. Both editions of an original biography published by Murray, first in two volumes and then in one, are said to be out of print. Her husband, Mr. Otto Goldschmidt, survived her by twenty years, but i did not desire to continue the memoir after the date of the marriage, as he felt he would figure in it.too largely. Mrs. Maude tells the beautiful story in a light and happy vein. The more than ordinary seriousness which Jenny Lind acquired is explained as due to the narrowness and austerity of the home. , AT TEN I'EAES. Her name first appeared on a playbill when she was ten years old, and then, curiously enough, she had to dance, not sing. Her master said of her at twelve that her memory was; perfect, her receptive powers quick arid profound, and everyone was both astonished and moved by her singing. It

was prophesied that she would become

"an operatic artist of high rank." In 1837 her salary was fixed at £60 a year, and by the time she was seventeen she had appeared a hundred and eleven times in fifteen different plays. Her first actual debut was in Weber's opera "Der Freischutz." Her own account of it was: "X got up that morning one creature, and I went to bed another, for I had found my vocation.". This was on March 7, and all through her life she kept that dale with religious solemnity, and asked her friends to remember her in prayer that day. In 1839 she appeared in "Roberto il Diavolo," and in the following year she added "Don Giovanni" and "Lucia di Lammermooi-" to her repertoire. Of course, she had the roles of Donna Anna and Lucia. How busy she was kept is seen in the statement that by June, 1841, she appeared for the 447 th time in the Royal Theatre since the day she had first played a part as a child. , ' IN PARIS. Born in Stockholm and receiving her early training there, she went to Paris in 1841 to take lessonS from Garcia. The Queen of Sweden had furnished her with introductions. When she came for her test by Marcia. he found she had been completely overworked, and ordered her to rest from all singing and much spea>!ng for. three months. She spent the «me in the study of Italian and French. When she recovered her powers she studied under Garcia for ten. months, and teamed all that he or anyone else could teach her. Returning to Stockholm for a time, she next visited Berlin and Vienna, in both cities creating such a sensation that prices were raised and enthusiasm soared. Meyerbeer raved about the new singer he had discovered. N . • _The next important step was her arrival in London in 1847. Prices rose to a fabulous height, and, says Chorley, "the town,- sacred and profane, went mad about the Swedish Nightingale." She could sing up to high D in rich, full tones, and even touch higher notes, and she warbled like a bird.'Her range was two and three-quarter octaves. The Jenny Lind fever spread like wildfire. Royalty led the applause in their box, and Mendelssohn in the stalls. One of her ardent admirers was the Duke of Wellington, who often tobk her out riding to Richmond Park or Wimbledon Park. Her whole career in the musical world was a continuous triumph, and in 1849 she, announced her intention of leaving the stage and confining her appearances to the concert room, . The Queen and Court were present at her last appearance on any stage. She had been singing for eleven years, and in opera 677 times and all this before she was twenty-nine. ...-...■

One of the amusing, perhaps the only

amusing, incident in' her career was a proposal for a great American tour under the management of the famous Barnum. The contract was for 150 concerts at a fee of £200 for each concert, all hotel and travelling expenses paid for herself, her lady companion, and a secretary, and in addition she was to be given a maid and a man servant and a carriage and pair. She gave six concerts in a New York hall which held 11,000 people, and was always crowded. She sang in thirtySfven different towns. Her share in the profits of the tour was £35,000.. Here we come upon one of the supreme virtues of this singer. She gave more than the' profits ofl the American tour to charities and musical scholarships in her native country. She gave a hospital to Liverpool and a wing of another to London; founded the Mendelssohn scholarship, and showed a simple and earnest desire to aid the needy.

From 1883 to 188G she was professor of singing at the Royal College of Music, London. While in Boston in 1851 she was married to Mr. Otto Goldschmidt, a native of Hamburg, and her pianist. It was a marriaie of genuine affection and sympathy, and they had several children. Singularly he bore a remarkable resemblance to the Prince Consort, and became naturalised.

At the end .of. her three years of teaching she lived quietly in her home at Malvern during the summer, and at, Cannes in winter. She died at Malvern on November '> 1887,. at-the comparatively early age of 67,. and it is on record that on the last morning of her life she greeted the sunshine with some bars of Schumann's "Sonnenschein." A memorial was erected in Westminster Abbey, in the Poet's Corner beneath tkat of Handel. THE DIFFERENCE. I

Canon Scott Holland, who knew her intimately, wrote a very gracious appreciation of her, in which he points out that while in other artists it was the voice that won chic*- attention, in Jenny Lind it was the personality. Her work had in ,the highest degree the quality of conviction. ' Unstained, by the temptation of the stage she set an example of absolute rectitude. She was kindly, true, and pure, and left the fragrance which cannot perish.; She : felt the sacredness of things', and also the tears of things. With a great admiration for Carlyle she was, like him, sorely perplexed by the enigmas of life.. She often asked why therei were so much pain, misery, sorrow in our beautiful world, and why goodness made • such slow progress. For herself she believed that her musical endowment was a gift from God, to be held/in trust, and those who heard | her in "The Messiah" remember that in "I Know That .My Redeemer Liveth" she gave marked emphasis to "know." Nevertheless, she was full

of play -and fun, and had a merry laugh. She would spring up from the piano and dance ; with delight round the room. She was a clever mimic. She left the stage because it was "contrary to her innermost nature, and was playing havoc with her peace of mind as well as with her physical powers."