Goldschmidt, MADAME (JENNY LIND)

Goldschmidt, MADAME (JENNY LIND), a celebrated Swedish singer, was born of humble parentage at Stockholm, October 6, 1820. Her musical gifts were apparent from her third year, and at nine she was admitted to the school of singing attached to the court theatre, where she received lessons of Berg and others. She sang before the court with success, and at eighteen appeared in the rôle of Agatha in Der Freischütz, Alice in Robert le Diable, &c., and soon became the principal support of the royal theatre. In June 1841 she went to Paris to receive lessons from Garcia. Meyerbeer, who heard her at this time, prophesied a brilliant future for Jenny Lind. Her voice was tested with success in private in the Grand Opera, and erroneous rumours of failure were current. She had already been engaged for the Stockholm Opera (1842). In 1844 she went to Berlin, and for a time studied German; returning to Stockholm, she was heard with enthusiasm in Robert le Diable, and at the instance of Meyerbeer was engaged at Berlin in October, appearing in Norma and Meyerbeer's operas. In 1846 she visited Vienna, in 1847 London. Prices at Her Majesty's rose to a fabulous height, and 'the town,' says Chorley, 'sacred and profane, went mad about the Swedish Nightingale.' Her voice at this time has been described as a soprano of bright, thrilling, and remarkable sympathetic quality, with wonderfully developed length of breath, and perfection of execution. She could sing up to high D in rich, full tones, and even touch higher notes; she literally warbled like a bird; and especially striking was her rendering of the weird Swedish melodies. Her return visit to London in 1848 was an immense triumph; and in London, on 18th May 1849, she sang on the stage for the last time in Roberto; henceforth her appearances were confined to the concert-room. Her share of the profits of a brilliant concert tour in America under Barnum's management (1849-52), amounting to £35,000, was more than spent afterwards in founding and endowing musical scholarships and charities in her native country. In 1851 she was married at Boston to Otto Goldschmidt, a native of Hamburg, her pianist. Returning to Europe, she continued to sing at concerts and in oratorios, as in London (1856), and for the last time at Düsseldorf (1870). Her English charities included the gift of a hospital to Liverpool and of the wing of another to London. She founded the Mendelssohn scholarship, and her interest in the Bach Choir, of which her husband was conductor, was shown by her careful training of the female chorus. Her voice retained its sweetness to the last, although she did not care to sing much even in the semi-privacy of a crowded drawing-room. But from 1883 till 1886 she was professor of Singing at the Royal College of Music. She died near Malvern, November 2, 1887. Her moral character was elevated and deeply religious; her smile was described as heavenly. See the Memoir by Canon Scott Holland and W. S. Rockstro (2 vols. 1891).