"The great event of the evening. . . ," Queen Victoria wrote in her diary on April 22, 1846, "was Jenny Lind's appearance and her complete triumph. She has a most exquisite, powerful, and really quite peculiar voice, so round, soft, and flexible."
Jenny Lind’s Early Career
Johanna Maria Lind was born in 1820, the illegitimate daughter of a schoolteacher. Mademoiselle Lundberg’s maid heard Jenny Lind sing when the opera singer was only nine and took her to her mistress, the principal dancer of the Swedish Royal Opera, for an audition. The young Jenny did well and soon trained in singing and acting.
She sang in her first opera at only 17 and became the court singer for the King of Sweden and Norway.
Lind's beautiful voice impressed many men who became her suitors. These included Hans Christian Anderson, Chopin, and perhaps Mendelssohn.
Jenny Lind and Hans Christian Anderson
The great storyteller, Hans Christian Anderson, fell in love with Jenny Lind when she toured Denmark in 1843. He wrote that, ‘the whole of Copenhagen was in raptures’ when the audience heard her sing.
She didn’t return his love but she inspired his fairy story: The Nightingale. This is why the opera singer is often called ‘The Swedish Nightingale’.
Jenny Lind and Mendelssohn
“There will not in a whole century be born another being as gifted as she,” the great composer, Mendelssohn, said, referring to Jenny Lind. She performed with him in Leipzig and Vienna, and he wrote the high soprano part in his oratorio, Elijah, for her.
According to an unreleased affidavit by her husband, Otto Goldschmidt, the composer also fell in love with her and asked her to elope with him to America. He was married with five children but she was single at the time. He died soon afterwards and Professor Curtis Price of the Royal Academy of Music has suggested that he may have even committed suicide because Lind refused his request.
However, Cecilia and Jens A. Jorgensen of Icons of Europe have refuted this, arguing that Goldschmidt often manipulated information and that there is no evidence that the composer was in love with Lind.
Jenny Lind in England
Jenny Lind made her debut in England in 1847 to great acclaim. She was mobbed everywhere she went. Queen Victoria is said to have been so enchanted by her beautiful voice that she threw roses at Lind’s feet. The opera singer even had a locomotive named after her.
She gave concerts for charity, including two free concerts in Norwich, and became known for her philanthropy. She eventually founded an Infirmary for Sick Children.
Jenny Lind Sings in America
The circus showman, P.T. Barnum, funded Lind’s tour in America and arranged extensive publicity to promote her concerts, even though he’d never heard her sing!
Her début concert in New York sold out and she performed for more than 5000 people.
She met the Swedish feminist, Fredericka Bremer, in Cuba and asked her advice about marrying Goldschmidt, who was younger than her. Bremer advised her to marry him. They married in America and had three children.
Jenny Lind and Chopin
There is a story that Jenny Lind fell in love with Chopin, who was very impressed with her singing. According to this theory, she wanted to marry him when he was ill with tuberculosis. He asked her to sing one last song for him when he was dying.
Jenny Lind Retires
Jenny Lind and her husband settled in London. She sometimes performed for charity.
'Jenny Lind' , Forever Swedish.org
'Jenny Lind', America's Library
