LIND (GOLDSCHMIDT), JENNY. 



421 



she made her debut in opera in that city, and 

 tilled an engagement of three years, pleasing 

 the puhlic, but failing to satisfy herself. In 

 1841 she went to Paris, and placed herself 

 under the instruction of Manuel Garcia, with 

 whom she studied several months, when she 

 secured an engagement at the Berlin opera, 

 where she appeared in Meyerbeer's "Camp of 

 Silesia," the soprano part being specially writ- 

 ten for her. From this time (1844) she be- 

 came known as the "Swedish Nightingale," 

 and the most eminent composers and critics 

 pronounced her the musical miracle of the age. 

 Moscheles said she had u truly enchanted" 

 him. Lablache declared that " every note was 

 like a pearl." Mendelssohn wrote that she 

 was the first artist that " united in the same 

 degree natural gifts, study, and depth of feel- 

 ing, the combination of the three never exist- 

 ing before." Her first appearance in opera in 

 London was in Her Majesty's Theatre, May 4, 

 1847, and the critic, Henry F. Chorley, wrote 

 that " the town, sacred and profane, went mad 



JENNY (GOLDSCHMIDT) LIND. 



about the 'Swedish Nightingale.'" Her last 

 appearance on any operatic stage was in Lon- 

 don, March 18, 1849, as Alice in "Robert le 

 Diable." Thereafter she confined herself ex- 

 clusively to the concert platform, gaining 

 greener and greater laurels than ever before ; 

 and here her supremest triumphs were in ora- 

 torio. Her voice was a fine soprano, from D 

 to D, especially pure and rich in the upper 

 register, with sweetness, flexibility, and charm 

 of expression ; and she had remarkable ven- 

 triloquial power, as instanced in her famous 

 bird and echo songs, and in the trio for voice 

 and two flutes, com posed for her in "The Camp 

 of Silesia." in which her voice was scarcely dis- 

 tinguishable from the tones of the flutes. 



During the whole of 1848 the Lincl mania 

 was everywhere epidemic in Europe, and at 

 the close of her engagement in 1849 she went 

 to Ltiheck, Germany, where she made her con- 

 tract for her engagement and remarkable suc- 

 cess in the United States. In October, 1849, I 



conceived the idea of bringing Jenny Lind to 

 America. I felt confident that the finest song- 

 stress, in the world, having also a world-wide 

 reputation for unstinted benevolence and kind- 

 ness of heart, would be fully appreciated and 

 liberally patronized by the American people. 

 The agent I sent to Europe to secure, if possi- 

 ble, the engagement of the " Swedish Nightin- 

 gale " was authorized to give her $1,000 a 

 night, for any number of nights up to 150, with 

 all her expenses, including secretary, servant*, 

 carriages, etc., besides engaging such musical 

 assistants as she should select, upon any terms ; 

 and I offered to place the entire sum of money 

 mentioned in the contract in the hands of Lon- 

 don bankers before she sailed. This sum, 

 amounting in all to $187,000, was so deposited 

 by me, and the contracts were signed Jan. 9, 

 1850, eight months before the first concert 

 was given in New York. In this interval the 

 merits of the " divine Jenny " as a songstress, 

 and as a woman of unbounded charity, were 

 duly and daily set forth in the American press. 

 When she arrived on our shores, Sept. 1, 1850, 

 the excitement and general desire to see and 

 hear her were intense. Thousands of persons 

 covered the shipping and piers, and other thou- 

 sands congregated on the wharf at Canal Street 

 to see her land from the steamship " Atlantic." 

 On the wharf was a flag-decorated bower of 

 trees, and farther on two triumphal arches, 

 one bearing the legend " Welcome, Jenny 

 Lind," and the other, surmounted by the 

 American eagle, being inscribed " Welcome to 

 America." My private carriage conveyed her 

 and her party to the Irving House, I myself 

 riding with my coachman on the box as a legit- 

 imate advertisement, and within ten minutes 

 of our arrival there were full 20,000 people 

 around the hotel, nor did the throng lessen till 

 late at night. At midnight Miss Lind was 

 serenaded by the 200 members of the New 

 York Musical Fund Society, escorted to the 

 ground by 300 firemen in their red shirts and 

 with torches. The calls for Miss Lind were so 

 vehement that I led her through a window to 

 the balcony, and it was some time before the 

 serenade could go on. Probably no public re- 

 ception in America ever was more enthusiastic 

 and remarkable. For weeks the excitement 

 was unabated. Her rooms were thronged by 

 visitors, including the magnates of church and 

 state. Presents of all sorts were showered 

 upon her. Milliners, mantua-makers, shop- 

 keepers, and manufacturers, advertised "Jenny 

 Lind " bonnets, riding-habits, gloves, shoes, 

 shawls, robes, mantillas, chairs, sofas, pianos 

 in fact, everything was "Jenny Lind." 



The tickets for the first concert in Castle 

 Garden were sold at auction for $17,864. The 

 first seat was bid off for $225; the first 1,000 

 seats averaired $10 each, some selling for $25, 

 $40, and $50 each. When I told Jenny Lind 

 what the proceeds for her first concert would 

 be, she seemed horror-struck : " Why, Mr. Bar- 

 num," she exclaimed, "this is wicked! the 



