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JENNY  LIND,-THE   AETIST. 


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MEMOIR 


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MADAME  JENNY  LIND-GOLDSCHMIDT: 

HER  EARLY  ART-LIFE  AND  DRAMATIC  CAREER, 

1820-1851. 

FROM  ORIGINAL   DOCUMENTS,   LETTERS,   MS.  DIARIES,   Ac, 
COLLECTED  BY  MR.  OTTO  GOLDSCHMIDT. 


HENRY   SCOTT   HOLLAND,  M.A., 

CANON   AND   PRECENTOR  OF   ST.    PAUL'S, 
AND 

W.    S.    R0CK8TRO, 

AVTHOK  OF    "A  GENERAL  HISTORY  OF   Sll'StC,"   "LIFE  OF   HANDEL,"   "LIFE  OF  MENDELSSOHN,"    ETC. 


IN  TWO  VOLUMES.— Vol.  I. 


WITH  PORTRAITS   AKD    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


LONDON:  NEW    YOKK: 

JOHN    M  UK  RAY,  CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS, 

ALBEMARLE  STREET.  745,   BROADWAY. 

1891. 


ML 
Li 
Mfo 


V. 


I 


LONDON: 
PRINTED  BY   WILLIAM  CLOWES  AND  SONS,  Limited, 

STAMFORD  STREET   AND  CHARING  CROSS. 


metricateti 

BY    GRACIOUS    PERMISSION 


TO 


HER   MAJESTY 

THE    QUEEN. 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS   (VOL.   I.) 


Portrait,  after  Magnus 

Croelius,  Jenny  Lind's  first  music  master 

Facsimile  letter  .... 

Stockholm     ..... 

Early  Portrait    .... 

The  Wtchmann  Eoom,  at  Berlin  . 

Facsimile  page  of  Engagement  Book. 


Frontispiece. 

P'ige  2 1 

„      36,  37 

To  face  page  65 

85 

301 

428 


I 


(      ix      ) 


P  R  E  F  A  C  E. 


The  following  memoir  tells  its  own  tale,  and  requires  no 
further  explanation.  The  justification  that  we  offer  for  the 
date  at  which  it  closes  is  given  in  the  body  of  the  book. 
Nothing  therefore  remains  for  the  Preface  to  deal  with 
beyond  a  few  matters,  chiefly  personal,  upon  which  it  may  be 
well  to  say  a  word. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  title-page  that  the  whole  of  the 
materials  used  in  these  two  volumes  have  been  procured,  and 
sifted,  and  sanctioned  by  the  one  who  alone  could  act  with 
complete,  intimate,  and  legitimate  authority.  Everything 
possible  has  been  done  under  this  competent  and  exact 
scrutiny  to  secure  that  the  memoir  should  be  trustworthy 
and  authentic  ;  and,  for  further  warrant,  the  sources  whence 
the  materials  have  been  drawn  have  been  continually  recorded 
in  the  Notes. 

For  the  use  made  of  the  materials  thus  industriously 
collected,  the  two  authors  are  solely  responsible ;  and  this 
general  responsibility  they  have  shared  in  common,  so  far 
as  wns  practicable.  But,  within  that  common  responsibility, 
each  has  undertaken  separate  sections  of  the  work,  so  that 
to  the  one  has  fallen  the  story  of  Madame  Goldschmidt's 
life  so  far  as  it  belonged  to  Sweden,  together  with  that  part 
of  it  which  followed  her  farewell  to  the  stage :  while  the 
other  has  taken  in  hand  the  whole  of  her  dramatic  and 
musical  career  in  its  European  development. 


X  PREFACE. 

A  divided  authorsliip  must,  perforce,  lessen  the  effect 
which  follows  on  perfect  unity  in  ideal  and  in  expression  ; 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  a  personality  such  as  hers,  which  was 
as  unique  in  moral  character  as  it  was  rare  in  artistic  quality, 
lends  itself  to  double  treatment.  Even  if  such  a  treat- 
ment involve  some  repetitions,  the  completeness  of  the 
impression  may  nevertheless  gain  thereby. 

It  only  remains  to  thank  those  who  have  more  especially 
contributed  to  the  material  placed  at  our  disposal.  Such 
thanks  we  do,  indeed,  express  in  the  pages  of  the  book  itself 
to  all  who  have  so  helped  us ;  but  some  there  are  without 
whose  aid  it  would  have  been  simply  impossible  to  make  the 
book  what  it  is ;  and  to  these  we  desire  to  pledge  our  peculiar 
gratitude. 

i'irst  of  all  we  would  do  so  for  the  privilege  of  the 
Dedication  so  graciously  accorded  to  us,  which  is,  moreover, 
beyond  its  own  direct  favour,  a  witness  to  the  personal  and 
immediate  interest  taken  in  the  work  by  Her  Majesty  the 
Queen. 

Then  we  would  offer  our  heartiest  thanks  to  Her  Majesty 
Queen  Marie  of  Hanover  for  the  vivid  reminiscences  which 
she  so  freely  and  willingly  contributed  out  of  her  private 
records. 

We  beg  leave  to  thank  His  Majesty  the  King  of  Sweden 
and  Norway  for  the  use  of  his  father's — King  Oscar  I. — 
autograj)h  letter.  And  we  thank,  for  the  use  of  autograph 
letters  and  papers  that  were  invaluable — 

In  Germany. 

Herr  Eudolph  Wichmann  (member  of  the  German  Eeichs- 

tagj. 
The  family  of  the  late  Felix  Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. 
Frau  von  Hillern, 


PREFACE.  XI 

Herr  Kammersaenger  Joseph  Hauser, 
Herr  Dr.  Eclouard  Brockhaiis, 
Frail  "VV.  von  Kaiilbach,  and 
Fraulein  Auguste  von  Jaeger,  at  Vienna. 

In  Sivedcn. 

Judge  Carl  H.  Munthe, 

Count  A.  L.  Hamilton, 

Herr  Krigsrad  C.  L.  Forsberg, 

Madame  Anna  Hierta-Eetziiis,  and 

Count  G.  Lewenliaupt  (of  the  Swedish  Embassy  at  Paris). 

In  England 

Mrs.  Vaughan, 

The  Lady  Eose  Weigall, 

Mr.  Augustus  Hare, 

Mrs.  Salis  Schwabe,  and 

The  Baroness  French,  of  Florence. 

Nor   can   we    fail   to    name   in   the   list   of  our    special 
benefactors — ■ 

Miss  Jessie  Lewin,  the  late  INIrs.  Crete's  literary  executrix  ; 

Madame  Schumann,  who  wrote  out  for  us  with  ready 
'  affection  her  remembrances  of  old  days ; 

Mrs.  C.  T.  Simpson,  for  the  MS.  record  by  her  father, 
Mr.  Nassau  Senior,  by  the  aid  of  which  it  was  pos- 
sible to  track  our  way  through  an  anxious  episode 
in  the  spring  of  1849  ; 

Madame  Wetterberg  {nee  von  Platen),  who  with  permission 
of  Baron  Ugglas,  the  owner  of  Froken  von  Stedingk's 
MS.  Diary,  furnished  us  with  the  valuable  extracts 
from  her  aunt's  journal ; 


XI 1  PREFACE. 


Miss  Olivia  Frigelius,  of  Stockholm,  for  her  excellent 
aid  in  reviewing  and  correcting  the  details  of  our 
Swedish  narrative ; 

Fru  Celsing  (Louise  Johansson),  for  autograph  letters  and 
valuable  information. 

And,  in  thanking  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Grandinson  for  the  use  of 
the  precious  Lindblad  letters,  we  cannot  but  express  our 
gratitude  to  him  also  for  the  pains,  zeal,  and  accuracy  with 
which  he  worked  on  our  behalf  to  make  the  account  of  the 
life  in  Stockholm  true  and  full. 

H.  S.  HOLLAND. 

W.  S.  EOCKSTRO. 

March,  1891. 


(     xiii     ) 


CONTENTS     OF     VOL.    L 


BOOK  I— ANTICIPATION. 

CHAPTER  I. 
Introduction        . page    1 

CHAPTER  II. 

CHILDHOOD. 

Birth  of  Jenny  Lind — Her  parents — The  child  entrusted  to  Carl  Ferndal 
at  Sollentuna — Her  love  of  the  country — Return  to  Stockholm — Fru 
Tengmark,  her  grandmother — First  discovery  of  musical  gifts — The 
Fanfare — Jenny  at  the  Widows'  Home — Mdlle.  Lundberg  hears  her 
sing — Introduction  to  Herr  Croelius — Jenny  transferred  to  the  School 
of  the  Royal  Theatre       ....  .         .        page    11 

CHAPTER  III. 

PUPILAGE. 

The  Royal  Theatre,  Stockholm — Jenny's  life  at  school — Is  boarded  with 
her  mother — Contract  with  the  Directors — The  training  of  an  Aktris- 
^Igy — Jenny's  general  education — Difficulties  with  her  mother — 
Friendship  with  Mina  Fundin — Takes  refuge  with  Mdlle.  Bayard — 
Jenny's  letter  to  Fru  Fundin page    23 

CHAPTER  IV, 

CAREER. 

Jenny's  dramatic  power — Her  first  appearance  as  "  Angela"  in  The  Polish 

]\/[ifie Acts  "Johanna"  in  Testamentet — Criticism  in  the  Heimdall — 

Extract  from  the  play — "  Otto"  in  Johanna  de  Montfaucon — "  Janette" 
in  the  Fasha  of  Suresne — "  Louise"  in  the  Students  of  Smdland,  etc. — 
TJie  Daily  Allehanda  protests  against  its  performance — Other  parts — 


xiv  CONTENTS   OF   VOL.   L 

Sings  at  concerts  —  Herr  Berg  and  his  pupil  —  Liudblad's  opera 
Frondorerne — Sacchini's  CEdipus  in  Athens — Keceives  a  salary  from 
the  K.  Theatre — Appearance  in  1837 — Hard  work — Else  of  IMeyerbeer 
— Bohert  de  Normandie — Jenny  Lind's  success      .         .         xxir/e     40 

CHAPTER  Y. 

DISCOVERY. 

The  mtanent  of  inspiration  — "  Agatha  " —  "  Julia  "  —  Rise  in  salary — ■ 
"Alice"  in  Boberto — Upsala — Escort  home  and  Students'  song — 
Country  life — Popular  enthusiasm — Fru  Lind — Louise  Johanssor: — 
Jennj'  Lind's  removal  to  Herr  Lindblad's — Operatic  successes — Pre- 
sentation— The  judgment  of  Sweden  ....         x>a(je    55 

CHAPTER  YL 

CHAEACTER. 

Soiree  at  Stockholm — Moral  independence — "A  unique  apparition" — 
Personal  appearance — A  transparent  countenance — An  original  panel 
— Height — A  typical  Swede — Undertone  of  melancholy — Friendship 
— Influence  of  Lindblad — Geijer's  songs       .         .  .        ^xi^e     71 

CHAPTER  Vn. 

PILGRIMAGE. 

Appointed  Court  Singer — Unsatisfied  longings — Offer  from  the  Royal 
Theatre  —  Refusal  —  Parisian  scheme  — Provincial  tour  accompanied 
by  her  father— Charity— Stockholm— "  Lucia  "—"Alice  "—"  Norma  " 
— Overstrain — Salary — Farewell  ....         page    92 


BOOK  II.— ASPIEATIOK 
CHAPTER  I. 

IN   PARIS,   184L 

On  the  way — Arrival  in  Paris — First  introduction — Nervousness — Garcia's 
first  impressions — Jenny  Lind's  anguish — Rest    .         .        page    105 

CHAPTER  IL 

THE   MAESTRO   DI   CANTO. 

Linguistic  studies — Street  cries — End  of  probation — Garcia's  lessons — 
Scales  and  exercises — What  to  unlearn — The  worst  over — ^Musical 
intuition        ........        x^ge    112 


CONTENTS    OF   VOL.   I.  XV 

CHAPTER  in. 

THE  STUDENT. 

Home  at  Mdlle.  du  Puget's — Home  thoughts — Mdlle.  Nissen's  influence — 
Madame  Persian! — Eacliel — Dramatic  inspiration — Despondency — A 
merciful  escape      .......         page     119 

CHAPTER  IV. 

WITHIN   SIGHT   OF    THE    GOAL. 

Recovery  of  voice  with  enhanced  powers — Technical  skill — Gadenze — 
Breathing — The  Artist  complete        ....         p(fge     128 

CHAPTER  V. 

UNDER   WHICH   KING  ? 

Dislike  to  Parisian  artist-life — Reasons  for  visit  to  Paris  and  return  to 
Stockholm — Longings  for  home        ....        page     134 

CHAPTER  VI. 

THE   RETURN. 

Offers  from  Stockholm — Engagement  concluded— Lindblad's  opinion — 
Interview  with  Meyerbeer — Trial  at  the  Grand  Opera — Meyerbeer's 
judgment — M.  Pillet's  defence — The  second  phase  ended      page    141 


BOOK  III.— ACHIEVEMENT. 
CHAPTER  I. 

HOME  :     AND   AFTER  ? 

The  Continent  passive — Residence  at  Stockholm — Invitation  to  Louise 
Johansson  —  Opening  in  Norma  —  The  messa  di  voce — Stockholm 
enraptured — New  characters — Swedish  laws  as  to  unmarried  women — 
Jenny  Lind  and  her  parents — Appointment  of  an  official  guardian — 
Description  of  Herr  H.  M.  Munthe — "The  mirror  of  a  noble  soiil" — 
National  Jubilee — A  May-day  in  Warend — The  poet  Topelius — Aid 
to  Josephson — Success  at  Copenhagen — Touching  anecdote— Lind- 
bkid's  songs — New  parts — Gkick's  Armida — Opinion  of  Andersen's 
Tales — Proposals  from  Meyerbeer      ....         p^ige     155 


XVI  CONTENTS   OF   VOL.   I. 

BOOK  IV.— MASTEEY. 

CHAPTER  I. 

IS   DRESDEN. 

Study  of  German — Joseplison's  welcome — A  soiree  at  Dresden — Renewed 
offer  at  Stockholm — Jenny  Lind's  refusal — A  momentous  journey 

page     185 

CHAPTER  II. 

AT    THE    COURT   OF   BERLIN. 

Predecessors  of  Jenny  Lind — Suspense — Meyerbeer's  attentions — Cour- 
tesy of  the  Royal  Family — Success  in  Society — Impression  on  Lady 
Westmorland — Transfiguration— Indifference  to  dress — First  meeting 
with  Mendelssohn  .......         page     19i 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE   NEW   OPERA   HOUSE. 

Das  Feldlager  in  Sclilesien — Friiulein  Tuczec  as  '\lelka      .         page    202 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    DEBUT. 

Norma  —  Success  —  Contrasts  —  Rellstab's  critique  —  Visit  from  Herr 
Josephson — A  Swedish  Christmas  Eve        .  .  .        page    211 

CHAPTER  V. 

DAS    FELDLAGER   IN    SCHLESIEN. 

German  studies  resumed— Rapid  progress — Meyerbeer  enchanted — The 
public  astonished — The  critic's  summai-y — Invitation  to  London — At 
Tieck's — Serenade  and  presentation  ....        i^ar/e     218 

CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    BUNN    CONTRACT. 

Mr.  Bunn's  Career— Journey  to  Berlin— Hears  Jenny  Lind— Proposals — 
Contract  signed— Terms— The  Ambassador's  Box  at  the  Opera— Salary 
ofMalibran j.age    228 


CONTENTS   OF   VOL.   I.  XVll 

CHAPTER  VII. 

HOMAGE   To   WEBER   (eURYANTHE). 

Weber's  death — His  burial — Jenny  Lind  and  Euryanthe — Der  Freischiitz 
and  Euryanthe — Jenny  Lind's  interpretation  of  Euryanthe — Critique 
— The  apparition  of  Emma — La  Sonnambula — Critique  —  Sudden 
indisposition  and  letter  to  Bunn — Diffidence  of  Jenny  Lind — Bunn's 
insistence — False  reports — Last  appearance — Norma — Critique 

page    237 

CHAPTER  Vin. 

IN   THE   CONCERT   ROOM. 

Soiree  by  the  brothers  Ganz — Facility  and  expression — Com-t  Concerts — 
Farewell — Swedish  songs — At  Professor  Wiclimann's — Unrest 

page    253 

CHAPTER  IX. 

AT   HOME   ONCE   3I0RE. 

The  homeward  journey — The  Bunn  shadow — Guest  performances  at  Ham- 
burg— Joy  of  return — Delight  of  her  people — A  welcome — Eighteen 
performances — "Fiorilla"  in  II  Tiirco  in  Italia — Die  Tochter  des 
Regiments  for  soldiers — A  concert — Country  life — Summons  to  the 
Court  of  Prussia      .......         P<^gs    259 

CHAPTER  X. 

IN    PRESENCE   OF   THE   QUEEN. 

Her  Majesty's  reception  by  the  King  and  Queen  of  Prussia — Inauguration 
of  the  statue  of  Beethoven  at  Bonn — Extract  from  Herr  Brockhaus' 
diary — Jenny  Lind  sings  at  the  State  Concerts — Mrs,  Grote's  account 
of  a  State  Concert — A  sorrow — Meeting  with  Mr,  and  Mrs.  Grote  at 
Frankfort — Mrs.  Grote  offers  to  intercede  with  Bunn — Jenny's  wish  to 
retire  and  her  reasons — A  London  journalist's  opinion  of  Jenny  Lind's 
personal  appearance  and  voice — Proposals  for  Vienna    .         page    268 

CHAPTER  XI. 

WITH   THE    DANES. 

Critique  by  a  grave  Art  historian — Letter  to  Madame  Birch-Pfeifler — 
Impressions  of  Copenhagen — The  Mind-World  of  the  North — Poems 
by  CEhlenschlager  and  Andersen       ....        poAje    278 

h 


XViii  CONTENTS   OF   VOL.   I. 

CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  BUNN  CONTRACT — continued. 

The  London  engagement— Letter  to  Bunn  and  his  reply— Mrs.  Grote's 
withdrawal  —  Unfounded  reports  —  Needless  anxiety  from  inex- 
perience          •      .        2'«.'/e     290 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE   RETURN   TO   BERLIN   (^Doil  Juun). 

True  friends — Happy  evenings — A  brilliant  season — "Donna  Anna" — 
Mozart's  Don  Giovanni — Finale  to  11  Don  Giovanni — Hoffmann's 
Fhantasiestiicke — Rellstab's  critique  upon  Jenny  Lind  as  "  Donna  Anna  " 

page     299 

CHAPTER   XIV. 

DEB  FREISCHUTZ. 

First  production — The  Berlinische  Zeitung -Q-pon  Jenny  Lind's  impersona- 
tion of  "  Agathe  "—The  discovery  of  March  7th— The  opera  of  Nature 

2Mge    310 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Mfi^av  8e  TovTcciv  Tj  ayarrrj. 

Jenny  Lind's  devotion  to  Art — Self-depreciation  —  Artistic  position 
reviewed  by  Jenny  Lind  in  letter  to  Madame  Erikson — Desire  for  re- 
tirement— Account  of  appearances  at  Berlin— Appreciation  of  a  good 
accompaniment — Later  praise  of  Herr  Goldschmidt  on  American  tour 

page     315 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

AT  THE   GEWANDHAUS. 

Jenny  Lind's  opinion  of  Mendelssohn — Reflex  action — ^Mendelssohn  con- 
ducting at  Berlin — The  two  great  Artists  at  Leipzig — Great  popular 
excitement — Free  list  suspended — Indignation  of  the  Students  of  the 
Conservatorium — Rush  for  tickets — Duet  by  Jenny  Lind  and  Miss 
Dolby  —  Herr  Heinrich  Brockhaus'  diary — The  note-book  of  Herr 
Edouard  Brockhaus — Serenade  and  presentation — Mendelssohn  returns 
thanks  for  Jenny  Lind      .....  page     323 

CHAPTER  XVIL 

DIE   VESTALIN. 

Madame  Wichmann's  salon — "  Julia  "  in  Die  Vestalin — Libretto  revised 
by  Jenny  Lind  and  Madame  Birch-Pfeiffer — Rellstab's  glowing  panegyric 
on  the  performance— Jenny  Lind's  unerring  dramatic  instinct  page     335 


CONTENTS   OF   VOL.   I.  XIX 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

AT    WEIMAR. 

Children  of  the  North  at  Berlin  on  Christmas  Eve— An  alfresco  toilette— 
An  enthusiastic  admirer — Andersen  and  Jenny  Lind  at  Weimar — 
Visit  to  the  Fiirstengruft— Verses  by  KoUet— Visit  to  the  Mendels- 
sohn family  at  Leipzig— Ke-appearance  at  Berlin  in  Das  Feldlager  in 
Schlesien P^^O^    345 

CHAPTER  XIX, 

LES   HUGUENOTS. 

Meyerbeer's  punctilious  regard  for  perfection  of  detail — Personnel  of  the 
cast  in  Les  Huguenots — Rellstab's  criticism  on  Jenny  Lind's  "  Valen- 
tine"  y«6'e     352 

CHAPTER  XX. 

AUK    WIEDERSEHEN  ! 

An  unfortunate  accident — General  sympathy — Mendelssohn's  letter — 
Allusions  to  the  Elijah — Tliree  weeks'  imprisonment  —  Medallion 
portrait  modelled  by  Professor  Wichmann — Portrait  by  Magnus — Re- 
appearance of  Jenny  Lind  in  Norma — -Benefit  recorded  by  Rellstab — 
Detailed  list  of  appearances  during  the  two  Berlin  seasons    page     358 


BOOK  v.— PEOGRESS. 
CHAPTER  I. 

AT  THE  GEWANDHAUS  ONCE  MORE. 


Visit  to  the  Brockhaus  family — Mendelssohn's  home-life— Home-life  of 
Professor  Wichmann  —  Herr  Ferdinand  David  —  Mendelssohn  as  an 
accompanist — Madame  Schumann      ....        page    371 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE   DEBUT   AT   VIENNA. 

Residence— Madame  Birch-Pfeiffer's  delineation  of  Jenny  Lind's  character 
—Mendelssohn's  letter  to  Herr  Franz  Hauser— The  "  Theater  an  der 
Wien"  and  its  history — Die  Zauherflote— Norma— Timidity  of  Jenny 
Lind— Herr  Hauser's  reassurance— Success— Press  notice  of  Jenny 
Lind's  appearance  .  .  .....         page    378 


XX  CONTENTS   OF   VOL.   I. 

CHAPTER  III. 

CORRESPONDENCE   WITH   MENDELSSOHN. 

Strong  party  against  Jenny  Liud — Successful  appearance  in  La   Son-  ■ 

namhula — Countless  calls  before  the  curtain — Scheme  for  a  libretto 
for  Mendelssohn  by  Madame  Birch-Pfeiffer — Difficulties — Bie  Welfen 
und  Ohibellinen — A  wi-eath  from  the  Empress-Mother — An  ovation — 
Accident  to  the  man-servant  Gbrgel  ....         iJa^/e     386 

CHAPTER  IV. 

CORRESPONDENCE   WITH   MENDELSSOHN — Continued. 

Mendelssohn  engaged  on  the  Elijah — Hauser's  estimate  of  Jenny  Lind — 
Verses  by  Grill  parzer       .  .  .  .  .  .         faye    401 

CHAPTER  V. 

THE    LOWER    RHIN?:    MUSICAL    FESTIVAL. 

The  Rhenish  Festivals— "St.  Paul"  in  1836— The  present  festival  atAix- 
la-Chapelle — Consideration  for  an  invalid  servant — Haydn's  Creation 
— The  Jenny  Lind  Fest — Letters  from  Mendelssohn  and  others 
— Departure  from  Aachen — Elijah  on  the  eve  of  production 

pacje     407 

CHAPTER  VI. 

IN   VIA     REQUIES. 

The  Drachenfels — Appearances  at  Hanover — Friendship  with  the  Royal 
Family — Second  season  at  Hamburg — Press  attacks  upon  Jenny  Lind 
— Overstrain — Project  for  holiday  in  Switzerland — Elijah  stiU  un- 
finished— Swiss  plan  abandoned — Cuxhaven  substituted       p(t,ge    417 

CHAPTER  VII. 

CONTRACT   WITH   MR.   LUMLEY. 

*'■  Annotations-bok  "  of  Jenny  Lind — Visit  to  Frankfort — Mrs.  Grote  and 
Mr.  Lumley — The  Bunn  Contract — EngUsh  influences — Mr.  Edward 
Lewin — Mr.  Lumley's  efforts — Mendelssohn's  introduction  of  Chorley 
— IMendeissohn's  appreciation  of  the  English  character — Chorley's  im- 
pressions of  Jenny  Lind — Darmstadt — Lumley's  trust  in  Mendelssohn's 
influence — Engagement  with  Lumley  signed — Fresh  endeavours  to 
obtain  a  libretto — The  Lumley  Contract    .         .         .        page    426 


BOOK  I. 


^  ANTICIPATION, 


VOL.  I. 


JENNY  LIND,-THE  ARTIST. 


CHAPTEE    I. 

INTEODUCTIOX. 

Jenny  Lind — the  name  carries  music  with  it  to  English  ears. 
The  memory  is  very  tender  and  fragrant  of  her  who,  to  our 
joy,  found,  for  so  long,  a  home  among  us.  And  yet  it  may 
well  be  questioned  whether  we  English  have  even  yet  formed 
an  adequate  estimate  of  her  gifts  and  character. 

For  what  is  it  which  we  have  in  our  minds  as  we  recall 
her  name  ?  It  is,  first,  some  tale  of  the  wonderful  days  when 
all  London  went  mad  over  her  singing.  We  have  heard 
people  tell,  as  their  eyes  kindle  with  the  old  passionate 
delight,  how  she  came  tripping  over  the  stage  in  the  Figlia, 
and  how  the  liquid  notes  came  rippling  off  her  lips.  "We 
hear  of  the  hours  they  waited  in  the  historic  crush  at  the 
Opera  in  the  Haymarket ;  of  the  feverish  energy  with  which 
they  toiled  to  catch  one  glimpse  of  her  passing.  We 
remember,  with  a  smile,  some  picture  in  an  old  copy  ot 
Punch,  or  the  Elustrated  London  Neios,  of  scenes  in  the  Opera 
passages  on  a  Jenny  Lind  night. 

And  then  we  add  to  tliis  memory  of  that  surpassing 
triumph,  the  thought  of  one  whose  purity  and  simplicity 
won  all  hearts  to  love  the  girl  who,  in  the  hour  of  her  over- 
whelming success,  remembered  others  rather  than  herself, 
and   poured   out   her  money  in  charities,  and  devoted  her 

B  2 


4  JENNY  LIND.  [book  i, 

marvellous  gifts  to  the   relief  of  poverty  and  the   healing 
of  pain. 

That  is  our  English  picture,  and  it  is  good  and  pleasant 
enough ;  and  it  is  quite  true,  so  far  as  it  goes.  But  it  is 
strangely  imperfect  and  fragmentary.  It  assumes  that  her 
operatic  career  is  to  be  identified  with  the  brief  passage  of 
those  London  seasons,  and  that  her  fame  is  a  private 
possession  of  our  own  here  in  England,  where  she  lived  and 
died.  There  prevails  no  general  conception  that  the  English 
visits  were  but  the  latter  episodes  of  a  long  dramatic  ex- 
perience— an  experience  which  had  begun,  with  extraordinary 
promise,  before  she  had  passed  out  of  her  childhood,  and 
which  had  already  won  to  her  the  same  enthusiasm  which 
greeted  her  in  England,  not  only  in  her  own  Swedish  home 
and  in  the  kindred  capital,  Copenhagen,  but  in  the  great 
musical  centres  of  Germany — Berlin,  the  Ehine,  Leipzig, 
Munich,  and  Vienna. 

Nor  was  it  only  the  enthusiasm  of  the  general  public  for 
a  most  beautiful  voice,  which  had  been  already  given  her ; 
but  it  was  the  authoritative  cliiefs  of  the  musical  art  who  had 
signalised  in  her  the  arrival  not  only  of  an  exquisite  singer, 
but  of  a  supreme  and  unique  artist.  The  admiration  for 
Jenny  Lind  was  not  a  mere  popular  fever,  such  as  has  now 
and  again  followed  the  steps  of  some  favourite  of  the  Opera. 
Its  peculiar  force  lay  in  this — that  it  held  enthralled  the 
highest  and  best  minds  in  Europe.  It  was  the  men  of  genius 
who  recognised  in  her  something  akin  to  themselves.  In  her 
native  land  it  had  been  those  who  dominated  in  the  musical 
and  literary  world  who  were  drawn  to  sing,  and  write,  and  talk 
of  her — Geijer,  historian  and  poet ;  Lindblad,  the  "  Schubert 
of  Sweden  "  ;  Bishop  Thomander,  Fredrilva  Bremer,  Topelius. 
At  Copenhagen  it  is  the  chief  artists  and  poets,  and  writers 
and  sculptors  of  the  day  who  are  profoundly  sensitive  to  her 
influence — Jensen,   Hans   Andersen,  Thorwaldsen,  Melbye, 


CHAP.  I.]  INTRODUCTION.  5 

CEhlenschlager.  In  Berlin  it  is  Meyerbeer,  who  can  talk  of 
nothing  else  but  this  marvellous  Swedish  girl.  In  London  it 
is  Moscheles,  who  writes,  "  What  shall  I  say  of  Jenny  Lind  \ 
It  is  impossible  to  find  words  adequate  to  describe  the 
impression  she  has  produced.  This  is  no  short-lived  fit  of 
public  enthusiasm.  So  much  modesty  and  so  much  great- 
ness united  are  seldom,  if  ever,  to  be  met  with."  It  is 
Thalberg,  Taubert,  Schumann,  who  welcome  her  into  the 
elect  company  of  the  masters,  "  who  know."  It  is  Tieck  and 
Kaulbach  at  Berlin,  it  is  Grillparzer  at  Vienna,  who  are  her 
friends  and  her  hosts.  And,  finally,  it  is  Mendelssohn 
himself,  who,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  letters  that  follow,  is 
fascinated  by  her  personality,  and  feels  all  his  gifts  roused 
in  him  to  compose  something  worthy  of  her,  and  is  eager  and 
on  fire  to  put  out  all  his  power  in  an  opera  which  she  may 
sing,  and  bends  before  her  judgment  as  to  his  own  place  and 
career,  and  debghts  to  share  with  her  the  deepest  motives 
and  convictions  with  which  he  sets  to  work  at  the  Elijah. 
Does  not  our  picture  of  the  Haymarket  crush  rather  fade  into 
insignificance  as  a  standard  of  Jenny  Lind's  position  as  an 
artist  when  we  recall  the  high  notes  of  the  soprano  in  the 
Elijah,  giving  out  the  cry  of  Seraphim  to  Seraphim,  "Holy, 
holy,  holy.  Lord  God  of  Sabaoth,"  and  remember  that  it  was 
with  her  image  before  him  that  Mendelssohn  wrote  that 
music — that  it  was  to  catch  the  peculiar  beauty  which  he 
loved  in  her  voice  that  the  high  F  sharps  ring  out  so 
appealingly  in  the  "  Hear  ye,  Israel "  ?  And  have  we  at  all 
realised  that  she  was  one  of  whom  he  could  say,  "  She  is 
as  great  an  artist  as  ever  lived ;  and  the  greatest  I  have 
known " ?  * 

The  question  that  we  have  put  was  one  which  her  visible 

*  Kecorded  by  Mrs.  Grote,  in  her  Note-book,  as  said  to  her  by  Mendek- 
sobn  in  1846.  Cf.  Mendelssohn's  words  to  Haus  Andersen,  at  p.  288  of 
this  volume. 


0  JENNY  LIND,  [book  i. 

presence  would  at  once  suggest.  Surely  those  who  first  saw 
her  in  much  later  life  must  have  instinctively  felt  a  jar 
between  the  popular  ideal  and  the  realisation ;  not  that  she 
was  less  than  their  expectation,  but  that  -she  was  so  much 
more  than  the  general  report  tended  to  convey.  They  had 
come  to  be  introduced  to  her,  murmuring  perhaps  to  them- 
selves some  air  from  the  Sonnambida,  or  the  Figlia, 
with  which  her  early  fame  was  associated ;  but  the  air  was 
forgotten  when  they  found  themselves  in  her  presence ;  that 
strong  and  solemn  face,  with  its  deep  lines  and  grey  pathetic 
eyes,  with  its  grave  dignity,  with  its  serious  exaltation — 
what  had  this  face  in  common  with  an  Opera  of  Donizetti  ? 
(Jharm,  animation,  lightness,  grace — these,  no  doubt,  she  had 
at  command,  and  she  could  brim  over  with  gaiety  and 
humour ;  but  not  in  these  lay  the  impression  she  produced — 
not  here  was  the  dominant  note  struck.  Eather  one  felt 
oneself  to  be  facing  a  character  of  emphatic  force  and  vigorous 
outlines — a  character  that  it  was  difficult  to  imagine  curbed 
within  the  conventional  artificialities  of  the  Italian  drama. 
It  had  far  more  of  the  impressive  pose  of  a  powerful 
tragedienne.  Even  the  name  of  "  Jenny  Lind  "  seemed  to  be 
inadequate  to  the  occasion.  It  is  a  name  wliich  English  lips 
caress  with  affection,  having  in  it  the  sense  and  sound  of 
some  homely  and  endearing  diminutive.  But  here,  one  felt, 
was  something  more  than  affectionate  diminutives  could 
express  ;  something  more  than  a  delicious  singer ;  something 
more,  even,  than  the  pure  and  simple  and  beneficent  woman. 
All  this  there  certainly  was,  but  with  it  and  above  it  was 
that  which  startles  and  quells  and  even  alarms — something 
of  a  rare  and  majestic  type,  which  broke  through  the  ordinary 
layers  which  encrust  and  imprison  our  average  human  life ; 
a  character  solitary  and  distinct,  dowered  with  strange  in- 
tensity, retaining  its  free  original  spontaneity,  drawing  ever 
on  its  own  resources,  independent  and  somewhat  contemptuous 


CHAP.  I.]  INTRODUCTION.  7 

of  those  external  tests  and  standards  by  which  the  mass  of 
men  guide  their  hesitating  judgments.  Susceptible,  indeed, 
she  was,  as  an  artist  must  be,  to  outside  influence  and 
atmosphere,  but  her  individuality  had  not  succumbed,  or  lost 
its  sharp  and  unique  distinction  under  this  liability  to 
sensitive  impression;  it  had  never  yielded  to  the  grinding 
years.  It  retained,  obviously  and  undeniably,  the  rarity  and 
the  grandeur  of  genius ;  and  all  who  had  eyes  to  see  knew,  at 
a  glance,  that  here  before  them  was  a  pilgrim-soul,  aloof  and- 

uplifted, 

"  One  of  the  small  transfigured  band, 
Whom  the  world  cannot  tame." 

It  is  to  justify  this  high  estimate  of  her  powers  and  gifts 
that  this  book  is  written.  It  starts  from  the  level  of 
Mendelssohn's  judgment  of  her.  If,  indeed,  she  was  the 
greatest  musical  artist  that  he  had  ever  known,  it  is  well 
worth  while  to  ask  whence  her  capacities  took  their  rise,  what 
was  their  artistic  development,  what  are  the  special  notes 
and  features  which  were  most  characteristic  of  her  genius. 
The  very  existence  of  an  artist  who  responded  to  Mendels- 
sohn's Ideal,  is  bound  to  set  us  thinking.  What  was  the 
secret  of  her  sway  ?  In  what  was  she  emphatically  herself, 
individual  and  unique  ?  What  elements  of  power  and  skill 
did  she  owe  to  external  influences  ?  The  book  proposes  to- 
respond  to  such  questions  as  these ;  and,  with  this  end  in 
view,  after  lightly  tracing  the  records  of  her  birth  and  early 
infancy,  it  offers  a  sketch  of  her  dramatic  career  from  the 
year  1829-30,  when  she  first  passed  within  the  doors  of 
the  theatre,  to  the  year  1850-51,  when,  after  having  bade 
farewell  to  the  stage  for  ever,  she  signalised  her  new  position 
by  her  triumphant  passage  to  the  New  World  beyond  the 
Atlantic.  Within  those  full  twenty  years  she  was  a  Child  of 
the  Drama  in  an  intimate  and  peculiar  sense.  Within  that 
time  she  won  the  experience,  under  the  pressure  of  which  the 


8  JENNY  LIND.  [book  i. 

gifts  with  which  she  was  endowed  received  their  impress,  and 
moved  forward  to  their  perfection.  By  the  close  of  those 
years  she  had  gained  everything  that  gave  its  unique 
character  to  her  artistic  genius  ;  for,  not  only  had  she  proved 
her  complete  mastery  over  all  the  manifold  opportunities 
and  material  of  the  operatic  stage,  but  she  had  already,  in 
earlier  days,  by  her  singing  of  selections  from  the  Creation, 
and  the  Seasons,  and  more  especially  by  her  marvellous 
rendering  of  the  soprano  part  in  the  Elijah,  in  London,  on 
behalf  of  the  Mendelssohn  Scholarships,  on  December  15th, 
1848,  attested  her  supremacy  in  that  domain  of  art  which 
was  so  singularly  congenial  both  to  her  special  capacities  and 
to  her  spirited  temper,  and  through  which  she  was,  in  after 
years,  to  carry  such  a  high  message  to  her  hearers — the 
domain  of  sacred  Oratorio. 

Those  twenty  years,  then,  contain  the  secret  of  her  growth 
as  an  artist.  The  years  that  followed,  besides  the  splendid 
■opportunities  which  they  brought  her  of  exercising  the 
powers  which  were  already  matured,  added,  also,  to  this, 
much  which  matured  and  deepened  the  woman's  inward 
history — added  the  good  gifts  which  she  herself  had,  by  hard 
necessity,  most  pitifully  lacked  in  her  early  days — the  gifts 
of  tender  domestic  love,  of  watchful  devotion — the  back- 
ground of  warmth  and  confidence  which  belongs  to  home, 
and  husband,  and  children.  All  this  would,  for  herself, 
measured  by  her  own  balances,  be  of  priceless  worth  in  the 
estimation  of  her  life,  and  for  those  who  knew  and  loved 
her,  it  would  be  of  inexhaustible  interest.  But  it  is  the 
artistic  life,  alone,  of  an  artist,  over  which  the  world  has 
a  positive  and  undeniable  claim.  The  rest  is  a  matter  for 
private  judgment,  for  personal  consideration ;  it  may  be 
made  public  or  not,  according  to  the  decision  of  those  who 
have  full  right  over  it.  But  an  artist  is,  in  a  sense, 
jjublic  property  ;  his  or  her  art  makes  direct  appeal  to  public 


CHAP.  I.]  INTRODUCTION.  9 

judgment ;  it  offers  itself  as  a  public  endowment  to  the  world 
at   large.      Its   development,  its   movements,  its  story,  are 
public  facts.     And  it  is  due  to  mankind,  when  it  gives  to  an 
artist  a  generous  and  unstinted  welcome,  that  it  should  know 
the  peculiar   growth   and  training,  the  advantages  and  the 
perplexities,  the  hindrances  and  the  helps,  through  which 
that  gift,  which  was  at  last  so  triumphant,  won  its  slow  way 
forward  out  of  darkness  into  light.     Such  a  story  may  not  be 
without  profit,  if  it  aids  men  to  understand  how  better  to 
cherish  and  foster  those  germs  of  genius  which  are  to  be  found 
scattered  in  such  strange  freedom,  amid   conditions  which 
seem  least  calculated  to  rear  them  in  hardihood  and  grace. 
And,  certainly,  the  tale  of  Jenny  Lind  may  well  be  told  for 
the  sake  of  bearing  splendid  witness,  to  all  those  who  feel 
themselves  stirred  by  some   inherent  native  power,  of  the 
unconquerable  force  with  which  a  pure  and  strong  individu- 
ality, if  it  be  true  to  the  inner  light  and  loyal  to  the  outward 
call,  can  dominate  circumstances,  however  harsh  and  rude, 
and  can,  with  a  single  eye  on  the  far  goal  of  artistic  perfection, 
and  upheld  by  faith  in  God,  move  straight  to  its  aim  with  an 
unswerving  and  irresistible  security,  shaping  its  passage,  amid 
pitfalls  and  snares,  over  this  perilous  earth  with  a  motion  as 
free  and  sure  and  faithful  as  a  star  that  passes,  in  unhindered 
obedience,  over  the  steady  face  of  heaven. 

Nor  will  it  be  without  significant  interest  that  those  twenty 
years  begin  with  her  earliest  attachment  to  the  Eoyal 
Theatre  in  her  own  home-city  of  Stockholm,  and  end  with 
her  tribute-gifts,  made  out  of  her  wonderful  winnings,  as 
thank-offeriugs  to  that  theatre  and  home  to  which  her  heart 
had  so  often  and  so  tenderly  turned.  The  years  of  her  main 
artistic  growth  are  those  in  which,  whatever  her  successes 
elsewhere,  Swedish  influences  dominated  her  life.  It  was 
from  the  Swedish  stage  that  she  derived  all  her  dramatic 
training.     It  was  Swedish  literature,  Swedish  literary  men. 


10  JENNY  LIND.  [book  i. 

who  first  made  her  sensitive  to  the  high  motives  that  were  at 
work  within  her.  It  was  in  their  company,  under  their 
encouragement,  that  she  learned  the  truth  and  power  of  her 
own  spiritual  promptings.  It  was  to  carry  back  to  her 
beloved  Stockholm  the  rich  fruits  of  her  Parisian  discipline 
that  she  toiled  in  exile.  And  even  though,  as  an  artist 
could  not  but  do,  she  felt  her  spirit  expand  when  she  found 
herself  taken  into  the  full  sweep  of  the  musical  forces  at  a 
great  centre  like  Berlin,  still  her  Swedish  heart  beat  true  to 
the  old  home-country,  and  it  was  out  of  her  innermost  self 
that  she  bent  herself,  as  soon  as  the  currents  of  her  public 
triumph  carried  her  far  abroad,  to  the  sweet  task  of  securing 
for  Sweden,  out  of  the  gains  that  Europe  and  America  poured 
into  her  lap,  records  and  pledges  of  her  faithful  remembrance 
of  the  needs  and  necessities  of  her  own  people,  and  her 
fatherland. 


(  11  ) 


CHAPTEE  II. 

CHILDHOOD. 

"  A  Child  of  the  Drama  " — so  we  have  named  her — and  not 
without  reason ;  for  it  was  within  the  shelter  of  the  Eoyal 
Theatre  at  Stockholm  that  she  first  found  the  comfortable 
warmth  of  a  steady  and  a  tender  home,  in  which  her  child- 
heart,  with  its  intense  affections,  could  freely  and  candidly 
expand.  She  was  hardly  ten  years  old  when  she  came  under 
the  guardianship  of  the  Eoyal  Theatre ;  and  throughout 
those  nine  early  years,  she  was  a  forlorn  little  pilgrim,  often 
passed  about  through  the  hands  of  strangers,  and  pitifully 
deprived  of  that  deep  security  which  a  fixed  and  stable 
home-life  inbreeds  in  us  through  its  traditional  sanctities  and 
immemorial  kindnesses. 

Her  birth,  which  took  place  in  the  parish  of  St.  Clara,  in 
Stockholm,  on  October  6,  1820,  found  both  her  parents  some- 
what under  difficulties.  Her  father,  Niclas  Jonas  Lind,  son  of 
a  lace-manufacturer,  seems  to  have  been  able  to  do  little  or 
nothing  towards  providing  a  home  for  mother  and  child.  He 
was  very  young,  only  twenty-two  years  old  ;  he  had,  through 
lack  of  energy,  failed  to  continue  his  father's  business,  and 
at  this  time,  kept  the  ledgers  at  a  private  merchant's  house ; 
in  virtue  of  which  office  he  is  entered  as  "  Accountant "  in 
the  church  register  at  the  baptism  of  his  little  daughter, 
who  was  christened,  on  the  day  after  her  birth,  with  the 
name  "  Johanna  Maria." 

Such  a  post  would,  no  doubt,  bring  him  in  but  little ;  and 


12  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  ii. 

perhaps  he  was  not  very  likely  to  make  the  most  of  what  he 
got.  For  he  was  good-naturedly  weak  ;  much  given  to  music 
of  a  free  and  convivial  kind,  such  as  was  widely  popular  in 
Sweden  at  that  day,  when  the  influence  of  Bellman  was  at  its 
height.  This  brilliant  Anacreontic  genius,  whose  songs  are 
to  the  Swedes  what  those  of  Eobert  Burns  are  to  Scotchmen, 
though  he  had  himself  died  as  long  ago  as  1795,  had,  under  the 
o^egime  of  Gustavus  III.,  gained  a  sway  which  enthralled  the 
people  during  the  first  thirty  years  of  the  century.  His  songs 
were  sung  with  unbounded  enthusiasm  ;  great  popular  feasts 
were  held  in  his  honour.  Even  now,  we  understand,  on 
Bellman's  Day  in  July,  his  admirers  gather  to  pour  libations 
before  his  bust ;  and  still  a  Society  meets  every  month  to  sing 
his  songs.  In  1820  this  poetic  thraldom  was  in  full  posses- 
sion ;  and  Mr.  Lind  had  a  good  voice,  and  took  an  eager  part 
in  the  musical  festivities.  Such  a  life,  it  will  be  easily 
understood,  does  not  tend  to  foster  steadiness  or  thrift ;  and 
he  was  perfectly  unable  to  provide  mother  and  child  with 
either  lodging  or  board,  though  he  probably  contributed  to 
it  in  some  slender  way.  All  the  practical  management  had 
to  be  left  to  the  energy  and  determination  of  the  mother, 
who  was,  at  the  time,  making  her  own  way  through  the 
world  under  conditions  which  were  not  favourable  to  a  baby's 
entry  on  the  scene. 

She  w^as,  herself,  of  very  respectable  burgher-stock.  Her 
maiden  name  had  been  Anna  Maria  Fellborg ;  but  she  had 
been  first  married,  in  1810,  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  to  a 
Captain  Radberg.  Her  marriage  had  proved  very  unhappy, 
owing  to  the  bad  character  of  the  husband  ;  and  after  about 
eighteen  months  she  obtained  a  divorce  from  him  in  the  High 
Ecclesiastical  Court,  the  Court  assigning  to  her,  in  decisive 
recognition  of  her  husband's  misconduct,  the  custody  of  a 
little  daughter  who  had  been  born  to  them,  called  Amelia 
Maria  Constantia,  together  with  aliment  to  the  amount  of 


1820-30.]  CHILDHOOD.  13 

half  Eadberg's  income,  whatever  that  might  be.  She  was 
thus  thrown  upon  her  own  unaided  exertions ;  but  she  was  a 
woman  of  great  force  of  character,  well-educated  for  her  cir- 
cumstances, resolute  not  to  be  beaten.  She  got  along,  in  one 
way  or  another,  chiefly  by  means  of  education ;  and  in  1820, 
at  Jenny's  birth,  was  keeping  a  day-school  for  girls,  one  or 
two  of  whom  she  also  boarded ;  it  was  one  of  these  little 
boarders,  nine  years  older  than  Jenny,  who  became  after- 
wards so  helpful  to  her  as  companion  and  friend — Louise 
Johansson,  whose  name  will  frequently  recur  in  the  course  of 
our  story. 

A  baby  would  be,  no  doubt,  a  most  tiresome  inconvenience 
in  the  management  of  such  a  household  ;  and  so  her  mother 
seems  to  have  placed  the  child,  at  once,  under  the  care  of 
Carl  Terndal,  who  was  organist  and  parish  clerk  of  the  church 
at  Ed-Sollentuna,  some  fifteen  English  miles  out  of  Stockholm. 
She  was  tended  by  this  man  and  his  wdfe  for  about  three 
years,  her  mother  visiting  her,  it  seems,  at  intervals,  and 
spending  with  her  the  summer  of  1821.  Owing  to  some 
dispute  with  the  clerk,  she  took  Jenny  back  in  1824,  pro- 
bably in  the  early  part  of  the  year,  to  Stockholm ;  but  it  is 
possible  to  believe  that  those  early  years  in  Sollentuna  were 
not  without  some  influence  on  the  child's  character,  for  they 
seem  to  have  woke  up  in  her,  from  the  very  start,  that  innate 
and  instinctive  sense  of  the  country  which  was  so  noticeable 
in  her.  The  instinct  itself  is,  indeed,  native  to  the  Swedes, 
for  whom  "  the  country  "  is  a  passion ;  and  this  national 
characteristic  held,  in  her,  a  deep-rooted  dominion.  Some- 
how, one  felt,  in  her  company,  as  if  she  had  come  out  of  the 
country.  She  was  in  close  touch  with  all  that  belongs  to  a 
simple  peasantry.  She  knew  the  tones  of  its  songs  ;  and  the 
rhythm  of  its  dances  ;  its  simplicity,  its  charm,  its  pathos — all 
were  hers.  Something  of  its  native  depth  and  dignity  seemed 
to  have  passed  into  her.     She  ever  felt  herself  at  home  in 


14  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  ii. 

the  country  ;  slie  breathed  there  freely ;  she  revelled  in  its  wild 
flowers,  in  contrast  with  cultivated  garden-flowers  for  which 
she  had  little  love.  She  had  an  intense  delight  in  the  songs 
of  wild-birds,  with  whose  ways  and  habits  she  had  intimate 
acquaintance.  She  enjoyed,  especially,  the  expanse  of  wide 
waters.  She  delighted  to  be  at  large ;  she  hated  crowds,  and 
the  pressure  of  a  city,  and  the  unresting  stir  of  society.  She 
did  not  desire  the  constant  company  of  many  fellow-creatures ; 
the  town-instincts  did  not  draw  her.  Her  need  of  music 
mi<^dit  bring  her  to  live  there  where  she  could  best  satisfy  it ; 
but  her  heart  was,  naturally,  away  in  country-scenes,  where 
men  were  not  too  thick  and  near;  and  where  God  seems 
closer ;  and  where  the  soul  can  feed  its  own  high  thoughts, 
somewhat  aloof  and  alone,  unfretted  by  man's  insistent  noise. 
Yet,  after  these  first  four  years,  she  was  brought  up  alto- 
gether in  a  city,  winning  the  sight  of  the  country  only  in  her 
holidays.  Something,  surely,  sank  down  very  deep  into  the 
tiny  Ixaby,  as  she  toddled  in  and  out  of  the  clerk's  house,  in 
the  village  of  Sollentuna — something,  which  made  her  at 
home,  ever,  amid  trees  and  fields — and  something  which  was 
still  strong  in  her  to  the  end,  linking  the  first  days  in  the 
Swedish  village  to  those  last  hours  when  she  waited  for  her 
death,  hid  in  the  English  home,  where  she  had  made  for  her- 
self a  refuge  of  peace,  amid  the  sweet  solitude  of  the  Malvern 

hills. 

Back,  however,  to  Stockholm,  she  was  then  quickly 
broudit ;  and  there,  in  her  home,  she,  most  likely,  found  a 
new  arrival  in  the  person  of  Fru  Tengmark,  her  grandmother 
on  her  mother's  side,  now  in  her  second  widowhood,  who  had, 
liitherto,  lived  with  one  of  her  daughters,  Fru  Perman,  at 
Ostersund,  in  the  north  of  Sweden,  but  who  had  now  come 
to  press  her  claim  for  admittance  into  a  certain  Home  for 
the  Widows  of  Stockholm  burghers,  an  established  and 
endowed    institution    of    some    importance   in   Stockholm. 


1820-30.]  CHILDHOOD.  15 

Already,  in  1822,  the  old  lady  had  put  in  her  plea  that  she 
was  unable,  at  an  age  which  made  employment  impossible, 
to  save  herself,  by  her  own  efforts,  from  need ;  but  it  was 
not  until  19th  August,  1824,  that  rooms  were  finally 
allotted  to  her.  Jenny,  therefore,  it  would  appear,  found  her 
at  her  mother's  house ;  and  she  seems  to  have  received  from 
Fru  Tengmark  a  more  kindly  and  appreciative  treatment  than 
it  was  in  her  mother's  nature  to  bestow  upon  her.  She 
always  spoke  of  her  grandmother  with  strong  admiration  and 
affection.  Above  all,  she  took  in  from  her  a  profound  im- 
pression of  religion ;  and  it  was  to  her  that,  in  after-years,  she 
was  accustomed  to  trace  back  those  spiritual  influences  which 
became  the  very  soul  of  her  life. 

It  was  the  grandmother  who  was  the  first  to  detect  the 
musical  gifts  of  the  child ;  and  this  detection  left  a  profound 
impression  on  the  child  herself,  as  if  she,  too,  then  first  made 
a  discovery  of  what  was  in  her  through  the  surprise  which 
she  found  herself  producing  in  others.  The  story  formed  her 
earliest  distinct  memory.  Coming  up  from  the  country  to 
the  town,  she  was  struck  by  the  music  of  the  military  bugles 
that  daily  passed  through  the  street ;  and  one  day  when  she 
fancied  herself  alone  in  the  house  she  crept  to  the  piano  on 
which  her  half-sister  used  to  practise  her  music,  and,  with 
one  finger,  strummed  out  for  herself  the  fanfare  which  she 
liad  caught  from  the  soldiers.  But  the  grandmother  was  at 
hand,  and,  hearing  the  music,  called  out  the  name  of  the 
half-sister, whom  she  supposed  it  to  be;  and  little  Jenny,  in 
terror  at  being  found  out,  hid  under  the  square  piano ;  she  was 
rso  small  that  she  fitted  in  perfectly ;  and  the  grandmother, 
getting  no  answer  to  her  calls,  came  in  to  look,  and  presently 
.discovered  her,  and  dragged  her  out,  and  was  astonished,  and 
said,  "  Child,  was  that  you  ? "  and  Jenny,  in  tears  at  her 
crime,  confessed ;  but  the  grandmother  looked  at  her  deeply, 
.and  in  silence ;  and  when  the  mother  came  back  she  told  her, 


16 


JENNY  LIND. 


[bK.  I.  CH.  II. 


and  said :  "  Mark  my  words,  that  child  will  bring  you  help." 
And,  after  that,  the  neighbours  used  to  be  called  in  to  hear 
her  play.  As  she  told  the  story  in  later  years,  she  would  re- 
produce most  vividly  the  frightened  look  of  the  child  creeping 
away  to  hide  ;  and  the  significant  look  of  the  wonder-struck 
grandmother  as  she  took  in  that  it  was  indeed  the  tiny  crea- 
ture  of  three  years  old  who  had  played  the  tune.  She  never 
forgot  the  historic  "  fanfare  "  ;  and,  as  the  earliest  signal  of 
her  after-career,  it  is  given  in  the  form  in  which  she  herself 
committed  it  to  the  memory  of  her  daughter. 


A:^ 


^=^ 


H 1- 


;?^ii;= 


^C^- 


^'i-^-^- 


7f— -"^p — h-  -n^-'^  ^r  -^'•n-H^-  -|*T^— PT^- : 

mr-l:.       r— '-l-^^-^^-J-t  ■^^•-J    '-f^-^-J-^-^-J  h 

^ 


a 


^=:^3: 


-^T^- 


i^=e 


At  this  day-school  Jenny  continued  with  her  mother,  for 
three  or  four  years ;  but,  at  last,  the  only  boarder,  Louise 
Johansson,  was  taken  away,  and  her  mother  found  herself 
hard  pressed  for  funds.  She  determined  to  go  out  as  gover- 
ness ;  and,  perhaps  with  this  intention,  answered  an  adver- 
tisement stating  that  a  certain  childless  couple  were  anxious 
to  have  a  child  to  take  care  of.  It  turned  out  that  this 
couple  lived  in  the  very  same  Widows'  Home,  in  which  Fru 
Tengmark  had  rooms,  the  man  being  the  Guardian  or  Steward 
of  the  Home — a  thoroughly  comfortable  and  respectable  posi- 
tion, by  right  of  which  he  occupied  the  Lodge  at  the  gate. 
This  all  seemed  to  fall  in  admirably,  as  Jenny  would  have  the 
companionship  of  her  favourite  relation.     So  thither  she  was 


1820-30.]  CHILDHOOD.  17 

sent,  probably  in  the  year  1828  ;  and  her  mother  retu'ed  from 
Stockholm  and  took  a  place  as  governess,  in  Linkoping, 
carrying  with  her  her  daughter  Amalia  Eadberg  to  help  her 
in  her  educational  work. 

For  a  year  and  more  she  lived  in  the  Widows'  Home,  but 
there  is  nothing  recorded  of  her  life  there  until  we  come  to 
the  famous  incident  which  brought  about  her  removal,  and 
which  fixed,  for  ever,  the  lines  of  her  future  career.     It  came 
about  in  this  fashion.     "As  a  child  I  sang  with  every  step  I 
took,  and  with  every  jump  my  feet  made."     So  she  herself 
records   in   her  letter  to  the  Editor  of  the  '  Swedish  Bio- 
graphical Lexicon,'  written  in  1865;*  and,  apparently  one  of 
the  forms  which  the  perpetual  song  took  was  addressed  to  a  cat, 
"with  a  blue  ribbon  round  its  neck,"  of  which  she  was  very  fond 
The  rest  of  the  story  shall  be  given  in  her  own  words  as  they 
were  taken  down  by  her  eldest  son,  to  whom  she  told  it  at 
Cannes  in  the  spring  of  1887.     "  Her  favourite  seat  with  her 
cat  was  in  the  window  of  the  Steward's  rooms,  which  look  out 
on  the  lively  street  leading  up  to  the  Church  of  St.  Jacob's,  and  • 
there  she  sat  and  sang  to  it ;  and  the  people  passing  in  the  street 
used  to  hear,  and  wonder ;  and  amongst  others  the  maid  of  a 
Mademoiselle  Lundberg,  a  dancer  at  the  Eoyal  Opera  House ; 
and  the  maid  told  her  mistress  that  she  had  never  heard  such 
beautiful  singing  as  this  little  girl  sang  to  her  cat.      Made- 
moiselle Lundberg  thereupon  found  out  who  she  was,  and 
sent  to  ask  her  mother,  who  seems  to  have  been  in  Stock- 
holm at  the  time,  to  bring  her  to  sing  to  her.    And,  when  she 
heard  her  sing,  she  said,  "  The  child  is  a  genius ;  you  must 
have  her  educated  for  the  stage."     But  Jenny's  mother,  as 

*  The  Editor  of  this  Biograpliical  Dictionary  had  written  to  her  to  ask 
if  she  could  give  him  any  account  of  her  artistic  training.  She  wrote  back 
a  most  characteristic  letter,  of  which  fragments  only  were  inserted  in  the 
Dictionary,  among  the  "Addenda  "  to  Vol.  viii,,  New  Series,  p.  363  (1868). 
The  letter  is  given  in  full  in  the  Appendix  to  the  present  memoir. 

VOL.  I.  C 


18  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  ii. 

well   as  her  grandmother,  had    an   old-fashioned  prejudice 
ao-ainst  the  stage  ;  and  she  would  not  hear  of  this.     "  Then 
you  must,  at  any  rate,  have  her  taught  singing,"  said  Made- 
moiselle Lundberg ;  and  the  mother  was  persuaded,  in  this 
way,  to  accept  a  letter  of  introduction  to  Herr  Croelius,  the 
Court-secretary  and   Singing-master,  at  the  Eoyal  Theatre. 
Off  with  the  letter  they  started ;  but,  as  they  went  up  the 
broad  steps  of    the  Opera    House,  the    mother   was   again 
troubled  by  her  doubts  and  repugnance.     She,  no  doubt,  had 
all    the    inherited    dislike    of  the  burgher    families   to  the 
dramatic  life.     But  little  Jenny  eagerly  urged  her  to  go  on  ; 
and  they  entered  the  room  where  Croelius  sat.     And  the 
child  sang  him    something  out  of  an  Opera  composed  by 
Winter.     Croelius  was  moved  to  tears  and  said  that  he  must 
take  her  in  to  Count  Puke,  the  head  of  the  Eoyal  Theatre,  and 
tell  him  what  a  treasure  he  had  found.      And  they  went  at 
once ;    and  Comte  Puke's  first  question  was,  "  How  old  is 
she  ?  "  and  Croelius  answered  "  Nine  years  old."     "  Nine  ! " 
exclaimed  the  Count ;    "  but  this  is  not  a  Creche !      It   is 
the  King's  Theatre !  "     And  he  would  not  look  at  her,  she 
beino-    moreover,    at   that   time   what   she   herself   (in   her 
letter  to  the  '  Biographical  Lexicon ')  calls  "  a  small,  ugly, 
broad-nosed,  shy,  gauche,  under-grown  girl !  "     "  Well,"  said 
Croelius,  "  if   the   Count   will   not   hear   her,   then   I   will 
teach   her   gratuitously  myself,  and    she  will    one    day  as- 
tonish you ! "      Then    Count    Puke  consented    to   hear  her 
sing ;  and,  when  she  sang,  he  too  was  moved  to  tears  ;  and, 
from  that  moment,  she  was  accepted ;  and  was  taken,  and 
taught    to    sing,    and    educated,    and    brought    up    at    the 
Government  expense. 

So  she  told  it  in  her  own  graphic  manner ;  and  what  these 
last  words  imply  we  must  now  see,  for  they  mark  the  most 
crucial  event  in  her  life.  We  have  seen  how  her  mother  re- 
pelled the  thought  of  the  stage.     It  was  a  deep-rooted  tradi- 


1820-30.]  CHILDHOOD.  19 

tional  repugnance;  and  her  child,  in  after-years,  when  she 
herself  had  come  strongly  under  the  influence  of  the  same 
repugnance,  used  to  regard  it  as  inherited  from  her  mother. 
"  She,  like  myself,  had  the  greatest  horror  of  all  that  was 
connected  with  the  stage."  So  she  wrote  in  1865.  How 
far  these  words  about  herself  need  qualification,  we  shall  see 
as  our  story  advances ;  but  as,  in  its  later  years,  this  repug- 
nance played  so  vital  a  part  in  fashioning  her  life,  it  may  be 
well  to  note  it  here  at  its  first  appearance,  where  it  makes 
the  mother  hang  back,  at  the  very  door  of  the  theatre,  and 
is  only  overcome  by  the  entreaties  of  the  eager  little  child, 
longing  to  give  proof  of  her  gift.  Those  stairs,  so  haunting 
to  the  two  who  then  crept  up  them,  were  to  become  familiar 
enough  to  the  little  feet  which  then  first  felt  them.  Up 
that  broad  flight  she  stepped  on  to  the  platform  on  which, 
for  twenty  years  to  come,  she  was  to  live  out  her  life,  and 
win  her  unexampled  victories.  As  she  pulled  at  her  mother's 
unwilling  hand  that  day,  she  took  the  step  which  determined 
her  whole  destiny. 

For,  radical  as  her  mother's  dislike  might  be  to  the  stage, 
yet  fate,  on  the  one  hand,  was  too  strong  for  her,  and,  on 
the  other,  she  was  pressed  sorely  by  her  straitened  means. 
Croelius  and  Count  Puke  were  not  going  to  let  their  new- 
found treasure  slip  through  their  hands.  They  made  an 
immediate  offer  to  relieve  the  mother  of  all  direct  respon- 
sibility for  her  child's  maintenance  and  education;  they 
proposed  to  adopt  her  into  the  School  of  Pupils,  which  was 
attached  to  the  Ptoyal  Theatre,  looking  to  repay  the  expenses, 
which  they  risked,  through  the  after-success  which  they 
anticipated.  It  was  a  generous  proposal;  it  came  at  a 
moment  of  pressure  when  it  was  almost  impossible  to  refuse 
the  opportunity  of  relief ;  and  the  mother  yielded.  To  her  it 
still  seemed  an  act  by  which,  in  her  own  words,  used  after- 
wards to  the  directors  of  the  theatre,  she  was  "  sacrificing  her 

c  2 


20  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  ii. 

own  child  to  the  stage."   But  circumstances  were  unfortunate, 
and  she  could  not  but  agree.    So  Jenny  passed  over  from  the 
Widows'  Home  to  become  a  little  nursling  of  the  Drama ;  and 
the  world  owes  a  debt  of  genuine  gi^atitude  to  the  directors 
of  the  Theatre  Eoyal  for  so  quick  and  bold  a  recognition  of 
the  wonderful  gift  which  lay  hid  in  that  tiny  body.     Rare, 
indeed,  in  the  annals  of  art  is  it  that  the  official  authorities 
are  so  swift  in  their  appreciation  of  strange  and  exceptional 
o'enius  or  so  ready  to  make  a  venture  on  its  behalf.     And  the 
chief  honour,  in  a  deed  most  honourable  to  all  concerned, 
must  lie  with  Herr  Croelius,     It  was  his  insight  that  saw 
what  there  was  in  the  "  shy,  gauche,  and  ugly,  under-grown 
o-irl ;  "  it  was  his  courage  that  laid  compulsion  on  the  natural 
unwillingness  of  Count  Puke.      "The  person,"  she  herself 
wrote  in  the  letter  we  have  already  quoted  to  the  editor 
of  the    'Biographical  Lexicon,'    "whom   alone   I   have   to 
thank  for  the  first  discernment  of  my  gift  of  song  was  the 
Court   Secretary   Croelius,    Singing-master   at   the    Theatre 
Ptoyal.     He  told  me  all  that  which  in  later  years  came  to 
pass."      It  is  pleasant  at  this  point  to  read  a  letter  from 
the   old   man  himseK  to  Jenny  Lind,  written  from  Stock- 
holm, 4th  March,  1842,  in  answer  to  a  letter  of  hers  from 
Paris,  in  which  "  her  kind  heart,"  as  he  says,  has  expressed 
its  gratitude   to   him.      He   fears   to   put   himself  forward 
too    much   lest  he  should  seem  to  be  claiming  that  which 
her  later  masters  had  done  for  her;   "but,"  as  he  writes, 
"when    your    talent    and    your    other    excellent    qualities 
called  forth  general  homage,  I  considered  I  had  a  right  to 
present  myself  as  your  admirer  and  friend.     My  interest  in 
you  is,  and  will  always  remain,  the  most  genuine.     Your 
honour,  your  success  will  be  the  comfort  of  my  old  age  a.nd 
a  balm  for  my  sufferings."     He  died  that  year.     His  kindly 
features,  quaint  and  dignified,  are  recorded  in  the  accompany- 
in<T  sketch,  on  which  she  herself,  long  afterwards,  wrote  her 


1820-30.] 


CHILDHOOD. 


21 


witness  to  the  "oodness  of  him  who  was  "  the  first  to  discern 
her  sifts,"  and  whose  insicrht  and  couras,e  determined  her 
career. 

So  closes  her  early  cliildhood.  Hitherto  she  has  sung 
as  Nature  bade  her,  singing  to  herself,  singing  to  her  cat, 
singing  "at  every  step  and  jump  which  she  made  with 
her  baby  feet."  Something,  indeed,  she  may  have  caught 
from  her  mother,  who  was  qualified  to  teach  music,  and  from 
her  half-sister  and  the  day-pupils  who  used  to  practise  on 


the  piano  on  which  Jenny  made  her  first  famous  experiment ; 
and  she  would  have  heard  her  father,  who  used  to  come  in 
the  evening  and  sing,  while  her  mother  played  the  guitar, 
when  the  little  one  lay  probably  in  bed.  And,  even  at 
Sollentuna,  she  would  have  listened,  in  baby-wonder,  to 
Ferndal  as  he  played  his  organ  in  the  church.  But  her 
young  life  had  been,  as  we  have  seen,  strangely  wandering, 
chequered,  and  untutored,  and  nearly  everything  she  had 
must  have  come  from  her  own  instinctive  spontaneity.     She 


22  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  ii. 

was  now  to  pass  at  this  tiny  age  into  a  school  devoted 
to  the  drama,  under  the  definite  training  and  discipline 
of  skilled  masters  in  music.  In  Croelius'  room  she  made 
her  debut;  there  she  found  her  vocation.  The  little 
foundling  of  Nature  was  henceforward  to  become  the  child 
of  Art.* 

*  Her  half-sister,  Amalia,  who,  during  the  hreak-up  of  the  home, 
wrote  affectionately  to  her  "dear  little  Jenny,"  urging  her  to  pray  to 
God  to  keep  alive  "our  dear  good  mother,"  and  to  bring  back  the 
pleasant  days,  seems  to  have  appreciated  the  gifts  of  the  child;  for  in 
the  P.S.  to  a  letter  written  on  March  24th,  1830,  which  was  found  pre- 
served among  Madame  Goldschmidt's  papers,  she  wrote :  "  Whatever 
you  do,  pray  cultivate  your  music,  for  then  you  will  make  your  mark." 


(     23     ) 


CHAPTER  III. 

PUPILAGE. 

The  Eoyal  Theatre,  at  Stockholm,  into  which  Jenny  Lind 
passed  in  the  September  of  1830,  was  to  be,  for  the  next  ten 
years,  the  scene  and  centre  of  her  life.  In  it  she  found  a 
nursery  for  her  child- talent ;  a  school  to  direct  her  entire 
development ;  a  playground  in  which  she  tasted  the  delights 
of  companionship;  a  home,  which  watched  over  her  with 
fatherly  interest  and  authority;  a  stage  on  which  she  was 
greeted  with  unstinted  appreciation.  It  became,  for  this 
spell  of  years,  the  pivot  of  all  her  efforts,  the  focus  of  all  her 
associations  and  hopes,  the  environment  within  which  all  her 
gifts  opened  and  discovered  themselves. 

The  theatre  was  subsidised  from  the  Royal  Civil  List,  and 
was  directed  and  controlled  by  the  office  of  the  Lord  Chamber- 
lain. Its  chief  officer  was  a  Royal  Director  (Intendant), 
under  whom,  among  other  officials,  was  the  Chief  of  the 
Singing  Department.  The  first  office  was  occupied,  at  the 
time  of  Jenny's  entry,  by  Count  Puke ;  while  the  second  was 
fiUed  by  Herr  Croelius,  who  was  dignified  with  the  title  of 
Court  Secretary.  The  official  finances  came  under  the  super- 
vision of  Herr  Forsberg,  an  official  in  the  War  Office,  who 
was  charged  with  the  honorary  superintendence  of  the 
Theatre-School.  He  took  an  almost  fatherly  interest  in 
Jenny  Lind ;  and  she  retained  an  intimate  and  affectionate 
friendship  with  his  family,  until  her  death. 

The  theatre  stands  in  the  heart  of  Stockholm,  close  to  the 


24  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  hi. 

ISTorrbro  (North  Bridge)  overlooking  the  wide  basin  of  the 
Norrstrom :  it  is  a  large,  handsome  building,  facing  the  street 
known  as  the  Gustaf  Adolf's  Torg,  with  its  basement  and 
double  stories,  on  the  second  of  which,  in  fine  and  airy- 
rooms,  was  housed  the  School  of  Girls  attached  to  the  theatre, 
into  which  Jenny  was  now  introduced,  herself  the  very- 
youngest  of  all,  as  we  may  gather  from  Count  Puke's  com- 
plaint that  Croelius  was  treating  the  theatre,  as  if  "  it  were  a 
Crecher 

The  "Directors  of  the  Eoyal  Theatre,"  *  as  its  authorities 
were  called,  were  in  the  habit  of  boarding  out  the  pupils  at 
some  certified  home,,  or  homes,  in  the  town,  under  the  charge 
of  some  lady  with  whom  the  theatre  made  terms  for  food, 
lodging,  and  educational  supervision.  And,  here,  we  come 
to  a  rather  curious  arrangement,  which  might,  if  it  had  been 
happily  carried  out,  have  combined,  most  fortunately,  Jenny's 
new  conditions  with  her  natural  home-relations.  Her  mother 
had  moved  back  to  Stockholm  just  before  Jenny's  entry  at 
the  theatre:  she  had  taken,  in  the  spring  of  1830,  a 
flat  in  No.  4  Quarteret  Hammaren,  in  the  Jakobsbergs- 
gata.  Had  she  taken  it  for  the  very  purpose  of  boarding 
the  pupils  of  the  theatre  ?  It  is  impossible  to  say :  but, 
certainly,  this  parish  of  St.  Jacob  is  close  at  hand  ;  and,  very 
soon  after  her  return,  she  appears  to  have  been  intrusted  by 
the  Directors  with  some  of  their  boarders ;  and,  among  them, 
probably,  her  own  little  daughter.  It  is  true,  that  the  first 
formal  records  of  this  arrangement  that  we  possess  do  not 
begin  until  the  years  1832-1833,  but  we  have  no  notice  of 
where  Jenny  boarded  during  the  two  intervening  years,  and 
the  fact  that  her  mother  already  had  taken,  in  1830,  the 
house  in  which  she  is  found  boarding  the  children  in  1832- 
1833,  seems,  certainly,  to  suggest,  that  Jenny  may  have  been 
placed  with  her  from  the  beginning.     And,  indeed,  this  is 

*  K.  Teater  Direktionen. 


1830-36.]  PUPILAGE.  25 

made  almost  certain  by  the  fact  that  her  very  earliest  recol- 
lections of  the  Theatre-School,  as  she  often  told  her  daughter, 
was  her  running  to  the  school,  to  keep  herself  warm,  in  the 
cold  winter  mornings,  dressed  in  the  vivid  smart  colours, 
which  her  mother  and  half-sister  loved,  and  which  she  so 
hated  that  she  used  to  pull  the  bright  feathers  out  of  her 
bonnet  as  soon  as  she  was  out  of  sight  of  home.    Anyhow,  in 
1833,  the  thing  took  shape  in  a  legal   contract,  drawn  up 
between  the  "  Directors  "  and  Jenny's  mother,  which  implies, 
by  its  language,  that  it  was  formularising  an  arrangement, 
which  had  been  going  on  already  in  some  tentative  fashion, 
at  least  since  April,  1832.     The  conditions  of  the  bond  are 
most  precise,  and  remarkable;  and  their  definite  precision 
is,  itself,  a  witness   how   clearly  the   authorities   had   per- 
ceived, and  proved,  the  value  of  the  gifted  child,  for  whose 
sake  they  were  prepared  to  make  so  remarkable  a  venture. 
They  begin  by  stating  that  they  have,  already,  since  April, 
1832,  been  paying  for*  "Jenny  Lind's   board  and  educa- 
tion," and  that,  through  the  progress  she   has  made   since 
then,  they  have  "  formed  the  best  hopes  of  her  usefulness 
for    the    theatrical    profession,"   and   that   they  "desire  to 
attach  this  young  talent,  by  more  definite  conditions,  to  the 
Eoyal  Theatre."     They  wish,  therefore,  to  close  a  contract 
with  her  mother,  with  the  terms  of  which,  as  they  carefully 
insert,  "Jenny  Lind  has  declared  herself  satisfied."      The 
child  is  to  be  received  in  the  capacity  of  "  actress-pupil  at 
the  Eoyal  Theatre  "  ;  and  cannot,  without  the  consent  of  the 
directors,  be  released  from  her  engagement  until  she  have, 
throuo-h  her  after-efforts,  "  made  restitution  for  the  care  and 
expense  bestowed  on  her  education." 

*  "Jenny  Lind"  appears  as  the  formal  name,  even  in  the  official 
document.  Only  once,  i.e.  in  the  Confirmation  certificate,  1836,  does  the 
full  name  of  her  christening  reappear,  "  Johanna  Maria  Lind."  In  the 
letter  to  the  Biog.  Lexicon,  she  herself  says  that  she  was  "  never  called 
Johanna." 


26  J£:NNY  LIND.  [bk.  I.  CH.  III. 

"  During  her  growing  years,  and  until  slie  is  competent  to 
be  allotted  a  fixed  salary,  she  is  to  receive,  at  the  expense  of 
the  Theatre,  food,  clothes,  and  lodging,  together  with  free 
tuition  in  singing,  elocution,  dancing,  and  such  other  branches 
of  instruction  as  belong  to  the  education  of  a  cultivated 
woman,  and  are  requisite  for  the  theatrical  profession."  The 
carrying  out  of  this  instruction  is  then  committed  to  her 
mother,  who  engages  to  teach  her  "the  Piano,  Religion, 
French,  History,  Geography,  Writing,  Arithmetic,  and  Draw- 
ing." She  is  also  to  see  to  all  matters  of  "  food,  fire,  furni- 
ture, and  clothing,  bedding  and  washing  " ;  and  to  have  for 
her  a  tender  mother's  care. 

For  these  purposes  she  will  receive  from  the  Directors  250 
Eiksdaler  Banco  {i.e.  20  guineas),  while  Jenny  herself  will 
be  given  two  Pdksdaler  Banco  every  month  for  pocket 
money,  out  of  which  she  is  to  pay  (poor  child !)  for  her  own 
needles  and  tape  as  well  as  for  silk  and  cotton  towards  the 
mending  of  her  clothes ;  this  will  leave  not  very  much  over 
for  Jenny's  private  purposes ;  but  on  the  other  hand  she  is  to 
be  allowed  the  use  of  a  pianoforte  belonging  to  the  Eoyal 
Theatre,  of  which  her  mother  pledges  herself  to  take  proper 
care ;  and  moreover,  after  the  1st  July,  1835,  she  will  actually 
be  supplied  with  a  chest  of  drawers,  as  well  as  bedstead  and 
bedclothes,  at  the  special  cost  of  the  Eoyal  Theatre.  Her 
mother  is  to  see  to  it  that  the  aktris-elcv  carefully  observes 
the  hours  for  lessons,  rehearsals,  and  representations.  The 
Eoyal  Directors  are  to  judge  w^hen  the  little  creature  will 
become  competent  to  enter  as  actress  with  a  salary  from  the 
Civil  List,  after  which  a  new  contract  will  be  made,  by  which 
she  will  be  pledged  to  remain  for  ten  years  in  the  service  of 
the  Eoyal  Theatre  for  such  a  salary  as  the  Directors,  having 
proper  regard  to  her  talent  and  usefulness  at  the  time,  shall 
decide  to  grant  her ;  but,  in  case  "  the  aktris-elev  Lind,  con- 
trary to  the  good  hopes  entertained  on  her  behalf,  were  for  one 


1830-36.]  PUPILAGE.  27 

reason  or  another  to  prove  of  no  use  to  the  Koyal  Theatre,  or, 
asam,  if  she  were  to  fail  in  that  obedience  she  owes  to  the 
Eoyal  Directors,  it  shall  have  full  right  to  discharge  her  from 
the  theatre  after  three  months'  notice,  in  which  case  the 
contract  is  to  lapse." 

So  runs  the  deed,  signed,  on  behaK  of  the  Directors,  by 
P.  Westerstrand,  who  had  succeeded  Count  Puke  as  Intendant, 
and  by  Carl  D.  Forsberg,  of  the  War  Office ;  and,  below  their 
signatures,  Jenny's  mother  declares  herself  to  be  satisfied 
with  the  proposed  conditions. 

Such  was  the  bond.  It  resembles  in  general  outlines  other 
agreements  of  the  kind ;  but  it  is  exceptional  in  its  details, 
and  in  its  special  care  for  the  "  high  talent "  which  it  desires 
to  attach  to  the  theatre.  The  assumption  of  an  almost 
paternal  authority  by  the  Directors  is  quite  in  accord  with 
its  habitual  tone.  In  the  case  of  Matilda  Picker,  for  in- 
stance (afterwards  the  well-known  Mme.  Gelhaar),  who  had 
only  a  grandfather  alive,  the  bond  declares  that  the  "  Direction 
undertakes  a  father's  duties  towards  her,  and  acquires,  also, 
a  father's  rights  "  :  wherewith  it  will  decide  about  her  resi- 
dence,  education,  occupation,  and  conduct.  Both  this  bond, 
and  that  with  Jenny  Lind's  close  friend  "Mina  Pundin,"  * 
are  made  when  the  child  is  about  fourteen  years  old,  wliich 
was,  perhaps,  the  usual  age. 

The  present  bond  has  been  given  almost  in  full,  not  only 
for  its  intrinsic  and  historic  interest  as  marking  a  momentous 
epoch  in  Jenny  Lind's  career,  but  also  in  order  to  bring  out 
the  conception  which  is  there  embodied,  of  the  educational 
qualifications  requisite  for  a  pupil  of  the  theatre.  The  com- 
pleteness of  the  instruction  proposed  is  most  striking.     We 

*  Wilhelmina  Christina  Fundin,  daughter  of  the  Precentor  of  St.  Klara 
Church,  Stockhohn  ;  she  was  born  in  1819,  entered  the  Elev  School  1833, 
and  remained  there  until  1841.  She  remained  connected  with  the  lloyal 
Opera  until  1870,  when  she  retired  on  a  pension. 


28  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  hi. 

may  smile  at  the  long  list  of  subjects  in  which  the  little 
girl  is  to  be  schooled,  or  at  the  abrupt  appearance  of 
"  religion "  sandwiched  between  the  piano  and  the  French 
language.  Doubtless,  these  numerous  branches  of  study 
were  but  touched  in  an  elementary  manner :  but,  still, 
they  are  recognised  as  essential :  and  the  remarkable  phrase 
stands  which  declares  that  the  training  for  the  dra- 
matic profession  includes  all  that  belongs  to  the  "  full 
education  of  a  cultivated  woman."  There,  in  that  phrase,  is 
a  distinct  ideal.  It  implies  that  the  drama  is  no  narrow, 
specialised  function  of  a  mere  expert ;  but  is  an  affair  in 
which  the  entire  mind  and  character  of  the  artist  are  con- 
cerned, so  that  the  theatre  itself  may  well  spend  its  money 
in  securing,  not  only  the  technical  and  professional  training, 
but  also  that  the  pupil  shall  have  the  intelligence  developed 
and  fertilised,  so  that  it  be  level  with  the  average  culture  of 
the  time. 

And  then,  again,  the  completeness  of  the  more  professional 
instruction  is  well  worth  notice.  Elocution,  dancing,  the 
piano — all  are  necessary  to  perfect  the  dramatic  singing. 
The  memory  of  this  completeness  in  her  early  theatrical 
education  left  an  indelible  impression  on  Jenny  Lind.  She 
felt  that  she  owed  to  it  so  much  that  contributed  to,  and 
enriched,  the  full  effect  of  her  musical  gift ;  and  especially 
she  valued  her  trained  skill  in  expressive  and  beautiful 
motion,  gained  in  the  dancing  school  at  the  Theatre  Eoyal. 
She  moved  exquisitely.  Her  perfect  walk,  her  dignity  of 
pose,  her  striking  uprightness  of  attitude,  were  characteristic 
of  her  to  the  very  last ;  and  no  one  can  fail  to  recall  how 
she  stood,  before,  and  while,  she  sang.  Her  grace,  her 
lightness  of  movement  were  all  the  more  noticeable  from 
the  rather  angular  thinness  of  her  natural  figure  ;  and  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  they  threw  into  her  acting  a  charm 
which  was  positively  entrancing.     She  knew  the  value  and 


1830-3G.]  PUPILAGE.  29 

necessity  of  all  this  completeness  of  training ;  she  felt  its 
lack  in  those  who  had  entered  on  the  operatic  stage  by 
accident  as  it  were,  taking  it  up  only  when  fully  grown 
simply  on  account  of  possessing  a  beautiful  voice.  She  missed 
in  them  the  full  finish  of  the  perfected  art ;  no  beauty  in  the 
singing  could  quite  atone  for  the  ignorance  of  dramatic 
methods,  and  of  all  that  constitutes  the  peculiar  environment 
of  the  stage. 

We  shall  see  how  deeply  this  early  ideal  of  all  that  was 
involved  in  the  technical  training  coloured  her  intentions, 
when  she  was  planning  the  endowment  w^hich  she,  at  first, 
desired  to  devote  to  the  theatre-school  where  she  had  served 
her  own  apprenticeship.  And  this  ideal  still  lived  in  her,  to 
play  a  large  part  in  those  interests,  and  anxieties,  with  which, 
even  at  the  very  close  of  her  life,  she  worked  to  found  a 
School  of  Song,  at  the  Eoyal  College  of  Music,  in  South 
Kensington,  and  wdiich  she  embodied  in  a  memorandum 
drawn  up  by  her,  at  the  request  of  H.E.H.  the  President, 
before  entering  on  her  official  post. 

To  wdiat  degree  the  full  education  of  a  cultivated  woman 
was  actually  attained  in  her  case,  it  would  be  hard  to 
exactly  define.  A  great  musical  gift  like  hers  carries  culture 
with  it ;  and,  then,  she  had,  all  her  after-life,  revelled  in  the 
society  of  the  most  cultivated  men  in  Europe.  So  that  it  is 
difficult,  from  knowledge  of  her  in  later  days,  to  say  how 
much  she  had  gained  out  of  the  formal  instructions  given  her 
in  childhood.  But,  naturally,  these  can  only  have  been  of  an 
elementary  and  superficial  type.  She  never  possessed  the 
sure  mental  instincts  which  are  the  fruit  of  a  literary 
education.  Her  judgments  on  books,  for  instance,  depended, 
for  their  brilliancy,  on  her  unaided  and  unconventional 
sp'ontaneity,  and  on  her  rapid  perceptions.  But  they  had  not 
the  proportion,  and  balance,  that  comes  from  accurate  know- 
ledge, or  trained  intellectual  discipline.     One  felt  that  she 


30  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  hi. 

had  never  had  this,  in  the  strict  sense.  She  was,  so  to 
speak,  at  the  mercy  of  any  book  that  interested  her  ;  she  had 
no  secure  sense  of  its  limitations  ;  she  did  not  know  how  to 
place  it.  Evidently,  the  education  had  been  quite  simple 
and  unscientific. 

Nevertheless,  the  list  of  general  studies  named  by  the 
Directors  was  not  merely  nominal ;  pains  were  taken ;  the 
instruction  was  given.  Eeligion,  in  spite  of  the  hostile 
proximity  of  French  on  the  one  side,  and  of  the  piano  on  the 
other,  was  carefully  attended  to ;  and  her  Confirmation  cer- 
tificate, given  her  on  May  10th,  1836,  witnesses,  by  the  hand 
of  the  rector  of  St.  Jacob's  parish,  Herr  Abraham  Pettersson, 
that  she  passed  the  public  examination  in  the  Christian 
doctrine  of  salvation  *'  with  distinction." 

For  French,  she  went,  probably,  to  the  classes  of  M. 
Terrade,  teacher  to  the  Eoyal  Theatre ;  the  instruction  was 
slight,  but  a  certain  degree  of  conversational  French  was  in 
free  use  in  Stockholm  at  the  time,  and  would  be  habitual 
round  about  the  theatre.  Still,  before  her  visit  to  Paris  in 
1841,  she  thoiight  it  necessary  to  take  special  lessons ;  and 
she  had,  when  there,  as  we  shall  see,  to  grind  at  the  grammar ; 
so  that  her  early  knowledge  must  have  been  quite  unscientific. 

As  to  the  piano,  she,  certainly,  gained,  at  some  time  in  her 
early  life,  a  complete  mastery  over  it,  which  stood  her  in 
good  stead,  and  afforded  her  great  enjoyment  in  later  years. 
It  was  true  that  she  had  injured  her  left  hand,  when  young, 
wliile  striking  fire  with  a  fiint  on  tinder,  which  to  a  certain 
extent  crippled  its  full  use ;  and,  besides,  she  feared  to 
fatigue  and  contract  the  vocal  organs  by  serious  practice  on 
the  piano.  But,  in  spite  of  this,  she  handled  it  freely,  and 
finely ;  she  delighted  to  improvise  on  it,  wliich  she  did  with 
a  touch  of  genuine  genius ;  and  part  of  the  peculiar  charm  "of 
her  northern  songs,  as  she  sang  them,  came  to  them  from  her 
delicious  playing  of  the  accompaniment.     There  seems  to  be 


1830-36.]  PUPILAGE.  31 

no  doubt  that,  from  quite  early  days,  and  more  especially  at 
about  the  age  of  sixteen,  she  could  use  it  with  easy  familiarity  ; 
for,  while  still  at  this  school,  she  used  to  "  coach  "  the  other 
girls  through  the  musical  parts  of  the  plays,  beating  them 
out,  herself,  on  the  piano. 

She  had  an  eager  and  intense  appreciation  of  her  native 
literature ;  but,  no  doubt,  this  would  be  largely  due  to  the 
influence  of  the  Stockholm  literary  world,  into  which  she  was 
heartily  welcomed  at  the  time  of  her  first  triumphs  ;  and, 
above  all,  to  her  intimacy  with  Geijer  and  Lindblad  and 
Beskow. 

A  specimen  of  her  drawing  still  remains — some  painted 
flowers,  done  in  the  exact  and  formal  manner  of  the  day,  but 
bearing  sufficient  witness  to  her  having  had  the  regular 
lessons  ;  and  those,  probably,  from  her  mother,  who  has  left 
designs  of  the  same  type. 

One  accomplishment  must  be  mentioned  with  special 
honour,  her  sewing.  She  worked  magnificently.  "  Madame's 
stitches  never  come  out,"  is  the  later  testimony  from  her 
maid  to  her  powers.  And  she  loved  to  do  a  piece  of  work, 
designing  it  herself,  and  achieving  it,  with  the  thoroughness 
of  an  expert. 

Her  knowledge  of  history  was  very  vague,  and  general ; 
nothing  very  definite,  probably,  was  made  of  that,  at  the 
theatre-school. 

German,  which,  afterwards,  she  loved,  and  pronounced 
beautifully,  she  did  not  begin  until  after  her  twenty-fourth 
year;  her  limited  knowledge  of  it  was  a  difficulty,  as  we 
shall  see,  at  the  first  debut  in  Berlin  under  Meyerbeer  in 
1844  ;  she  went  to  Dresden  to  work  at  it  in  July,  1844 ;  but, 
even  as  late  as  the  year  1848,  ^v^ote  it  incorrectly. 

English  was  only  slowly  won,  after  her  English  visits. 
Her  usual  speech  in  this  country  at  that  time  was  French. 

So  much  for  her  general  education  and  accomplishments  ; 


32  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  hi. 

but  we  have  been  anticipating  the  course  of  our  story,  to 
which  we  now  return. 

The  little  girl,  then,  started  in  the  spring  of  1833,  with 
what  might  well  seem  good  hopes.  Her  career  had  taken  a 
definite  shape  ;  she  was  provided  for,  if  nothing  went  wrong, 
for  years  to  come ;  she  was  to  receive  a  regular  education ; 
and  a  future  position  was  assured  to  her.  In  the  meantime 
she  was  to  be  housed,  and  cared  for,  by  her  own  mother,  in 
the  happy  companionship  of  other  girls.  Among  these 
companions,  and  boarding  with  Jenny,  at  her  mother's  house, 
were  several  who  subsequently  filled  considerable  positions 
on  the  royal  stage ;  e.g.,  Charlotte,  and  Matilda  Ticker  (after- 
wards Mesdames  Almlof  and  Gelhaar),  and  Fanny  "VVester- 
dahl,  prominent  in  Tragedy  and  severe  Comedy. 

Mdlle.  Bayard,  the  lady  superintendent  of  the  school,  was 
a  person  much  respected ;  and  the  pupils  were  sure  of  enjoy- 
ing care  and  attention  from  her.  Jenny  seems  to  have  been 
exceedingly  happy  both  with  her,  and  with  the  other  girls  ; 
but,  alas  !  her  trouble  came  from  where  we  might  least  expect 
it — from  her  mother.  Was  it  that  her  strong,  and  resolute 
nature  had  been  warped  by  early  disappointment  ?— that  the 
early  marriage  with  Captain  Eadberg  at  eighteen,  with  its 
rapid  disillusion,  had  left  serious  damage  beliind  it  on 
temper,  and  character  ?  Certainly,  the  world  had  gone  hard 
with  her.  Slie  had  had  to  fight  her  way  along  for  herself, 
under  the  burden  of  straitened  circumstances.  These  things 
are  apt  to  tell ;  if  they  do  not  sweeten,  they  sour.  And  she 
was  somewhat  proud,  and  stubborn,  and  self-willed.  She, 
probably,  fretted  at  the  sense  of  being  below  the  conditions 
which  her  burgher  blood  might  expect  and  justify.  From 
passages  in  her  letters,  we  shall  see,  that  she  was  quick  to 
resent  a  slight,  and  hard  to  pacify.  She  had  a  strong  idea  of 
her  rights.  She  would  not  yield  them,  even  to  her  own 
convenience.      Altogether,   from   her    recorded   words    and 


1830-36.]  PUPILAGE.  3'3 

expressions,  we  can  feel  that  she  was  one  for  whom  things 
would  not  run  smoothly, — one  to  whose  exasperated  sensi- 
tiveness life  would  never  prove  an  easy,  sleek,  comfortable 
affair.  There  is  a  tone  of  defiance  in  her,  as  if  she  were 
at  war  with  her  fellows.  She  had  a  touch  of  haughty  pride 
in  her,  which  would  find  itself  engaged  in  many  battles. 
It  is  perfectly  natural  to  suppose  that  she  had  got  a  bit 
worsened  by  the  vigour  of  the  strife.  She  had  not  much 
softness  of  sympathy  to  spare ;  she  did  not  make  people  love 
her.  She  was  apt  to  show  herself  cross-grained,  ^dolent, 
harsh ;  and  this,  not  only  to  others,  but  also  to  her  child. 

Before  going  on  to  tell  the  pitiful  story  of  this  early  harsh- 
ness, it  may  be  well  to  remember  that  the  daughter's 
memory  of  her  mother  was  not  all  dismal  and  unkind. 
Their  characters  had,  probably,  many  elements  in  common ; 
her  mother's  force,  her  mother's  haughty  persistence  re- 
appeared, to  some  extent,  in  Jenny  Lind.  She,  too,  was  not 
apt  to  take  life  too  easily.  And,  again,  she  warmly  recog- 
nised all  that  she  owed,  at  this  early  time,  to  her  mother's 
talents,  and  resolution,  and  effort.  There  was,  below  all  the 
divergence,  a  strong  tie  of  underlying  attachment.  The 
actual  intercourse  was,  indeed,  unhappy ;  it  was  marred  by 
cruelty,  and  narrowness,  and  suspicion,  which  left  a  life-long 
shadow  on  the  child.  But  it  was  not  without  something  in 
it,  which  could,  under  brighter  circumstances,  open  out  into 
the  tenderness  and  gentleness  which  belong  to  the  name  of 
mother.  It  is  comforting  to  find  with  what  emotion  Jenny 
Lind  could  look  back  on  the  past,  in  spite  of  its  bitterness, 
when  death  had  closed  the  record.  It  was,  indeed,  far  on  in 
life  when  this  death  occurred ;  but  it  may  soften  us,  as  we 
a-pproach  the  story  of  Fru  Lind's  faults,  to  read,  by  anticipation, 
the  words,  in  which  her  daughter  sums  up  the  tale.  It  was  in 
America,  in  1851,  that  the  sad  news  reached  Jenny  Lind ;  and, 
reviewing  the  event,  she  ^vrote  to  an  old  friend  in  Sweden : — 

VOL.  I.  D 


34  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  hi. 

«  My  mother's  death  I  have  felt  most  bitterly ;  everything 
was  now  smooth  and  nice  between  us ;  I  was  in  hopes  that 
she  would  have  been  spared  for  many  a  long  year  .  .  .  and 
that,  now  that  she  was  quieter  and  more  reasonable,  I  might 
have  surrounded  her  old  age  with  joy,  and  peace,  and  tender 
care.  But  the  ways  of  the  Lord  are  often  not  our  ways. 
Peace  be  with  her  soul ! "  * 

The  affection  is  there,  and  the  deep  bond  of  blood ;  but, 
alas !  there  had  been  bad  days  when  all  had  not  been  so 
"smooth,  and  nice,"  and  when  the  mother  had  not  been 
"  quiet  and  reasonable." 

It  is  these  bad  days  of  which  we  have  now  to  speak.  It 
appears  that  the  pupils  found  the  treatment  they  received 
from  her  too  stern  and  hard ;  and  they  were  soon  removed  to 
rooms  at  the  top  of  the  theatre  itself ;  and  placed  under  the 
charge  of  Mdlle.  Bayard.  Here  they  fared  excellently ;  and 
were  extremely  happy.  Jenny,  who  remained  at  her  mother's, 
used  to  visit  them  there  ;  and  it  was  now  that  she  struck  up 
her  intimate  friendship  with  one  of  the  pupils,  Mina  Fundin, 
who  became  her  favourite  playmate,  and  with  whom  she  kept 
up,  for  life,  an  affectionate  relationship.  This  lady  is  still 
alive,  residing  in  Stockholm.  It  would  seem  that  the  contrast 
between  the  lonely  severity  of  the  home  and  the  lively 
society  of  the  theatre-rooms  was  too  much  for  Jenny ;  and, 
at  last,  after  some  bout  of  harsh  treatment,  on  the  30th  of 
October,  1834,  she  took  matters  into  her  own  hands,  and  ran 
off  to  Mdlle.  Bayard.  The  Directors  saw  the  merit  of  the 
proceeding,  and  allowed  her  to  remain  there.  But  her 
mother  was  not  a  person  to  acquiesce  in  such  an  arrange- 
ment, and  the  result  was  a  long  dispute  with  the  theatre  for 
the  recovery  of  the  child.  It  can  serve  no  good  purpose, 
now,  to  follow  the  track  of  this  unhappy  wrangle.  It  is 
enough  to  say  that  the  mother  was  not  content,  until  she  had 
applied  the  pressure  of  the  law  against  the  Directors ;  that, 
,    *  Written  to  Herr  Carl  Forsberg,  of  the  War  Office,  in  August,  1852. 


1830-36.]  PUPILAGE.  35 

at  first,  she  only  rested  her  appeal  on  the  bond  with  the 
theatre,  and  that,  when  this  failed,  in  January,  1835,  she  set 
to  work  with  a  more  determined  effort.     Mr.  Lind,  who  had, 
hitherto,  kept  in  the  background,  was  called  to  the  front  to 
take  part  in  the  struggle ;  and,  together,  they  combined  to 
make  good  their  full  parental  claims  over  their  child.     Such 
a  claim,  once  formally  established,  and  put  in  force,  was, 
necessarily,   irresistible ;    and   the   theatre   was   obliged    to 
surrender  Jenny,  by  a  final  judgment  of  the  Eoyal  Upper 
Town-Court,  on   the   23rd  of  June,   1836;    and   was,  also, 
directed  to  recognise  the  existing  contract  of  1833  as  still 
standing,  and  to  pay,  therefore,  to  the  parents  the  stipulated 
sum  for  Jenny's  keep,  which  was  owing  from  January  1st, 
1835,  to  April  1st,   1836,  together  with  lawyer's  fee,  etc. 
There  the  quarrel  ended  ;  on  June  6  th  the  theatre  notified  to 
the  parents   that   Jenny  would  return    to   their   house   on 
July  1st,  to  be  boarded  at  the  old  terms ;  and  both  Mr.  Lind, 
and  his  wife,  countersign  the  notice. 

It  is  pleasant  to  think  that,  in  spite  of  these  most  un- 
comfortable   proceedings,   the    little    creature    over   whose 
person  home  and  theatre  were  fighting  so  strenuously  was 
spending  a  most  happy  time  at  Mdlle.  Bayard's ;  and  it  is 
delightful  to  read  the  brimming  letter  which  she  wrote,  in 
the  very  thick  of  the  wrangle,  in  August  1835 — the  very 
first  word  that  we  actually  possess  from   her   pen.     It  is 
written  from  Skytteholm,  a  place  lying  on  one  of  the  inland 
lakes  which,  in  Sweden,  are  called  by  the  pleasant  name  of 
"  Sweet-Waters,"  where  the  pupils  were  taken  for  their  summer 
holidays.    It  is  addressed  to  the  mother  of  her  little  playfellow, 
Mina  Fundin — the  Mina  mentioned  in  the  letter,  who  has 
made  such  desperate  resolutions  from  which  she  is  only  saved 
by  the  state  of  her  nerves  and  the  motherliness  of  the  "  sensible 
old  woman."     With  Mina's  mother,  Jenny  is  evidently  on  the 

brightest  and  most  affectionate  terms.     Here  is  the  letter : 

D  2 


36 


JENNY  LIND. 


[bK.  I.  CH.  III. 


TBZ^K-Om^-  ^"^ 


o    /ri  r 


r-2,^<y 


'^ 


o6€r     ^0t^    /iff->n^  <yri^Z^ 


f>^4,  *  ^ 


4         .    :>  >  "  (/J 


txyfC 


J 
.<7 


[Translation.] 

Skytteholm,  5  Aug.,  1835. 

My  dear  Little  Aunty, 

Pardon  me  for  taking  the  liberty  to  write  to  you — but 
— I  really  don't  know  what  to  write  about !  Yes,  I  know  ! 
I  hope  that  my  little  Aunty  and  Lotta  are  quite  well ; — ive 
are  flourishing,  all  of  us ! 

Ah !  thank  God !  soon  we  return  to  town ;  I  long  dreadfully, 
for  now  there  is  no  more  fun  down  here.  You  must  not  feel 
uneasy,  Aunty,  about  Miua  going  to  drown  herself,  for  she 
has  not  yet  done  so,  because  she  is  too  nervous  even  to  go 
near  the  water — Oh,  yes  ! — occasionally  she  does  run  the  risk 


1830-36.] 


PUPILAGE. 


37 


0\ZrrtyoO 


( 


tuxyi^ 


^cSi        C/e^     ^.fCvy^^rK^Z:: 


of  it,  but  /  will  look  after  her — /,  who  am  a  sensible,  old 
woman. 

We  eat  fruit  in  such  quantities  that  sometimes  we  are  not 
able  to  walk,  but  we  can't  get  so  very  much,  for  the  simple 
reason  that  there  are  so  few  ripe  ones  ;  we  only  eat  currants, 
and  those  are  most  wholesome,  aren't  they  ? 

Adieu,  kind  little  Aunty  !  Do  not  mind  my  having  written 
so  badly,  I  shall  write  better  another  time.  I  venture  to 
enclose  myself  in  Aunty's  friendship. 

Yours  truly  obliged, 

Jenny  Lind. 

Oh  !  how  beautifully  written  ! 


38  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  in. 

The  applause  of  the  last  phrase  refers  to  the  signature, 
a  facsimile  of  which  is  here  given,  that  we  may  all  enter 
into  her  hurst  of  enthusiasm  over  it.  The  tone  of  the 
letter  is  delicious, — simple,  gay,  and  tender.  They  must 
have  been  bright  days  out  of  which  such  words  came ; 
and  it  must  be  confessed,  we  fear,  that  some  of  the  bright- 
ness was  probably  left  behind  her,  on  the  day  when  she 
returned  to  her  own  mother's  house  on  the  1st  of  July. 
The  nature  of  the  return,  to  begin  with,  was  not  likely  to 
be  very  auspicious ;  and,  then,  there  was  the  partial  loss 
of  her  merry  companions.  However,  there  is  a  letter  from 
her  mother  to  Mr.  Lind,  wTitten  on  the  2nd  of  August, 
1836,  which  tells  of  Jenny's  intense  happiness:  "You 
may  imagine  how  Jenny  enjoys  herself  among  the  hay-stacks 
every  day.  Do  yoa  know,  the  child  enjoys  the  pleasure  of 
country-life  with  all  the  lively  brightness  of  innocence." 
"  And  she  has  with  her,  to  share  her  enjoyment,  Mina,  of 
whom  she  is  so  fond."  "It  is  a  treat  to  listen  to  their 
charming  little  duets  together,  which,  no  doubt,  one  day 
will  enchant  papa,  too."  At  the  close  of  the  letter  comes 
a  postscript :  "  Welcome  home,  sweet  papa,  and  do  take  care 
of  your  health ;  this  is  the  wish  of  your  faithful  daughter, 
Jenny."  This  is  all  happy,  enough :  and  there  must  have 
been  many  times  like  this,  in  which  all  went  smoothly,  and 
the  relations  of  the  household  were  free  and  affectionate. 

And,  in  the  mean  time,  too,  success  is  coming,  and  con- 
tinually growing,  to  enliven,  and  enhearten  the  days. 
Whatever  the  struggle,  and  trouble,  that  her  life  brought  in 
it,  certainly  of  one  grief,  which  is  apt  to  darken  the  days  af 
young  artists,  she  was  absolutely  free.  She  was  never 
troubled  by  a  lack  of  recognition.  From  her  earliest  child- 
hood, her  gifts  were  felt  to  be  surpassing ;  and  this  feeling 
never  flagged.  From  the  beginning  of  her  dramatic  career  to 
its  close,  it  is   one  unbroken  triumph;   and   she   had  this 


1830-36.]  PUPILAGE.  39 

sinoular  good  fortune  of  finding  her  way  to  the  exercise  of 
her  gifts,  before  a  sympathetic  public,  as  soon  as  she  had 
them  to  exercise.  We  shall  see,  in  the  next  chapter,  the 
way  in  which  this  happened,  and  the  direction  which  her 
success  took.  AVe  shall  see  that  this  risk  on  her  behalf, 
which  the  Theatre  Eoyal  ran,  and  to  which  we  have  ventured 
to  give  cordial  praise,  was  one  which  justified  itself,  by 
practical  results,  almost  as  soon  as  it  had  been  run.  The 
theatre  had  hardly  sown  before  it  found  itself  reaping.  The 
child,  whom  Count  Puke  thought  more  of  an  age  for  a 
Creche  than  a  Eoyal  Theatre,  was  already,  before  she 
was  in  her  teens,  bringing  grist  to  the  Eoyal  mill. 


'40  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  iv. 


CHAPTEE    lY. 

CAREEE, 

We  liave  seen  that  it  was  the  child's  musical  talent  that, 
first,  evoked  the  wonder  of  her  neighbours.     The  stupor  ot 
the  grandmother  at  the  baby's  fanfare  on  the  piano;  the 
amazement  of  the  passers-by  at  the  song  which  was  being 
confided  to   the  ears  of  the  patient  and  appreciative  cat ; 
the  tears  that  started  to  the  eyes  of  Croeiius — these  are  the 
earliest  signals  of  her  marvellous  gifts.    But  we,  now,  have  to 
recognise  a  new  characteristic,  which  was  almost  more  pheno- 
menal than  her   singing.     Indeed,  it  may  well  be  doubted 
whether,  during  her  first  ten  years  at  the   Eoyal  Theatre, 
it  did  not  surpass  her  voice  in  witnessing  to  the  presence  in 
her  of  a  unique  genius.     This  was  her  dramatic  power.     It 
was  through  the  marvellous  acting  which  she  combined  with 
her  singing,  that,  as  a  tiny  child,  she  won  her  first  triumph, 
and  fascinated  the  spectators :  and,  as  we  shall  learn  from 
the  deeply  interesting  account  of  the  development  of  her 
voice  given  to  this  volume  by  a  contemporary  critic,*  it 
was  not  her  vocal  power  alone  which,  at  her  earliest  operatic 
period,  would  account  for  her  overwhelming  attractiveness. 
Precocious  and  extraordinary  as  her  child-voice  had  been, 
both  in  versatility  and  in  tenderness,  yet  her  early  woman's 
voice  did  not  exhibit  or  develop  its  after-gifts  of  high  sonority 
until  after  her  return  from  the  Paris  training.     It  was  still 
thin,  and   veiled.      Eather,  at  that  time,  the  secret  of  her 

*  See  page  156. 


1830-37.]  CABEEB.  41 

success  lay  in  that  intense  and  irresistible  identification  of 
herself,  voice  and  all  with  her  part,  which  is  the  highest  proof 
of  dramatic  genius. 

In  later  years,  those,  who  heard  her  sing  in  Opera,  would 
often  say,  that  if  she  had  not  been  the  greatest  singer  in  the 
world,  she  would  have  been  the  greatest  actress.  And  we 
shall  see  the  evidence  for  the  truth  of  this  anticipation,. if  we 
glance  over  the  early  records  of  her  performance  at  the 
theatre ;  and  we  shall,  also,  understand  through  what  years 
of  actual  experience  it  was  that  she  had  obtained  that  thorough 
mastery  over  all  the  detail  and  method  of  the  stage,  which 
made  her  acting  so  consummate. 

The  long  list  of  her  performances,  kept  in  the  records  of 
the  Eoyal  Theatre,  reveal  to  us  that  already,  in  the  very  first 
year  of  her  admittance  to  the  school,  as  a  little  creature  of 
ten  years  old,  she  made  her  appearance  on  the  boards,  on 
November  29th,  1830,  in  a  play  called  The  Polish  Mine, 
described  as  a  "  Drama,  with  Dance " ;  and  in  which  she 
played  the  part  of  "  Angela."  "  Angela  "  is  a  little  girl  of 
seven,  who  has  been  carried  off  to  a  wild  castle  in  the  hills 
by  a  tyrant  lord,  to  amuse  and  cheer  her  mother,  whom  he 
has  seized  and  shut  up  as  his  prisoner.  The  child  is  to  amuse 
the  company  at  a  grand  fete  in  tlie  castle,  and  contrives, 
in  an  improvised  dance,  to  convey  to  her  mother  comfort  and 
affection.  But,  on  recognising  her  father  disguised  among 
the  guests,  in  pursuit  of  his  wife,  a  cry  of  surprise  escapes 
her ;  the  father  is  detected,  and  all  three,  father,  mother,  and 
child,  are  thrown  into  prison  in  the  Mine.  There  little 
Angela  succeeds  in  getting  hold  of  the  warder's  key  while  he 
is  speaking  with  her  mother,  and  in  opening  the  barrier 
without  being  discovered.  The  father  and  mother  are  thus 
enabled  to  meet,  and  to  fly,  with  their  cliild,  from  the  Polish 
Mine ;  after  a  series  of  exciting  adventures,  they  make  good 
their  escape ;  all  is  made  right.     It  is  a  part  full  of  occasions 


42  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  iv. 

for  the  brilliant  little  dancer,  whose  ingenuity  and  skill  are 
the  key  to  the  plot.  The  play  was  repeated  five  times  in  the 
December,  and  twice  more  in  the  January,  following.  On 
March  18th,  1831,  she  made  her  first  appearance  in  the  play 
that  is  noticed  in  the  newspaper  quoted  below ;  it  was  called 
'  Testamentet,  a  Drama,'  in  which  her  part  was  that  of 
"Johanna."  She  appeared,  in  this  character,  for  the  third 
time  on  April  14th,  1832,  and  on  the  24th  April,  1832,  we 
have  the  following  notice  of  her  appearance  in  a  periodical 
for  literature  and  art,  called  Heimdall,  which  signalises  the 
extraordinary  significance  of  her  child-efforts.  The  paper 
begins  by  an  apology  for  not  having,  long  ago,  put  on  record 
the  wonder  that  had  already  for  some  time  been  aroused. 
"We  take  this  opportunity,"  it  writes,  "  of  performing  a 
long-neglected  duty — that  of  calling  attention  to  a  young 
pupil  of  the  theatre,  Jenny  Lind,  only  ten  or  eleven  years  of 
age,  who  has,  several  times  appeared  in  the  play  Testamentet 
which  preceded  Fidelio.  She  shows,  in  her  acting,  a  quick 
perception,  a  fire  and  feeling,  far  beyond  her  years,  which 
seem  to  denote  an  uncommon  disposition  for  the  theatre." 

This  play  The  Will  is  a  charming  piece  by  Kotzebue; 
and  the  part  taken  by  Jenny  is  one  which  would  give 
delicious  opportunities  to  her  arch  and  winning  grace.  It 
is  impossible,  as  one  reads  the  part,  not  to  picture  her  every 
look  and  gesture,  so  admirably  is  it  suited  to  qualities  in 
her  which  were  vividly  present  to  the  very  last.  We 
venture  to  extract  a  scene  from  it.  The  plot  turns  on  an 
old  Colonel  wounded  in  the  wars,  who  has  been  carried, 
unknown  to  himself,  to  the  house  of  a  daughter  whom  he 
had  utterly  cast  off  for  a  marriage  of  which  he  disapproved. 
He  is  full  of  gratitude  for  the  care  with  which  he  has  been 
nursed.  His  heart  is  stirred  with  a  longing  for  home  :  he  is 
longing  to  leave  his  fortune  to  his  kind  nurses ;  but  the 
daughter,  who  has  recognised  him,  keeps  ever  out  of  sight ; 


1830-37.]  CAREER.     •  43 

and  he  only  sees  her  two  children,  Henriette  and  Johanna. 
Henriette,  the  eldest,  having  been  told  by  her  mother  who 
this  old  man  is,  has  been  singing  him  a  song  wdiich  he  had 
loved  in  long-past  days,  "  0  sweet,  and  holy  Nature  !  "  He 
has  broken  down  under  the  strain  of  bitter  memories :  and 
he  has  to  beg  her  to  cease  singing,  and  to  send  him  her  little 
sister,  for  "  the  gracious  child  knows  so  well  how  to  charm 
away  all  bitterness."  After  a  sad  monologue,  bewailing  the 
loneliness  in  which  he  is  drawing  near  to  that  last  hour, 
when  there  will  be  no  one  ever  to  say  over  him,  "  Here  lies 
a  brave  man  in  peace ! "  Johanna  (Jenny)  comes  springing 
into  the  room,  saying : — 

"  Good  morning,  dear  old  Colonel ! — '  Mister  Colonel,'  I 
ought  to  have  said  !     My  mother  scolds  me,  if  I  don't !  " 

"  Col.  Good  morning,  little  Jacky !  Come,  and  be  merry 
with  me !  Do  some  of  those  funny  tricks,  that  you  are  so 
fond  of !  And  call  me  '  Colonel,'  plain  and  simple,  please  ! — 
Or,  what  do  you  think  of  calling  me  'Papa'  ? 

"  JOH.  Papa  ?  Oh  !  that  I  could  never  do  !  My  papa  is 
in  the  picture  upstairs,  and  he  is  so  beautiful,  and  young, 
and  kindly 

"Col.  Well,  I  own  I  am  not  young  and  beautiful:  but 
kindly ! — that  I  am,  indeed  !     Don't  you  believe  it  ? 

"  JoH.  Oh  yes  !  very  often  you  are  ! 

"Col.  You  must  remember  how  ill  I  was:  sick  people 
cannot  be  very  kind  to  others :  but  now,  you  shall  always 
find  me  bright  and  good,  right  until  I  go  away. 

"  JoH.  What  ?     Must  you  go  away  from  us  ? 

"  CoL.  Certainly  :  in  a  few  days. 

"  JoH.  Are  you  in  earnest  ? 

"  CoL.  I  am,  indeed. 

"  JoH.  Oh  !  don't  go  away  from  us  !  We  all  love  you  so 
dearly  ! 

"  CoL.  Do  you  love  me  ? 

"  JoH.  Oh  !  yes!  At  first,  you  know,  I  was  very  frightened 
of  you  ;  but  now — not  a  bit ! 

"  CoL.  And  how  did  you  get  over  your  fright  ? 

"  JoH.  Why,  because  when  you  are  as  kind  as  you  were, 
no  one  could  help  being  fond  of  you.  And  when  you  are 
dull,  and  cross,  then  I  just  take  myself  off. 


M  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  iv. 

"  Col.  Ah  !  then,  to-day,  my  Jacky  will  not  take  herself 
off,  will  she  ? 

"  JoH.  Yes,  I  will,  if  you  ever  again  call  me  '  Jacky ' ! 
that  is  a  dreadful  name  ! 

"  Col.  Why  dreadful  ? 

"  JoH.  I  don't  know.  But  there  are  such  lovely  names  in 
the  books  which  my  sister  reads ;  and  specially  nice  English 
names,  like  Liddy,  and  Betty,  and  Arabella  !  Oh !  if  only 
they  had  asked  me  before  I  was  baptized,  I  would  have 
chosen  the  very  loveliest  of  them  all ! 

"  CoL.  It  was,  really,  a  great  shame  that  they  did  not  ask 
you. 

•''  JoH.  My  mother  says,  that  she  only  had  two  names  to 
give  to  her  daughters,  because  my  grandfather  had  but  two 
names,  John,  and  Henry  ! 

"  CoL.  John  Henry  !     Why,  those  are  my  names,  too  ! 

"JoH.  Once  I  cried  over  the  stupid  name,  Jacky.  But, 
then,  my  mother  began  to  cry,  too,  and  she  said :  '  Dearest 
child,  you  bear  a  name  which  reminds  me  of  a  noble  man  !  ' 
Now,  I  don't  know  at  all  why  I  should  remind  her  of  him. 
But  then  mother  began  to  cry ;  so,  you  see,  since  then,  I 
don't  take  any  notice  of  it ! 

"  Col.  Well,  let  me  try  and  teach  you  why  you  have  the 
name.  I  am  too  old,  you  say,  to  be  your  father,  so  will  you 
try  to  think  that  I  am  your  dear  old  grandfather,  John 
Henry  ? 

"  JoH.  Yes  !  All  right !  But  then,  you  know,  you  must 
never  go  away ! 

"  Col.  Or  will  you  come  with  me,  when  I  go  ? 

"  JoH.  Away  from  mother  ?  Oh !  what  a  horrid  thing 
to  do  ! 

"  Col.  Well,  but,  some  day,  you  will  have  to  leave  her, 
when  you  go  to  be  married. 

"  JoH.  Ah !  yes  !  when  I  am  married !  I  say  !  have  you 
got  a  son  ? 

"CoL.  Why? 

"  JoH.  Why,  because,  if  he  is  nice,  I  would  marry  him 
and,  then,  we  might  all  stop  together. 

"  Col.  No,  Jacky !     I  have  no  son — no  child  at  all ! 

"  JoH.  Poor  old  man  ! 

"  Col.  (sighing).  Yes,  indeed  ! 

"  Jon.  It's  a  shame  !  A  horrible  shame  !  I  should  have 
been  so  glad  to  have  married  your  son ! 


1830-37.]  CAEEER.  45 

"  Col.  "VYhy  so  glad  ? 

"  JoH.  Wliy,  because  you  are  ricli ;  and,  then,  I  should  be 
rich ;  and  I  could  help  my  sister  ! 

"  Col.  What  is  there  that  she  needs  ? 

"  JoH.  I'll  tell  you.  Only,  you  must  promise  never  to 
betray  me ! 

"  Col,  I  promise  faithfully. 

"JoH.  Well,  you  know,  she  loves  the  head-ranger,  and 
the  head-ranger  loves  her ;  and  my  mother  says  that  it  is  all 
right :  she  often  says,  '  It  would  be  the  joy  of  my  old  age  ! ' 
But  he  has  nothing,  and  we  have  nothing :  so  nothing  can 
be  done. 

"  Col.  Dear  me  !     Is  that  how  it  stands  ? 

"  JoH.  Ah  1  if  only  I  could  manage  that  mother  should  be 
able  to  say  to  me  '  You  are  the  joy  of  my  old  age  ! '  That 
would  be  lovely !  I  declare  that  if  only  I  could  do  that,  I 
would  not  mind  calling  all  my  own  cliildren,  '  Jacky  ! ' 


"  Col.  Listen  to  me,  dear  child !  I  have  an  idea.  If  it 
was  in  your  power  to  make  your  sister  rich  enough  to  marry 
the  head-ranger,  would  you  not  do  it  ? 

"  JoH.  Of  course  I  should ! 

"  CoL.  Well,  then,  you  can  do  it. 

"  JoH.  You  are  only  laughing  at  me  ? 

'*  CoL.  No  !  I  promise  you  !  Come  away  with  me ;  be  my 
little  daughter ;  and  I  will  give  your  mother  enough  money 
to  buy  this  joy  for  her  old  age ! 

"  JoH.  Oh  !  that's  very  hard  I   Where  shall  we  have  to  go  ? 

"  CoL.  Far,  far  away  from  here. 

"  JoH.  Oh  dear  !  and  shall  I  never  see  my  mother  again  ? 

"  Col.  Oh  yes !  I  shall  let  you  have  a  beautiful  carriage 
with  four  beautiful  horses,  and  you  will  jump  into  it,  and 
cry  '  Coachman,  drive  me  quick  to  mamma ! ' 

"  JoH.  Will  you  really  give  me  that  ? 

"  Col.  I  promise  it. 

"  JoH.  And  I  shall,  then,  bring  joy  to  my  mother's 
old  age ! 

"  Col.  Yes,  you  alone  !  of  your  own  seK ! 

"  JoH.  Come  along,  you  dear  old  Colonel ;  I  will  be  your 
daughter. 

"  Col.  Away  we'U  go,  my  Jacky  !  Only  wait  a  minute ! 
I  must  go  and  arrange  things.     {Goes  out). 


46  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  iv. 

"  JoH.  {alone).  Oil !  How  happy  mother  will  be  !  and  my 
dear  sister  !  and  the  head-ranger !  And  it  shall  be  a  splendid 
wedding !  and  we  will  have  the  musicians  to  play  !  Oh  yes  ! 
we  must  have  musicians  !  My  old  man  must  not  refuse  me 
that,  or  else  I  won't  go  with  him  !  Oh  dear  !  I  wish  I  was 
not  going !  I  shall  cry  so ;  and  the  others  will  cry  too  ;  for 
they''  all* love  me ! — Ah !  but  then  just  think  what  it  will 
be  when  I  come  back  in  the  beautiful  carriage  with  four 
horses;  and  say  'Coachman,  drive  me  home!'  and  away 
we  go,  over  stock  and  stone,  until  we  draw  up  here  at 
our  ''own  house,  prr !  prr ;  and  mother  will  put  out  her 
head  at  the  window;  and  cry  '  Jacky  is  come!  Jacky  is 
come  ! 

Such  was  the  delightful  part  played  by  the  tiny  little  girl 
of  ten  years  old.  Every  word  in  it  would  suit  her — the 
merry  quickness  of  the  cliild,  the  sudden  turns  from  gaiety 
to  tears,  and  back  again  to  gaiety,  the  mysterious  con- 
fidences, the  prattling  innocence,  the  brimming  affection. 
In  all  this  she  would  instinctively  revel.  It  will  be  seen 
that  the  part  gave  great  scope  for  versatile  acting ;  and  no 
wonder  that  the  Heimdcdl  was  fascinated. 

In  the  year  preceding  this  notice,  1831,  she  had  played,  for 
three  nights,  in  what  is  called  by  the  serious  name  of  "  an 
historic  drama  " — Johanna  cle  Montfaiicon,  in  which  she  took 
the  part  of  "  Otto " ;  and,  besides  this,  had  appeared  five 
times  as  "  Jeannette,"  in  a  "  Comedy,  with  Dance,"  called 
the  Paslm  of  Suresnc.  During  the  following  year,  1833,  she 
appeared  in  twenty-two  performances — her  new  characters 
being  "  Louise  "  in  a  bagatelle  in  one  act,  called  Tlic  Students 
of  Smaland,  and  "  Georgette,"  in  a  drama  of  five  acts,  called 
Thirty  Years  of  a  GamUer's  Life,  which  ran  for  ten  nights 
during  November  and  December ;  and  was  constantly  repeated 
in  1834.  This  early  brilliaocy  w^as  apparently  at  its  very 
height  in  1834 — when,  on  June  24th  of  that  year,  a  paper. 
The  Daihj  Allchanda  seems  quite  bewildered  by  the  child's 
extraordinary  power.     "  In  the  play  known  in  its.  French 


1830-37.]  CAREER.  47 

form  as  La  fausse  Agnes"  (so  it  writes)  "there  is  a  child's 
part  which  is  rendered  with  an  almost  incomprehensible,  a 
really  unnatural  cleverness,  by  Jenny  Lind."  This  cleverness 
must  indeed  have  been  almost  incomprehensible :  for  it  leads 
the  critic  to  indulge  in  an  anxious  complaint  that  the  little 
girl's  "  temperament  seems  readily  to  lean  to  everything  that 
is  not  of  a  serious  character."  So  absolutely  had  she  dis- 
guised herself  by  the  freedom  with  which  she  had  thrown 
herself  into  her  part !  All  that  deep  impressive  seriousness, 
which  was  the  innermost  note  of  her  being,  had  absolutely 
vanished  out  of  sight ;  and  the  paper  feared  for  her  light- 
headed frivolity !  Yet,  in  calling,  as  it  does,  upon  Jenny's 
instructors  and  guardians  to  see  to  it  that  the  danger  be 
averted,  and  that  "her  happy  natural  gifts,  high-spirited  as 
they  are,  should  be  carefully  and  judiciously  dealt  with," 
the  Daily  Allchanda  was  giving  proof  of  a  tender  and  noble 
solicitude  for  the  good  guidance  of  the  child.  And  it  does 
more.  For  it  goes  on  to  complain  of  the  immoral  character 
of  this  play,  in  which  she  was  allowed  to  appear ;  it  speaks 
strongly  of  the  deep  ethical  corruption  of  the  society  which 
it  portrayed,  and  of  the  responsibility  incurred  by  those 
who  permitted  a  child  to  put  out  her  powers  in  a  part  so 
full  of  "  coquetry,  boldness,  and  heartlessness."  It  does 
honour  to  the  press  of  Stockholm  that  it  should  have  made 
this  protest.  As  we  read  it,  we  shudder  at  the  terrible 
perils  which  were  swarming  round  the  child.  Here  was  a 
case  in  which  her  very  innocence  of  evil,  at  that  tender 
age,  allowed  her  to  revel  in  the  fun  and  the  audacity  of  such 
a  character,  without  any  of  the  checks  which  a  know- 
ledge of  the  \'illainy  in  it  would  have  suggested  to  a  pure 
mind.  Her  very  innocence  is  used  to  encourage  her  to 
abandon  herself  to  the  fling  and  swing  of  the  scandalous 
play.  So  perilous  was  her  path !  Yet  along  it  she  moves, 
untainted  and  unhurt,  in  the  security  of  the  pure  in  heart, 


48  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  iv. 

with  sucli  sure  feet  as  those  with  which,  on  Eaphael's 
canvas,  St.  Margaret  passes,  without  an  effort,  or  a  fear,  in 
maiden  gentleness,  over  tlie  writhing  Dragon  and  through 
the  gate  of  Hell. 

It  is  not  to  the  credit  of  the  Directors,  that  they  let  her 
appear  in  two  more  performances  of  this  abominable  play,  in 
the  year  after  the  protest  had  been  made.     The  play,  itself, 
was  a  sign  of  the  French  influence,  which  began   to  make 
itself  felt   in    Sweden   during    the  reign  of  Adolf  Fredrik 
(1751-1771),  mainly  owing  to  the  sway  exercised  by  the 
France  of  the  Grand  Monarque  over  civUised  Europe ;  and 
wliich  culminated,  under  Court  pressure,  during  the  reign  of 
his  son,  Gustaf  III.,  who  was,  for  political  reasons,  murdered 
at  a  Fancy  Ball  in  1792.     Since  then,  the  national  literature 
has   gradually   thrown    off   this  malign   shadow;    and   has 
recovered   its   own   native   inspiration.      But,  in  1830,  the 
older  atmosphere,  with  its  corruption,  still  widely  pervaded 
the  Swedish  theatre. 

She  appeared,  altogether,  twenty-two  times  in  1834,  and 
twenty-six  times  in  1835 — the  principal  new  character  being 
"  Pierrette,"  in  a  drama  from  the  French  in  three  acts,  called 
Tlie  Foster-Son,  which  ran  for  thirteen  nights  in  the  course 
of  the  year  ;  and  "  Leonora  "  in  a  vaudeville,  with  music  by 
Berwald,  called  The  New  Garrison. 

In  several  of  these  plays,  there  seems  to  have  been  music 
and  dancing;  possibly,  too,  some  singing  from  Jenny.  At 
any  rate,  she  sang  publicly  at  some  concerts  in  the  theatre, 
during  these  years ;  taking  part  in  a  duet  from  La  Straniera, 
with  her  master  HerrBerg,  on  November  24th,  1832;  and  in 
a  trio,  on  November  28th,  1835.  And  long  before  this  there 
appear  to  have  been  performances  given,  in  private  rooms,  by 
Herr  Berg,  in  which  to  exhibit  her  phenomenal  talent,  the 
news  of  which  spread  abroad :  for,  in  the  Heimdall,  the 
periodical  from  which  we  have  already  quoted  a  description 


1830-37.]  CAREEB.     .  49 

of  her  acting,  there   is   the  following  record  given,  in  its 
number  for  April  24th,  1832  :— 

"Her  {i.e.  Jenny's)  remarkable  musical  gift,  and  its 
precocious  development,  have  made  quite  a  sensation  in  the 
circle  in  which  she  has  appeared,  guided  by  her  master,  Herr 
Berg.  Her  memory  is  as  perfect  as  it  is  sure ;  her  receptive 
powers  as  quick  as  they  are  profound.  Every  one  is,  thus, 
both  astonished,  and  moved,  by  her  singing.  She  can  stand 
a  trial,  in  the  most  difficult  solfeggi,  and  the  most  intricate 
phrases,  without  being  bewildered ;  and  whatever  turn  the 
'  improvisation '  of  her  master  may  take,  she  follows  his 
indications  with  the  liveliest  attention,  as  if  they  were  her 
own.  Nothing  can  be  more  interesting  than  to  listen  to  Herr 
Berg  with  this  little  pupil  by  his  side ;  and  one  is  tempted  to 
believe  iu  a  magnetic  '  rapport '  between  them,  so  entirely  do 
both  seem  to  be  one  soul  and  one  lieart. 

"  If  this  young  genius  does  not  ripen  too  prematurely, 
there  is  every  reason  for  expecting  to  find  in  her — although 
alas  !  not  until  the  distant  future — an  operatic  artist  of  high 
rank." 

This  is  a  fascinating  little  glimpse  of  the  child  of  twelve,, 
absorbed  in  her  teacher,  miraculously  interpreting  and 
reproducing  his  mind.  It  is  an  omen  of  the  receptive  speed,, 
with  which  she,  afterwards,  absorbed,  in  a  short  ten  months, 
everything  which  Garcia  had  to  teach  her.  Her  innate 
originality  of  character  did  not  at  all  stand  in  the  way  of 
her  rapid  assimilation  as  a  pupil.  Her  musical  genius  carried 
her  into  the  very  heart  of  what  was  set  before  it,  with  extra- 
ordinary rapidity  of  insight.  We  shall  find  many  instances 
of  this.  And,  here,  it  leads  us  to  dwell,  for  a  few  moments, 
on  the  name  of  this,  her  early  master. 

Berg  had  succeeded  Croelius,  as  Head  of  the  School  of 
Singing,  within  a  year,  or  so,  after  her  entry  at  the  theatre. 
Already,  in  April,  '32,  he  had  made  the  child  entirely  his 
own,  in  the  manner  described  in  the  periodical.  Croelius 
had  the  merit  of  first  believing  in  her ;  but  it  is  Berg,  who 
is  to  be  credited  with  her  entire  training  for  the  Swedish 

VOL.  I.  E 


50  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  iv. 

stage.  It  was  out  of  delicacy  for  Berg,  tliat  good  old  Croelius 
forebore  from  pressing  his  claims  upon  her  grateful  remem- 
brance, in  the  beautiful  letter  to  her  which  was  given  at  the 
close  of  Chapter  II.  He,  evidently,  took  the  most  intense 
and  devoted  interest  in  her  from  the  very  first;  and  she 
became  the  intimate  friend  of  his  home.  He  was  a  clever 
and  cultivated  musician,  confident,  sanguine,  and  eager ;  well 
considered  in  Stockholm  society.  How  far  he  succeeded, 
and  how  far  he  failed,  in  developing  her  full  powers  of 
song,  we  shall  be  better  able  to  judge  when  we  have 
seen  her  pass  from  out  of  his  hands  into  those  of  the 
great  Parisian  master,  whose  help  she  afterwards  sought. 
At  least,  we  can  say  this — that  Berg,  to  his  infinite  credit, 
never  appears  to  have  shown  himself  wounded  at  the 
prompt  reversal  of  method,  which  took  place  as  soon  as  she 
had  passed  under  the  new  training.  He  neither  seems 
to  have  been  irritated  at  her  resolution  to  seek  further 
instruction  elsewhere ;  nor  do  we  hear  of  his  being  slow  to 
recognise  the  immense  improvement  which  was  the  result. 
He  remains  always  her  devoted  admirer ;  and  she  is  ever 
drawn  towards  him  by  strong  affection.  Their  relations  keep 
warm  and  intimate  to  the  very  end.  It  is  he  who,  by  her 
desire,  accompanies  her  long  afterwards  to  England,  in  1848. 
It  is  his  deep  personal  influence  on  which  the  King  of 
Sweden  relied,  when  he  sent  liim  to  Liibeck,  in  1849, 
to  try  to  persuade  her,  if  possible,  to  sing  yet  again  in 
opera,  at  Stockholm.  Her  own  feelings  towards  her  first 
teacher  cannot  be  better  expressed  than  in  the  words  which 
she  wrote  at  that  time  to  her  guardian.  Judge  ]\Imithe,  in 
November,  1849.*  "Herr  Berg  arrived  so  unexpectedly! 
I  was   delighted  to  see  him  !     Oh !   God !    those  memories 

*  This  letter,  together  with  all  the  others  addressed  to  Judge  Munthe 
which  are  made  use  of  in  this  book,  have  been  kindly  supplied  by  Judge 
Carl  Munthe,  his  son. 


1830-37.]  CAREER.  51 

of  childhood !  At  this  unexpected  meeting  with  him, 
remembrances  of  all  kinds  from  my  early  years  arose  in 
my  soul !  We  all,  indeed,  have  our  shortcomings,  that  is 
certain — therefore,  let  us  cover  them  over !  Herr  Berg  is 
one  of  my  nearest  friends ;  and  gratitude  is  a  feehng  that 
I  love,  and  desire  to  cultivate.  .  .  .  And  old  friend  Berg  is 
interwoven  with  the  history  of  my  whole  life." 

Such,  then,  was  her  master ;  alert,  talkative,  confident,  with 
a  quick-eyed  face,  not  unlike  Schubert  in  type ;  too  pressing, 
perhaps,  in  his  zeal  for  his  pupil,  to  estimate  the  overstrain 
on  her  powers — an  overstrain,  forced  on,  no  doubt,  by 
theatrical  necessities  behind  him,  but  constantly  noticed  and 
feared  by  the  Press  of  the  day. 

In  1836,  there  is  no  record  of  Jenny  Lind  appearing  at 
any  concert;  but  her  dramatic  engagements  continue,  and 
some  of  them,  with  music,  and  singing.  And,  especially  is 
to  be  noted  her  first  attempt  in  an  Opera,  during  the  month 
of  February,  when  she  played  "  Georgette,"  for  four  nights,  in 
a  "grand  opera,"  by  Lindblad,  called  Frondorerne.  Long 
afterwards,  in  1860,  he  sent  her  the  piano-score  of  this,  liis 
only  Opera,  then  newly  published,  and  wrote  on  the  fly-leaf, 
"  not  even  yoiir  singing  could  save  it !  "  But,  on  its  revival 
in  the  same  year,  it  met  with  warm  appreciation,  and  Geijer 
refers  to  it  in  glowing  terms.* 

Apart  from  this,  the  year  was  not  specially  signalised ;  she 
made  rather  fewer  appearances,  only  eighteen  during  the 
year,  her  new  parts  being  "  Emilie "  in  a  comedy  with  song 
from  the  German  called  Tlie  New  Bluc-Bcard — and  "Carolina," 
in  a  big  drama  in  five  acts,  of  Kotzebue's — called  Tlie  Un- 
hnmvnSon.  She  sang  again  in  the  popular  vaudeville,  Tlic 
Nevj  Garrison,  which  had  for  its  second  title  Seven  Girls  in 
Uniform;  and  just  at  the  close  of  December,  she  took  the 
part  of  a  girl  in  Sacchini's   opera  CEdipus  in  Athens — the 

*  Collected  Works,  vol.  viii.,  Ed.  1873-75. 

E    2 


52  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  iv, 

masterpiece  of  that  composer,  which  retained  its  popularity 
at  the  Paris  Academy  right  down  even  to  1844.  It  depends 
for  its  effect  mainly  on  its  use  of  the  chorus.  It  was  given 
only  once,  in  this  December  at  Stockholm,  perhaps  for  some 
special  occasion. 

The  1st  of  January,  1837,  marks  a  new  departure.   Accord- 
ing to  the  contract  of  1833,  with  the  mother,  the  Directors 
were  to  decide  at  what  date  Jenny  Lind  should  be  given  a 
fixed  salary,  as  actress  at  the  Eoyal  Theatre.      Hitherto  the 
money   paid   her    by   the   Directors,   has   been   simply   an 
arrangement   for  her   keep;    she   has   performed,  on   their 
behalf,  under  this   arrangement  one  hundred    and  eleven 
times,  besides  her  appearances  at  concerts.     It  is  now  con- 
sidered time  to  give  her  a  fixed  and  salaried  position,  after 
which  she  is  still  bound,  by  the  original  contract,  to  be  in 
the  service  of  the  Dii-ectors  for  ten  years,  if  they  require  it 
of  her.    Her  salary  is  fixed  at  700  E.  D.  Banco  ;  about  £60  a 
year.*     And,  certainly,  she  was  to  do  a  lot  of  work,  in  the 
course  of  the  year,  in  discharge  of  her  obligations  under  the 
bond.     She  appeared  ninety-two  times  on  the  boards ;   in 
twelve  new  characters.     Four  of  the  pieces  were  produced  for 
the  first  time  in  Stockholm.      The  parts  varied  greatly  in 
character:  "Betty,"  in   a   drama,  with  music,   chorus   and 
dancing,  called   Jenny  Mortimer ;  "  Zoe,"  in   a   comedy   of 
that  name,   by   Scribe ;    and  "  Marie,"   in   another  of  his 
comedies  called  Adele  dc  Senanges ;  "  Justine,"  in  a  verse- 
comedy  of  five  acts,  from  the  French,  called  TJie  Jccdous  Wife  ; 
"  Lovisa,"  in   a   burlesque  comedy,   with   song,   by   Nicolo 
Isouard,  called  Tlie  Ludicrous  Eneounter  ;  "  Eosa,"  in  a  two- 
act  comedy  by  the  Princess  Amelia  of  Saxony,  called  The 
Bride  of  the  Capital;  "Erik,"  a  boy's  part  in  a  drama,  with 

*  In  estimating  these  figures  concerning  her  fixed  salary,  it  must  be 
remembered  that  there  was,  besides,  "Play-money,"  i.e.  a  bonus  given 
on  each  appearance. 


1830-37.]  CAREER.  53 

music  and  dancing,  called  Tlie  Fisherman ;  "  Laura,"  in  The 
Sentinel,  a  comic  Opera  by  Pdfaut ;  "  Fanny,"  in  Marie  dc 
Sivry,  a  drama  in  three  acts.  Here  was  a  great  deal  of  bright 
and  light  business ;  and  besides  this,  there  was  work  of  a 
more  serious  kind :  "  Emma,"  in  a  three-act  tragedy  in  verse, 
by  Delavigne,  called  The  Sons  of  King  Edward ;  "  Clara,"  in 
The  Bride  of  the  Tomh,  an  historical  drama  in  five  acts,  which 
ran  for  eight  nights  on  end;  "Dafne,"  in  Victor  Hugo's 
Angela  Mcdijjieri  ;  and  "  Fraulein  Neubrunn,"  in  Tlie  Death  of 
Wcdlenstein.  Two  performances  were  given  of  Mozart's 
Zauherfldte,  in  which  she  sang  as  "  Second  Genius." 

Evidently,  she  had  a  wide  range  of  characters ;  and  she 
must  have  accumulated  a  mass  of  dramatic  experience.  It 
%vill  be  noticed  that  this  is  all  in  her  sixteenth  and  seven- 
teenth years ;  and  tliis  disposes  of  a  familiar  rumour  that,  at 
that  period,  her  voice  entirely  failed,  and  that  she  had  to  lie 
by.  There  was  no  positive  pause  in  her  work.  The  year  1836 
was,  no  doubt,  one  in  which  she  did  least ;  but,  then,  it  was 
the  very  year  in  which  she  first  used  her  voice  in  a  grand 
opera.  The  year  1837  was,  as  we  see,  a  time  of  growing,  and 
incessant  work,  and  is  the  first  year  of  her  official  engage- 
ment. The  rumour  arose  from  her  own  pronounced  opinion 
that  it  is  a  time  at  which  a  girl's  voice  absolutely  requires 
rest ;  to  wliich  opinion  she  had  been  brought  by  her  bitter 
experience  of  the  damage  done  to  her  own  vocal  organs  by 
the  absence  of  this  needful  relaxation.  Her  voice  was 
terribly  tried  by  the  exertions  of  that  particular  time,  which 
made  demands  upon  it  just  when  it  was  not  in  a  fit  condition 
to  respond.  It  was  no  peculiarity  of  her  own  voice  wliich 
was  in  question ;  it  was  the  normal  conditions  under  which 
all  voices  develop  into  their  final  state.  She  ought  to  have 
had  the  repose  for  quiet  and  orderly  growth,  which  all  need, 
and  wliich  she  was  not  allowed. 

Before  1837  quite  closed,  a  noticeable  event  took  place, 


54  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  iv. 

full  of  prophetic  meaning,  to  our  heroine.  A  new  name  is 
becoming  important  in  the  operatic  world, — the  name  of 
Meyerbeer ;  liis  fame  stands  high  in  Berlin  and  Paris ;  and 
the  Eoyal  Theatre  is  anxious  to  test  the  prospects  of  his 
popularity  in  Stockholm.  So  a  concert  is  arranged,  in  which 
a  part  of  the  fourth  act  of  Bobert  de  Normandie  should  be 
tentatively  given.  Oddly  enough  the  part  of  the  Opera 
selected  for  the  experiment  was  one  that  is  not  generally 
given  when  the  work  is  performed  as  a  whole.  It  is  the 
scene  in  which,  after  a  chorus  of  women,  the  Princess  Isabella 
recognises  the  face  of  the  girl,  Alice,  as  she  enters ;  and 
learns  from  her  what  she  bears  to  Eoberto  from  his  mother. 
Four  performances  of  this  excerpt  were  given  in  the  course 
of  that  December ;  and  Jenny  Lind  was  chosen  to  sing  the 
short  passage  in  which  "  Alice  "  appears.  There  is  a  melo- 
dious phrase,  twice  repeated,  in  the  recitative,  and  a  pathetic 
cadence  at  its  close.  The  tradition  still  lives  of  the  instan- 
taneous effect  produced  by  her  on  those  who  heard  it.  It 
was  a  short  flight ;  she  just  felt  her  wings  ;  she  was  to  hear 
much  more  of  Meyerbeer,  and  of  "  Alice."  For  the  moment 
all  is  still  again.  It  is  but  a  passing  trial.  We  must  wait 
a  little  longer. 


(     55     ) 


CHAPTER  V. 

DISCOVERY. 

Yet  it  is  to  be  but  a  very  little  longer ;  for  we  now 
come  to  the  year  which  was,  to  her,  the  epoch,  the 
turning-point  of  her  career.  It  had  opened  with  an 
immense  run,  for  twenty-two  nights,  all  through  January  and 
February,  of  a  French  melodrama  in  two  acts,  The  American 
3Ionkey,  in  which  she  played  "  Hyacinthe."  Then  followed 
three  performances  of  the  serious  tragedy,  in  verse,  Tlie  Sons 
of  King  Edicard.  And,  then,  on  the  night  of  March  7th, 
came  the  moment  of  moments.  "I  got  up,  that  morning, 
one  creature : "  she  herself  often  said  ;  "  I  went  to  bed  another 
creature.  I  had  found  my  power  ! "  And,  all  through  her 
life,  she  kept  the  7th  of  March,  with  a  religious  solemnity ; 
she  would  ask  to  have  herself  remembered  on  it  with 
prayers ;  she  treated  it  as  a  second  birth-day.  And  rightly  ; 
for,  on  that  day,  she  woke  to  herself ;  she  became  artistically 
alive  ;  she  felt  the  inspiration,  and  won  the  sway,  which  she 
now  knew  it  was  given  her,  to  have  and  to  hold. 

She  achieved  this  in  the  character  of  "  Agatha  "  in  Weber's 
FreiscMltz. 

She  used  often  to  tell  how,  in  studying  this  part  in 
preparation  for  her  dehut,  with  Madame  Erikson,  one  of 
the  chief  leaders  and  teachers  in  the  school,  of  whom 
she  was  very  fond,  and  who  did  much  for  her,  she,  one  day 
when  they  two  were  alone,  was  seized  with  a  desire  to  satisfy 
her  teacher,  and  put  her  whole  soul  and  power  into   her 


56  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  v. 

portrayal  of  the  character — only  to  be  met  with  dead  silence. 
"  Am  I,  then,  so  incapable  and  so  stupid  ? "  she  thought,  till 
she  saw  the  tears  trickling  down  her  teacher's  face ;  and  all 
Madame  Erikson  could  say  was,  "  My  child,  I  have  nothing 
to  teach  you  ;  do  as  nature  tells  you !  " 

The  day  of  her  dehut  was  an  agony ;  but,  with  her  first 
note,  she  felt  all  fear  and  nervousness  disappear.  She  had 
discovered  herself ;  and,  certainly,  the  discovery  was  absolute. 
The  experience  of  that  night  was  final.  "  She  had  found  her 
power."  That  is  her  own  record  of  what  happened  on  that 
evening.  We  know  not  all  the  details ;  but,  evidently,  the 
expression  signifies,  not  merely  that  she  had  the  witness  in 
herself  to  her  own  capacity,  but  that  she  received  proof,  from 
without,  of  the  mastery  she  could  exercise  over  others.  She 
who  was  perfectly  accustomed  to  a  public  audience,  and  to 
the  applause  of  a  public  audience ;  she  who  had,  already,  for 
years,  won  her  steady  successes ;  she,  who  had  already  charmed, 
and  astonished,  and  excited ;  still,  felt  that  all  this  success 
had  never  shown  her  the  real  potency  which  it  was  in  her  to 
wield.  Still,  for  her,  that  7th  of  March,  was  a  disclosure,  a 
revelation,  a  new  thintr.  It  was  not  so  much  a  better  edition 
of  that  which  had  preceded  it.  It  was  a  step  out  into  a  new 
world  of  dominion.  Something  happened  that  night  which 
had  never  happened  before.  She  knew,  at  last,  where  it 
was  that  she  stood ;  and  what  she  was  to  do  on  the  earth. 
She  caught  sight  of  the  goal.  She  learned  something  of  her 
mission.  For,  to  her  religious  mind,  the  discovery  of  a  gift 
was  the  discovery  of  a  mission.  She  saw  the  responsibility 
with  which  she  was  charged,  through  the  mere  possession  of 
such  a  power  over  men.  The  singer,  with  the  gift  from  God 
— that  is  what  she  became  on  that  night.  '*  She  went  to  bed 
a  new  creature." 

The  memory  of  that  eventful  moment  remained  perma- 
nently  recorded  in_  the   shape  of  two   silver  candlesticks. 


1838-40.]  DISCOVERY.  57 

presented  to  her  by  the  Directors  of  the  Eoyal  Theatre,  "in 
remembrance  of  March  the  7th,"  so  the  inscription  ran.  It 
was  the  first  of  the  many  tributes  that  were  made  her  in 
her  life ;  and  it  had,  as  such,  a  peculiar  value  which  no 
after-gift  could  exceed.  We  can  fancy  the  joy  of  such  a 
tribute,  paid  by  the  spontaneous  admiration  of  those  who 
could  best  appreciate  her  task,  to  the  young  girl  of  seventeen. 
She  held  those  silver  candlesticks,  in  special  affection ;  and 
left  them,  at  her  death,  to  her  daughter. 

The  Freischiitz  was  given  nine  times  in  the  course  of 
1838 ;  but,  for  most  of  the  year,  she  returned  to  her  old 
parts  which  she  had  already  played,  appearing  in  melodrama, 
comedy,  and  burlesque.  Her  most  popular  character  seems 
to  have  been  "  Lovisa,"  in  The  Ludicrous  Encounter,  wliicli 
she  played  as  late  as  February  1st,  1839.  She  undertook  one 
new  dramatic  character,  "  Marie,"  in  a  drama  of  that  name 
by  Herold,  with  music  and  dance.  Tliis  was  the  last  play 
that  she  appeared  in  before  she  passed  over  to  opera,  playing 
it  for  three  nights  in  April,  1839.  After  that,  the  opera 
possessed  her  wholly.  And  this  was  heralded,  before  the 
year  1838  was  out,  by  three  signal  operatic  appearances  :  i.e., 
"  Emmelina,"  in  Weigl's  The  Svjiss  Family ;  "  Euryanthe," 
in  Weber's  opera,  which  ran  for  four  nights  in  the  first  half 
of  December ;  and  "  Pamina,"  in  the  Zaubcrflote,  for  four 
more  nights,  before  the  year  was  over.  In  all,  she  had  made, 
for  her  salary  of  £60,  seventy-three  appearances. 

In  1839,  her  success  bore  its  fruit  in  a  rise  of  the  salary  to 
900  E.  D.  Banco.  She  appeared,  in  the  course  of  the  year, 
only  fifty-three  times  ;  but,  perhaps,  this  is  to  be  explained, 
by  the  growing  importance  of  her  operatic  parts,  and  the 
gradual  dropping  of  the  light  comedy  characters  in  which  she 
had  figured  hitherto.  She  sang  the  part  of  "  Laura  "  in  an  opera 
called  Le  Chateau  de  Montenero,  by  Dalayrac — a  famous  com- 
poser of  the  French  school,  whom  not  even  the  Eeign  of  Terror 


58  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  v. 

could  deter  from  producing  new  operas.  She  repeated 
"Agatha  "four  times.  She  appeared  in  a  character  which 
she  greatly  enjoyed,  and  in  after  years  frequently  repeated 
—that  of  "  Julia "  in  Spontini's  Vestcde.  In  spite  of  her 
enthusiasm  for  Weber,  she  was  very  fond  of  this  work  of 
Weber's  historic  opponent.  It  was  one  of  her  famous  roleSy 
in  the  great  days  at  Berlin,  and  on  the  Ehine. 

But  the  event  of  the  year  was  her  appearance  in  her 
traditional  part  of  "Alice"  in  Boherto,  by  wliich  she  was 
destined  to  win  her  most  memorable  triumphs.  It  was  a 
character  in  which  her  splendid  dramatic  power  fused  itself 
with  her  gifts  of  voice,  so  as  to  leave  an  indelible  impression 
of  force  and  of  beauty  on  the  imagination  of  those  who  saw 
and  heard.  It  was  a  part  which  drew  on  her  own  vivid  per- 
sonality, with  its  intensity  of  faith,  with  its  horror  of  sin, 
with  its  passionate  and  chivalrous  purity.  Voice,  action, 
gesture,  and  living  character  were  all  combined  into  a  single 
jet  of  dramatic  individuality. 

She  opened,  in  this  part,  on  May  10th  and,  evidently,  with 
overwhelming  effect ;  for  she  has  to  play  it  for  twenty-three 
times  before  the  year  is  out,  and  to  repeat  it  for  twenty-three 
more,  in  the  following  year.  It  is  on  "  Alice,"  that  the  interest 
is  concentrated,  in  Stockholm  drawing-rooms,  when  Jenny 
Lind's  name  is  announced  as  a  guest.  She  will  have  to  sing 
the  part  60  times,  on  those  same  boards  before  she  has 
done,  between  the  10th  of  May  on  which  she  first  sang  it, 
and  the  30th  of  December,  1843,  when  she  will  give  her  last 
performance  of  it  in  the  Eoyal  Theatre. 

Bournonville,  a  distinguished  composer  of  operatic  ballets, 
in  Copenhagen,  of  whom  we  shall  hear  more  later  on,  writes 
in  his  '  Theatrical  Life '  of  this  performance : 

"  She  was  only  eighteen  when  I  first  heard  her,  but  had 
already  so  eminent  a  talent,  that  her  performance  of  '  Alice  ' 
could  be  compared  to  the  best  I  had  seen  and  heard  in  Paris. 


1838-40.]  DISCOVERY.  6& 

Although  her  voice  had  not  yet  reached  the  high  development 
it  afterwards  attained,  it  already  possessed,  even  then,  the 
same  sympathy,  the  same  electric  power,  which  now  makes  it 
so  irresistible.     She  was  worshi]3ped." 

The  year  1839  was  marked  by  several  appearances  at 
concerts  in  the  Eoyal  Theatre :  on  February  11th,  and 
February  14th,  she  sang'  some  verses  of  Berwald's,  the 
Eoyal  Capellmeister,  in  connection  with  the  tableau  vivant  of 
Saint  Cecilia ;  on  March  10th,  when  she  sang  an  aria  from 
Ohc7'on,  as  well  as  in  a  quartette ;  on  April  13  th,  when  she 
sang  a  recitative  and  aria  from  Fidelio,  and  on  April  20th,  a 
rectitative  and  aria  from  Tancred.  On  November  5th,  it  is 
noticeable  that  she  sang  in  a  duet  from  Norma,  the  first  signal 
of  her  interest  in  that  drama:  and  on  November  16th,  she 
sang,  for  Ivellerman's  benefit,  a  romance  of  his,  accompanied 
by  a  violoncello  solo.  But,  above  all,  on  May  12th,  she  gave 
her  first  great  concert  on  her  own  behalf.  At  this,  she  sang 
a  recitative  with  aria,  from  Anna  Bolcna,  and  in  a  duet 
by  Mercadante  :  besides  giving  a  scena  from  the  second  act 
of  the  FreischiUz. 

Not  only  at  Stockholm  did  she  sing.  We  find  her  at 
Upsala  on  the  19th  June,  giving  a  concert  in  her  own 
name,  in  connection  with  the  great  Whitsuntide  festivities, 
of  which  that  university  town  is,  annually,  the  scene.  Here,, 
for  the  first  time,  she  had  the  fascinating  triumph  of  an  escort 
home,  accompanied  by  the  Students'  Song.  And  here,  too,, 
is  the  first  note  of  danger  given,  as  to  the  strain  that  is  being 
put  on  her  voice.  Evidently,  her  inner  genius  is  already 
beating  against  the  bars  of  her  technical  skill.  In  her 
"  strivings  after  perfection  "  she  is  attempting  more  than  her 
present  knowledge  and  training  enable  her  to  express.  She 
"  surpasses  the  limits  "  which,  according  to  the  paper, "  Nature 
has  set  " ;  though,  indeed,  it  was  not  "  Nature,"  but  the  lack  of 
knowledge,  which  had  set  the  limits.      "  Nature  "  was  yet 


60  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  v. 

imprisoned,  waiting  for  tlie  sure  insight  of  the  Parisian 
master  to  set  it  free  to  overleap  the  limits  against  which  it 
was  now,  ineffectually,  struggling.  It  is  just  about  this  time, 
in  May,  1840,  that  the  famous  Swedish  historian  Geijer,  who 
was  a  most  sympathetic  admirer,  notices  "  a  certain  inequality 
in  her  acting  "  in  the  part  of  "  Lucia."  Something  there  was, 
which  was,  as  yet,  missing  to  her  full  development.  Here  is 
the  interesting  extract  from  the  Corrcspondenten,  a  journal  of 
politics  and  literature,  in  which  the  tone  of  warning  or  alarm 
is  so  gracefully  struck. 

"  We  could  hardly  name  any  musical  treat,  given  in  Upsala, 
which  has  met  with  a  more  general  appreciation  than  Froken 
Jenny  Lind's  concert,  last  Sunday.  The  spacious  hall  was 
required  in  order  to  prevent  a  crush  amongst  the  public, 
which  in  number,  no  doubt,  was  nearer  two  tliousand  than 
■one  thousand  persons.  The  well-merited  applause,  which 
the  charming  singer  earned,  burst  forth  in  the  most  spon- 
taneous manner,  in  repeated  plaudits  and  cries  of  '  Bravo,' 
during  the  concert,  whence  she  was  escorted  home  with  the 
Students'  Song,  which  was  offered  again,  later  in  the  evening 
before  her  lodgings.  The  modest  bearing  which  is  so  notice- 
able in  this  gifted  singer  contributes,  in  no  mean  measure,  to 
enhance  the  enthusiastic  reception,  with  which  she  will 
always  be  greeted  by  an  impartial  public.  But  she  herself, 
and  those  who,  in  one  way  or  another,  are  disposing  of  her 
talents,  ought  to  bear  in  mind  that  an  artist's  strivings  after 
perfection  can,  in  the  case  of  a  delicate  physique,  easily 
become  a  devouring  fire.  May  we  err  in  our  conjecture,  but 
there  seems  to  be  some  foundation  for  the  fear  that  this 
enchanting  voice  not  rarely  surpasses  the  limits  which  Nature 
itself  has  suggested.  From  here  Froken  Lind,  according  to 
report,  went  to  Gothenburg,  having,  however,  promised  to 
visit  us  again,  later  on." 

At  Gothenburg,  Jenny  Lind  had  a  most  delightful  rest  for 
the  summer.  She  stayed  there  all  July,  singing  indeed  at  a 
concert  now  and  again,  but  without  any  serious  work,  and 
in  hearty  enjoyment  of  the  delicious  open-air  country-life 
which  was  so  near  her  heart.     Her  mother  is  with  her,  and 


1838-40.]  DISCOVERY.  61 

writes  to  Mr.  LincI  on  July  12tli,  1839,  a  vivid  account  of 
the  pleasant  days,  in  which  we  can  feel  how  the  public  excite- 
ment is  working  round  Jenny,  who  "receives  many  visits 
every  day  from  all  possible  artists  and  amateurs." 

"  In  my  last  letter  I  gave  you  an  account  of  our  pleasant 
journey,  etc.  We  have  now  settled  down  temporarily  at  the 
sweetest  little  spot,  called  '  Gubbero,'  belonging  to  the  Piussian 
Consul  Lang,  whose  chief  property  is  separated  only  by  a 
garden  from  our  lodgings  which  consist  of  three  furnished 
rooms  with  ante-room.  I  think  this  year  we  should  not 
travel  any  further,  for,  truly,  we  could  not  wish  for  a  better 
place  to  spend  the  summer  than  tliis  one.  Besides,  for  grea 
part  of  the  day,  we  have  the  company  of  the  Consul's  charm- 
ing family.  His  wife  was  my  school-fellow  and  there  is  a 
daughter  of  Jenny's  age.  All  this  makes  time  pass  in  a  most 
agreeable  way ;  and,  moreover,  we  have  a  great  many  visits 
every  day  from  all  possible  artists  and  amateurs.  Our  Jenny 
recruits  herself  daily,  now  in  the  hay-stacks,  now  on  the  sea 
or  in  the  swing,  in  perfect  tranquillity,  while  the  town  people 
are  said  to  be  longing  for  her  concert  and  greatly  wondering 
when  it  will  come  off.  Once  or  twice  she  has  been  singing 
in  rather  good  circles,  the  divine  air  of  'Isabelle'  from 
'Robert  U  Diablc.  Nearly  everybody  was  crying — one  lady 
actually  went  into  hysterics  from  sheer  rapture ;  this  has  got 
abroad  already.  Yes,  mon  ijctit  vicux,  she  captivates  all, 
all !  It  is  a  great  happiness  to  be  a  mother  under  such 
conditions.  She  sends  fondest  love  to  her  papa,  wishing  from 
all  her  heart  to  meet  you  in  quite  good  health.  About  the 
20th,  Jenny  will  give  her  first  concert — everyone  says  she 
ought  to  raise  the  usual  price." 

The  last  touch  is  as  eminently  characteristic  of  Fru  Lind, 
as  it  is  unlike  her  daughter.  We  find  the  same  note  again 
in  an  amusing  bit  of  disappointed  complaint  with  which  she 
closes  a  most  pretty  account  of  a  surprise  which  they  had 
had,  earlier  in  the  year — an  account  which  we  insert  here, 
not  only  as  a  graphic  story  of  the  way  in  which  Jenny  was 
responding  to  the  buzz  of  popular  enthusiasm  which  already 
began   to  besiege  her,  but,  also,  as  illustrating  what   Fru 


,62  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  v. 

Lind  here  notices,  of  Jenny's  power  to  draw  tears  of  joy,  by 
her  singing.  Ever  in  her  voice  rang  the  sympathetic  vibra- 
tion, at  which  tears  flow.  As  it  had  been  at  her  earliest 
interview  with  old  Croelius  at  nine  years  old,  so  it  is  now 
with  this  old  Baron,  when  she  is  all  but  nineteen. 

"  Do  you  know,"  writes  the  mother  from  Stockholm,  on 
the  evening  of  Feb.  22,  1839,    "the  other  day  we  had  a 
curious  visit,  a  certain  Baron  de  G — ,  an  old  gcntilhommc, 
who  had  travelled  all  the  way  from  his  country-seat,  with 
the  hope  of    seeing  and  hearing   Jenny    in  the   Frcischutz, 
but  he  was  disappointed,  through  a  change  of  performance, 
owing  to  Almlof  s  indisposition.    Eandel*  (whose  patron  this 
man  is)  undertook  to  forward,  in  the  most  delicate  way,  his 
request  to  me  and  to  our  Jenny,  that  he  might  call  upon  us 
and  be  allowed  to  hear,  ever  so  little,  the  voice  of  the  adored 
one,  so  highly  spoken  of  in  his  own  part  of  the  country. 
Jenny  agreed,  and  so   they  came — Eandel,  Baron  de  G — , 
and  his  son.     Little  Jenny  was  liberal,  the  noble  aspect  of 
the  old  man  prepossessed  her  in  his  favour,  she  sang  both  her 
grand  airs.     The  old  man  was  delighted,  and  this  was  clearly 
visible,  because  he  could  not  keep  back  his  tears.     Our  little 
home  looked  particularly  neat,  and  chocolate  was  served,  and 
they  parted  with  us,  quite  charmed.     But  probably,  it  ends 
there  !     For  who  rewards  talent  in  our  country  ;  even  when 
people  are  ever  so  rich  ? "     And  "  what,"  she  asks  in  this 
same  letter,  "  has  this  good,  this  incomparable  Jenny  for  her 
increased  labour  ?     Not  even  the  advantage  of  providing  for 
her  indispensable  wants,  without  incurring  debt !     But  I  say, 
like  you,  '  Come  day,  comes  counsel ' ;  we  shall  see." 

These  characteristic  passages,  which  we  have  quoted  to 
illustrate  the  stir  of  fame  that  is  moving  about  the  daughter, 
will  well  serve  to  explain  a  domestic  crisis  which  we  are  now 
approaching — a  crisis  which  had,  for  its  issue,  an  event  that 
told  deeply  upon  Jenny  Lind's  artistic  development.  For, 
indeed,  as  we  read  them,  we  cannot  but  be  conscious  that  this 
mother,  proud  as  she  is  of  her  wonderful  child,  and  delighting 

*  Randel  was,  then,  2nd  Leader  of  the  R.  Orchestra.  He  became  1st 
Leader  in  18G1. 


1838-40.]  DISCOVERY.  63 

in  the  glow  of  her  success,  yet  lets  drop  expressions  ^yllich 
reveal  the  gulfs  that  gape  between  the  two  temperaments. 
Every  one  who  reads  can  understand  why  it  was  that,  in 
spite  of  the  pleasant,  and  affectionate  intercourse  of  these 
summer  holidays  at  Gothenburg,  there  was  something  which 
would  make  mother  and  child  impossible  companions  for  one 
another.  This  practical  and  determined  mind  which  was  bent 
on  acqmring  the  just  profits  that  were  due  from  a  public 
that  talked  so  enthusiastically  about  "  our  incomparable 
Jenny  " — how  it  must  have  offended  the  primary  instincts  of 
the  artist  herself  ?  How  was  it  conceivable  that  she  should 
tolerate  tliis  insistent  voice  in  her  ear,  suggesting  always  how 
easy  it  would  be  to  raise  the  price  of  the  tickets ;  while  she 
was,  on  the  other  hand,  shaping  steadily,  into  clearer  vision, 
her  recognition  of  her  gift  as  a  charge  from  God,  to  be  used 
in  His  service,  for  the  help  of  mankind  ?  There  might 
be  much  affection,  at  heart,  between  the  pair,  but  companion- 
ship, there  could  not  be.  They  had  antagonistic  consciences  : 
and  neither  of  them  had  the  temper  that  easily  yields.  This 
very  letter  from  which  we  have  been  quoting  contains  a  most 
characteristic  instance  of  the  temper  of  which  we  are  speak- 
ing— a  temper  which  was  bound  to  fill  a  house  with  the 
noise  of  clash  and  quarrel,  such  as  would  be  misery  to 
one  who  needed  in  her  home,  shelter,  softness,  refuge,  ease, 
and  peace.     Here  is  the  story : — 

"  I  must  tell  you  "  (she  writes)  "  that  I  have  just  returned 
from  the  theatre  with  rather  a  long  face,  to  find  that  no  seat 
is  accorded  to  Jenny's  mother,  although  there  still  were 
€mpty   seats,    and,   besides,   the   performance    had    already 

begun.     M ,  with  his   insinuating   smile,  asked  me  to 

wait  on  the  chance  of  there  being  room  after  the  second  piece 
had  begun.     But  I  answered,  as  no  place  is  accorded  me,  I 

shall  go  without  altogether,'  and  so  I  left.     Z is  always 

overbearing  and  rude.     This  is  the  gratitude  we  get  for  our 
leniency  with  these  people.    Jenny,  on  hearing  of  tliis  mis- 


64  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  v. 

adventure,  went  straight  up   to    Z ,    and   gave   him  to 

understand  her  annoyance  at  my  not  having  a  seat.  His 
answer,  that  there  could  not  be  room  for  everybody's  mother, 
was  just  like  him  ;  but  Jenny's  remark  on  this  took  him  a 
little  down ;  a  messenger  was  despatched  to  offer  me  a  seat 
on  the  first  tier ;  but,  to  Jenny's  surprise,  mother  was  gone 
— and  best  so  ! " 

This  episode  is  amusing  enough ;  and,  moreover,  no  one 
who  knew  the  daughter  can  resist  the  recognition  of  qualities 
in  her  which  vividly  recall  the  mother  in  tliis  most  cha- 
racteristic scene.  Certainly  they  bore  likeness  to  one 
another.  But,  then,  this  would  only  make  matters  worse 
where,  as  in  this  case,  the  mother's  sensitive  haughtiness  had 
all  been  brought  to  the  surface  by  the  unfortunate  hardships 
of  her  life.  Her  jealous  pride  in  Jenny  seems  to  have  rather 
aggravated  than  soothed  her  sense  of  wTong,  her  irritability, 
her  suspicion.  We  cannot  be  surprised  if  such  an  atmosphere 
became  intolerable,  and  if  explosions  occurred. 

So  it  was  that,  towards  the  end  of  1839,  Jenny  took  the 
decisive  step  which,  finally,  separated  her  from  actual  home- 
life.  It  came  about  with  a  certain  touch  of  humour.  She 
had,  some  time  before  this,  pressed  her  old  friend,  Louise 
Johansson,  now  engaged  in  a  Magasin  de  Modes,  to  take  a 
spare  room,  which  was  to  be  let  in  the  Linds'  house.  This 
secured  her  a  companionship  which  she  greatly  valued,  and, 
through  which,  things  were  tolerable.  After  a  year  Fru 
Lind  proposed  to  raise  her  terms :  and,  when  Mdlle.  Louise 
could  not  agree  to  tliis,  she  lost  her  temper,  and  declared 
that  both  Jenny  and  she  were  welcome  to  leave  her  roof. 

This  was  told  to  a  well-to-do  relation,  Mdlle.  Apollonia 
Lindskog,  known  to  Jenny  as  "Tante  Lona,"  living  with  a 
sister  of  Mr.  Lind's  father,  Fru  Stromberg,  who,  having 
adopted  Mr.  Lind  at  his  father's  death,  was  known  to  Jenny 
as  "  Grandmother."  These  two  ladies  agreed  to  receive  the 
exiles  :  but  how  were  they  to  manage  the  transfer  ?     In  this 


^t'lls^  ■  rive 


o 


o 
o 

H 
<jQ 


1838-40.]  DISCOVERY.  65 

way.  Jenny  packed  all  her  clothes  into  a  large  wash-basket 
on  the  plea  that  they  were  to  go  to  the  dressmaker.  She, 
then,  invited  her  parents  to  a  performance  of  Roberto,  in 
which  she  played  "  Alice : "  during  which  time  Louise  put 
up  her  things,  and  sent  them  off  to  Mdlle.  Lindskog.  Next 
morning,  at  breakfast,  Louise  announced  that  she  wished  to 
leave  her  present  lodgings.  Tru  Lind,  with  much  heat, 
broke  out  into  her  old  phrase,  and  declared  that  if  so,  she 
might  take  Jenny  with  her.  Jenny,  then,  took  her  at  her 
word;  and  left  the  house,  going,  first,  to  Herr  Berg,  and, 
then,  joining  Louise  at  Mdlle.  Lindskog's.  Her  parents  ap- 
peared there,  to  claim  her :  but  found  themselves  unable  to 
force  a  girl  of  nineteen  from  the  house  of  so  near  a  relation. 
Yet  Jenny,  in  fear  that  they  might  yet  succeed,  on  a  Sunday 
shortly  after,  left  the  house,  escorted  by  her  maid,  Annette, 
and  turned  her  steps  toward  the  Bonde  Palace,  close  to  the 
theatre,  overlooking  the  Norrstrom,  in  which  lived  the 
famous  musician,  Adolf  Fredrik  Lindblad,  the  chief  of 
Swedish  song-writers,  her  warm  admirer,  and  friend.  Into 
his  family  she  was  received  :  she  found,  in  Madame  Lindblad 
a  second  mother :  and  from  Herr  Lindblad  himself,  and  from 
the  society  into  which  he  brought  her,  she  inhaled  an  in- 
fluence, which  affected  her  entire  development,  artistic,  in- 
tellectual, and  moral.  Of  this,  we  shall  have  more  to  say  in. 
the  following  chapter.  In  Ms  house  she  remained  until  her 
final  departure  for  Paris  in  July,  1841.  Back  to  rooms  in 
that  house,  she  came,  on  her  return  to  Stockholm  in  1842. 
There  was  her  home.  There  she  could  rest  at  peace.  There 
she  found  the  sympathy,  the  understanding,  the  inspiration, 
which  her  nature  ardently  needed.  Though  in  some  points 
endowed  with  a  "  Finnish  "  stubbornness,  she  was,  in  others 
singularly  self-distrustfid,  uncertain,  easily  unnerved.  She 
greatly  needed  an  atmosphere  of  affection  to  give  her  con- 
fidence, and  security.  She  was  passionately  domestic ;  she 
VOL.  I.  F 


66  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  v. 

must  have  the  assurance  of  love  about  her,  to  save  her  from 
the  miseries  of  suspicion  and  of  distrust,  into  which  her  lofty 
idealism  was  very  apt  to  lapse,  unless  buoyed  against  the 
shock  of  rough  and  hard  facts  by  the  encompassing  force  of 
sympathetic  intimacy.  It  was  not  that  she  did  not  have 
affection  for  her  parents :  on  the  contrary,  she  held  them 
very  deep  in  her  heart.  But  it  was  impossible  for  them  to 
enter  into  her  motives  and  aims :  and,  moreover,  Fru  Lind 
had  a  certain  twist  of  temper  which  made  actual  life  with  her 
exceedingly  difficult. 

So  it  happened :  and  Jenny,  now,  could  at  last  bring 
together  her  life  into  a  single  whole.  Her  daily  surroundings 
were  no  longer  in  collision  with  her  artistic  inspiration. 
Eather,  they  aided,  fed,  succoured  it.  Her  spirit  breathed  an 
air  that  was  congenial,  and  bracing :  her  heart  found  warmth, 
and  nourishment  in  the  cherishing  kindliness  of  a  family. 
The  year  must  have  been  a  happy  one.  It  was  full  of 
success.  It  opened  with  a  brilliant  continuation  of  her 
"  Alice,"  in  January,  to  be  repeated  in  April,  and  all  through 
November.  She  sang,  again,  in  her  former  parts  of  "  Agatha ; " 
•'' Euryanthe ; "  "Pamina;"  "Julia"  (the  Vestale) ;  and 
"  Marie,"  in  Herold's  operatic  drama  of  that  name.  All  is, 
now,  Opera :  not  a  single  one  of  her  old  comedy  parts  does 
she  play.  Her  career  in  pure  acting  is  alas!  over  altogether. 
She  adds,  to  her  score,  two  important  characters;  "Donna 
Anna,"  in  Don  Juan :  and  "  Lucia  "  in  Lucia  di  Lammer- 
moor.  This  last  part,  one  of  her  famous  roles,  had  a  furore. 
She  introduced  it  into  Stockholm  on  May  16th  and  played 
it  for  twenty-eight  nights  in  the  year.  It  w^as  after  her 
thirteenth  performance  of  "  Lucia,"  that,  on  June  19th,  1840, 
a  number  of  the  actors,  together  with  members  of  the  or- 
chestra, and  chorus,  gathered  before  her  dressing-room,  and 
serenaded  her :  and,  on  her  return  home,  she  was  presented 
with  a  silver  tea  and  coffee  service,  which  was  ever  highly 


1838-40.]  DISCOVERY.  67 

valued  by  her,  and  was  left,  by  specific  direction  in  her  will, 
to  her  eldest  son.  The  donors  appeared  in  gala  costume, 
among  them  being  his  Excellency  Count  J.  G.  de  la  Gardie, 
Count  Carl  de  Geer,  Count  Carl  Axel  Lowenhjelm,  Count 
Gustaf  TroUe  Bonde,  etc.,  etc.  Lindblad's  eldest  daughter, 
now  Mme.  Lotten  von  Feilitzen,  remembers  well  how  Jenny 
Lind  had  to  go  to  the  window,  after  receiving  the  present,  to 
wave  her  handkerchief  to  the  crowd  that  had  collected  below 
in  the  street.  Altogether,  she  made  sixty-nine  appearances. 
In  the  half-year  that  remained,  before  her  departure  for 
Paris,  she  played  forty-nine  times  more,  chiefly  in  Lucia 
and  Roljcrto  and  the  Freiscliutz:  her  new  parts  were 
"Alaida"  in  Bellini's  Straniera ;  and  in  a  selection  from 
Gluck's  opera  ''  Ai^mida,"  for  a  single  performance.  She  sang 
in  eight  concerts  at  the  theatre,  in  1840,  and  in  two  more  in 
1841.  In  two  of  them  she  sang  a  duet  from  Jessonda,  with 
Herr  Giinther :  and  in  three,  she  sang  a  duet  from  Norma, 
with  her  playmate  at  the  school,  Fru  Gelhaar. 

Two  special  events  may  be,  finally,  noticed.  First,  she 
goes  again,  at  WTiitsuntide,  to  Upsala  :  and  we  have  a  letter 
of  Geijer,  written  at  the  time,  which  speaks  of  the  intense 
Interest  of  Lindblad  in  his  charge. 

"  Lindblad,  who  in  the  general  enchantment  is  particularly 
enchanted  with  Mdlle.  Lind,  was  also  here  and  staying  with 
us.  He  left  tins  morning,  upon  which  Upsala  may  be  ifkened 
to  a  barrel  from  which  the  bottom  has  been  taken  out,  so 
that  the  contents  run  awa}^" 

And  our  old  paper,  the  Corresjmidenten,  has  some  graceful 
words  which  we  cannot  but  insert,  for,  besides  the  warm  and 
intelligent  enthusiasm  of  its  praise,  it  uses  the  symbol  of 
the  nightingale  which  became,  afterwards,  her  familiar 
patronymic. 

"But,  in  addition  to  Nature's  beautiful  singing-birds, 
there  came,  flying  thither  on  Whitsun  eve  a  nobler  nicrhtin- 

F  2 


68  JENNY  LIND.  [bk,  i.  ch.  v. 

o-ale,  the  famous  Jenny  Lind,  whose  arrival  many  a  one  has 
heartily  looked  forward  to.  For,  indeed,  she  has  been  the 
object  of  a  homage,  such  as,  in  its  truest  form,  can  be  given 
only  in  a  city  of  culture  and  of  youth.  True,  it  is  in  the 
first  place,  a  great,  an  extraordinary  talent  one  admires  in 
her ;  but  how  infinitely  is  the  value  of  this  artistic  power 
increased  by  the  unpretending,  modest,  charming  manner, 
in  which  it  presents  itself  to  an  enraptured  listener.  With 
her  all  seems  Nature,  simple  and  glorious,  so  as  to  make 
one  forget  what  great  influence  Art  has  also  exercised  Ion 
her  development.  It  is  by  this  harmonious  combination 
of  a  noble  nature  and  art,  that  Froken  Jenny  Lind  in 
every  respect  stands  out  as  of  exceptional  and  unalloyed 
worth." 

So  goes  the  judgment  of  Sweden.  It  could  not  be  better 
expressed.  It  embodies,  exactly,  the  constant  impression, 
which,  year  after  year,  in  far  lands  abroad,  she  is  to  create. 
Somehow  or  other,  wherever  she  is  to  go,  and  whatever  her 
triumphs  in  Denmark,  Germany,  England,  and  America,  no 
one  can  succeed  in  recording  liis  experience  without  arriving 
at  this  very  identical  conclusion  of  the  Upsala  periodical. 
Always  he  finds  himself  saying,  that  "  great  and  extraordinary 
as  is  the  talent  which  one  admires  in  her,  how  infinitely  is 
the  value  of  this  artistic  power  increased  by  the  modest 
and  charming  manner  in  which  it  offers  itself  to  the  en- 
raptured listener !  "  That  is  it.  That  is  what  everyone  feels : 
and  what  everyone  tries  to  say.  We  shall  find  that  type  of 
comment  quite  invariable.  It  is  this  esj)ecial  interest  of  her 
singing  to  which  we  propose  to  devote  the  following  chapter. 
Here,  we  pause,  for  a  moment,  in  our  narrative  of  her  early 
dramatic  career,  and  take  note  of  where  we  stand.  We 
have  followed  her  from  the  lowest  rung  of  the  ladder, — a 
tiny  mite  in  the  theatre-school,  performing  its  first  miracul- 
ous feats — to  the  high  platform  on  to  which  she  has 
passed,  in  secure  possession  of  unqualified  supremacy  on 
her  native  stage.     Nothing  has  interrupted,  or  broken  this 


1838-40.]  DISCOVEBY.  69 

sure  progress,  Nothing  has  come  to  traverse,  or  criticise  it. 
It  has  been  a  steady  upward  movement  towards  its  final 
bewildering  triumph.  As  a  child,  she  had  fascinated  by  her 
acting :  as  a  singer,  her  very  first  debut  had  been  to  her  an 
immediate  and  unmistakable  revelation  of  her  supreme 
powers.  Her  nation  have  greeted  her  with  acclamation. 
Their  enthusiasm  for  her  voice  can  only  be  outdone  by  their 
enthusiasm  for  herself.  So  it  is,  as  we  look  back  along  the 
road  she  has  travelled.  Her  troubles  have  all  been  domestic. 
As  an  artist,  her  career  has  been  unchecked,  and  unclouded. 
She  might  well  think  that  she  had,  at  twenty,  already  touched 
the  summit.  All  the  world  about  her  was  ready  to  assure 
her  that  it  was  so.  How  little  she  herself  thought  so,  we 
shall  soon  see. 

But,  before  doing  so,  we  are  bound  to  stop,  and  review  the 
personal  character,  which  had  developed  under  these  con- 
ditions.   What  type  of  person  was  the  Jenny  Lind,  of  whom 
all  Sweden  was  now  talking  ?      In  answering  this  general 
question,  we  shall  not  refuse  the  help  which  records  and 
memorials  of  her  in  her  later  life  supply,  in  emphasising 
those  distinct  and  enduring  lines,  which  formed  the  unchang- 
ing ground  of  her  character.     And  we  do  this  with  con- 
fidence, because  nothing  comes  out  more  obviously  from  the 
records    of   her  story,   than   the   absolute   and   continuous 
identity,  from  end  to  end,  of  the  main  elements  of  her  per- 
sonality.    Always,  at  all  periods  of  her  life,  the  terms  used 
to  describe  her  are  the  same.     Always   the   same   person 
w^alks,  and  speaks,  and  stands,  and  sings,  whether  it  be  the 
simple  girl  in  her  sweet  modesty,  or  the  grown  woman  in 
full  possession  of  her  assured  powers.     Whatever  men  tell 
us  of  her,  whatever  she  does,  or  says,  we  recognise  her  at 
once.    A  single  phrase,  or  pose,  or  gesture  is  enough.    '*  That 
is  Jenny  Lind,"  we  say  ;  no  one  can  mistake  it.     Whether  it 
come  early,  or  whether  it  come  late  in  the  day,  it  is  all  of  a 


70  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  v. 

piece ;  it  tells  the  same  tale  ;  it  leaves  the  like  impression  ; 
it  belongs  to  the  same  picture. 

We  need  not,  then,  be  at  all  afraid  to  mingle  the  evidence 
yielded  by  differing  years,  and  varying  places :  for,  indeed,  it 
is  only  by  so  doing  that  we  can  receive  the  full  impression  of 
this  strong  and  unbroken  continuity  of  type,  which  was  so 
marked  a  feature  in  her  character. 


(     71     ) 


CHAPTER  VI. 

CHARACTEK. 

Theee  are  artists,  in  wliom  their  art  is  so  predominant,  that, 
like  a  despotism,  it  concentrates  all  efforts  and  capacities 
upon  itself.  The  man  is  absorbed  within  his  main  interest. 
Through  it  alone  does  he  find  energetic  vent.  In  it  he 
verifies  the  attributes  of  genius  :  he  gives  evidence  of  some- 
thing in  him  which  is  surpassingly  excellent:  but,  outside 
its  ring-fence,  in  all  the  other  departments  of  life  and 
character,  he  shows  himself  as  ordinary,  and  unremarkable 
as  the  rest  of  us.  His  artistic  genius  does  not  flow  over,  and 
animate,  his  other  sensibilities,  and  gifts  :  it  abides  in  itself : 
and  seems,  even,  to  drain  originality  out  of  all  rival  channels ; 
so  that  we  might  think  the  man  commonplace,  and  dull,  until 
we  saw  him  transfigured  and  illuminated  in  the  exercise  of 
his  own  peculiar  talent.  This  is  a  perfectly  possible  type  of 
genius :  and,  because  it  exists,  men  are  loud  in  asserting  the 
proverbial  disappointment  often  felt  at  meeting,  in  society, 
some  one  who  has  been,  through  his  gift,  the  inspiration  of 
their  lives.  In  the  ordinary  affairs  with  which  all  are 
concerned,  this  glorious  hero,  this  poet,  this  musician,  with 
whose  fame  the  world  is  ringing,  shows  no  particular  power, 
has  no  especial  facility,  may,  indeed,  prove  himself 
inferior  in  judgment  and  in  insight,  to  many  a  man  who 
prides  himself  on  making  no  claim  to  be  a  genius.  More 
especially,  in  the  field  of  executive  art,  involving  curious, 
and  special  facilities  of  organization,  we  may  expect  to  come 
across  such  surprises  as  this. 


72  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  vi. 

All  the  more  noticeable  then  is  it,  that,  in  the  case  of 
Jenny  Lind,  the  surprise  is  all  the  other  way.  There  is  a 
universal  consent,  in  all  who  record  her  influence,  that  what 
they  experienced  was  the  effect  of  a  character  whose  genius 
penetrated  every  corner  of  her  being,  so  that  her  unique  gift 
of  song  appeared  but  as  an  incidental  illustration  of  the 
originality  which  was  everywhere  in  her.  Even  those  who 
felt  her  singing  most  profoundly,  felt  ever  as  she  sang,  that 
she  was  more  than  her  singing :  while  those  whose  lack  of 
musical  perception  made  them  impervious  to  her  special 
talent,  experienced  as  much  as  any  the  full  fascination  of  her 
personality.  This  impression  of  her  belongs  to  her  early,  as 
well  as  to  her  after  years  ;  and  it  cannot  be  better  given  than 
in  an  expressive  phrase,  used  long  after  our  present  date, 
indeed,  but  which  vividly  and  exactly  embodies  what  was 
already  so  characteristic  of  her.  "  After  all,  I  would  rather 
hear  Jenny  talk,  than  sing,  wonderful  as  that  is,"  writes 
Mrs.  Stanley,  the  wife  of  the  Bishop  of  Norwich,  to  her  sister, 
Mrs.  Augustus  Hare,  in  September  1847,  after  a  rapturous 
account  of  what  her  singing  had  been.  Surely,  a  most 
striking  remark  to  make :  and  one  which  cannot  be  too 
emphatically  reiterated,  as  giving  a  cue  to  the  indescribable 
impression  left  by  this  great  artist  on  the  memory  and  the 
hearts  of  those  who  came  nearest  to  her.  "  I  would 
rather  hear  her  talk  than  sing !  "  And  at  the  very  moment 
when  the  words  were  written  there  was  another  person, 
in  that  palace  at  Norwich,  who  gave  a  cordial  adhesion 
to  this  sentiment.  There  could  be  no  better  instance  of 
Jenny  Lind's  social  impressiveness  than  her  intercourse  with 
Arthur  Penrhyn  Stanley,  son  of  the  Bishop  of  Norwich, 
afterwards  the  famous  Dean  of  Westminster.  He  was  a  man 
of  the  highest  type  of  culture,  of  sensitive  imagination,  of 
most  delicate  intellect — a  man,  too,  who  was  habitually  in 
contact  with  all  the  finest  minds  and  the  richest  experiences 


1840.]  CHARACTER.  73 

of  his  day — and  yet  he  was  absolutely  excluded  from  even 
the  slightest  sympathy  with  all  that  made  her  "  the  greatest 
artist  whom  Mendelssohn  had  ever  known,"  for  lie  was 
unable  to  enjoy  one  note  of  her  music ;  and  still,  though  her 
voice  is  no  more  to  him  than  an  inexplicable  interruption  to 
their  conversation,  he  was  absorbed  under  the  sway  of  her 
personal  fascination,  and  became  her  life-long  and  intimate 
friend. 

And,  again,  far  down  her  career,  the  same  instinctive 
impression  greets  us,  showing  how  from  first  to  last,  this  was 
her  typical  character.  We  quote  from  notes  made  by  Mr. 
Parker  Willis,  at  the  time  of  the  American  tour,  in 
November  1850,  published  in  1856  in  a  work  called '  Famous 
Persons  and  Famous  Places.'  These  notes  express,  with 
wonderful  felicity  and  vividness,  the  particular  point  on  which 
we  now  are  dwelling.  For  they  tell  how  the  author,  after 
being  enthralled  by  the  magic  of  her  singing,  obtains  the 
privilege  of  intercourse  with  her ;  and  the  effect  on  him  is 
just  that  recorded  in  Mrs.  Stanley's  happy  phrase.  He 
cannot  resist  the  impression  that  she  could  have  written  at 
least  as  brilliantly  as  she  sang ;  and  that,  somehow,  it  is  only 
circumstances  that  have  chained  her  to  what  he  ventures  to 
call  "her  lesser  excellence."  He  feels  as  if  she  were  a 
"  Poetess  wliom  song  has  hindered  and  misled."  He  notices, 
especially,  as  the  key  to  her  character,  her  "singularly 
prompt  and  absolute  power  of  concentration."  "  No  matter 
what  the  subject,  the  'burning  glass'  of  her  mind  was 
instantly  brought  to  bear  upon  it,"  "  her  occasional  anticipa- 
tions of  the  speaker's  meaning,  though  they  had  a  momentary 
look  of  abruptness,  were  invariably  the  mile-stones  at  which 
he  was  bound  to  attain,  ....  and  the  graphic  suddenness 
with  which  she  would  sum  up,  could  receive  its  impulse  from 
nothing  but  genius."  And,  after  much  more,  he  winds  up 
with  this  remarkable  conclusion  : — 


74  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  vi. 

"  In  reading  over  what  I  have  hastily  written,  I  find  it 
expresses  what  has  grown  upon  me  with  seeing,  and  hearing 
the  great  songstress — a  conviction  that  her  present  wonderful 
influence  is  but  the  forecast  and  shadow  of  a  different  and 
more  inspired  exercise  of  power  hereafter.  Her  magnetism  is 
not  all  from  a  voice,  and  a  benevolent  heart.  The  soul  while 
it  feels  her  pass,  recognises  the  step  of  a  spirit  of  tall  stature, 
complete  and  unhalting  in  its  proportions.  We  shall  yet  be 
called  upon  to  admire  rarer  gifts  in  her  than  her  voice." 

It  would  be  hard  to  give  better,  or  fuller  expression  than 
this,  to  the  sense  that  we  desire  to  convey — the  sense,  the 
feeling  that  Jenny  Lind  was,  not  less,  but  more,  than  her 
Art.  What  men  saw,  and  found  in  her  was,  not  that  a 
common  piece  of  the  stuff  of  human  nature  had  been  caught 
up,  by  the  artistic  inspiration,  into  some  unspeakable  heaven, 
and  been  transfigured  by  some  sudden  and  strange  glory 
which  carried  the  human  spirit  beyond  itself.  No!  rather 
they  felt  that  here  was  a  character  of  supreme  value,  of 
unique  excellence,  which  had  contrived  to  find  its  way  down 
into  the  world's  scenery,  through  the  particular  channel 
provided  for  it  by  song.  Music  gave  it  its  chief  opportunity 
for  discovering  itself  to  men ;  but  it  itself  stood  above  the 
Art  which  it  used  as  its  finest  medium  of  communication. 
Hence  the  intensity  of  spiritual  interest,  which  greeted  her 
singing.  Men  seemed  to  themselves  not  so  much  to  be 
Hstening  to  a  voice,  as  to  be  catching  sight,  through  the 
door  wliich  music  opened,  of  a  high  and  pure  soul,  moving 
down  to  them,  through  the  pathway  of  song,  out  of  some 
far  untainted  home  of  purity  and  joy.  It  was  this  soul 
which  they  greeted  with  such  amazement,  such  warmth; 
it  was  its  felt  presence  which  made  the  tears  start,  always, 
to  their  eyes  as  they  listened.  It  was  Jenny  Lind  herself, 
who,  by  means  of  her  wonderful  gift,  was  the  revelation 
to  them  of  the  heights  which  it  w^as  still  open  to  men  to 
attain. 


1840.]  CHABACTEB.  75 

And,  because  this  was  so,  we  desire,  both  in  the  present 
chapter,  and  in  chapters  to  come,  to  dwell,  especially,  on  the 
social  impression  produced  by  her,  wherever  she  went.     This 
book,  it   is  true,  is  a  memoir  of  Jenny  Lind  as  the  artist. 
But   the   distinction,   which   we   have   attempted    to   draw 
between  the  two  types  of  artists,  will  make  it  clear  why,  in 
her  case,  it  is  impossible  to  dissociate  her  artistic  success  from 
her  effect  as  a  woman,  as  a  personal  character,  upon   the 
people  among  whom  she  came.     She  was  one  of  those  whose 
art   reveals   a   character   behind   it,  out   of  which  its  own 
excellence  is  drawn  ;  and,  in  estimating  that  Art,  therefore,  we 
inevitably  find  ourselves  drawn  into   the  presence  of  this 
inspiring  force  of  character  which  it  disclosed.     It  would  be 
impossible  to  represent  the  effect  of  Jenny  Lind,  as  an  artist, 
without   making  it   continually   clear   what   it   was   which 
Mrs.  Stanley  meant  when  she  said  in  1847,  "  After  all,  I  would 
rather  hear  Jenny  talk  than  sing,"  or,  as  she  wrote  again  in 
the  same  year  :  "  Her  singing  is  the  least  part  of  her  charm  ; 
she  has  the  simplicity  of  genius." 

We  shall  have  frequent  occasion,  as  our  story  proceeds,  to  call 
attention  to  this  significant  characteristic ;  as,  for  instance,  to 
note  that  wherever  she  goes,  over  the  cities  of  Europe,  she  is, 
somehow,  always  found  to  be  staying  in  the  house  of  someone 
who  is  of  special,  and  even  European,  reputation.      Men  of 
this  high  stamp  seem,  always,  to  foregather  with  her  ;  she  has 
the  entry ;  she  finds  her  home  with  them.     And,  again,  in  her 
own  city  of  Stockholm,  where  the  circumstances  of  her  life, 
with  which  we  are  familiar,  might  be  expected  to  stand  some- 
what in  her  way,  and  where  there  was,  necessarily,  so  much, 
in  her  bringing-up,  which  would  make  it  ditficult  for  her  to 
break  down  social  barriers,  nothing  is  more  remarkable  than 
her  complete  acceptance,  before  she  has  passed  her  girlhood 
not  only  into  those  circles  where  details  of  birth  and  position 
are   supposed  to  be  of  vital  importance,  but  what  is  far 


76  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  vi. 

more,  into  those  high  literary  intimacies  where  nothing  but 
character  counts. 

Let  us  give  illustrations  of  this.  Here  is  a  most  graceful 
and  brilliant  picture  of  a  soiree  in  Stockholm  in  1839,  which 
we  cannot  but  give  as  a  whole.  It  is  perfectly  trustworthy, 
being  the  record  of  a  lady,  still  living,  in  whose  old  home  the 
scene  took  place.  Evidently,  as  all  who  read  it  must  feel,  the 
impression  of  that  marked  evening  stamped  itself  upon  the 
girl's  brain,  so  that  every  detail  stood  out  sharp  and  clear, 
when,  in  1887,  nearly  fifty  years  later,  she  wrote  out  the 
sketch  for  a  periodical  called  the  Dagny — published  by  the 
"Fredrika  Bremer  Association,"  the  object  of  which  is  to 
further  the  cause  of  those  women  who  are  anxious  to  make 
their  own  living.  The  lady,  who  vn:otQ  it,  herself  'the 
daughter  of  the  house '  mentioned  in  the  narrative,  intended  to 
send  it  in  a  letter  to  Madame  Lind-Goldschmidt  herself,  in 
order,  by  reminding  her  of  the  evening  it  records,  to  interest 
her  in  the  Fredrika  Bremer  Association ;  but,  before  the 
letter  could  be  sent,  the  news  of  her  illness  and  death  reached 
Stockholm ;  and  it  was,  then,  published  in  the  Dagny,  as 
a  memorial  of  her  who  had  cjone.     Here  is  the  account : — 

"  It  is  a  cold  winter's  evening  in  the  year  1839.  In  the 
house  of  11  Eegeringsgatan  chandeliers  and  lustres  are  gra- 
dually being  lit.  Along  the  street  is  stopping  a  row  of 
closed  carriages,  which,  each  in  its  turn,  drive  up  to  the 
entrance.  Footmen  in  livery  open  the  carriage-doors  and 
smart  women,  followed  by  men  in  uniform,  get  out  cautiously 
and  disappear  through  the  porch  of  the  faintly  illuminated 
passage.  A  few  minutes  later  the  fresh  arrivals  find  them- 
selves in  the  cloakroom,  the  wraps  are  taken  off,  silk  dresses 
are  rustling,  shawls  are  draped,  a  look  in  the  glass  is  directed 
to  the  fantastic  head-dresses,  while  the  men  are  touching  up 
their  plumed  cocked  hats  or  straightening  their  gold-fringed 
epaulettes — and  now  they  enter  the  glowing  suite  of  rooms, 
either  in  groups  or  one  by  one. 

"  In  the  first  salon,  where  various  musical  instruments  are 
seen,   they   are  received  by   the  host,   Baron  L ,   an 


1840.]  CHARACTER.  77 

elderly  man,  with  noble  features,  shaded  by  silver-grey  hair, 
of  dignified  deportment,  and  an  air  of  kindliness  and  refine- 
ment about  him  generally.  Passing  through  a  smaller  ante- 
chamber, the  guests  now  proceed  to  the  great,  half-round 
salon,  where  the  hostess  is  awaiting  them.  She  is  a  tiny  little 
lady,  about  thirty,  youthful  in  her  movements,  with  expres- 
sive eyes  and  a  smile  of  great  fun,  as  well  as  of  courtesy, 
round  her  lips.  With  an  unconventional  and  graceful 
movement,  she  gives  her  hand,  introducing  the  people 
to  one  another,  showing  that  she  understands  the  art  of 
forming  acquaintances,  right  and  left,  by  means  only  of  a 
few  words. 

"  There  comes  Baron  B ,  with  his  wife  and  daughters,. 

one  of  whom,  later  on,  married  a  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs, 
wliilst  the  other  became  the  mother  of  Sweden's  greatest  poet 

in  our  times.    In  their  wake  are  seen  Baron  F ,  the  great 

Chamberlain  to  the  King  Carl  Johan,  and  General  C . 

There  some  fashionable  young  ladies  are  advancing,  surroimded 
by  their  court  of  a  few  officers  and  civilians.  Behind  these 
are    seen  the    popular  violinist  in   the  Court-Chapel,  Herr 

Elvers,  a  young  cellist,  Herr  F ,  etc.,  etc.     And  now  there 

appears  a  striking  couple  ;  it  is  Count  and  Countess  B- •, 

both  bearers  of  great  historical  names,  and  she  a  queen  in 
the  realm  of  beauty.  A  murmur  of  homage  follows  her  as 
she  moves  on  and  she  is  scarcely  seated  before  a  crowd  of 
admirers  throw  a  ring  round  her.  However,  all  of  a  sudden, 
the  whispering  becomes  louder,  changing  tone  altogether, 
while  every  head  is  directed  towards  the  ante-chamber. 

"  On  the  threshold  stands  the  host  and  by  his  side,  shaking 
hands  with  him,  a  young  girl,  with  an  abundance  of  curls 
round  the  pale  cheeks ;  a  gown  in  simple  style  softly  clings 
round  the  maiden  figure  and  there  is  a  dreamy,  half  absent, 
and  fascinating  look  in  the  deep-set  eyes. 

"  The  hum  is  increasing  still  more  when  the  old  nobleman 
leads  the  visitor  into  the  midst  of  his  guests ;  but  he  has  not 
time  to  pronounce  her  name,  it  is  already  on  everybody's  lips, 
and  is  now  flying  round  the  room  with  a  subdued  sound : 
Jenny  Lind  !  Jenny  Lind  ! 

"  The  beauties  of  the  season  are  forgotten  and,  what  is 
more,  they  forget  all  about  themselves ;  flirtation  is  sup- 
pressed ;  etiquette  is  sinned  against  unpunished ;  and  as  soon 
as  the  new  guest  has  been  cordially  welcomed  by  the  hostess, 
and  by  her,  personally,  introduced  to  the  principal  ladies,  a 


78  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  vi. 

cro^vd  of  the  high  assembly  gathers  round  the  plain-looking 
young  girl,  thus  for  once  justly  conceding  the  preference  of 
oenius  to  birth — of  beauty  of  soul  to  beauty  of  features. 

"  A  sino-ular  liveliness  is  breathing  through  the  hitherto 
rather  formal  company.  The  hostess  attracts  Ijoth  young  and 
old  to  her  animated  conversation  with  the  honoured  guest ; 
and  every  one  is  gratified  who  catches  a  word  or  a  look  from 
this  Jenny  Lind  who,  for  the  last  few  weeks  has,  as  '  Alice,' 
in  Robert  le  DiaUe  and  '  Agatha  '  in  the  FrciscMdz  captivated 
and  enchanted  both  themselves  and  the  whole  Stockholm 
public. 

"  Somewhat  monosyllabic,  at  the  start,  amongst  all  these 
strangers,  the  guest  begins,  by-and-by,  to  shake  off  her 
reserve.  She  smiles  an  incredulous  smile  when  one  of  la 
jeuncsse  dorec  compares  her  to  '  la  divine  Malibran,'  and  laughs 
openly  at  some  old  general's  grotesque  flattery.  To  a  senti- 
mental inquiry  as  to  what  heavenly  thoughts  had  filled  her 
mind  when,  the  preceding  evening,  she  had,  as  '  Alice ' 
embraced  the  cross,  she  answered,  a  little  hesitatingly :  *  I 
believe  I  was  thinking  of  my  old  bonnet.'  But,  wherever 
she  encounters  genuine  and  deeper  imderstanding  in  the 
compliments  uttered,  her  answers  are  sympathetic,  almost 
humble. 

"  By  her  side  stands  the  clever  pianiste  Mina  Josephson,  a 
sister  of  one  as  yet  unknown  to  fame — Axel  Josephson.  A 
girl  of  fourteen,  the  eldest  daughter  of  the  house,  timidly 
approaches  her  in  order  that  by  her  she  may  be  introduced 
to  Jenny  Lind,  who  bestows  upon  her  a  warm  pressure  of 
the  hand. 

"  How  the  gay  party  went  on,  how  the  musical  programme 
was  opened  by  the  daughter  of  the  house  and  her  teacher, 
after  which  followed  one  of  Beethoven's  most  beautiful  trios  ; 
and  how  Jenny  Lind  sang  the  '  Lieder '  of  Geijer  and 
Lindblad  as  they  never  were,  nor  ever  more  will  be  sung — 
we  must  here  only  glance  at.  And  further  how  the  host  and 
hostess  were  obliged  to  check  the  too  eager  wishes  of  their 
friends  to  hear  more  and  ever  more — in  order  to  show  that 
the  object  of  the  invitation  had  been  the  personal  acquaint- 
ance of  the  charming  artist,  not  only  the  enjoyment  of  her 
song  lovely  though  it  be.  That  Jenny  Lind  was  satisfied 
with  her  evening,  and,  in  this  milieu,  found  several  of  her 
most  enthusiastic,  and  faithful  admirers,  is  quite  certain. 
And,  as  she  was  the  first  operatic  singer  received  in  the  best 


1840.]  CEARACTEB.  79 

society  of  the  capital,  in  which  she  became  a  dear  and 
honoured  guest,  it  has  seemed  of  some  interest  to  preserve  a 
few  details  of  her  appearance  in  this  domain. 

"  In  the  memory  of  the  writer  of  this  paper,  Jenny  Lind 
stands  out  a  unique  apparition,  like  no  one  else,  simple, 
unpretending,  but  dignified — penetrated  by  a  sort  of  sacred 
responsibility  for  her  mission — the  mission  of  Art  in  its 
lofty  purity — which  she  felt  that  God  had  confided  to  her." 

The  last  touches  of  this  graphic  record  will  serve  to 
justify  our  insistence  on  this  social  aspect  of  Jenny  Lind's 
life ;  and  to  redeem  our  motives  from  the  suspicion  of  any 
unworthy  interest  in  these  formalities  of  society.  For  it  is 
just  through  this  lofty  sense  of  artistic  mission  that  she  took 
her  place  amid  her  fellows.  As  at  Stockholm,  so  everywhere, 
it  is  this,  her  spiritual  sense  of  responsibility,  which  gave  her 
social  distinction,  and  carried  her,  in  dignified  ease,  tln-ough 
these  surroundings.  It  is  deeply  interesting  to  notice  how  it 
is  exactly  this  characteristic,  here  noted  by  the  Swedish 
lady  as  the  secret  of  Jenny  Lind's  effect  upon  those  about 
her,  which  afterwards  won  to  her  the  intense  devotion  of 
the  Stanleys  at  Norwich.  "Every  morning  when  she  got 
up,  she  told  me,"  writes  Mrs.  Stanley,  "she  felt  that  her 
voice  was  a  gift  from  God,  and  that,  perhaps,  that  very  day 
might  be  the  last  of  its  use."  And  Arthur  Stanley  repeats 
this,  as  if  this  was  what  gave  her  such  fascinating  interest. 
It  was  this,  which  secured  her  that  aspect  of  independence,  of 
detachment,  which  is  so  vital,  if  an  artist  is  to  preserve  moral 
dignity,  in  face  of  a  "  society  "  which  is  too  apt  to  flatter 
itseK  that  it  is  doing  a  favour  to  those  to  whom  it  kindly 
permits  an  entry,  and  which  is  encouraged  in  this  self- 
flattery,  if  the  artist  is  obviously  grateful  for  the  attention. 
Nobody  could  see  Mademoiselle  Lind  for  two  seconds,  and 
suspect  her  of  any  such  flattery.  She  moved  about  "  like  an 
apparition " :  like  one  "  with  a  mission " :  charged  with  a 
serious  responsibility.     That  is  her  social  character  :  that  is 


80  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  vi. 

her  note,  her  charm,  as  this  paper  beautifully  records :  and 
this  made  all  touch  of  over-deference  to  external  position 
absolutely  impossible  to  her.  No  one  could  mistake  that 
free  independence:  that  moral  "-detachment."  Indeed, 
criticism  on  her  social  qualities,  would  turn  on  the  very 
opposite  defect  to  that  at  which  we  have  been  hinting.  It 
might  be  said  that  this  spiritual  aloofness  gave  a  sense  of 
haughtiness  to  her  manner  in  public,  and  with  those  who  were 
not  intimate.  There  was  a  "hold-off"  look — a  drawing 
away,  a  critical  survey  of  a  new  comer,  which  made  many  an 
introduction  to  her,  in  after  years,  a  moment  of  supreme 
agony  to  those  who  had,  perhaps,  dreamed  of  that  happiness 
for  hours  and  days  before,  but  who  now  that  it  had  come, 
and  that  she  was  looking  them  over  with  a  cold  and  lofty 
gaze,  could  only  pray  that  the  earth  might  yawn,  and  swallow 
them  up,  before  things  had  gone  any  further.  It  was  a 
severe  ordeal :  and,  unquestionably,  no  worldly  rank,  or 
position,  would  have  the  slightest  efiect  in  modifying  its 
severity. 

Again,  this  spiritual  attitude  of  one  "  charged  with  a 
mission,"  made  "  Society "  most  distasteful  to  her.  She 
never  could  care,  the  least,  for  it  as  such;  she  hated  its 
frivolous  distractions,  its  social  pettiness,  its  wearisome  routine; 
it  had  no  attraction  for  her.  She  liked  "  intimates."  And 
"  Society,"  therefore,  in  admitting  her,  never  felt  that  it  had 
done  her  a  great  kindness,  or  that  she  hung  on  its  favours. 
Eather,  it  knew  that  something  was  there  in  her,  which  made 
all  social  distinctions  become  very  small  matters  indeed. 
For  the  standards,  which  her  presence  forced  to  the  front, 
were  not  "  social "  but  moral  and  spiritual :  and  it  was 
impossible  to  have  intercourse  with  her,  without  becoming- 
conscious  of  this  :  and,  tried  by  those  standards,  it  was  she 
who  brought  the  honour,  not  society  which  conferred  it. 
"There  is  no  one,"  writes  Mrs.  Stanley,  in  1847,  "who  does 


1840.]  CHARACTER.  81 

not  feel,  that  it  was  an  honour  for  the  Bishop,  to  have  given 
her  the  protection  of  this  house." 

In  this  temper  of  moral  independence,  she  passed  up,  out 
of  the  struof^les  and  clouds  of  her  childhood,  into  the  full 
sunlight  of  success,  with  absolute  ease,  without  a  shadow  of 
encumbering  consciousness,  without  a  breath  of  worldliness 
ever  crossing  her  spirit.  She  retained,  without  even  an 
effort,  all  her  inherent  and  native  simplicity,  her  freshness, 
her  undaunted  sincerity.  Never  did  she  slacken,  for  a 
moment,  her  demand  that  the  worth  of  men  should  be 
estimated,  wholly  and  iitterly,  according  to  their  moral  value. 
Never,  for  one  instant,  did  the  mists  of  conventionalism  dim 
her  vision,  or  confuse  her  insight.  She  had  one  set  of 
balances  ;  and  one  only.  She  never  even  seems  to  have  been 
tempted  to  exchange  them.  Swept  up,  in  the  sudden  rush 
of  an  overwhelming  success,  out  of  obscurity  into  the  company 
and  the  friendship  of  princes  and  kings,  this  girl,  in  her 
simple-hearted  virginity,  kept  a  conscience  as  true  and  fine 
as  steel.  No  illusion  bewildered  her :  no  worldly  splendour 
ever  succeeded  in  beguiling  her.  Failings  of  another  type 
might  be  laid  to  her  charge.  She  could  be  hasty,  and  hard, 
sometimes,  in  her  judgments.  She  was  liable  to  misunder- 
stand people.  She  had  vehement  impulses,  and  equally 
vehement  reactions,  which  were  apt  to  gain  for  her,  from  those 
who  knew  her  little,  the  character  of  capricious  fitfulness. 
She  could  magnify  slight  lapses  into  great  sins.  A  certain 
spiritual  haughtiness  there  was  in  her ;  a  certain  suspicion  of 
the  motives  on  which  she,  by  bitter  experience,  learned  that 
men  too  often  act.  All  this  might  be  said.  But  one  thing  it 
was  for  ever  impossible,  even  for  an  enemy,  to  imagine  :  that 
Jenny  Lind  ever  condescended  to  lower  the  steady  standards 
by  which  she  tested  all  human  worth,  high  or  low,  rich  or 
poor.  Thus  it  was  that  she  secured,  as  we  shall  hear,  "a 
homage"  from  the  best  society  in  Stockholm,   which  was 

VOL.  I.  G 


82  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  vi. 

quite  peculiar  in  its  type.  "Homage!"  that  is  the 
very  word  to  express  what  it  was  that  was  given  her. 
One  feels  it,  in  the  delightful  refusal  of  the  lady  of  the 
house,  in  the  Dagmj  sketch,  to  ask  her  to  sing  again,  lest  she 
should  seem  to  have  been  invited  for  her  singing,  and  not 
for  her  personal  qualities.  It  was  this  complete  acceptance 
of  her,  in  her  own  independent  character,  which  worked  a 
real  and  lasting  change  in  the  social  respect  given  to  actors 
and  actresses  in  Stockholm,  by  which  the  difficulties  that 
had  stood  hitherto  in  their  way  disappeared.  And  this 
absolute  sincerity  of  character  which  won  her  this  homage  as 
a  girl  of  nineteen,  remained  so  entirely  untouched  to  the  last, 
that  every  gesture  and  every  look,  recorded  in  that  graceful 
portrait  of  her  behaviour  on  her  earliest  cUlut,  is  familiar  to 
those  who  only  knew  her  in  the  latter  years  of  her  English 
life.  That  is  the  very  lady  whom  they  knew  :  every  phrase 
recalls  her.  They  can  see  her,  as  she  stands  there,  at  the  entry 
of  the  salon,  when  the  old  nobleman  is  receiving  her :  rather 
monosyllabic,  at  first ;  and,  then  as  she  shakes  off  her  reserve, 
responding,  to  any  genuine  speech,  with  a  sympathy,  that  is 
"almost  humble."  They  can  feel  her  as  she  bends  and 
smiles  incredulously,  at  the  pretty  compliments  paid  her  by 
the  young  men :  they  can  positively  hear  her  laugh  as  the 
old  generals  come  up  to  fumble  out  their  "grotesque  flattery"  : 
they  can  catch  the  very  ring  of  her  voice,  and  the  very  look 
in  her  arch  eyes,  as  she  meets  the  earnest  inquiries  as  to  the 
nature  of  her  secret  thoughts  when  clasping  the  cross  in  the 
scene  from  Roberto,  with  the  frank  statement  that  "  she  was 
thinking  of  her  old  bonnet ! "  "A  unique  apparition,  like 
no  one  else ;  simple,  unpretending,  dignified !  "  How  much 
the  words  recall !  How  many  a  similar  scene  was  embodied 
in  them  !  To  the  very  last  hour  of  her  life,  they  would  have 
been  the  only  possible  description  of  her.  Surely,  a  singular 
force  of  sincerity  lay  in  her,  which  could  make  that  early 


1840.]  CHARACTER.  83 

picture  of  her  so  speak  to  those  who  saw  and  loved  her  forty 
years  after,  as  if  it  were  alive  with  her  very  presence,  and 
instinct  with  her  very  tones  !  Not  a  jot  or  tittle  of  that 
intense  and  spontaneous  originality  of  hers  had  "  the  world  '* 
succeeded  in  moulding  to  its  own  liking,  or  society  in 
refashioning  according  to  its  own  convention.  There  she 
stood,  from  first  to  last,  "  a  unique  apparition,  like  no  one 
else  ;  simple,  unpretending,  dignified."  The  notes  of  Mr. 
Parker  Willis  from  which  we  have  already  quoted,  describing 
her  in  America  in  1850,  convey,  admirably,  the  identical 
impression,  which  belongs  to  this  Dagiiy  sketch  and  which 
belonged  to  her  throughout: 

"  the  freshness,  and  sincerity  of  thoughts  taken  as  they  rise — 
the  truthful  deference  due  to  a  stranger,  and  yet  the  natural 
cordiality  wliicli  self-respect  could  locll  afford — the  ease  of 
one  who  had  nothing  to  learn  of  courtesy,  and  yet  the  im- 
pulsive eagerness  to  shape  word  and  manner  to  the  want  of 
the  moment — these,  which  would  seem  to  be  the  elements 
of  a  simple  politeness,  were  all  there ;  but  in  Jenny 
Lind,  somehow,  they  composed  a  manner  which  was  alto- 
gether her  own.  A  strict  lady  of  the  court  might  have 
objected  to  the  frank  eagerness  with  which  she  seated  her 
company  like  a  schoolgirl  preparing  her  playfellows  for  a 
game  at  forfeits ; — but  it  was  charming  to  those  who  were 
made  at  home  by  it.  In  the  seating  of  herself  in  the  posture 
of  attention,  and  disposal  of  her  hands  and  dress  (small  lore 
sometimes  deeply  studied,  as  the  ladies  know)  she  evidently 
left  all  to  nature — the  thought  of  her  own  personal  appearance 
never  once  entering  her  mind.  So  self-omitting  a  manner 
indeed,  in  a  case  where  none  of  the  uses  of  politeness  were 
forgotten,  1  had  not  before  seen." 

In  saying  all  this,  it  is  not  intended  that  she  could  be  ever 
called,  in  the  strict  sense,  a  "  conversationalist."  Her  talk 
was  not  continuous  enough,  to  give  it  the  character.  Her 
lack  of  literary  and  scientific  education  forbade  it.  She 
talked  as  an  artist,  not  as  a  conversationalist.  She  dropped 
out  a  vivid  sentence,  a  pungent   epithet ;   she   shot   out   a 

G  2 


;g4  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  vi. 

sudden,  and  brilliant  expression  :  she  put  one  in  possession 
of  a  whole  situation  by  a  gesture,  or  a  glance :  but  she  did 
not  follow  up  a  theme,  or  argument :  she  did  not  carry  on 
a  train  of  thought,  or  help  a  conversation  to  develop  a 
sequent  thread  of  consecutive  reflection.  That  would  not  be 
lier  manner.  She  would  be  dramatic,  abrupt,  intense  :  but 
she  could  not  yield  herself  to  the  stream  of  a  common  dis- 
cussion, carrying  all  along  in  a  persistent  process,  according 
to  the  Socratic  ideal  of  talk. 

And  here,  as  we  speak  of  her  social  effect,  it  is  necessary 

to  touch  upon  her  personal  appearance.     Yet  how  useless  it 

;seems!      No  words  can  be  used  which  will  not  convey  a 

wrong  or  exaggerated  impression  to  those  who  never  saw 

her  :  and  to  those  who  have  seen  and  known  her,  no  words 

are  necessary.     Her  features  were  strong,  and  homely  ;  of  a 

■usual  Swedish  type,  we  believe  :  very  pliable,  and  expressive, 

especially  about  the  nose  and  the  mouth;  and  it  was  this 

expressive  pliability,  which  allowed  such  strange,  and  delicious 

transformation  to  pass  over  it,  as  it  changed  from  repose  to 

action.     We   shall  come  upon  a  vivid  description,  in  the 

■course  of  this  book,  in  which  the  contrast  between  her  actual 

appearance  as  it  first  caught  your  eye,  and  that  which  she 

became  when  once  she  began  to  speak,  or  move  or  sing,  will 

be  spoken  of  as  nothing  short  of  "  transfiguration."  *    At  the 

:start,  you  would  pronounce  the  face  plain ;  but,  then,  it  lent 

itself  to  express,  in  a  peculiar  degree,  the  winning  simplicity, 

and  freshness  of  girlhood :  it  was  full  of  animation,  and  into 

it,  moreover,  there   ever   passed   the   singular  grace  of  her 

^'  pose,"  and  her  movements.      It  was  a  face  which  it  was 

delio'htful  to  watch.      It  could  express  everything  with  a 

graphic  intensity  that  made  one  laugh  from  pure  joy.     It 

could  brim  over  with  fun:  it  had  an  irresistible  arclmess, 

when  she  was  amused :  it  was  capable  of  an  almost  awful 

*  Cf.  page  198. 


1840.]  CHABAOTER.  85- 

solemnity :  and  it  could,  when  she  was  suspicious  and  on 
her  guard,  become  absolutely  stony.  A  transparent  counte- 
nance, indeed,  on  which  every  emotion  revealed  itself  with 
unqualified  spontaneity.  It  was  the  ever-changing  mirror 
of  her  soul,  and  therefore  became  charged  with  interest :  a 
speaking  face,  which  could  captivate  by  its  overflowing 
vitality,  until  it  became  delightful  to  observe,  and  to  re- 
member, for  its  own  sake  ;  and  this  illumination  from  within, 
combined  as  it  was,  with  the  buoyant  movements  which  filled 
her  whole  body,  gave  her,  both  off  and  on  the  stage,  when- 
ever she  was  animated,  that  positive  charm,  that  personal 
fascination,  which  is  associated,  generally,  with  beauty. 

She  was,  firmly,  persuaded  of  her  own  plainness.  Her 
description  of  herself,  as  a  girl,  has,  already,  been  given,  in 
all  its  comic  exaggeration,  "  broad-nosed,  ugly,  gauche,"  etc. 
And  Mr.  Parker  Willis  notices  that  she  was  perfectly  in- 
different to  the  photographs  taken  of  her,  and  allowed^ 
"  with  careless  willingness,  painters,  and  Daguerreotypists  to 
make  what  they  will  of  her."  Perhaps,  this  indifference 
renders  touching  one  tiny  hint  of  her  finding  a  humble 
pleasure  in  a  compliment  to  her  looks.  It  was  on  an  occasion 
when  she  appeared,  at  a  Stockholm  party,  in  a  tableau-vivant, 
as  Carlo  Dolce's  St.  Cecilia :  and  it  was  said  that  she  looked 
exceedingly  like  the  picture :  and  she  took  special  delight  in 
this  periional  resemblance  to  the  Saint  Cecilia ;  and  after  her 
death  there  was  found,  among  her  private  stores  of  little  me- 
mentoes, the  rouge-card  used  at  the  tableaux,  with  her  own 
writing  on  the  back  to  say  that  it  had  been  given  her  by 
Fredrika  Bremer  as  a  memorial  of  that  evening. 

The  picture  on  the  opposite  page  is  taken  from  an  original 
panel,  which  was  in  her  own  possession,  which  has  no  story, 
but  which,  devoid  though  it  be  of  artistic  merit,  and  common 
and  crude  in  its  workmanship,  yet  seems  to  preserve  the 
likeness  of  what  slie  was  when  about  eighteen  years  old.     It 


86  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  vi. 

is  the  earliest  record  we  have  of  her  appearance  :  and  though 
the  artist  has  not  the  skill  or  the  insight  to  give  the  anima- 
tion that  illuminated  the  face,  or  the  movement  that  gave  it 
its  grace,  he  has  preserved  the  main  outlines. 

She  was  iive  feet  three  to  four  inches  in  height :  but  she 
held  her  head  so  erect  and  had  trained  herself  so  carefully 
in  standing  and  walking  that  she  appeared  to  be  taller. 

All  the  portraits  taken  of  her,  take  notice  of  the  fine  mould 
of  her  arms,  and  especially,  of  their  characteristic  position,  in 
repose,  with  her  hands  clasped  on  her  lap.  In  the  Stockholm 
<lays,  she  wore  her  hair  in  bunches  of  curls  at  each  side  of 
the  forehead,  as  is  the  case  in  Sodermark's  portrait  of  her, 
painted  in  1843,  which  she  had  in  her  own  possession. 
About  the  year  1844,  she  seems  to  have  adopted  for  herself, 
that  wavy  droop  of  the  hair,  laid  down  low  about  her  ears, 
which  became  so  familiar  and  noticeable  a  mark  of  her 
appearance,  that  it  alone  sufticed  to  make  a  likeness  resemble 
her.  As  long  as  the  lines  of  her  hair  were  given,  one  knew 
whom  it  was  intended,  at  least,  to  portray. 

The  main  elements  of  her  character,  as  of  her  type  of 
countenance,  were  radically  national.  She  was  a  down- 
right and  typical  Swede.  She  was  fond  of  dwelling  on  the 
artistic  capacities  of  her  people,  to  whom  she  owed  her  own 
quick  sensibilities,  her  alert  and  receptive  imagination,  her 
vivacity  of  temperament.  She  believed  them  to  have  all  the 
artist's  possibilities  in  them,  with  all  the  attendant  perils. 
And,  in  view  of  these  perils,  to  which  all  such  gifted  natures 
must  be  liable,  it  is  remarkable  that  she  should  have  included 
within  this  national  groundwork  of  her  character,  a  profound 
moral  stability,  a  depth  of  seriousness,  such  as  would  be  rare 
in  any  race ;  and,  moreover,  with  this,  she  had  a  persistence,  a 
stubbornness,  which,  among  Scandinavian  races,  is  traditionally 
attributed  to  the  Finn.  And  if  she  had  the  vivacity  of  her 
people,  she  inlierited  also  from  it  the  strong,  passionate  feel- 


1840.]  CHARACTEB.  87 

ings,  and  affections,  which  make  the  home-relationships,  in 
Sweden,  so  rooted,  and  so  deep ;  and,  also,  that  undertone  of 
melancholy,  into  which  such  artistic  sensitiveness  is  prone  to 
re-act, — an  undertone,  which  seems  to  creep,  like  the  sighing 
of  a  wounded  spirit,  out  of  the  black  heart  of  Swedish  pine- 
woods,  and  to  hover  over  the  wide  surfaces  of  her  inland 
waters.  Such  notes  of  pathos  underlie  the  songs  of  her 
peoi^le  :  and  she  was  a  true  Swede  when  she  wrote  of  herself, 
"  When  I  am  alone,  you  have  no  idea  how  different  I  am — so 
happy,  yet  so  melancholy  that  tears  are  rolling  down  my 
cheeks  u.nceasingly." 

This  personal  impression,  which  we  have  faintly  suggested, 
told,  as  we  have  said,  not  only  upon  the  higher  social  circles 
of  Stockholm,  but  also  upon  the  literary  and  cultured  society, 
where,  again,  she  formed  affectionate  intimacies  with  the  few, 
and  the  best. 

There  was  Johan  Thomander,  Professor  of  Theology  at 
Lund,  of  which  place  he  was,  afterwards,  bishop,  a  celebrated 
preacher,  and  an  eminent  member  of  the  Swedish  Academy. 

There  was  Fredrika  Bremer,  the  famous  novelist,  and  in- 
defatigable philanthropist. 

There  was  Baron  Bernhard  von  Beskow,  a  distinguished 
author,  member  and  permanent  Secretary  of  the  Academy, 
whose  name,  as  Intendant  of  the  Eoyal  Theatre,  will  appear 
in  connection  with  the  Lind  Scholarships. 

There  was  Atterbom,  one  of  Sweden's  best  poets,  an 
eminent  student  in  the  history  of  literature  ;  University  Tutor 
of  Philosophy, — a  man  of  peculiar  gentleness  and  amiability. 

Then,  again,  we  might  mention  the  Count  Jacob  Gustaf  de 
la  Gardie,  Grand  Master  of  the  Ceremonies,  and  a  warm  friend 
of  poetry  and  art,  the  owner  of  a  superb  library  of  12,000 
volumes  ;  who  was  one  of  the  first  to  detect  the  great  gifts  of 
the  child-singer. 

Here  was  the  environment  into  which  the  girl  of  nineteen 


88  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  vi. 

found  herself  admitted,  and,  within  which  she  made  fast 
fi-iends.  But  two  names  must  yet  be  mentioned,  which 
embody  a  special  interest  in  her  life. 

First,  A.  r.  Lindblad,  the  famous  song-writer.  We  have 
seen  into  what  close  contact  they  had  been  drawn.  In  his 
house  she  found  a  refuge,  and  a  home,  through  which  she 
was  brought  into  constant  contact  with  the  higher  culture  of 
the  Swedish  capital.  Lindblad  was  born  in  1801,  and 
studied  music  in  Berlin,  under  Zelter  :  and  also  in  Paris, 
between  1825-27,  after  which  he  returned  to  Stockholm,  and 
lived  there  until  1864,  when  he  moved  to  near  Linkoping. 
His  renown  rests,  cliiefly,  on  his  songs. 

"They  are  eminently  national,  and  full  of  grace,  and 
originality,  tinged  with  the  melancholy  which  is  characteristic 
of  Swedish  music.  In  short  songs,  in  which  extreme  sim- 
plicity is  of  the  essence  of  their  charm,  his  success  has  been 
most  conspicuous."* 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Jenny  Lind's  intimacy  with 
Lindblad  had  an  immense  influence  on  her  musical  develop- 
ment. Besides  the  vital  effect  of  his  personality,  she  heard 
at  his  house  aU  the  best  instrumental  music  of  the  great  com- 
posers then  flourishing  :  it  was  there  that  she  was  first  intro- 
duced to  the  music  of  Mendelssohn, — especially,  to  the 
Songs  loithout  Words,  which  had,  just  at  that  time,  taken 
Europe  by  storm.  Nor  was  she  herself  merely  receptive :  she 
brought  power  to  bear  on  Lindblad,  which  had  a  positive 
effect  upon  his  work.  The  effect  has  been  emphasised  by 
Professor  Nyblom,  in  a  memoir  on  Lindblad  in  1880  in 
which  he  mentions  that  there  were  few  only  who  were  able 
to  render  his  works  in  the  right  manner  :  and,  among  those 
few,  was  "  Jenny  Lind :  who  impressed  the  individuality  of 
her  genius,  in  flaming  letters,  on  not  a  few  of  the  composer's 
works  of  that  time  when  she  had  her  home  in  his  family  : — 
*  Grove's  '  Dictionary  of  Music,'  Art.  "  Lindblad." 


1840.]  CHARACTER.  89 

works  easily  identified,  and  made  interesting  and  precious  to 
those  who  are  willing  and  able  to  observe  the  mutual  at- 
traction and  meeting  together  of  two  burning  artist-souls  '. " 
She  wrote  herself,  in  1882,  after  having  read  this  biography 
of  Lindblad : 

"1  have  to  thank  him  (Lindblad)  for  that  fine  com- 
prehension of  Art  which  was  implanted  by  his  idealistic, 
pure,  and  unsensual  nature  into  me,  his  ready  pupil.  Sub- 
sequently Christianity  stepped  in,  to  satisfy  the  moral  needs, 
and  to  teach  me  to  look  well  into  my  own  souL  Thus  it  became 
to  me,  both  as  an  artist,  and  as  a  woman,  a  higher  chastener." 

So  she  described  her  spiritual  progress,  looking  back  to  the 
influence  of  Lindblad  as  anticipatory  of  that  yet  deeper  hold 
of  the  meaning  of  Art  which  was  given  her  under  the  later 
dominance  of  the  full  Christian  ideal.  :N"ot  only  did  she 
repay,  in  counter-influence,  all  the  attention  that  Lindblad 
concentrated  upon  her,  but  also,  she  by  her  singing,  carried 
his  songs  into  fame  all  over  Europe.  And  still,  in  long 
after-years,  in  England,  in  hours  of  lonely  C|uiet,  or  at  times 
when  she  was  depressed  and  needed  comfort,  she  would  sit 
at  the  piano,  and  "  croon  "  over  to  herself  those  songs  of 
Lindblad's,  wliich  had  in  them,  so  many  memories — memories, 
that  had  passed  into  her  very  being,  of  far  days  in  the  old 
country,  when  those  sounds,  so  saturated  with  the  inspiration 
of  her  home,  were,  first,  in  her  ears,  and  she  was  tasting  the 
spring  sweetness  of  her  fresh  young  powers. 

And,  lastly,  we  must  mention  the  great  name  of  Erik 
Gustaf  Geijer,  a  man  at  the  very  summit  of  Swedish  litera- 
ture. Born  in  1783,  he  became  Professor  of  History,  at  the 
University  of  Upsala,  in  1816  :  where  his  lectures  had  un- 
exampled popularity.  In  spite  of  the  offer  of  a  bishopric. 
Professor  he  still  remained,  planning  the  great  history  of 
Sweden,  of  which  his  introduction  was  a  masterpiece  of  skill 
and  knowledge :  and  producing  various  historical  works.    He 


90  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i  en.  vi. 

was  much  occupied  with  political  and  economical  specu- 
lations ;  and,  for  thirty  years,  continued  to  be  one  of  the 
chiefs  of  the  Swedish  literary  world.  He  died  on  April  23, 
1847.  Besides  his  historical  and  political  work,  he  had  a 
real  talent  for  music ;  and  published  a  volume  of  songs,  of 
which  Lindblad  wrote  a  famous  account.*  Through  music, 
he  crossed  the  path  of  Jenny  Lind  ;  and  in  her  he  took  a  most 
warm  interest. 

"  Jenny  and  I  have  become  very  good  friends,"  he  writes 
in  January  1840.  "I  call  her  'Thou':  and  she  calls  me 
•  Uncle.'  She  is  a  simple  attractive  being.  Lindblad,  and 
Madame  Lindblad  both  stand  to  her  in  almost  fatherly,  and 
motherly  relation,  which  becomes  both  parties  very  well. 
All  the  same,  I  am  afraid  she  is  a  kind  of  '  comet '  which 
may  interfere  with  their  domestic  peace,  for  comets  have  tails  : 
and  their  house  is  besieged  by  Jenny's  admirers,  who  now 
may  be  said  to  consist  of  the  whole  public." 

Again,  in  INIarch,  he  writes,  "  Jenny  Lind  sang  two  of  my 
songs,  i.e.,  '  The  Drawing-Boom  or  the  Wood,'  and  '  Sirring, 
'will  it  come  ? '  It  was  quite  excellent.  I  went  behind  the 
curtain  to  thank  her,  and  accompanied  her  home  to  her 
door.  I  do  not  think  lightly  of  the  good  graces  in  which 
I  believe  myself  to  stand  with  her." 

For  her  he  wrote  songs,  both  words  and  music :  and  it  is 
in  one  of  these  songs,  that  we  discover  the  record  both  of  his 
estimation  of  her  character,  and,  also,  of  the  profound  effect 
which  such  an  estimate,  coming  from  such  a  man,  had  upon 
her  to  whom  it  was  addressed.  And,  indeed,  we  cannot 
wonder  at  this  effect :  for  the  author  of  the  song  is  not  afraid 
to  acknowledge,  in  this  fresh  young  girl,  the  signs  and  omens 
of  that  supreme  genius,  which  is  the  highest  born  of  Heaven, 
and  which,  yet,  because  it  is  liighest,  is  also  as  a  "  consuming 
flame,"  to  which  the  devoted  and  sacrificial  Will  must  yield 
itself,  as  a  victim,  offered  on  an  altar.  The  deep  and  serious 
import  of  such  momentous  words,  addressed  to  her  by  the 

*   Cf.  Biography  in  Geijer's  Collected  Works,  1873-75. 


1840.]  CHARACTER.  91 

highest  intellectual  authority  of  her  native  land,  and  ranking 
her,  the  young  opera-singer  from  the  Theatre  School,  with  that 
rare  band  of  spiritual  heroes  whose  lives  are  as  a  torch  lit  by 
divine  fire,  must  have  been  as  a  revelation  :  and  the  traces  of 
this  remain  on  a  copy  of  these  verses,  in  her  own  hand- 
writing, found  among  her  papers,  across  the  bottom  of  which 
she  has  written,  "  On  these  words  I  was  launched  into  the 
open  sea."     To  her,  they  marked  the  date  at  which  she  felt 
herseK  a  public,  an  historic,  character.     For  her,  they  con- 
tained the  secret  of  her  mission,  of  her  expectations,  of  her 
future.     It  was  his  insistence,  as  we  believe,  wliich  urged  her 
to  seek  a  wider  world :  and,  now,  from  liim  she  learned  with 
what  spirit  she  was  to  make  her  venture.     She  was  to  move 
out  into  the  open  day  of  her  fame,  not  to  win  a  reputation, 
not  to  enjoy,  not  to  taste  triumph,  not  to  satisfy  her  own 
craving  for  expression,  not  to  find  a  world  of  honour,  and 
wealth,  and  ease.      Nay!     She  was  to  be  clad  about  with 
prophetic  solemnity.     She  was  to  yield  herself  to  the  stern 
necessities  of  genius :    she  was  to  consume,  in  giving :  the 
steps  up  which  she  was  ever  to  be  passing,  were  to  be  the 
steps  of  an  altar  :  and  she  was  the  sacrifice.     Such  were  the 
words  that  were  behind  her,  when  she  found  herself  "  launched 
into  the  open  sea."  * 

We  give  them  in  a  free  and  rough  translation — 

"  Oh  !  if  from  you  Eternal  Fire, 

Which  slays  the  souls  that  it  sets  free — 
Consuming  them,  as  they  aspire — 

One  burning  spark  have  fallen  on  thee ! 

'•  Fear  not !     Though  upward  still  it  haste, 
That  living  fire,  that  tongue  of  flame  ! 
,  Thy  days  it  turns  to  bitter  waste ; 

But  ah !  from  heaven — from  heaven  it  came  ! " 

*  They  were  printed,  with  music,  iu  the  '  Linnaea  Borealis  Poetisk 
Kalender,'  1841 : 

"  Mod  och  forsakelse.  Till  en  ung  S^ngerska  den  24  December,  1839. 

"  (Upsala,  1840.)  (Signed)  E.  G.  G r." 


92.  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.i.  cii.  vir. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

PILGEIJIAGE. 

The  sign  of  the  sacrifice  was  already  upon  her,  in  the  year 
1840.  On  the  surface,  she  had  everything  which  could  satisfy 
her.  She  had  become  the  idol  of  the  National  Drama.  She 
had  been  made  Member  of  the  Eoyal  Swedish  Academy  of 
Music  in  1840,  and  had  received  the  hio'h  official  recocjnition 
by  being  appointed  Court-singer,  on  the  13th  of  January, 
1840,  by  His  Majesty,  Carl  Johan.  This  was  an  honour 
which  her  mother  had,  already,  been  anticipating,  from  the 
summer  of  1839,  and  had  rejoiced  over  the  fact  that  it 
included  a  salary.  "  It  is  a  great  mark  of  distinction,"  she 
writes  to  her  husband ;  "  and  a  great  joy  for  us  !  "  She  had 
the  best  social  "  world "  at  her  feet.  She  enjoyed  the 
delightful  companionship  of  some  of  the  most  cultivated  men 
and  women  in  Sweden.  Her  position  at  the  Eoyal  Theatre 
was  assured  her.  The  Directors  were,  at  the  very  moment, 
proposing  to  her  a  fresh,  and  advanced  contract.  Indeed  we 
shall  see  that  their  zeal  outran  their  discretion  and  their 
proper  consideration  for  her  ;  for  they  were  but  too  anxious 
to  use  her  gifts,  at  the  risk  of  overstraining  them.  Her 
popularity  was  at  its  height ;  she  was  pursued  with 
enthusiasm.  The  musical  authorities  of  Stockholm  had  no 
more  to  teach  her ;  they  were  content  to  praise  her,  as  the 
perfect  exponent  of  their  art. 

And,  yet,  what  was  it  that  worked  within  the  girl's  heart, 
and  told  her  that  all  this  was  as  nothing — told  her,  that,  far 


1840-41.]  PILGRIMAGE.  93 

from  ha^dng  reached  tlie  end,  she  was  not  even  at  the 
beginning — told  her  that  her  art  had  secrets  yet  to  unfold  to 
her,  and  that  this  adulation  which  encompassed  her  \Yas  but 
a  prophecy  of  what  she  ought  to  become  hereafter  ?  What 
was  this  insistent  whisper  of  some  buried  conscience  within 
her,  which  spoke  to  her  alone — spoke  of  some  perfection 
which  could  be  sought  and  found  elsewhere  ?  As  she  bowed 
in  courteous  acknowledgment  of  the  loud  plaudits  of  an 
enthusiastic  theatre,  she  heard,  above  all  the  genial  tumult 
tliis  "  still,  small  voice  "  within,  wliich  said  to  her,  "  Yes  ! 
you  may,  some  day,  live  to  deserve  that  kindly,  that 
encouraging  applause  ;  but,  to-day,  you  know  that,  by  rights, 
it  is  not  yours  !  You  know  not,  as  yet,  how  to  merit  it.  It 
is  given  you,  in  spite  of  yourself.  But  you  have  that  in  you 
which  may,  indeed,  deserve  to  receive  that  which  is  generously 
offered  you,  in  anticipation,  to-day.  Far  away,  over  the  sea 
the  secret  is  kept  which  will  unlock  the  shut  doors,  and  will 
set  free  your  true  self.  Far  over  the  sea,  there  is  a  power  at 
whose  touch  the  sleeping  queen  will  wake  and  spring  to  life. 
There  it  is  that  you  will  know  what  now  is  hidden  from  your 
eyes.  There  it  is  that  Art  will  disclose  the  mystery,  which  is 
now  felt  but  not  perceived — the  mystery,  that  moves  veiled 
behind  the  glory  of  to-day's  success."  It  was  the  inspiration 
of  genius  which  spoke  to  her.  She  had  but  her  own  soul  to 
trust  to.  She  had  no  ideal,  no  articulate  standard  given  her, 
by  which  to  test  herself ;  yet  she  knew  her  lack,  she  felt  what 
she  was  missing.  And,  in  so  feeling,  she  knew,  also,  that,  to 
discover  the  ideal,  to  win  that  which  was  lacking,  all  her 
present  triumph  must  be  surrendered,  must  be  thrown  to  the 
winds.  The  voice  within  must  be  obeyed  at  all  costs ;  out 
over  the  sea,  far  from  home  and  its  happy  honours,  she 
must  seek,  alone,  and  undirected,  the  meaning  of  the 
mysterious  summons.  Surely,  the  pressure  of  the  prophetic 
words  was  upon  her  : 


94  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i,  ch.  vii. 

"  Fear  not,  though  upward  still  it  haste, 
That  living  fire,  that  tongue  of  flame  ! 
Tliy  days  it  turns  to  bitter  waste; 
But  ah  !  from  heaven — from  heaven  it  came !  " 

So  it  was  that  she  took  her  own  resokition.  We  give 
it  in  her  own  remarkable  words.  They  were  written  in 
answer  to  the  new  proposals  made  by  the  Directors,  who, 
on  the  15th  of  December,  1840,  "wishing,"  as  they  said 
"  most  particularly,  to  attach  to  the  Swedish  stage,  a  talent 
so  eminent  as  the  Court-singer,  Froken  Jenny  Lind,  make 
her  the  highest  offer  of  which  their  regulations  afford  them 
the  power."  This  highest  offer  was,  it  is  true,  not  ex- 
travagant; it  ensured  her  £150  a  year;  it  provided  her 
with  all  her  costumes  out  of  theatrical  funds;  it  allowed 
her  one  "benefit"  every  year;  and  special  "extra  service 
money  for  the  parts  in  which  she  appears."  It  offered  her 
the  months  of  July  and  August  for  study  abroad;  and 
promised  to  try  to  extend  this  interval.  The  engagement 
was  to  last  for  the  full  period  permitted,  i.e.,  three  years. 

To  this,  Froken  Lind  sent  the  following  answer  : 

"  To  the  Directors  of  the  Boyal  Theatre. 


« 


In  reply  to  the  letter  from  the  Directors  of  the 
Eoyal  Theatre,  dated  15th  December  last  year,  I  have 
the  honour  to  state  as  follows  :  The  musical  and  dramatic 
capabilities,  which,  from  my  earliest  years,  I  have  felt 
myself  to  possess,  have,  thanks  to  the  cultivation  received 
at  home,  though  hitherto  insufficient,  still  been  able  to 
attract  some  attention  to  my  dawning  talent;  but  it  is 
not  with  half  developed,  if  even  happy,  natural  gifts  that 
an  artist  can  keep  his  ground ;  and,  greatly  as  I  prize  the 
appreciation  I  have  been  fortunate  enough  already  to  win, 
I  feel  I  ought  to  consider  it  not  so  much  a  homage  to  the 
artist  I  was  and  am,  as  an  encouragement  to  what  I  might 
become. 

"  With  this  conviction  and  in  order  to  attain  the  artistic 
perfection  open  to  me,  I  have  thought  it  a  duty  to  do  what 


1840-41.]  PILGRIMAGE.  95 

I  can,  and  not  to  draw  back  before  any  sacrifice,  either  of 
youth,  health,  comfort  or  labour,  not  to  speak  of  the  modest 
sum  I  have  managed  to  save,  in  the  hope  of  reaching  what 
may,  perhaps,  prove  an  unattainable  aim.  In  consequence 
I  have  decided  on  a  journey  to,  and  a  sojourn  at,  some 
place  abroad,  which,  through  furnishing  the  finest  models 
in  art,  would  prove  to  me  of  the  greatest  profit. 

"  It  is,  then,  chiefly  this  journey  which  constitutes  the 
real  obstacle  to  my  immediately  accepting,  in  its  entirety, 
the  kind  offer  of  the  Directors  of  the  Koyal  Theatre;  for 
it  defers,  for  another  year,  the  possibility  of  my  re-engage- 
ment. I  am  in  hopes,  however,  that  the  Eoyal  Directors 
will  not  disapprove  of  my  resolution,  all  the  more  as  it  aims 
solely  at  perfecting  myself  in  my  art;  while  all  sacrifices, 
inseparable  from  a  similar  undertaking,  will  fall  on  myself 
alone.  Trusting  that  the  Eoyal  Directors  will  accord  to  these 
reasons  due  consideration,  and,  in  accordance  with  the  request 
made  in  their  kind  letter,  I  beg  leave  to  submit  my  counter 
proposals. 

"  On  returning  to  my  native  country,  next  year,  I  under- 
take to  serve  at  the  Eoyal  Theatre  for  the  two  following 
years  at  the  salary  proposed  by  the  Eoyal  Directors  in 
the  above-mentioned  letter  of  the  15th  December  last,  but 
with  the  following  modifications;  that  my  engagement, 
for  each  year,  may  not  exceed  eight  months,  viz.,  from 
1st  October  unto  the  following  31st  May,  so  that  a  leave 
of  the  four  months,  June,  July,  August  and  September  may 
be  accorded  to  me. 

"  Furthermore,  I  must,  rather  as  a  humble  petition,  than 
as  a  condition  for  my  return  to  the  service  of  the  Eoyal 
Theatre,  express  my  wish  to  be  free  this  year  from  next 
31st  May,  since  in  the  beginning  of  June  an  opportunity 
offers  for  me  to  start  on  my  intended  journey  in  company 
with  a  family  without  whose  protection  I  should  not  venture 
to  undertake  it.  I  hope  the  Eoyal  Directors  will,  kindly, 
give  due  weight  to  this  invaluable  advantage,  and,  in  view 
of  its  importance  to  me,  excuse  my  earnest  request. 

"Jenny  Lind. 

"  Stockholm,  9  February,  1841." 

A  notable  document,  this.  Had  she  any  counsel  to  aid 
her  in  its  production?  Did. Berg,  did  Lindblad  advise  the 
step  ?     We  have  no  record  of  such  advice  from  them.     Both, 


96  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  vir. 

indeed,  seem  to  have  agreed  to  the  step,  and  to  favour  its 
carrying  out ;  for  Berg  is  found  with  her  at  the  start  in  Paris  ; 
and  it  is  only  out  of  her  own  delicate  affection  for  her  formei' 
master  that  she  delays  her  beginning  with  the  next  one. 
Moreover  she  owns  to  having  consulted  him  as  to  what  was 
to  be  done  when  it  became  clear  to  him  as  to  her,  that  he  had 
no  more  to  teach  her.  But  nothing  is  said  of  Ms  suggesting 
a  remedy.  Lindblad,  also,  visits  her  in  Paris,  and  interests 
himself  in  her  final  fortunes  there.  But,  still,  there  is  no 
sio-n  of  their  being  the  prime  movers.  No  evidence  exists 
of  her  seeking  other  counsel  than  her  own  heart  in  making  the 
final  decision. 

Yet  two  influences  there  were  that  told  strongly  upon 
her  at  the  time,  and  urged  her  forward.  The  first  was 
theoretical  and  ideal :  it  was  that  of  Geijer.  He  was  clear 
that  she  belonged  to  mankind,  rather  than  to  Sweden,  and 
he  pressed  upon  her  the  necessity  of  widening  her  range  of 
knowledge  and  skill.  She,  herself,  attributed  the  momentum 
that  drove  her  afield  to  Geijer's  insistence.  "  He  kicked  me 
out  .  .  .  into  the  great  world,"  she  would  say,  with  humorous 
vio-our.  The  second  influence  was  direct,  and  practical. 
It  was  the  example  of  Belletti,  the  celebrated  barytone, 
then  singing  with  her  at  the  Ptoyal  Theatre.*  He  showed 
her,  vividly,  what  scientific  singing  in  the  great  Italian 
manner  really  meant ;  and  he  would  be  able,  if  consulted  as 
to  where  such  style  could  be  gained,  to  say  at  once, — "  At 
Paris,  under  Garcia." 

The  decision,  then,  from  which  she  is  not  to  draw  back, 
even  at  "  the  sacrifice  of  youth,  health,  comfort,  and  of  her 

*  Dalilgren's  important  History  of  tlie  Swedish  Stage  has  the  following 
ahout  Belletti  (born  in  1813,  at  Sarzana) :  "Giovanni  Battista  Belletti, 
came  from  Italy  encouraged  to  do  so  by  the  sculptor,  Professor  Bystrom, 
who  had  made  his  acquaintance  at  Carrara;  he  remained  connected  with 
the  R.  Opera  from  1839—1  July  1844." 


1840-41.]  PILGRIMAGE.  97 

modest  savings  "  appears  to  be  largely  the  issue  of  her  own 
insight,  and  deliberation.  Later  on,  in  Paris,  she  speaks  as  if 
it  were  her  own  "  artistic  conscience  "  whose  dictates  she  had 
obeyed.  Certainly,  it  was  left  to  her  own  courage  and 
resolution  to  find  the  funds  by  which  to  carry  it  out.  And  it 
was.  for  this  end,  that  she  had  already  in  the  summer  of 
1840  set  out  on  a  provincial  round  of  concerts,  accompanied 
by  her  father ;  in  which  she,  probably,  wore  out  what 
remained  of  her  voice  after  the  hard  work  of  the  theatrical 
season,  but,  in  compensation,  won  triumphant  successes  and 
accumulated  supplies  that  would  carry  her  through  a  year's 
training  at  Paris,  whither  she  was  determined  to  go  and 
discover  the  true  secret  of  song. 

We  have  a  letter  from  her  written,  in  the  middle  of  this 
tour,  towards  the  early  part  of  July,  to  her  friend  Louise 
Johansson,  from  Malmo,  at  the  extreme  south  of  Sweden 
whence  she  could  actually  see  Copenhagen,  in  which  she 
records  how  things  have  gone  in  the  series  of  towns  through 
which  she  has  passed.  "  The  journey  has  gone  off  well 
enough,  thank  God  !  That  is  to  say,  the  roads  were  so  bad 
that  the  wheels,  now  and  then,  sank  a  foot  deep  into  the 
mud,  and  it  was  very  horrid  sitting  about  in  the  atrocious 
weather ;  but  as  soon  as  I  arrive  in  a  to^vn,  and  see  the 
exceeding  great  kindness  and  friendliness  the  people  have 
for  me,  then  I  feel  it  wicked  to  grumble.  You  cannot  think 
to  what  an  extent  they  all  vie  with  each  other  in  serving  me. 
It  is  quite  astonishing  !  " 

She  tells  how  they  began  at  ISTorrkoping ;  how  she  slept 
through  a  thunder-storm  ;  how  they  went  to  some  coujitry 
seats,  with  Herr  Cederbaum,  and  Baron  Ahlstromer ;  how 
they  got  to  Ekesjo  on  Midsummer  Eve;  and  how,  at 
Qvarnarp  they  were  received  for  a  whole  week  by  the 
kindest  and  most  amiable  people  she  had  seen  for  a  long 
time.     "I   shall    not    have    so   much   fun  any   more,   this 

H 


98  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  i.  ch.  vii. 

summer,"  she  laments,  "  and  besides — be  this  said  without 
conceit — my  departure  was  regretted,  for  they  all  cried,  both 
young  and  old."  Then  on  to  Wexio,  Christianstad  with  its 
tiny  theatre  crowded,  and  so  to  Malmo.  She  is  to  visit 
Copenhagen  from  there,  without  singing ;  and,  then,  to  pass 
through  Helsingborg,  Jonkdping,  Linkoping  and  Norrkdping, 
back  to  Stockholm,  giving  concerts  at  each  place  by  the  way. 
She  asks  most  earnestly  after  her  grandmother ;  not  her  dear 
old  Mme.  Tengmark  who  had  died  in  1833,  but  Fru  Strom- 
bertr,  a  connection  of  her  father's.  She  fears  lest  she  be 
abeady  dead ;  if  not,  she  sends  her,  with  deep  respect,  her 
fondest  love,  and  an  assurance  that  "  Papa  is  quite  well ! 
God  grant  I  may  not  come  home  too  late  to  see  her ! " 

After  some  messages  to  her  Aunt  Lona  {i.e.,  ApoUonia 
Lindskog)  the  letter  closes  with  a  commission  which  shows 
how  very  early  in  life  her  characteristic  charities  had  begun  : 

"  My  dear  Louisa,  would  you  be  kind  enough  to  render  me 
the  service  of  going  to  Clara  Vestra,  Kyrkogata  13  or  25.  I 
am  not  sure  which  of  these  numbers  is  the  right  one,  but 
after  you  have  crossed  the  Clara  churchyard,  and  when  you 
arrive  at  the  gate  on  the  Vestragatan,  turn  to  the  left,  then 
it  is  the  first  door  on  the  right-hand  side,  on  the  ground  floor. 
Ask  for  Bruhn,  the  painter,  a  poor  sick  man  ill  in  bed  these 
last  fourteen  years;  I  forgot  to  bring  him  his  monthly 
allowance,  before  coming  away ;  will  you  be  good  enough  to 
give  him,  on  my  behalf,  8  r.  d.  banco,  and  to  tell  him  this  is 
for  the  mouths  of  July  and  August.  Greet  him  much  from 
me,  as  also  his  wife,  and  pardon  your  friend  who  troubles 
you  in  this  way. 

"  Jenny." 

A  note  is  here  struck,  which  is  to  sound  on  through  her 
life.  It  expresses  one  of  the  most  vital  instincts  of  her 
nature — an  instinct  which  roots  itseK  deep  down  in  her 
artistic  impulses — this  instinct  which  bids  her  dedicate  her 
gift  to  the  cause  of  the  poor,  and  the  unhappy.  That  in 
her  wliich  made  her   an  artist,  made    her  also   charitable. 


1840-41.]  PILGRIMAGE.  v  99 

It  was  the  sense  of  possessing  a  gift  which  prompts  the  giving. 
That  which  had  flowed  in,  must  flow  out.  She  was  respon- 
sible for  her  great  possession ;  she  held  it  in  trust ;  she  must 
put  it  out  to  use.  It  was  no  mere  liberality  of  disposition  ; 
it  was  no  mere  genial  beneficence ;  it  was  an  obligation, 
binding,  and  urgent ;  a  joyful  duty ;  a  holy  privilege  which 
it  would  be  a  sin  to  neglect.  Everything  in  her  which  made 
her  recognise  the  powers  lodged  in  her  to  be  a  divine  endow- 
ment, made  her,  by  a  like  impulse,  recognise  her  duty  to  give 
away  what  she  gained.  No  one  will  understand  her,  who 
does  not  see  how  closely  her  charity  was  interwoven  with 
her  art ;  and  how  it  was  that,  in  after  days,  in  deciding  the 
question  of  marriage,  she  made  it  the  prime  necessity  that  her 
husband  should  leave  her  free  in  her  charities.  It  is  because 
it  was  so  interwoven,  that  it  seemed  to  her  to  be  no  work 
of  merit ;  it  was  done  by  a  plain  law  of  right ;  it  was  spon- 
taneous, natural,  inevitable.  So  it  is  that  already,  at  twenty, 
in  the  flush  of  youth  and  personal  success,  her  nature  is  at 
work  with  instinctive  security ;  she  has  found  out  the  poor 
sick  painter ;  and,  quite  modestly  apologising  for  the  trouble, 
just  as  if  she  were  giving  a  commission  to  buy  something  at 
a  shop,  she  begs  her  friend  to  see  to  it  that  he  gets  what  he 
had  the  right  to  look  for  from  her. 

Back  to  Stockholm  she  got  in  August,  where  she  was 
singing  in  Lucia  cli  Lammermsor,  on  August  19th;  and  all 
through  the  autumn,  and  spring,  she  is  hard  at  work, 
fulfilling  her  bond  to  the  Directors,  though,  owing  to  her 
concert-tour,  she  had  had  no  holiday  whatever.  No  wonder, 
that  her  voice  was  left  fatigued  and  strained  after  such 
unintermittent  work,  with  all  the  weariness  of  incessant 
journeys,  and  the  anxieties  that  beset  new  appearances  in 
unfamiliar  rooms.  It  was  in  this  effort  to  raise  funds  by 
which  to  reach  Paris,  that  she  ran  so  near  to  doing  ir- 
reparable damage  to  her  vocal  powers.     Twenty-three  times 

H  2 


100  JENNY  LIND.  [bk,  i.  ch.  vii. 

does  she  perform  in  Lucia,  between  August  19th  when  she 
returned,  and  June  19th,  when  she  closed  her  engagement. 
Fourteen    times   did   she   give    "  Alice,"    in    Roberto ;    and 
nine   times    she   repeated  her  former   role  of  "  Agatha "  in 
the  Freischutz.     And,  besides  these,  there  were   incidental 
appearances  ;  in  the  Zauherfiote  as  "  Pamina  "  ;  in  The  Sioiss 
Family/  as  "  Emmelina  "  ;  and,  seven  times,  as  "  Alaida  "  in 
Bellini's  Stranierd.     And,  moreover,  there  were  concerts  at 
the  theatre,  in  which  she  sang,  on  August  27th,  and  October 
17th,  and  November  14th,  and  on  January  11th  and  20th. 
And,  finally,  for  the  closing  nights  in  May  and  June,  came 
her  first   seven   performances   of  Norma.     At   the   last   of 
the  concerts,  she  had  sung,  as  her  piece,  a  duet  from  Norma, 
with  Mme,  Gelhaar,  her  old  playmate  in  the  school.     And,  on 
May  19th,  the  full  opera  was  produced,  in  which  her  own 
peo]ple  recognised,  and  greeted,  one  of  her  most  brilliant  and 
impressive  impersonations.     They  loved  to  see  her  in  this 
character ;   and   they  prize   as  their   favourite  memorial  of 
her,  the  picture  taken  of  her  by  Sodermark,  as  "  Norma,"  of 
which  a  print  is  given  in  our  second  volume. 

With  Norma  she  ended,  on  June  19th  ;  it  was  her  447th 
appearance  on  the  boards  of  the  Eoyal  Theatre,  since,  as  a 
tiny  child  of  ten,  she  played  "  Angela  "  in  The  Polish  Mine, 
on  November  29th,  1830.  The  Directors  had,  indeed,  been 
justified  by  the  venture  they  made  with  the  little  creature, 
whom  they  sent  on  the  stage  to  dance  and  sing  before  she 
had  been  many  months  at  the  school.  She  had  well  repaid 
them.  For  her  sixty-nine  performances  in  the  year  1840, 
she  is  only  receiving,  besides  the  regulation  play  money, 
1100  r.  d.  banco — about  £95  a  year.  Her  voice  is  fatigued, 
and  worn ;  she  has  done  more  work  than  she  could  rightly 
afford.  But  her  spirit  is  not  looking  back,  but  ahead.  She 
is  not  calculating  her  present  gains ;  but  is  all  on  fire  with 
the  great  hope,  that  is  astir  within  her,  at  the  bidding  of 


1840-41.]  PILGRIMAGE.  101 

which  she  will  wander  out,  a  pilgrim  of  Art,  seeking  the 
better  country,  sure  that  there  is  a  vision  to  be  seen,  a  victory 
to  be  won,  to  which  as  yet  she  has  not  even  come  nigh. 

She  has  found  her  opportunity ;  and  has  made  her  resolu- 
tion. Some  good,  kind  friends,  M.  and  Madame  Von  Koch 
in  whose  house  she  found  constant  friendship  and  affection 
have  arranged  for  her  journey,  and  have  lent  her  a  maid, 
as  a  companion.  A  safe  road  is  thus  laid  open  for  her  to 
Paris.  So,  on  June  21st,  she  gave,  in  the  Ladugardslands 
Church,  a  final  concert  on  her  own  behalf,  singing  an 
aria  from  Anna  Bolena,  and  another  from  Norma ;  mnding 
up  with  a  'Lyrical  Farewell,'  written  and  composed,  for 
the  occasion,  by  Lindblad ;  and,  in  July,  she  leaves  the 
Lindblads'  house,  and  enters  on  the  pilgrimage  which  was  to 
mean  so  much.  Home  has  been  gracious  to  her;  she  loves 
her  country  which  has  loved  her  so  freely ;  her  one  desire  is 
to  return  to  Stockholm,  worthy  of  the  enthusiasm  wliich  it 
has  poured  about  her.  But  home  cannot  tell  her  the  great 
secret.  Somewhere  else  it  lies,  far  off ;  she  must  seek  it,  and 
find  it,  even  though,  on  its  behalf,  she  sacrifice  "youth, 
health,  comfort,  labour,  and  savings." 


BOOK  II. 


ASPIEATION. 


(     105     ) 


CHAPTEE  I. 

IN   PAEIS. 

On  Thursday,  tlie  first  of  July,  1841,  after  taking  leave  of 
Herr  and  Madame  Lindblad,  Mr.  Edward  Lewin,  and  her 
friends  in  Stockholm,  Mademoiselle  Lind  embarked,  on  the 
steamship  Gauthiod — Captain  Nylen — for  Liibeck  ;  in  com- 
pany with  His  Excellency,  Count  Custave  Lowenhielm,  the 
Swedish  Minister  at  Paris,  Signor  Belletti,  and  one  or  two 
less  intimate  acquaintances  ;  and  attended  by  a  trusty  female 
ompanion,  recommended  to  her  by  Madame  von  Koch. 

"The  dear  little  girl,"  wrote  Madame  Lindblad,  "was 
almost  crushed.  I  never  thought  that  it  would  cost  her  so 
much.  On  the  last  night  she  never  slept,  but  wrote  letters 
the  whole  night  through,  coming  occasionally  into  our  rooms 
to   have   a   good   cry.      On   the   first   of  July   she   left,  at 

11  o'clock,  A.M." 

On  reaching  Travemiinde,  Count  Lowenhielm  disembarked, 
and  proceeded  by  land,  to  Hamburg,  Mademoiselle  Lind 
and  Signor  Belletti  continued  their  voyage  to  Liibeck ;  and 
thence  travelled  to  Hamburg  by  post.  On  arriving  there,  they 
rejoined  Count  Lowenhielm,  who  introduced  Mademoiselle 
Lind  to  the  Swedish  Minister  in  Hamburg,  and  left  nothing 
undone  which  could  make  her  short  sojourn  in  the  old 
Hanse-town  agreeable. 

It  was  a  pleasant  little  episode — a  delightful  holiday,  on 
the  road  to  liard  work. 


106  JEN  NT  LIND.  [bk.  ii.  cu.  i. 

After  these  few  days  of  rest  and  enjoyment,  slie  proceeded 
AAdth  her  companion  to  Havre  by  the  steamboat ;  and  thence, 
by  diligence,  to  Paris. 

To  a  nature  so  sensitive,  the  change  from  the  natural 
simplicity  of  domestic  life  in  Sweden,  to  the  restless  activity 
of  the  French  capital,  with  its  crowded  streets,  its  ceaseless 
craving  for  pleasure  and  excitement,  its  passion  for  amuse- 
ment, its  caprices  of  fashion,  above  all,  its  splendid  theatres, 
its  art-collections,  and  priceless  opportunities  for  mental 
cultivation  and  improvement — to  such  a  nature,  all  this,  so 
new,  so  unexpected,  and,  in  many  respects,  so  strangely 
incomprehensible,  must  have  been  fraught  with  an  all- 
absorbing  interest. 

And  we  must  not  forget,  that  the  Paris  of  eight-and-forty 
years  ago  was  a  city,  very  different  from,  and,  in  many 
respects,  very  much  more  interesting  than,  that  in  which  it 
delights  us  to  spend  our  holidays  to-day. 

Eight-and-forty  years  ago,  there  was  no  Boulevard  Haus- 
mann ;  no  Temple  of  the  Muses  worthy  to  be  compared  with 
the  new  home  of  the  Grand  Opera  which  excites  our  envy 
and  admiration,  every  time  we  indulge  ourselves  with  a  loge 
in  its  goodly  salle ;  no  sign  of  the  new  streets,  and  squares, 
and  palaces,  which  were  destined  to  spring  up,  as  it  were,  in  a 
night,  under  the  influence  of  the  '  Second  Empire.'  But  in 
place  of  these,  there  were  sights,  infinitely  more  pleasing  to 
the  sense  of  the  artist,  and  the  poet.  Whole  streets,  like 
the  Eue  du  Tourniquet-Saint-Jean,  described  by  de  Balzac, 
were  so  little  changed  since  the  dark  days  of  the  Tcrreur,  that 
it  needed  but  little  eflbrt  of  the  imagination  to  re-people  them 
with  the  sansculottes,  and  the  tricoteicscs,  who  had  whirled 
through  the  giddy  mazes  of  the  carmagnole,  or  yelled  the 
Marseillaise,  within  their  time-stained  precincts,  in  the  days 
of  Kobespierre  and  Danton ;  streets  which  formed  part  of  an 
older  Paris,  as  different  from  the  Paris  of  to-day,  as  the 


1841.]  IN  PARIS.  107 

Hamburg  of  to-day  is,  from  the  Hamburg  that  suffered  in 
the  conflagration  of  1842. 

It  was  to  this  older  Paris  that  Mademoiselle  Lind  re- 
paired, in  the  summer  of  the  year  1841,  in  the  hope  of  per- 
fectinf^  herself  in  the  technicalities  of  the  Art  she  so  dearly 
loved — that  Art  of  Singing,  of  whose  mysteries  she  knew  so 
little,  and  longed  to  know  so  much  ;  and  the  details  of  which 
she  found  it  so  impossible  to  acquire  satisfactorily  in 
Stockholm. 

For  her  advancement  in  Dramatic  Art,  she  trusted  to 
herself  alone.  No  one  could  teach  her  to  act,  and  she 
sought  no  teacher ;  for  her  method  was  part  of  herself,  based 
upon  her  own  natural  impulses,  idealised  by  the  deep  and 
noble  romance  which,  in  all  that  appertained  to  the  stage, 
was  her  never-failing  guide,  an  inward  light,  by  aid  of  which 
she  was  enabled  to  identify  herself  with  every  character  she 
cared  to  impersonate,  and  even  to  "create,"  anew,  many 
famous  parts,  which  she  interpreted  in  a  manner  peculiarly 
her  own.  She  needed  no  help  for  this.  But  her  need  of  a 
competent  Maestro  di  Canto  was  a  very  pressing  one,  indeed  ; 
and  she  had  long  been  convinced  that  one,  and  one  only,  could 
teach  her  what  she  so  much  desired  to  know.  But  it  Avill 
be  readily  understood  that  the  assistance  and  hearty  co- 
operation of  such  a  master  as  she  needed  were  not  to  be  had 
for  the  mere  asking ;  and  some  little  time  elapsed  before  her 
•desire  was  accomplished. 

On  first  reaching  Paris,  Mademoiselle  Lind  found  a  com- 
fortable home  with  a  family  named  Paiffiaques,  who  kept  a 
boarding-house,  in  a  street  near  the  Ptue  Neuve  des  Augustins. 

Here,  she  was  visited  by  Madame  Berg,  the  wife  of  her 
former  singing-master,  who  was  then  staying  in  Paris,  with 
lier  little  invalid  son,  Albert;  and,  also,  by  Herr  Blumm,  a 
Swedish  gentleman  of  kindliest  disposition  and  infinite 
honliomie,  who  held    the  appointment  of  Chancelier  to  the 


108  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  ii.  ch.  i. 

Swedish  Legation,  in  the  Eue  d'Anjou,*  and  to  whom 
she  was  indebted  for  innumerable  acts  of  courtesy  and  kind- 
ness, during  the  period  of  her  residence  in  Paris. 

On  leaving  Sweden,  she  had  brought  wdth  her  letters 
of  introduction,  from  Queen  Desideria.f  to  her  relative, 
the  Duchesse  de  Dalmatie  (Madame  la  Marechale  Soult)  ; 
and,  soon  after  her  arrival  in  Paris,  she  was  invited  by 
this  lady  to  an  afternoon  reception.  Among  the  guests 
present  at  this  little  reunion  were  Count  Lowenhielm,  and  the 
Comtesse  de  la  Eedortes  (Marechal  Soult's  married  daughter). 
It  was  understood  that  Mademoiselle  Lind  would  be  asked  to 
sing:  and,  by  invitation  of  the  Duchesse,  Signer  Manuel 
Garcia,  the  brother  of  Madame  Malibran  and  Madame 
Viardot,  and  the  most  renowned  Maestro  di  Canto  in  Europe, 
came  to  hear  her. 

She  sang  some  Swedish  songs,  accompanying  herself  on 
the  pianoforte ;  but,  either  through  nervousness,  or  fatigue, 
she  does  not  appear  to  have  done  herself  justice,  and  her 
singing  seems  to  have  produced  no  very  favourable  effect 
upon  the  assembled  guests.  Her  voice  was  worn,  not  only 
from  over-exertion,  but  from  want  of  that  careful  manage- 
ment which  can  only  be  acquired  by  long  training  under  a 
thoroughly  competent  master.  Such  training  she  had  never 
had.  She  had  formed  her  own  ideal  of  the  difficult  roles 
that  had  been  entrusted  to  her — all  too  soon  for  her  welfare, 
if  those  in  office  at  the  Koyal  Theatre  in  Stockholm  had  but 
known  it ! — and  had  tried  to  reach  that  ideal  by  the  only 
means  she  knew  of — means,  very  pernicious  indeed.  The 
result  was,  that  the  voice  had  been  very  cruelly  injured. 
The  mischief  had  been  seriously  aggravated  by  the  fatigue 

*  Then  called  Rue  d'Anjou  St.  Honore.  The  street  still  exists,  but 
not  the  house  formerly  occu2:iied  by  the  Swedish  Legation. 

t  The  wife  of  Marechal  Bernadotte,  who  became  King  of  Sweden  and 
Norway,  in  the  year  1818,  under  the  title  of  Karl  XIY.  Johann. 


1841.]  IN  PARIS.  109 

consequent  upon  her  long  and  arduous  provincial  tour ;  and 
the  result  was  a  chronic  hoarseness,  painful  enough  to  pro- 
duce marked  symptoms  of  deterioration  upon  the  fresh  young 
voice,  which  had  never  been  taught  either  the  method  of 
production,  or  the  cultivation  of  style  necessary  for  the 
development  of  its  natural  charm. 

Signer  Garcia  was  not  slow  to  perceive  all  this  ;  and  he 
afterwards  told  a  lady,  who  questioned  him  upon  the  subject, 
that  Mademoiselle  Lind  was,  at  that  time,  altogether  wanting 
in  the  qualities  needed  for  presentation  before  a  highly- 
cultivated  audience. 

Soon  after  this,  Mademoiselle  Lind  called,  by  appointment, 
upon  Signor  Garcia,  who  then  occupied  a  pleasant  dcuxihne 
Stage,  in  a  large  block  of  houses  in  the  Square  d'Orleans,  near 
the  Rue  Saint  Lazare ;  a  handsome  residence,  built  around  a 
turfed  courtyard,  with  a  fountain  in  the  centre,  and  a  large 
tree  on  each  side  of  it.*  As,  on  this  occasion,  she  formally 
requested  the  great  Maestro  to  receive  her  as  a  pupil,  he  felt 
it  his  duty  to  examine  her  voice  more  carefully  than  he  had 
been  able  to  do  at  Madame  Soult's  afternoon  party;  and, 
after  making  her  sing  through  the  usual  scales,  and  forming 
his  own  opinion  of  the  power  and  compass  of  the  vocal 
recristers,  he  asked  her  to  sing  the  well-known  scena  from 
Lucia  di  Lammermoor — "  Ferche  non  ho.'"  In  this,  unhappily, 
she  broke  completely  down — in  all  probability,  through  ner- 
vousness, for  she  had  appeared  in  the  part  of  "  Lucia,"  at  the 
Stockholm  Theatre,  no  less  than  thirty-nine  times  only  the 

*  The  house  is  still  unchanged.  The  Square,  now  called  the  Cite 
d'Orleans,  is  situated  midway  between  the  Boulevard  des  Italiens,  and 
the  Barriere  Moutmartre,  and  forms  No.  80  of  the  Kue  1'aithout,  near  a 
spot  formerly  called  the  Kue  des  Trois  Freres.  Chopin,  and  Professor 
Zimmermann — the  father  of  Madame  Gounod — once  lived  here ;  the  latter 
keeping  a  '  pension '  for  musical  students,  in  which  Garcia's  pupil,  Made- 
moiselle Kissen  (of  whom  more  detailed  mention  will  presently  be  made), 
for  some  time  resided. 


110  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  ii.  ch.  i. 

year  before,  and  the  music  must,  therefore,  have  been  more 
than  familiar  to  her.  However,  let  the  cause  have  been  what 
it  might,  the  failure  was  complete ;  and,  upon  the  strength  of 
it,  the  Maestro  pronounced  his  terrible  verdict — "  It  would 
be  useless  to  teach  you,  Mademoiselle ;  you  have  no  voice 
left " — "  Mademoiselle,  vous  n'avezplus  de  voix."  * 

The  effect  of  this  sentence  of  hopeless  condemnation  upon 
an  organisation  so  highly  strung  as  that  of  Mademoiselle 
Lind  may  be  easily  conceived.  But  her  courage  was  equal 
to  the  occasion,  though  she  told  Mendelssohn,  years  afterwards, 
that  the  anguish  of  that  moment  exceeded  all  that  she  had 
ever  suffered  in  her  whole  life.  The  shock  must  have  been 
a  cruel  one,  indeed ;  yet  her  faith  in  her  own  powers  never 
wavered  for  an  instant.  She  could  not  forget  the  triumphs 
of  the  past.  Her  success  in  Stockholm  had  been  so  genuine, 
and  so  brilliant,  that  many  a  prima  donna  would  have  been 
satisfied  to  accept  it  as  the  final  reward  of  a  long  and 
honourable  career,  the  just  recompense  of  a  life  devoted  to 
the  service  of  Art.  But  she  herself  was  far  from  satisfied. 
She  knew  that  she  was  capable  of  greater  things,  and  meant 
to  accomplish  them.  She  knew  what  Garcia  could  not 
possibly  know — that  there  was  a  power  within  her  that  no 
amount  of  discouragement  could  ever  subdue. 

Instead,  therefore,  of  accepting  his  verdict  as  a  final  one, 
she  asked,  with  tears  in  her  eyes,  what  she  was  to  do.  Her 
faith  in  the  Maestro's  judgment  was  no  less  firm  than  that 
which  she  felt  in  the  reality  of  her  own  vocation.    In  the  fuU 

*  It  is  necessary  that  these  words  should  be  very  distinctly  recorded; 
for,  their  frequent  misquotation,  in  the  newspapers,  and  elsewhere,  has 
led  to  a  very  false  impression,  equally  unjust  to  master  and  pupil.  The 
Ilaestro's  exact  words  were,  "  Mademoiselle,  vous  n'avez  plus  de  voix" — 
not,  "  Vous  n'avez  pas  de  voix.'"  Mademoiselle  Lind  had  once  possessed 
a  voice ;  but  it  had  been  so  strained,  by  over-exertion,  and  a  faulty 
method  of  production,  that,  for  the  time  being,  scarcely  a  shred  of  it 
remained.     ^ 


1841.]  IN  PARIS.  Ill 

conviction  that,  if  she  could  only  persuade  him  to  advise 
her,  his  counsel  would  prove  invaluable,  she  did  not  hesitate 
to  make  the  attempt;  and  the  result  fully  justified  the 
soundness  of  her  conclusions.  Moved  by  her  evident  distress, 
he  recommended  her  to  give  her  voice  six  weeks  of  perfect 
rest;  to  abstain,  during  the  whole  of  that  time,  from 
singing  even  so  much  as  one  single  note ;  and  to  speak  as 
little  as  possible.  And,  upon  condition  that  she  strictly 
carried  out  these  injunctions,  he  gave  her  permission  to  come 
to  him  again,  when  the  period  of  probation  was  ended,  in 
order  that  he  might  then  see  whether  anything  could  be  done- 
for  her. 


112  JENNY  LIND.  [bk  ii.  cu.  ii. 


CHAPTEK   II. 

THE   MAESTRO   DI   CANTO. 

To  any  really  earnest  aspirant,  six  weeks  of  enforced  idleness 
would  have  been  a  martyrdom.  For  Mdlle.  Lind,  such  a 
period  of  inaction  was  simply  impossible.  Disobedience  to 
the  Maestrds  orders  was,  of  course,  out  of  the  question.  But, 
if  she  was  forbidden  to  sing,  or  to  speak,  she  was,  at  least, 
permitted  to  read,  and  write.  Never  doubting,  for  a  moment, 
of  her  ultimate  success,  she  knew  that  she  would,  one  day, 
have  to  sing  in  Italian,  and  possibly,  also,  in  French.  She 
therefore  spent  the  six  weary  weeks  in  the  diligent  study  of 
those  languages ;  and  there  are  actually  in  existence,  at  this 
moment,  no  less  than  sixty-one  large  foolscap  pages,  in  her 
own  handwriting,  closely  filled  with  exercises  in  Italian 
grammar,  and  twenty-three  similar  pages  in  French,  the 
greater  part  of  which  appear  to  have  been  completed  during 
this  trying  period ;  not  mere  notes,  or  scattered  memoranda, 
but  systematic  declensions  of  nouns,  conjugations  of  verbs, 
long  lists  of  exceptions,  and  other  methodical  work,  such  as 
would  have  been  executed  by  an  industrious  student  on  the 
eve  of  a  severe  critical  examination. 

But,  the  time  was  a  weary  one,  nevertheless.  Her 
nerves  were  excited  to  the  last  degree  of  tension,  and  never 
did  she  forget  the  exasperating  effect  of  the  cries  which,  day 
after  day,  reached  her,  from  the  street,  as  the  long  dull  hours 
dragged  on.  Two  of  these,  repeated  with  a  persistence  truly 
ar/agant,  she  imitated,  sometimes,  when  speaking  of  her  Paris 


1841.]  THE  MAESTRO   DI  CANTO.  113 

life,  in  the  presence  of  her  daughter,  who  thus  noted  down 
the  "  words  and  music." 


i 


«y 


:^=^=3i^: 


^=«!=^: 


Ha  -  ri  -  cots,  ha  -  ri  -  cots  verts 


-±^ 


Ah !        le      vi    -    tri  -  er ! 

The  first  of  these  street-melodies  speaks  for  itself.  The 
second  is  the  cry  of  a  wandering  glazier ;  and  may  still  be 
heard,  in  the  poorer  streets  of  Paris,  sung  by  men  who  carry 
panes  of  glass  on  their  backs,  to  mend  broken  windows. 

Intense  indeed  must  have  been  the  relief,  when  the  time  of 
probation — hard  enough  to  bear,  in  spite  of  the  conscientious 
labour  by  which  it  was  lightened — expired,  at  last.  Once 
more,  Mdlle.  Lind  sought  an  interview  with  the  master,  in  his 
pleasant  dcuxihme,  in  the  Square  d' Orleans ;  and,  this  time 
her  hopes  were  crowned  with  success.  Signer  Garcia  found 
the  voice  so  far  re-established,  by  rest,  that  he  was  able  to 
give  good  hope  of  its  complete  restoration,  provided  that  the 
faulty  method  of  production  which  had  so  nearly  resulted  in 
its  destruction  was  abandoned  ;  and,  with  the  view  of  attain- 
ing this  important  end,  he  agreed  to  give  her  two  lessons, 
regularly,  every  week — an  arrangement  which  set  all  her 
anxieties  at  rest,  and  for  which  she  was  deeply  grateful,  to 
the  end  of  her  life.* 

*  The  exact  date  of  these  two  interviews  with  Signer  Garcia  cannot 
now  be  ascertained.  The  account  given  in  the  text  rests  upon  information 
furnished  by  Signer  Garcia  himself,  many  years  afterwards,  to  a  lady  who 
questioned  him  upon  the  subject,  and  to  Avhom  he  narrated  the  circum- 
stances, as  nearly  as  he  could  then  recollect  them.  No  doubt,  the  account 
he  gave  was,  in  the  main,  correct ;  but,  it  is  not  easy  to  reconcile  it  with 
the  date  of  some  of  Mademoiselle  Lind's  letters.  In  a  letter,  dated  the 
15th  of  August,  1841,  she  told  her  friend,  Louise  Johansson,  that  she 

VOL.  I.  I    ■ 


114  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  ii.  ch.  h. 

The  cleliglit  of  tlie  artist,  at  being  once  more  permitted  to 
sing,  may  be  readily  imagined.  Though  discouraged,  some- 
times, by  the  immense  amount  she  had  to  learn — and,  with 
still  greater  difficulty,  to  un-learn— she  never  lost  heart ; 
and  so  rapidly  did  the  vocal  organs  recover  from  the 
exhaustion  from  which  they  had  been  suffering,  that,  before 
lono-,  she  was  able  to  practise  her  scales  and  exercises 
for  many  hours  daily. 

To  the  uninitiated,  this  amount  of  study  may  seem  exces- 
sive, for  a  voice  that  had  so  narrowly  escaped  destruction 
through  over-exertion.  But  the  experienced  teacher  well 
knows  that  the  danger  lies,  not  in  the  amount  of  work  accom- 
plished, but  in  the  manner  in  which  it  is  accomplished.  A 
vicious  method,  a  want  of  due  attention  to  the  management 
of  the  breath,  attempts  to  produce  extreme  notes  in  an 
unsuitable  register,  and  a  hundred  other  fatal  habits  well 
understood  by  those  who  have  carefully  studied  the  subject, 
exert  a  more  deleterious  influence  upon  the  voice,  and  injure 
it  more  seriously,  and  far  more  surely,  than  any  reasonable 
amount  of  honest  and  well-directed  practice. 


was  then  practising  her  scales,  from  three  to  four  hours  a  day,  without 
a  master,  not  wishing  to  take  lessons  until  after  Herr  Berg's  departure 
from  Paris:  in  another,  dated  the  19th  of  August,  she  told  Madame 
Lindblad  that  she  sometimes  delighted  Madame  Euffiaques'  boarders, 
after  the  day's  practice  was  over,  by  singing  to  them  some  of  the  Swedish 
songs  which  she  afterwards  made  so  famous :  and,  in  a  third  letter 
written  on  the  10th  of  September,  she  told  Froken  Marie  Ruckman  that 
she  had  already  taken  five  lessons  from  Signer  Garcia.  This  leaves  no 
time  for  the  compulsory  silence,  of  six  weeks'  duration,  prescribed,  by 
Signor  Garcia,  as  the  condition  of  her  admission  to  the  privileges  of  his 
instruction.  That  the  condition  really  was  prescribed,  on  the  one  side, 
and  loyally  observed,  on  the  other,  we  know,  on  her  own  authority ;  for, 
she  herself— as  the  writer  perfectly  well  remembers — related  the  circum- 
stance to  Mendelssohn,  in  the  winter  of  1845-6.  But  we  have  been, 
imable  to  collect  any  evidence  tending  to  fix  the  exact  time  at  which  the 
occurrence  took  place. 


1841.]  THE  MAESTRO   DI  CANTO.  115 

Under  the  vigilant  supervision  of  Signor  Garcia,  it  was  im- 
possible that  ]\Idlle.  Lind  could  relapse  into  the  errors  which 
had  already  cost  her  so  dear ;  for  she  had  now  a  guide  upon 
whose    experience  she    could   unhesitatingly  rely.      Signor 
Garcia's  claim  to  rank  as  the  greatest  singing-master  of  the 
present  century,  was,  even  then,  and  still  is,  incontestable. 
In  fact  he  fills,  in  the  vocal  school  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
the  place  that  was  so  nobly  filled,  in  that  of  the  eighteenth, 
by  Niccolo   Porpora.     Not   only  do   many  of  the  greatest 
vocalists  of  the  age  owe  their  mastery  over  the  art,  and  their 
brilliant  and  well-earned  reputation,  to  his  judicious  training ; 
but  many  more,  unable  to  benefit  by  his  personal  instruction, 
have  nevertheless  benefited  largely  by  his  experience.      For, 
his  researches  into  the  mechanism  of  the  human  voice,  his 
discoveries  with  the  laryngoscope,  and  the  clear-sighted  intel- 
liCTcnce  with  which  he  has  turned  those  discoveries  to  account, 
have  placed  the  art  of  singing  upon  a  sounder  physiological 
basis  than  it;  has  ever  previously  been  able  to  claim,      Tlie 
vocalist  can  now  study,  with  certainty,  phenomena  which,  at 
the  beginning  of  this  century,  were  either  totally  misunder- 
stood, or,  at  best,  regarded  as  mysterious  possibilities ;  and 
the  advantage  accruing  to  technical  science  from  the  know- 
ledge thus  patiently  acquired,  and  intelligently  utilised,  is  in- 
calculable. 

The  lessons  appear  to  have  begun  about  the  twenty-fifth, 
or  twenty-sixth  of  August ;  and  to  have  been  continued,  twice 
a  week,  from  that  period,  until  the  month  of  July,  1842. 

Mdlle.  Lind  thus  describes  her  first  introduction  to  the  new 
system,  in  a  letter  to  her  friend,  Froken  Marie  Euckman : — 

"  I  have  already  had  five  lessons  from  Signor  Garcia,  the 
brother  of  Madame  Malibrau.  I  have  to  begin  again,  from 
the  beginning ;  to  sing  scales,  up  and  down,  slowly,  and  ^^dth 
great  care  ;  then,  to  practise  the  shake — awfully  slowly  ;  and, 
to  try  to  get  rid  of  the  hoarseness,  if  possible.     Moreover, 

I  2 


116  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  ii.  CH.  ii. 

he  is  very  particular  about  tlie  breathing.  I  trust  I  have 
made  a  happy  choice.  Anyhow,  he  is  the  best  master; 
and,  expensive  enough— twenty  francs  for  an  hour.  But, 
what  does  that  signify,  if  only  he  can  teach  me  to  smg? 
Mdlle.  Nissen  has  been  his  pupil,  now,  for  two  years,  and 
has  made  immense  progress."  * 

A  fortnight  later,  she  writes  to  Madame  Lindblad : — 

"I  am  well  satisfied  with  my  singing-master.  With 
regard  to  my  weak  points,  especially,  he  is  excellent.  ^  I 
think  it  very  fortunate  for  me  that  there  exists  a  Garcia. 
And  I  believe  him,  also,  to  be  a  very  good  man.  If  he 
takes  but  little  notice  of  us,  apart  from  his  lessons — well  1 
— that  cannot  be  helped;  but  I  am  very  much  pleased, 
nay !  enchanted  with  him  as  a  teacher."  f 

And,  again,  to  Herr  Expeditionschef  Forsberg  : — 

"  Paris,  Febraary  1,  1842. 

"  Garcia's  method  is  the  best,  of  our  time ;  and  the  one 
which  all  here  are  striving  to  follow." 

And,  it  is  pleasant  to  know  that  the  Maestro  was 
equally  well  pleased  with  his  pupil,  who,  in  a  still  later 
letter,  writes : — 

"  Paris,  Marcli  7,  1842. 

"  You  know,  to-day,  four  years  ago,  I  made  my  debut  in 
Der  Freischutz. — No !  five  years  ago,  I  mean.  No  !  it  is 
four,  I  think. — ^Well !  yes  !  I  do  not  know. — Anyhow,  it 
was  on  the  7th  of  March."  | 

"My  singing  is  getting  on  quite  satisfactorily,   now.      I 

*  From  a  letter  to  Froken  Marie  Euckman.  (Paris,  September  10, 
1841.)     For  tlie  rest  of  the  letter,  see  Chap.  V.,  page  134. 

t  Letter  to  Madame  Lindblad.  (Paris,  September  26,  1841.)  From 
the  collection  of  letters  in  the  Lindblad  family,  kindly  furnished  by 
Madame  Grandinson  (nee  Lindblad). 

J  The  dehut  really  took  place  on  March  7,  1838  ;  i.e.  "  four  years  ago." 
See  pp.  55-57. 


1841-42.]  TEE  MAESTRO   DI  CANTO.  117 

rejoice  heartily  in  my  voice ;  it  is  clear,  and  sonorous,  with 
more  firmness,  and  much  greater  agility.  A  great,  great 
deal  still  remains  to  be  done;  but  the  worst  is  over. 
Garcia  is  satisfied  with  me." 

We    may  readily  believe   that   Signer    Garcia  was   more 
than  "  satisfied "  with  a  pupil  so  apt  to  learn,  and  so  well 
able   to   profit   by  the   instruction  she   received.     So  swift 
was  her  comprehension,  that  she  learned  without  knowing 
it.     In  all  save  that  which  concerned  the  mechanical  basis  of 
her  art,  her  unerring  musical  instinct  taught  her  far  more 
than  the  greatest  of  living  masters  could  impart  to  her.      Of 
the  management  of  the  breath,  the  production  of  the  voice, 
the  blending  of  its  registers,  and  a  thousand  other  technical 
details  upon  which  the  most  perfect  of  singers  depends,  in 
great  measure,  for  success,  she  knew  nothing — and,  but  for 
Signer  Garcia,  in  all  probability  never  would  have  known 
anything.     But,  of  that  which  concerned  the  higher  life  of 
her  art,  neither  Signer  Garcia  nor  any  one  else  could  teach 
her  anything  at  all.     She  evidently  felt  this,  herself;  for,  long 
years  afterwards,  she  wrote  : — 

"  The  greater  part  of  what  I  can  do  in  my  art,  I  have  myself 
acquired^by  incredible  labour,  in  spite  of  astonishing  difficul- 
ties. By  Garcia  alone  have  I  been  taught  some  few  impor- 
tant things.  God  had  so  plainly  written  within  me  what  I 
had  to  study  ;  my  ideal  was,  and  is,  so  high,  that  I  could  find 
no  mortal  who  could  in  the  least  degree  satisfy  my  demands. 
Therefore  I  sing  after  no  one's  method — only,  as  far  as 
I  am  able,  after  that  of  the  birds ;  for,  their  Master  was  the 
only  one  who  came  up  to  my  demands  for  truth,  clearness, 
and  expression."  * 

■,  But,  though  thus  dependent  upon  her  own  natural  genius 
for  the  high  qualities  which  placed  her  above  the  greatest  of 
her    contemporaries    in    everything   which    concerned   her 

*  From  the  letter  to  the  Swedish  Biographical  Lexicon  aheady  quoted. 
See  pp.  17-20. 


118  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  ii.  ch.  n. 

loftiest  aspirations  in  the  realm  of  Art,  she  was  none  the  less 
grateful  to  Signor  Garcia  for  the  "  few  important  things " 
which  gave  her  her  first  practical  insight  into  the  technique 
of  sino'ino- — an  insight,  without  which,  as  she  herself  felt, 
she  would  never  have  been  able  to  bring  her  own  great 
artistic  ideal  to  perfection. 


(     139     ) 


CHAPTEE  III. 

THE  STUDENT. 

For  some  few  weeks  after  her  first  interview  with  Signer 
Garcia,  and  her  subsequent  entrance  upon  a  course  of  regular 
study  under  his  guidance,  Mademoiselle  Lind  continued  to 
reside  with  Madame  Euffiaques,  She  found  the  society  of 
her  fellow  i^cnsionnaires  very  pleasant ;  and  she  was  treated 
with  unvarying  kindness  by  the  whole  circle,  during  the 
time  that  she  remained  with  them.  But  she  soon  awoke  to 
the  con\action  tliat  a  boarding-house  was  scarcely  a  fitting- 
place  for  continuous  and  undisturbed  study ;  and — a  still  more 
serious  consideration — she  found  that  the  terms  for  board  and 
lodging  were  too  high  for  her  slender  means.  It  was  really 
necessary  that  she  should  go  to  a  cheaper  and  a  more 
convenient  home ;  but  the  removal  was  not  effected  without 
tears  on  either  side.  The  Eufiiaques  had  been  so  kind  to 
her,  and  had  liked  her  so  much ;  and  she  felt  that  their 
good  will  had  been  of  real  service  to  her.  j\Iadame  Euffiaques 
cried  bitterly  when  she  left,  saying  that  they  had  all 
"  hoped  for  a  longer  stay  on  her  part,"  and  "  could  scarcely 
have  believed  such  dignity  of  conduct  possible  in  a  young 
person  coming  alone  to  Paris  ;  "  *  speaking  with  such  evident 
emotion  that  it  was  impossible  to  doubt  her  truthfulness.  But 
it  was  indispensable  that  the  step  should  be  taken.  Towards 
the  close  of  October,  therefore,  she  removed  to  the  house  of 
Mademoiselle  du  Piiget ;  a  lady,  who,  though  not  a  Swede  by 

*  From  a  private  letter. 


120  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  ii.  CE.  iii. 

birth,  liad,  at  any  rate,been  educated  in  Sweden, was  thoroughly 
Swedish  in  all  her  thoughts  and  habits,  and  had  familiarised 
the  French  with  the  literature  of  Sweden  by  her  excellent 
translations  of  many  well-known  Swedish  works — circum- 
stances of  no  small  importance  in  the  eyes  of  an  exile  whose 
heart  was  continually  yearning  for  her  beloved  country,  and 
who  seemed  incapable  of  being  thoroughly  happy  while 
absent  from  it. 

Though  a  pleasant,  and,  in  many  ways,  a  sympathetic 
companion,  Mademoiselle  du  Puget  was  not  free  from  certain 
amusing  peculiarities  which  Mademoiselle  Lind  occasionally 
described  with  genuine  good  humour.  In  a  letter  to  Madame 
Lindblad,  dated,  '  Paris,  November  26,  1841,'  she  narrates  an 
amusing  little  episode : — 

"You  must  know  that  I  am  beginning  to  be  an  ape — a 
fact  of  which  I  was  not  aware  until  yesterday.     I  was  singing 
to   Mademoiselle   du   Puget,   and   she   seemed   a   little   bit 
surprised  when,  just  once  or  twice,  I  displayed  all  my  powers 
— you  know  what  I  mean — and  she  looked  at  me  as  if  she 
had  not  given  me  credit  for  this.     (Mademoiselle  du  Puget — 
you  must  know — is  a  person  who  has  heard  all  the  great 
artists,  and  is  herself  musical.)     First,  I  sang  '  in  Persiani's 
style,'  and  then  '  in  Grisi's ' ;  and  she  was  kind  enough  to  say 
it  was  excellently  imitated — '  could  not,  in  fact,  be  better/ 
The  compliment  was  rather  hard  to  digest.  I  was  so  ashamed, 
that,  for  a  long  wliile,  I  could  not  look  up.     But,  after  a 
considerable  pause,  I  asked,  '  Do  you  really  think  so  ? ' — with 
a  feeling  of  pride  which  my  look — even  the  look  of  my  back 
— must  surely  have  reflected.     God  help  me !  I  am  so  proud 
that  I  cannot  bear  people  to  tell  me  1  '  imitate.'     I  loathe 
the  very  word  to  such  an  extent  that  I  cannot  conceive  what 
its  inventor  was  thinking  of !    It  seems  to  me,  that  to  take 
what  is  another's,  and  use  it  for  one's  self,  and  then  to  make 
believe  that  it  is  one's  own,  is  positively  to  steal.     But,  I 
seize  so  quickly  the  impression  of  what  is  good,  or  bad,  that 
I  should  not  feel  surprised  if  I  have  caught  something  from 
the  Italian  Opera,  which  I  have  already  visited  pretty  fre- 
quently.    But  be  this  as  it  may,  the  reminiscences  I  am 
carrying  away  from  the  Italian  Opera  here  are  much  better 


1841-42.]  THE  STUDENT.  121 

than  those  connected  with  Stockholm  and  the  school  and 
style  that  prevail  there  ?  "  * 

But  Mademoiselle  Lind  was  not  deprived  of  the  com- 
panionship of  critics  better  able  than  Mademoiselle  du  Puget 
to  appreciate  her  talents  at  their  true  value.  Her  most 
intimate  friend,  at  this  period,  was  Mademoiselle  Henrietta 
Mssen,!  who  was  also  a  pupil  of  Garcia,  and  a  great  favourite 
with  the  master.  The  two  talented  young  vocalists  frequently 
sang  together ;  and,  before  long,  a  feeling  of  generous  rivalry 
sprang  up  between  them,  which  must  have  been  of  infinite 
advantao'e  to  both.  Mademoiselle  Lind  thus  describes  her 
young  friend  in  a  letter  to  ]\Iadame  Lindblad  : — 

"  Paris,  August  19,  1841. 

"  Yesterday  I  went  to  see  Mademoiselle  Mssen,  to  whom 
I  go  pretty  often ;  and  we  sang  to  one  another.  She  has 
a  beautiful  voice.  Still,  I  think  I  agree  with  what 
Adolf  X  once  said — '  it  is  getting  a  little  thin  in  the  upper 
notes.'  But,  notwithstanding  this,  it  is  a  splendid  voice. 
In  future  we  are  going  to  have  music  together  at  Herr 
Blumm's."  § 

The  meetings  at  Herr  Blumm's  became  an  institution.  A 
month  later,  she  writes : — 

"  Paris,  September  19,  1841. 

"  I  am  just  expecting  Philippe —  j]  not  King  Philippe  ! — 
who  is  going  to  take  me  to  Herr  Blumm's,  where  Mademoi- 
selle Nissen  is  waiting  for  us,  with  an  old  relative  of  hers ; 
and  we  four  are  going  somewhere  into  the  country  for  the 

*  From  the  Lindblad  letters. 

t  Afterwards,  Madame  Siegfried  Saloman. 

%  Herr  Lindblad. 

§  From  the  Lindblad  letters. 

II  Philippe  was  an  old  servant  of  Herr  Blumm's,  who,  with  his  charac- 
teristic kindness  and  courtesy,  sent  him  to  attend  Madame  Lind  to  and 
from  her  lessons  with  Garcia.  Pliilippe  was  said  to  be  the  model  of  an 
old  French  servant  of  the  period,  and  it  was  said  of  him,  Tel  imutre, 
tel  valet. 


122  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  ii.  ch.  hi. 

day.  She  is  a  very  sweet  girl.  I  am  really  glad  to  have 
made  her  acquaintance.  The  divine  song  draws  us  to  each 
other."  * 

And,  again : — 

"  Paris,  September  26,  1841. 

"  Mademoiselle  Nissen,  whom  I  have  already  mentioned  to 
you,  is  an  extremely  nice  sweet  girl.  She  lives  in  the  same 
house  as  Garcia;  so  I  look  in  upon  her,  every  time  I  take 
my  lesson."  f 

But  there  were  other  bonds  of  sympathy  between  them, 
besides  those  cemented  by  their  mutual  love  for  "  the 
divine  song."  Wlien  Christmas  drew  near.  Mademoiselle 
Lind's  heart  was  torn  by  yearnings  for  home.  As  the  time 
approached  she  wrote  to  Madame  Lindblad : — 

"  Paris,  December  9,  1841. 

"  Do  you  know  what  I  am  doing,  besides  writing  to  you  ? 
I  am  munching  away — at  what  ? — ^just  guess  ? — at  a  bit  of 
genuine    Swedish    KndclclrddX   which    Herr   Blumm    has 

brought  me Ah!   think  of  me,  when  you  go  to  the 

Julotta,^  for  it  is  the  most  glorious  thing  your  poor  Jenny 
knows  of."  Ii 

And  again : — 

"  Paris,  December  16,  1841. 

"Ah!  who?  who  will  light  the  Christmas  Tree  for  my 
mother  ?  No  one ;  no  one  !  She  has  no  child  who  can  bring 
her  the  least  pleasure.  If  you  knew  how  she  is  ever  before 
me !  how  constantly  she  is  in  my  thoughts !  how  she  gives 
me  courage  to  work  !  how  I  love  her,  as  I  never  loved  her 
before !  "  II 

*  From  the  Liudbiad  letters. 

t  lb. 

t  A  kind  of  rye  bread,  baked  in  large  tbin  round  cakes,  witb  a  hole 
in  the  middle,  by  which  they  are  hung  up  in  bundles,  and  thus  kept  crisp 
and  fresh  for  a  long  time. 

§  The  early  service,  on  Christmas  Day.  Jul  means  Christmas  (Yule), 
and  otta,  8  o'clock. 

II  From  the  Liudbiad  letters. 
%  2h. 


1841-42.]  TEE  STUDENT.  123 

And,  in  the  midst  of  this  cruel  burst  of  home-sickness, 
good  Mademoiselle  du  Puget  bethought  her  of  an  expedient, 
of  which  we  hear  in  another  letter,  written  four  days  after 

Christmas : — 

"Paris,  December  29,  1841. 

"  Christmas  Eve  passed  off  better  than  I  expected ;  for. 
Mademoiselle  du  Puget  went  to  fetch  the  dear  sweet 
Nissen,  and,  all  of  a  sudden,  as  I  was  standing  in  my  room 
alone,  she  came  creeping  in  to  me.  We  sang  duets  together 
— but  my  thoughts  strayed  homewards."  * 

It  is  beautiful,  as  the  time  i)rogresses,  to  mark  the  utter 
absence  of  jealousy  which  characterised  this  rare  artistic 
friendship  between  two  young  students,  each  of  whom  had  a 
reputation  to  ensure,  and  a  name  to  render  famous.  Though 
Mademoiselle  Lind  had  already  established  a  brilliant  repu- 
tation in  Sweden,  Mademoiselle  Nissen  was,  nevertheless, 
far  in  advance  of  her  on  the  road  to  European  honours — or, 
at  least,  it  must  have  seemed  so  to  both  of  them.  On  the 
26th  of  November,  1841,  Signer  Garcia  gave  a  "grand  soiree" 
in  her  honour.  She  was  to  be  the  star  of  the  evening. 
Several  hundred  people  were  invited  to  meet  her ;  and  it  was 
arranged  that  she  should  sing  not  only  alone,  but  also  with 
the  support  of  a  chorus.  Mademoiselle  Lind  was  among  the 
invited  guests,  and,  it  was  arranged  that  Mademoiselle  du 
Puget  should  accompany  her ;  but,  not  one  thought  of  envy 
passed  through  her  mind.  She  spoke  of  nothing  but  her 
friend's  success.  Four  months  later,  her  generosity  was  put 
to  a  still  sterner  test.     On  April  3,  1842,  she  writes : — 

"  Do  you  know  that  Nissen  is  just  upon  the  point  of  con- 
cluding an  engagement  for  three  years  at  the  Italian  Opera  ? 
Eor  the  first  year,  she  is  offered  four  thousand  riksdaler 
banco  ;t  and,  when  the  three  years  are  over,  she  will,  no 
doubt,  be  able  to  command  from  sixty  to  seventy  thousand 

*  From  the  Lindblad  letters. 

t  Equal  to  8,000  francs ;  or  £320  sterling. 


124  JENNY  LINB.  [bk.  ii.  ch.  hi. 

riksclaler  banco  *  per  annum.  Ah,  yes  !  God  help  her !  She 
is  a  nice  good  girl.  Yet,  notwithstanding  all  this,  I  am 
contented  with  my  own  lot,  and  would  not  change  with 
any  one,  though  my  prospects  for  the  future  are  x^ooi";  ^'^^^ 
dark."  f 

And  again  on  May  1 : — 

"  I  am  not  depressed  on  Mademoiselle  Mssen's  account. 
Ah,  no !  Besides,  how  foolish  it  would  be  not  to  stand  aside 
for  a  merit  greater  than  my  o^vn — and  this  I  do.  Thank 
God  !  I  feel  no  jealousy,  and — shall  I  tell  you  ? — it  is  true 
that  I  can  never  get  her  voice  ;  but  I  am  quite  satisfied  with 
my  own.  And,  furthermore,  I  shall  be  able,  in  time,  to  learn 
all  that  she  knows  ;  but  she  can  never  learn  what  I  know. 
Do  you  understand  ?  She  is  a  nice  gui ;  and,  wdth  all  my 
heart,  I  wish  her  every  happiness.  Her  stay  here  is  of  great 
advantage  to  me,  for  she  spurs  me  on,"  % 

In  truth,  every  brilliant  manifestation  of  real  talent  served 
only  to  spur  Mademoiselle  Lind  on  to  still  greater  exertions 
on  her  own  account.  She  was  a  constant  attendant  at  the 
Italian  Opera ;  and  recorded  her  impressions  of  the  principal 
performers  with  the  most  perfect  frankness.  In  one  letter 
she  writes  : — 

"  Oh !  if  you  could  have  heard  Madame  Persian!  sing  in 
La  Sonnamhda,  yesterday  !     Oh  !  oh  !  it  was  beautiful ! " 

Of  Grisi,  though  she  admired  her  greatly  as  an  actress,  she 
spoke  less  enthusiastically ;  and,  especially,  of  her  shake, 
which,  she  said,  was  not  good.  The  shake  was  certainly  not 
one  of  Madame  Grisi' s  strongest  points.  Indeed,  this  parti- 
cular grace  was  then  but  very  little  cultivated  in  the  Italian 
School,    from    an    idea — entirely    fallacious,    though    very 

*  It  is  possible  that  this  may  be  a  lapsus  calami,  for  "  six  to  seven 
thousand  "—i.e.  12,000  to  14,000  francs,  or  £480  to  £5G0.  The  larger  sum 
seems  improbable,  to  the  last  degree. 

t  From  the  Lindblad  letters. 

X  lb. 


1841-42.]  TEE  STUDENT.  125 

generally  entertained — that  its  frequent  practice  was  dele- 
terious to  the  voice. 

But  Mademoiselle  Lind's  observations  were  not  confined 
to  the  Italian  Opera,  or  to  singing  alone.  She  was  a  great 
admirer  of  Mademoiselle  Eachel ;  and  studied  her  perform- 
ances with   peculiar  interest.      In  one  of   her  letters  she 

writes : — 

"  Paris,  October  24,  1841. 

"  There  is  a  remarkable  dearth  of  good  actresses  here. 
Mademoiselle  Eachel  is  the  only  one — after  her,  Grisi."  * 


And  again : — 

"  Paris,  November  20,  1841. 

"  Shall  I  tell  you  my  thoughts  ?  The  difference  between 
Mademoiselle  Eachel  and  myself  is,  that  she  can  be  splendid 
when  angry,  but  she  is  unsuited  for  tenderness.  I  am 
desperately  ugly,  and  nasty  too,  when  in  anger ;  but  I  think 
I  do  better  in  tender  parts.  Of  course,  I  do  not  compare 
myself  with  Eachel.  Certainly  not.  She  is  immeasurably 
greater  than  I.     Poor  me  !  "  f 

It  is  evident  from  this,  that,  while  striving,  with  all  her 
might,  to  master  the  technical  difficulties  of  singing  under 
the  guidance  of  Signer  Garcia,  Mademoiselle  Lind  never,  for 
a  moment,  forgot  the  importance  of  the  dramatic  element. 
Indeed,  her  letters  prove  that,  though  she  sought  no  instruc- 
tion in  this  from  any  one,  she  was  for  ever  endeavouring  to 
perfect  her  own  ideal ;  observing  others,  but  always  thinking 
for  herself,  and  trusting  to  herself  alone  for  the  final  result. 
Her  correspondence  teems  with  observations  which  show 
how  constantly  her  thoughts  were  dwelling  upon  this  im- 
portant point.      In   one   more   than   ordinarily  interesting 

letter,  she  writes : — 

"  Paris,  October  24,  1841. 

"  I  am  longing  for  home.  I  am  longing  for  my  theatre. 
I  have  never  said  this  before,  in  any  of  my  letters.  I  know 
I  am  contradicting  myself,  but  I  rejoice  over  it.     Oh!  to 

*  From  the  Lindblad  letters. 
t  lb. 


126  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  ii.  CH,  in. 

pour  out  my  feelings  in  a  beautiful  part !  This  is,  and  ever 
will  be,  my  continual  aim ;  and,  until  I  stand  there  again,  I 
shall  not  know  myself  as  I  really  am.  Life  on  the  stage  has 
in  it  something  so  fascinating,  that  I  think,  having  once 
tasted  it,  one  can  never  feel  truly  happy  away  from  it, 
especially  when  one  has  given  oneself  wholly  up  to  it,  with 
life  and  soul,  as  I  have  done.  This  has  been  my  joy,  my 
pride,  my  glory  !  True,  it  is  a  great  thing  to  be  free  from  all 
the  worries  connected  with  it ;  but,  when  I  return  home,  I 
know  not  what  people  could  have  to  reproach  me  with. 
Then  the  die  will  be  cast ;  and  I  shall  not  change  very  much 
for  the  better  after  that,  I  suppose — and,  consequently  tilings 
wiU  be  different."  * 

Later  on  she  writes  : — 

"  Paris,  Marcli  7, 1842. 

"  Sometimes  I  act  by  myself ;  and  it  seems  to  me  that  I 
have  gained  more  feeling,  more  verve,  more  truth  in  my 
rendering ;  at  least,  I  feel,  now,  better  than  I  used  to  do^ 
what  life  really  is.  It  is  just  possible  that  I  may  not  act  as 
well  as  before ;  but  I  do  not  think  so.  Nobody  acts  as  I  act. 
What  do  you  say  to  such  language  as  this  ?  But,  you  mil 
not  misunderstand  me."  f 

But  there  were  moments  of  doubt,  bordering  sometimes 
almost  upon  despondency.     On  one  occasion  she  says  : — 

"  Paris,  May  30, 1842. 
"  Then  Garcia  pretends  to  believe  that  I  shall  never  more 
act  in  tragic  parts  !  %  What  do  you  think  of  that  ?  I  leave 
him  to  say  what  he  pleases.  In  the  meantime,  may  God 
preserve  me  from  being  altogether  bewildered !  I  do  not 
think  there  is  any  danger.  I  acted  '  Norma,'  this  morning, 
and  it  was  not  much  worse  than  at  Stockholm."  § 

In  the  midst  of  these  alternations  of  hope  and  anxiety,  the 
studies  were  interrupted,  for  a  moment,  by  a  sudden  shock 

*  From  the  Lindblad  letters. 

^  lb. 

%  Possibly,  Mademoiselle  Lind's  idea  of  tragedy  may  have  differed  from 
Signer  Garcia's.  On  such  a  point,  the  Scandinavian  and  the  Keltic 
temperament  were  scarcely  likely  to  be  in  very  close  accordance. 

§  From  the  Lindblad  letters. 


1841-42.]  TEE  STUDENT.  127 

— a  merciful  escape  from  an  accident  so  full  of  horror  and 
death,  that  one  almost  shudders,  even  now,  at  the  immi- 
nence of  the  danger,  after  reading  the  letter  in  which  it 
is  described. 

On  the  8th  of  May,  the  Baroness  Schwerin  accomiDanied 
Mademoiselle  Lind  on  an  excursion  to  Versailles. 

Herr  Blumm  was  anxious  that  the  party  should  return  to 
Paris  by  a  train  which  would  give  them  an  opportunity  of 
passing  through  some  very  beautiful  scenery  on  their  way 
home.  But,  that  very  morning,  the  Prefet  de  Police  offered 
the  Baroness  a  box  at  one  of  the  theatres.  In  order  to 
render  this  available,  the  plans  were  changed  at  the  last 
moment;  and  it  was  not  until  after  their  return,  that  the 
little  party  of  friends  learned  that  the  train  by  which  they 
intended  to  travel  had  been  wrecked  by  the  bursting  of  the 
boiler,  and  that,  of  the  four  hundred  persons  who  were  injured 
by  the  explosion,  one  hundred  were  either  scalded  to  death 
or  cut  to  pieces,  in  a  manner  too  horrible  for  description. 

Mademoiselle  Lind's  account  of  the  occurrence  shows  that 
it  affected  her,  very  deeply  indeed.  But  her  nature  was  not 
of  the  weak  type  which  is  rendered  unfit  for  exertion  by  a 
sudden  fear,  however  great  may  have  been  its  effect  at  the 
moment ;  and  her  subsequent  letters  show  that  after  the  first 
burst  of  thankfulness  was  over,  she  was  at  work  again  as 
heartily  as  ever,  thinking  no  amount  of  labour  too  great  for 
the  attainment  of  the  end  she  had  in  view,  and  upon  which 
she  felt  that  all  her  hope  of  future  success  depended.  She 
had  come  to  Paris  to  work ;  and  she  left  nothing  undone 
which  could,  even  in  the  slightest  degree,  tend  to  perfect  her 
in  the  art  to  which  every  energy  of  her  life  was  uncompro- 
misingly devoted. 


128  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  ii.  ch.  iv. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

WITHIN    SIGHT   OF   THE   GOAL. 

Mdlle.  Lind's  course  of  study,  under  Signor  Garcia,  lasted 
ten  months,  from  the  26th,  or  27th  of  August,  1841,  to  the 
end  of  June  1842 — by  wliich  time  she  had  learned  all  that 
it  was  possible  for  any  master  to  teach  her. 

The  result  for  which  she  had  so  ardently  longed,  so 
patiently  waited,  so  perseveringly  laboured,  was  attained  at 
last.  Her  voice,  no  longer  suffering  from  the  effect  of  the 
cruel  fatigue,  and  the  inordinate  amount  of  over-exertion 
which  had  so  lately  endangered,  not  merely  its  well-being, 
but  its  very  existence,  had  now  far  more  than  recovered  its 
pristine  vigour* — it  had  acquired  a  rich  depth  of  tone,  a 
sympathetic  tionhre,  a  birdlike  charm  in  the  silvery  clearness 
of  its  upper  register,  which  at  once  impressed  the  listener 
with  the  feeling  that  he  had  never  before  heard  anytliing  in 
the  least  degree  resembling  it.  No  human  organ  is  perfect. 
It  is  quite  possible  that  other  voices  may  have  possessed 
qualities  which  this  did  not;  for  voices  of  exceptional 
beauty  are  nearly  always  characterised  by  an  individuality 
of  timhrc  or  expression  which  forms  by  no  means  the  least 
potent  of  their  attractions.  The  natural  flexibility  of  the 
Contessa  de'  Rossi's  voice  was  phenomenal.  Mdlle.  Alboni's 
involuntary  vibrato  breathed  a  languid  tenderness  of 
passion   which    could    never    have   been   attained   by   any 

*  Tlie  last  mention  of  the  chronic  hoarseness   is  found  in  a  letter, 
written  on  the  1st  of  May,  1842. 


1841-42.]  WITHIN  SIGHT  OF   THE   GOAL.  129 

amount  of  study.  But,  the  listener  never  stopped  to  analyse 
the  qualities  of  Mdlle.  Lind's  voice,  the  marked  individuality 
of  which  set  analysis  at  defiance.  By  turns,  full,  sympathetic, 
tender,  sad,  or  brilliant,  it  adapted  itself  so  perfectly  to  the 
artistic  conception  of  the  song  it  was  interpreting,  that 
singer,  voice,  and  song,  were  one.  Time  had  been, 
when,  from  sheer  lack  of  technical  knowledfre,  she  had 
been  unable  to  give  expression  to  her  high  ideal;  when 
her  method  was  as  yet  too  unformed  for  the  utterance 
of  her  grand  conception  of  the  parts  of  Agatha  and 
Euryantlie,  of  Pamina  and  Donna  Anna,  of  La  Vestale  and 
Alice,  and  Amina  and  Norma  and  Lucia ;  all  of  which 
she  had  already  sung,  in  Stockholm,  and  felt  deeply,  and 
made  her  hearers  feel,  by  resistless  force  of  sympathy 
alone,  though  every  one  had  fallen  short  of  the  perfect 
artistic  interpretation  which  can  only  be  attained  when 
the  poetry  of  the  mental  conception  is  supported  by  an 
amount  of  technical  skill  equal  to  its  demands.  But  this 
time  had  passed  away,  for  ever.  Her  voice  was  now  so 
completely  under  command,  that  its  obedience  to  every 
changing  phase  of  the  singer's  thoughts,  to  every  demand  of 
the  composer's  genius,  was  absolute,  and  instantaneous.  All 
the  technical  perfection  that  could  be  attained  by  un- 
limited perseverance,  under  the  guidance  of  an  enlightened 
teacher,  she  had  gained  since  her  arrival  in  Paris ;  the 
rest  she  had  always  possessed,  for  it  was  part  of  herself. 
She  was  born  an  artist ;  and,  under  Garcia's  guidance,  had 
now  become  a  virtuosa.  The  scales,  sung  "  slowly  up  and 
down,  with  great  care,"  and  the  "  awfully  slow  shake,"  had 
borne  abundant  fruit.  Followed  by  exercises  of  a  more 
advanced  character,  they  had  resulted  in  producing  a  facility 
of  execution  which  serves  materially  to  strengthen  our  faith 
in  the  legendary  stories  told  of  Farinelli  and  "  II  Porporino," 
Signore  Strada,  and  Cuzzoni,  and  Faustina,  the  Cavaliere 

VOL.  I.  g 


130  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  ii.  ch.  iv. 

Nicolini,  and  other  marvellous  vocalists  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  whose  feats  of  skill  have  been  described  by  admiring 
contemporaries  in  such  terms  of  rapture,  that  one  class  of 
modern  critics  has  been  tempted  to  reject  the  whole  story  as 
a  gross  exasperation,  while  another  school  would  have  us 
believe  that  the  art  of  vocalisation,  as  practised  in  that 
golden  age,  is  lost  beyond  all  possibility  of  recovery.  There 
is  no  logical  necessity  for  the  acceptance  of  either  of  these 
trenchant  theories.  The  music  written  for,  and  sung  by, 
those  giants  of  a  bygone  age  proves  that  the  stories  told  of 
their  marvellous  power  are  in  nowise  exaggerated.*  And, 
the  assumption  that  the  art  has  been  lost  is  absurd.  The 
method  may  have  been  neglected,  and  temporarily  forgotten. 
We  do  not  deny  that.  But  there  is  not — or  ought  not  to  be 
— the  possibility  of  such  a  thing  as  a  "  lost  art."  What  has 
been  done  once  can  be  done  again.  And  it  would  be  difl&- 
cult,  in  the  face  of  the  Cadenze  given  in  the  Appendix  con- 
tributed to  this  work  by  Mr.  Goldschmidt,  to  imagine  any 
tour  de  force — whether  involving  difficulty  of  intonation,  or 
rapidity  of  execution,  prolonged  sustaining-power,  or  contrasts 

*  Handel  wrote  passages,  in  Biccardo  Primo,  for  the  Cavaliere  Nicolini, 
which  no  singer  now  living  could  execute;  and  scarcely  less  trying 
divisions,  in  Ariadne,  and  other  Operas,  for  Carestini,  and  Signora  Strada, 
and  Senesino.  The  Operas  of  Porpora,  and  Hasse,  ahound  with  similar 
passages  for  Farinelli,  and  "  II  Porporino,"  Faustina,  and  their  great 
contemporaries  of  the  Italian  School.  No  one  now  attempts  to  grapple 
with  these  monstrous  tours  de  force ;  hut  Mdlle.  Lind  proved  them  to 
be  still  attainable  by  exceptional  talent,  supplemented  by  equally  excep- 
tional perseverance.  Had  Edison's  Phonograph  been  invented,  in  the 
time  of  Farinelli,  we  should  have  been  left  in  no  doubt  as  to  our  esti- 
mate of  the  powers  possessed  by  the  leading  singers  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  as  compared  with  those  of  the  nineteenth.  "When  the  instrument 
is  brought  to  absolute  perfection,  this  question  will  be  one  of  very  easy 
solution ;  since  the  critics  of  the  twentieth  century  will  be  able  to  report 
upon  the  performances  of  vocalists  now  living,  as  clearly  as  the  musical 
reporter  is  able,  now,  to  describe  them  on  the  day  after  they  have 
taken  place. 


1841-42.]  WITHIN  SIGHT  OF   THE   GOAL.  131 

obtainable  by  apparently  nnlimited  exercise  of  the  messa  di 
voce — of  which  Mdlle,  Lincl  was  incapable  after  the  comple- 
tion of  her  course  of  study.  One  great  secret — perhaps  the 
greatest  of  all — the  key  to  the  whole  mystery  connected  with 
this  perfect  mastery  over  the  technical  difficulties  of  vocalisa- 
tion— lay  in  the  fortunate  circumstance,  that  Signer  Garcia 
was  so  "  very  particular  about  the  breathing,"  For  the  skilful 
management  of  the  breath  is  everything ;  and  she  attained  the 
most  perfect  control  over  it.  Gifted  by  nature  with  compara- 
tively limited  sustaining  power,  she  learned  to  fill  the  lungs 
with  such  dexterity,  that,  except  with  her  consent,  it  was 
impossible  to  detect,  either  the  moment  at  which  the  breath 
was  renewed,  or  the  method  by  which  the  action  was  accom- 
plished. We  say,  "  except  with  her  consent,"  because,  on  the 
stage,  there  are  moments  when,  for  dramatic  effect,  the  act 
of  breathing  has  itself  a  rhetorical,  or,  in  extreme  cases,  even 
a  passionate  significance ;  when  the  correct  delivery  of  the 
words  demands  that  breath  should  be  taken,  without  any 
attempt  at  disguise,  in  accordance  with  the  grammatical 
punctuation  of  the  text ;  and  of  this  means  of  expression  she 
fully  appreciated  the  value.  But,  where  pure  vocalisation 
was  concerned,  and  unbroken  continuity  became  an  imperious 
artistic  necessity,  the  moment  at  which  the  lungs  were 
replenished  remained  as  profound  a  secret  as  it  did  in  the 
performances  of  Eubini — who,  fortunately  for  him,  possessed 
a  much  greater  natural  capacity  for  abundant  inspiration, 
and  had  therefore  a  less  amount  of  difficulty  to  overcome  in 
bringing  his  art  to  the  ineffable  perfection  he  so  well 
succeeded  in  attaining.  The  result  was  the  same  in  both 
cases ;  but,  in  the  one,  it  was  materially  aided  by  a  happy 
physical  organisation,  while,  in  the  other,  it  was  wholly 
the  effect  of  art — an  art  which,  though  possible  to  all, 
is  so  difficult  to  acquire,  that,  through  want,  in  most 
cases,  of  the   necessary  perseverance,  not   one  singer  out  of 

K  2 


132  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  ii.  ch.  iv. 

a   hundred    succeeds  in  attaining  it;   even   in  a   moderate 

degree.* 

With  these  rare  powers  at  command,  Mdlle.  Lind  was 
able,  without  effort,  to  give  expression  to  every  phase  of  the 
artistic  conception  which  she  had  formed  by  the  exercise  of 
innate  genius.  Her  acting,  as  we  have  seen,  in  former 
chapters,  had  grown  up  with  her  from  her  infancy,  and 
formed  part  of  her  inmost  being.  She  had  found  no  one  in 
Paris  capable  of  teaching  her  anything  that  could  improve 
that,  though  she  thought  it  necessary  to  take  lessons  in 
deportment;  Dramatic  Art  she  had  studied  for  herself;  she 
had  gained  experience  by  observation  of  others  ;  with  fearless 
modesty,  she  had  measured  her  own  powers  against  those  of 
Mdlle.  Rachel,  and  dared  to  tell  herself  what  she  believed  to 
be  the  truth,  with  regard  to  their  comparative  merits ;  she 
had  acted  the  part  of  Norma  to  herself,  and  calmly  passed 
judgment  upon  her  own  performance;  she  had  carefully 
thought  out  the  matter,  and  the  acting  and  the  singing  had 

*  Signor  Frederic  Lablache  once  told  a  friend  of  tire  writer,  that, 
when  singing,  on  one  occasion,  with  Euhini,  in  the  Matrimonio  Segreto, 
he  held  the  great  tenor's  hand  in  his  own,  during  a  passage  in  the  famous 
duet,  and,  at  the  same  time,  looked  him  full  in  the  face,  without  being 
able  to  detect  the  act  of  breathing  in  the  least  degree.  This  wondeiful 
power  of  concealment  led  the  vulgar  to  believe  that  Kubini  could  sing, 
during  the  act  of  inspiration !  Of  course,  it  was  simply  the  triumph  of 
consummate  art,  misunderstood  only  by  those  who  were  ignorant  of  the 
first  principles  of  singing.  An  absurd  story  was  even  invented,  to  the 
effect  that  he,  who  never  forced  a  note,  and  whose  vocal  registers  were 
more  perfectly  equalised,  more  delicately  blended  into  one  than  those  of 
any  other  tenor  that  ever  existed,  once  broke  his  collar-bone  in  the  attempt 
to  deliver  a  mighty  Si  de  poitrine  by  aid  of  a  violent  effort  of  clavicular 
breathing !  He  was  just  as  likely  to  have  broken  his  neck  ;  much  more 
likely  to  have  displaced  the  odontoid  process  of  the  axis  vertebra,  and  fallen 
dead  on  the  spot.  Yet,  to  this  day,  the  story  is  cited  as  an  instance  of 
the  dangers  of  a  vicious  method  of  filling  the  lungs :  a  proof  that  the  study 
of  breathing  is  still  recognised  as  a  necessary  part  of  the  singer's 
education,  though  few  understand  its  value  as  it  was  iinderstood  by  the 
two  great  artists  of  whom  we  are  speaking. 


1841-42.]  WITHIN  SIGHT   OF   THE   GOAL.  133 

become  so  closely  interwoven  with  each  other,  that  they 
naturally  united  in  the  formation  of  one  single  conception. 
Each  part  as  she  interpreted  it  to  herself  was  a  consistent 
whole,  dramatic  and  musical,  breathing  poetry  and  romance 
from  beginning  to  end ;  yet,  as  true  to  nature  as  she  was 
herself,  and  no  longer  fettered  by  the  fatal  technical  weakness 
which  had  so  long  stood  between  the  ideal  and  its  perfect 
realisation.  There  was  no  weakness  now.  The  artist  was 
complete. 


134  JENNT  LIND.  [bk.  ii.  ch.  v. 


CHAPTER  V. 

UNDER  WHICH  KIXG  ? 

And  now  arose  the  crucial  question — should  the  finished 
artist  make  her  debut  in  Paris  ?— or,  should  she  return,  at 
once,  to  Sweden,  and  reappear,  in  all  the  glory  of  her  newly- 
acquired  powers,  in  her  beloved  Stockholm  ? 

There  were  arguments  to  be  brought  forward,  on  both  sides. 
The  XDroblem  was  no  new  one.  It  had  frequently  been  dis- 
cussed ;  but  her  own  feeling  on  the  subject  was  very  strong 
indeed.  She  could  not  reconcile  herself  to  Paris.  She 
despised  its  frivolity,  its  selfishness,  its  restless  love  of 
excitement,  and  its  lust  for  gold ;  and  recoiled,  with  horror, 
from  its  shameless  vice.  From  the  very  first,  she  had 
suspected  the  hoUowness  of  its  social  organisation.  As 
early  as  the  10th  of  September,  1841,  she  had  written  to  her 
friend,  Froken  Marie  Ptuckman : — 

"  My  best  Friend, — 

"  There  might  be  much  to  say  about  Paris,  but  I  put 
it  off  until  I  am  better  able  to  judge.  This  much,  however, 
I  will  say  at  once,  that,  if  good  is  sometimes  to  be  found,  an 
immeasurable  amount  of  evil  is  to  be  found  also.  But,  I 
believe  it  to  be  an  excellent  school  for  any  one  with  dis- 
cernment enough  to  separate  the  rubbish  from  that  which  is 
worth  preserving — though  this  is  no  easy  task.  To  my  mind, 
the  worst  feature  of  Paris  is,  its  dreadful  selfishness,  its  greed 
for  money.  There  is  nothing  to  which  the  people  will  not 
submit,  for  the  sake  of  gain.  Applause,  here,  is  not  always 
given  to  talent ;  but,  often  enough,  to  vice — to  any  obscure 
person  who  can  afford  to  pay  for  it.     Ugh  !     It  is  too  dread- 


1841-42.]  UNDER    WHICH  KING  f  135 

ful  to  see  the  claque^irs  sitting  at  the  theatre,  night  after 
night,  deciding  the  fate  of  those  who  are  compelled  to  appear 
— a  terrible  manifestation  of  original  sin  !" 

To  Madame  Lindblad,  some  six  weeks  later,  she  writes : — 

"  Paris,  October  24,  1841. 

"  All  idea  of  appearing  here  in  public  has  vanished.  To 
begin  vnth — I  myself  never  relied  upon  it ;  but  people  said 
so  many  silly  things  about  'just  one  peformance,'  that,  at 
last,  I  began  to  feel  as  if  I  were  in  duty  bound  to  try.  But, 
monstrous  and  unconquerable  difficulties  are  in  the  way.  In 
any  case,  I  want  to  go  home  again.  But,  if  I  can  arrange  to  sing 
at  a  concert,  before  leaving,  I  will  do  so ;  in  order  that  I  may 
not  return  home  without  having  at  least  done  something. 


>5    * 


Three  months  later,  in  a  letter  dated  February  the  1st, 
1842,  and  addressed  to  Herr  Expeditionschef  Forsberg  (who 
controlled  the  Dramatic  School  attached  to  the  E.  Theatre 
at  Stockholm  at  the  time  at  which  Jenny  was  numbered 
among  its  pupils),  we  find  her  dwelling  touchingly  on  her 
desire  to  consecrate  her  talents  to  her  native  country. 

"  I  came  hither,"  she  says,  "  because  I  felt  my  talent  too 
insignificant.  I  knew,  indeed,  that  it  was  not  really  so. 
But,  having  no  one  to  consult  but  my  dear  Herr  Berg — who 
was  miserable  at  his  inability  to  help  me  through  with  my 
incessant  work — I  resolved  simply  to  break  off,  and  to  take 
two  years'  leave  of  absence. 

"  I  am  gifted  by  Nature ;  and  to  that  I  am  indebted  for  a 
certain  amount  of  success :  but,  Art,  I  did  not  know,  even 
by  name.  I  felt  this  bitterly ;  and  it  made  me  receive  the 
applause  of  the  public  with  sorrow,  rather  than  with  joy  :  for, 
I  felt  that  I  did  not  deserve  it.  I  knew  that  I  had  not  made 
myself  worthy  of  it,  through  my  own  work.  Ah !  I  was 
right !  I  was  perfectly  right !  God  does  all  for  the  best ; 
that  I  know.  I  was  guided  by  a  Higher  Hand,  when  I  em- 
barked on  the  Svitliiod  f  en  route  for  Paris.  I  am  working  on, 
now ;  have  made  progress  ;  and — need  I  say  it — if  they  want 

*  From  the  Lindblad  letters. 

t  This  is  a  slip  of  the  pen.     It  was  the  Gauthiod.     See  p.  105. 


136  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  ii.  ch.  v. 

to  hear  me  again,  in  my  Sweden,  with  what  joy  will  I  not 
hasten  thither !  I  have  only  made  these  sacrifices,  in  order 
that  I  may  become  worthy  of  the  public ;  and,  if  I  do  not 
succeed,  I  shall,  at  all  events,  have  satisfied  my  artist's 
conscience. 

"  Therefore,  Herr  Expeditionschef,  if  I  can  only  learn  to 
sing,  and  if  my  presence  is  not  felt  to  be  quite  superfluous,  I 
shall  certainly  return,  in  a  year  and  a  half — quite  certainly — 
but,  not  if  I  meet  with  coldness,  or  am  regarded  as  altogether 
unnecessary.  I  am  almost  afraid  of  that.  Elma  Strom  has 
everything  in  her  favour,  which  I  have  against  me.  She  has 
a  much  softer  and  better  voice  to  work  with  than  I  ever  had, 
during  the  whole  time  of  my  working  period.  She  ought, 
therefore,  to  sing  very  well.  The  actress,  probably,  will  come 
later  on.  I  do  not  wish  to  stand  in  her  way,  or  in  the  way  of 
any  one.  Eather  than  that,  I  would  settle  down  here  to  give 
singing-lessons ;  for  Garcia's  method  is  the  best  of  our  time, 
and  every  one,  here,  is  striving  to  follow  it.  But,  in  any  case, 
I  shall  come  home,  in  order  that  people  may  hear  what 
progress  I  have  made — if  I  really  have  made  any.  Will 
they  accept  me,  and  give  me  a  suitable  engagement  ?  If 
so,  I  shall  remain.  If  not,  I  shall  go  abroad  again.  And 
yet ! — my  Sweden  !  my  Stockholm  !  All  that  is  dearest  to 
me  on  earth  is  there — two  people,  for  whom  I  would  give 
my  life,  if  they  asked  for  it,  and  apart  from  whom  I  could 
not  spend  an  entire  lifetime.  But,  my  stay  here  has  cost 
both  money,  and  trouble.  I  have  sacrificed  everything,  in 
the  hope  of  acquiring  a  '  talent.'  I  liope,  therefore,  that  I 
shall  not  be  misunderstood ;  that  people  will  not  imagine 
that  I  have  gone  abroad  with  foolish  conceited  ideas  about 
this  little  self  of  mine ;  but,  that  they  will  rather  meet  me 
with  confidence  and  good-will.  I  shall  then  have  no  higher 
wish,  than  to  go  back  to  my  dear  theatre,  and  pour  out  my 
heart  in  song,  to  a  beloved  public. 

"  The  Italian  Opera  !  Oh  !  how  lovely  it  is  !  What  a  rich 
time  of  enjoyment  for  me !  and  the  concerts  of  the  Con- 
servatoire !  Mon  Dieu !  They  are  the  best  of  all !  They 
are  perfectly  divine !  But,  apart  from  them,  there  is  much 
here  that  is  very  far  indeed  from  divine.  And  this  is  well. 
For,  we  human  creatures  might  possibly  be  unable  to  bear  it, 
unmixed,     I  dare  say  it  would  be  so. 

"  But,  ah,  me  !  what  a  long  letter  I  am  inflicting  upon 
you.     Shall  I  be  pardoned  ?     I  will  finish  directly  :  but,  I 


1841-42.]  UNDER    WEIGH  KING?  137 

wanted  to  tell  you  tliat  I  am  living  with  a  certain  Mdlle. 
dii  Puget,  who  was  educated  in  Sweden,  and  is  Swedish, 
to  the  heart's  core;  and,  that  I  am  doing  well.  I  have 
had  my  crying  days,  and  many  longing  moments;  but  I 
am  fairly  wise,  and  work  with  a  will. 

"Herr  Blumm  is  quite  indefatigable  in  his  goodness  to 
me,  and  takes  care  of  me,  like  the  kindest  brother ;  so  that  I 
hfive  nothing  to  complain  of,  except — where  is  my  Sweden  ? 
Where  are  my  friends  ?  Do  they  still  remember  me  ?  Shall 
I  be  welcome,  when  I  return  ?  What  do  you  think,  Herr 
Expeditionschef  ? 

"  May  the  future  for  yourself  and  your  family  be  as  happy 
and  prosperous  as  is  the  most  sincere  wish  of 

"  Your  ever  grateful, 

"  Jenny  Lind." 


When  the  time  for  arriving  at  a  decision  began  to  draw 
near,  she  wrote  to  Madame  Lindblad : — 

"  Paris,  April  3,  1842. 

"  I  dare  not  tell  you  how  I  long  for  home !  I  dare  not  tell 
you  how  far  from  happy  I  feel,  here  !  but,  there  is  one  thing 
in  your  letter  that  really  frightens  me.  You  say,  that,  if  I 
come  back,  without  having  previously  appeared  in  public, 
here,  they  will  say  I  was  not  fit  for  it,  however  well  I  may 
sing.  Ho  !  ho  !  what  will  happen,  then  ?  It  might,  perhaps, 
be  better  for  me  to  engage  myself  somewhere  as  nursery- 
maid ;  for  it  is  a  very  difficult  thing  to  appear,  here,  in  public. 
On  the  stage  it  would  be  out  of  the  question.  It  could  only 
be  in  the  concert-room  :  and  there  I  am  at  my  weakest  point, 
and  shall  always  remain  so.  What  is  wanted  here  is-^'  ad- 
mirers.' Were  I  inclined  to  receive  them,  all  would  be 
smooth  sailing.     But  there  I  say — stop  ! 

"  To  sing,  without  a  name,  is  difficult ;  for,  here,  everything 
depends  upon  the  accessories.  It  matters  not  how  little 
talent  there  may  be.  My  position  is,  indeed,  a  hard  one  ! 
If  only  I  belonged  to  a  country  having  more  self-confidence 
when  passing  judgment  on  its  own  artists,  then,  all  would  be 
well.  But,  the  misfortune  is,  that  they  never  believe  in 
themselves.    However,  I  have  never  said  that  I  should  appear 


138  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  ii.  ch.  v. 

in  public,  though  others  have.  Besides,  God  will  certainly 
help  me !  I  needed  a  course  of  exercises — and  the  rest  1 
leave  in  the  Lord's  hands. 

"  With  regard  to  my  acting,  I  can  compete  with  any  one 
out  here.  But,  there  are  many  other  things  that  I  lack. 
Should  there  be  any  who  think  it  worth  while  to  envy  me, 
how  contented  will  they  not  be,  when  they  see  me  quietly 
disembark  at  the  Stockholm  Skeppsbro,  while  Nissen  will 
soon  be  inima  donna  at  the  Italian  Opera.  I  do  not  under- 
stand how  it  is  that  this  takes  no  effect  upon  me  !  Tor  my 
part,  I  only  want  to  go  home."* 

A  week  later  she  wrote  to  her  father : — 

"  Paris,  April  10, 1842. 
"  GoDE  Pappa  ! — 

"  So  many  thanks  for  your  last  letter.  I  see,  from  it, 
that  you  and  Mamma  are  well.  It  gives  me  no  slight  com- 
fort to  know  this ;  and  I  should  be  even  better  satisfied,  if  I 
were  also  to  learn  that  you  prosper  in  your  country  home. 

"  As  yet,  my  dear  Pappa,  I  have  not  grown  particularly 
stout ;  but,  what  I  shall  be,  when  I  grow  old,  I  cannot  tell. 
However,  I  trust  the  Lord  will  save  me  from  being  obliged 
to  sing  on  the  stage,  until  my  life's  end ;  and  then,  I  shall 
rest  tranquil. 

"  Apropos  of  the  Opera  !  I  wonder  when  I  shall  next  be 
allowed  to  show  myself  '  on  the  boards,'  as  the  term  is.  I 
clearly  see — yes,  I  do  see,  Pappa — that  I  am  born  to  stand 
on  them.  God  grant  that  I  may  always  stand  '  on  firm  feet,' 
as  Gelliaar  said,  f  In  one  respect,  Pappa  knows  that  I  do. 
In  the  other,  I  am  in  God's  hands.  Think  only,  if,  when  I 
come  home,  I  find  no  engagement ! 

"  Yes,  yes.  '  Comes  time,  comes  counsel.'  Perhaps  I  may 
have  to  sit  on  the  Djurgards  Common,  with  a  little  money- 
box in  front  of  me,  to  gather  in  small  contributions,  and  sing 
while  the  day  lasts — for,  says  the  proverb,  '  There  is  no  day 
so  long  that  it  has  not  its  evening ' — and,  after  that,  I  go  to 
my  Father's  bosom,  to  awake  in  a  better  land.  And  this  is 
surely  the  highest  aim.  It  does  not  matter  how  one  gets 
there,  so  that  one  only  does  get  there,  somehow,  and, '  he  that 

*  From  the  Lindblad  letters. 

t  Herr  Gelhaar  was  a  member  of  the  Koyal  Orchestra  at  Stockhohii. 


1842.]  UNDER    WEIGH  KINO  ?  139 

humbletli  himself  shall  be  exalted/  says  the  Scripture. — But, 
be  this  as  it  may  ! 

"  I  was  obliged  to  act  as  I  did ;  otherwise,  the  whole  thing 
would  have  remained  at  a  standstill  with  me.  Perhaps  I 
have  not  yet  been  quite  forgotten — though  I  have  some 
doubt  about  it :  and,  in  that  case,  and  if  I  have  also  made 
some  progress,  people  may  perhaps  find  pleasure  in  listening 
to  me,  when  I  come  back  again.  I  wish  for  nothing  better 
than  this. 

"A  concert  was  to  have  taken  place,  yesterday,  at  the 
Italian  Opera.  Eossini's  Stabat  Mater — his  latest  composition 
— was  to  have  been  given  :  and  ISTissen  was  to  have  sung  in 
place  of  Grisi,  who  is  away  in  London.  But,  the  President 
of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies  gave  a  concert  instead,  and, 
as  this  was  attended  by  all  the  great  people,  nothing  came 
of  it — a  ■«  ery  annoying  thing  for  Mssen,  for  it  would  have 
been  a  good  opportunity  for  her. 

"  Adieu,  lille  Fader.     Write,  if  occasion  offers,  to  your 

"  Affectionate  Daughter." 

A  letter  addressed,  on  the  same  day,  to  Madame  Lindblad, 
announces  still  greater  indecision  with  regard  to  the  future : — 

«  Paris,  April  10,  1842. 

•'  "  I  am  really  anxious  to  see  how  a  life,  begun  like  mine, 
will  end.  Oh  !  what  emptiness  beyond  description  there  is 
around  me  !  An  unwonted  amount  of  courage  is  necessary, 
for  prolonging  my  stay  here  for  another  year.  But  I  need 
this,  for  several  reasons.  This  journey  has  altogether 
changed  me.  The  foundation  of  the  building  was  tolerably 
safe,  and  needed  no  pulling  down.  But,  the  superstructure ! 
— this  has  crumbled  away,  through  not  having  been  better 
put  together."  * 

The  spirit  which  pervades  these  letters  is  unmistakable ; 
and  clearly  shows  Mdlle.  Lind's  own  feeling,  with  regard  to 
the  critical  question,  on  the  settlement  of  which  her  artistic 
destiny  seemed  now  mainly  to  depend. 

But,  she  was  not,  and  could  not  possibly  be,  the  only,  or 

*  From  the  Lindblad  letters. 


140  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  ii.  ch.  v. 

even  the  best  judge,  of  what  was  best  for  her.  From  the 
very  nature  of  the  case,  she  was  placed  very  much  at  the 
mercy  of  others,  who,  moved  by  feelings  of  friendship,  or  self- 
interest,  as  the  case  might  be,  took  an  active  part  in  the  dis- 
cussion ;  and  it  was  mainly  through  their  intervention  that 
the  question  was  solved  with  the  results  which  we  propose 
to  describe  in  our  next  chapter. 


(      141     ) 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  EETUEN. 

Ox  the  24th   of  May,  1842,  while   Mdlle.  Lind  was   still 
tortured  by  doubts  as  to  the  best  course  to  follow,  in  this 
difficult  crisis,  the  Directors  of  the  Eoyal  Theatre  at  Stock- 
holm sent  her  the  offer  of  a  definite  and  official  engagement — 
or  rather  re-engagement — at  the  Opera-House  in  which  her 
early  triumphs  had  been  achieved.     It  must  be  confessed, 
that   the   terms   proposed   by  the   DireJction  were   more   in 
accordance  with  her  former  status   at   the   Eoyal   Theatre, 
than  with  that  which  was  the  just  due  of  the  great  artist 
she  had  now  become.     The  engagement  was  to  last  either 
one,  or  two  years  ;  from  the  1st  of  July,  1842,  to  the  same 
date,  in  1843,  or  1844 — the  longest  period  for  which  an 
engagement  was  legally  possible.     The  salary  was  fixed  at 
1800  riksdalcr  haiico,  i:)er  annum — equal  to  about  £150,  in 
English  money ;  with  the  privilege  of  an  extra  "  benefit "  ; 
and  "  extra  service-money,  according  to  the  regulations  of  the 
Eoyal  Theatre,"  for   each  appearance ;  the  necessary  "  silk 
costumes  and  bridal  gowns  "  being  provided  at  the  expense 
of  the  management.     In  return  for  these  emoluments,  Mdlle. 
Lind  was  engaged  to  submit,  in  all  things,  to  the  regulations 
laid  down  for  the  direction  of  the  Eoyal  Theatre,  in  the  year 
1839 ;    but  she  was  permitted  to  extend  her  stay  abroad, 
until  September,  1842,  without  diminution  of  salary,  as  a 
compensation  for  the  expenses   connected  with  her   home 
journey. 


142  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  ii.  en.  vi. 

To  this  not  very  tempting  offer,  she  replied,  as  follows : — 

"  Paris,  June  6, 1842. 

"  I  have  had  the  honour  to  receive  the  Eoyal  Direction's 
flattering  offer  of  an  engagement,  for  one  or  two  years,  from 
the  1st  of  July,  1842,  at  the  Eoyal  Theatre  of  Stockholm, 
and  hasten  to  submit  my  humble  answer. 

"  Although  the  period  which  I  intended  to  devote  to  my 
studies  abroad  does  not  terminate  until  next  year,  and, 
therefore,  an  earlier  return  home  will  either  interrupt  these 
studies,  or  entail  redoubled  efforts  for  the  accomplishment  of 
the  course  on  which  I  have  entered,  I  feel  not  disinclined  to 
accept  the  offer  of  the  Eoyal  Direction,  for  two  years ;  but, 
well  remembering  the  rather  too  heavy  service  to  which  I 
had  to  submit  in  former  times,  at  the  Eoyal  Theatre,  and 
from  the  evil  consequences  of  which  I  am  still  suffering,  I 
am  compelled  to  attach  the  following  conditions  to  my  en- 
gagement, viz. : — 

"  (i.)  That,  while  enjoying  the  salary,  benefices,  and  other 
advantages  proposed  by  the  Eoyal  Direction,  I  shall  not  be 
obliged  to  appear  in  more  than  fifty  representations  during 
the  season. 

"  (ii.)  That  an  extra  fee  of  66  Bdr.,  32  sk.,*  Banco,  may  be 
granted  to  me  for  each  representation  over  and  above  the 
said  fifty,  during  the  season. 

"  (iii.)  That  the  representations  be  so  arranged,  as  not  to 
compel  my  appearance  more  than  twice  during  the  week 

"  (iv.)  That  leave  of  absence  be  granted  to  me,  from  the 
15th  of  June,  to  the  1st  of  October,  in  each  year. 

"  I  trust  that  the  Eoyal  Direction  will  appreciate  the 
fairness  of  the  above-named  conditions,  and  will  consider 
them  as  pardonable  forethought  with  regard  to  my  health  and 
future,  both  of  which  are  particularly  uncertain,  and  difficult 
to  ensure,  by  a  dramatic  artist,  in  Sweden. 

"  Jenny  Lind."  t 

On  the  same  day,  she  thus  confided  her  difficulties  to 
Madame  Lindblad : — 

*  Rather  less  than  £5  10s. 

t  Letter  to  the  "  Direction  "  of  the  Royal  Theatre  at  Stockholm,  kindly 
furnished  by  Herr  Bureau-chef  Alfred  Grandinson. 


1842.]  TEE  BETUBN.  143 

"  Talis,  June  6,  1842. 

"I  have  been  offered  an  engagement  at  the  theatre  in 
Stockholm,  and  this  has  somewhat  altered  things.  There  is 
much  to  be  said  for,  but  much  also  against  it.  It  seems  to 
me  that  my  demands  are  not  exaggerated,  when  I  propose  to 
appear  fifty  times  during  the  season,  for  1800  Rclr.  Banco  in 
the  form  of  salary,  \vith  extra  money,  etc. ;  while,  for  other 
evenings,  beyond  that  number,  they  will  laave  to  give  me, 
each  time,  QQ  Rclr.,  32  sk.,  Banco — the  same  as  to  Belletti.  I 
shall  not  do  it  for  less  ;  so,  if  they  do  not  agree  to  this — well 
and  good ! 

"  Adolf  "\^ished  me  to  limit  the  number  to  forty ;  but  I 
am  dreadfully  afraid  of  appearing  presumptuous. 

"  So,  it  may  happen  that  I  come  home  in  the  autumn. 
What  do  you  say  to  that  ?  I  rather  long  for  home ;  and 
this  offer,  on  the  part  of  the  Direction,  will  furnish  a  good 
opportunity  for  closing  the  mouths  of  those  who  might  feel 
inclined  to  say  something  about  my  incapacity  for  another 
theatre."  * 

Herr  Lindblad,  who  was  in  Paris,  at  this  time,  wrote  to  his 

wife : — 

"Paris,  June  ],  1842. 

"  Jenny  has  had  an  offer,  from  the  Direction  of  the  Eoyal 
Opera,  to  come  home ;  and  she  seems  inclined  to  accept  it. 
If  so,  she  ^^ill  return,  in  the  autumn.  She  does  not  care,  at 
all,  to  appear  here ;  nor  are  the  circumstances  tempting. 
She  is  bound  up  with  Sweden,  and  asks  for  nothing  better 
than  to  make  her  living  there,  and  thus  to  give  enjoyment 
to  our  people."  f 

This  seems  to  imply  that  Herr  Lindblad  took  no  un- 
favourable view  of  the  arrangement;  yet  when,  in  conse- 
quence of  a  letter  from  the  Direction,  dated  June  20th, 
1842,  and  agreeing  to  all  Mdlle.  Lind's  conditions,  the 
engagement  was  finally  concluded,  he  wrote  to  Madame 
Lindblad : — 

*  From  the  Lindblad  letters. 
t  Ih. 


144  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  ii.  ch.  vi. 

"  Paris,  July  4,  1842. 

"  Jenny  has  engaged  herself  at  too  small  a  salary.  This 
she  regrets,  now,  but  it  cannot  be  helped.  Her  love  for 
Sweden,  and  the  kind  letter  from  the  Director  of  the  Opera, 
have  dimmed  her  vision."  * 

And  again : — 

"  Paris,  Friday,  July  15,  1842. 

"  I  conducted  Meyerbeer  to  Jenny,  when  she  sang  for  him 
airs  from  Bohcrto,  Norma,  and  several  of  my  songs.  He 
thought  much  of  her  voice,  and  wishes  to  take  her  to  the 
Grand  Opera-House,  in  order  to  hear  how  it  would  sound  on 
the  stage  there  ;  for  he  believes  that  its  carrying  power  would 
grow  in  the  large  room,  f 

And,  again :  — 

"  Paris,  July  18,  1842. 

"  So  it  is,  however,  that,  had  Meyerbeer  arrived  here 
before  Jenny  accepted  the  engagement  at  Stockholm,  she 
would  probably  not — unless  tempted  by  home-sickness — 
have  returned  so  soon  to  Sweden,  for  Meyerbeer  was  not 
against  engaging  her  for  Paris  or  Berlin.  Not  a  soul  has 
here  done  the  least  towards  making  her  known.  She  has 
been  living  as  in  a  convent. 

"  Still,  she  is  not  sorry  to  return  home ;  for,  the  greatest 
stage  reputations  are  here  won  only  through  sacrificing  honour 
and  reputation.  While  the  world  is  resounding  with  their 
praise,  every  salon  is  closed  to  them  ;  and  this,  even  in  easy- 
going Paris.  Such  homage  as  Jenny  met  with  in  Sweden,  no 
foreign  artist  ever  received.  This,  she  feels ;  and  it  is  for 
this  vivifying  atmosphere  that  she  is  longing."  | 

As  may  well  be  supposed,  Meyerbeer's  influence  was 
no  unimportant  factor  in  the  arrangements  which  concerned 
the  future.  He  had  come  to  Paris,  for  the  purpose  of  making 
preparations  for  the  jDi'Otl^^ction  of  Lc  Propliete — which, 
however,  through  an  accumulation  of  difficulties,  was  not 
really  produced  until  the  year  1849  ;  he  had  there  heard  of 
Mdlle.  Lind — probably,  from  Herr  Lindblad;  and — as  we 
gather  from  that  gentleman's  letter  of  the  loth  of  July — 

*  From  the  Lindblad  Letters.  f  11.  %  lb. 


1842.]  THE  RETURN.  145 

had  already  heard  her  sing,  in  private.  But  he  seems  to 
have  entertained  doubts  as  to  whether  her  voice  was  powerful 
enough  to  fill  the  salle  of  the  Grand  Opera  ;  and,  in  order  to 
satisfy  himself  on  this  point,  he  wished  to  hear  her  sing  on 
the  stage  of  the  theatre  itself.  Whether,  or  not,  Signor 
Garcia  felt  any  doubts  upon  the  subject,  we  do  not  know. 
On  the  13th  of  June,  Herr  Lindblad  had  written : — 

"  On  Saturday  last,  I  met  Garcia,  and  spoke  to  him  about 
Jenny.  He  has  found  out  that  she  has  much  esprit,  and 
feeling ;  but  considers  her  voice  still  somewhat  fatigicee." 

But,  whatever  Signor  Garcia  may  have  felt,  it  is  quite 
certain  that  Meyerbeer  was  determined  to  carry  his  point ; 
and,  that  he  made  the  necessary  arrangements  with  M.  Leon 
Pillet,  then  the  Director  of  the  Grand  Opera,  for  the  gratifi- 
cation of  his  wish ;  for,  on  the  22nd  of  July,  he  wrote  (in 
German)  to  Herr  Lindblad : — 

"HONOUEED  SiE, — 

"  I  was  unable  to  answer  your  kind  letter,  yesterday, 
as  I  found  it  impossible  to  speak  to  the  Director  of  the  Opera. 
But  I  have  since  seen  him,  and  have  arranged  that,  to- 
morrow, Saturday,  at  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  precisely, 
a  well-tuned  pianoforte,  and  an  accompanist,  shall  be  in 
readiness,  on  the  stage  of  the  Opera,  to  accompany  Mdlle. 
Lind  in  her  songs. 

"  I  have  told  the  Director,  that  Mdlle.  Lind  wishes  to  bring 
with  her  six  or  eight  persons  with  whom  she  is  acquainted ; 
and  orders  have  been  given  to  the  porter  to  admit  them.  The 
entrance,  however,  will  not  be  from  the  Eue  Lepelletier,  as 
in  the  evening ;  but,  in  the  Kue  Grangebateliere,  No.  3, 
through  the  great  gateway,  on  the  left  hand  of  the  court. 

"  Begging  you,  honoured  sir,  to  make  my  compliments  to 
Mdlle.  Lind,  and  in  the  hope  of  seeing  you  again  to-morrow, 
at  the  Opera,  at  two  o'clock, 

"  Yours  most  sincerely, 

"  Meyerbeer."  * 

*  From  the  Lindblad  letters. 
VOL.  I.  L 


146  JENNY  LlND.  [bk.  ii.  CH.  vi. 

Of  the  proceedings  which  took  place  at  this  probationary- 
meeting,  no  detailed  account  has  been  preserved.  M.  Castil- 
Blaze  *  tells  us,  that  the  pieces  sung  were,  the  three  grand 
scenes  from  Der  Freischutz,  Robert  le  Diable,  and  Norma  ;  but, 
as  we  shall  presently  see,  his  account  of  the  occurrence  is  so 
o-laringly  incorrect,  in  other  respects,  that  it  is  not  safe  to 
accept  any  part  of  it.  Herr  Lindblad,  however,  has  described 
his  impressions ;  briefly  enough,  it  is  true,  but,  in  language 
which  may  be  accepted  as  thoroughly  trustworthy.  His 
account  of  the  effect  produced  is  thus  recorded : — 

"  Paris,  July  25,  1842. 
"Nothing  worth  mentioning  happened,  in  the  course  of 
last  week,  except  that  Jenny  appeared  at  the  Grand  Opera, 
here ;  t  but,  without  the  lights,  and  with  no  other  listeners 
than    Meyerbeer,  the  Hiertas,  Herr    Blumm,  Branting,  the 
Director  of  the  Opera,  and  myself     It  was  in  order  to  hear 
how  her  voice  would  tell,  in  the  immense  sallc.     Jenny  was 
unusually  nervous  ;  and,  you  know,  she  never  does  herself 
justice  until  she  is  in  full  action  on  the  stage.    But,  notwith- 
standing  this,   she   sang  well;   though  it   seemed   pale   in 
comparison   with   what   she   can   do.      Meyerbeer  said^  the 
prettiest  things :  '  Une  voix  chaste  et  pure,  pleine  de  grace  et 
de  virginahtS;  etc.,  etc.     Yesterday,  I  breakfasted  with  him  ; 
and,  in  the  presence  of  Berlioz,  and  some  other  Frenchmen, 
he  spoke  of  her  with  an  enthusiasm  so  great,  that  I  almost 
felt  inclined  to  question  its  sincerity — for,  Jenny  had  not 
sung  nearly  so  well  as  she  is  capable  of  doing. 

"  In  the  meantime,  she  is  coming  home,  for  which  she 
longs  with  her  whole  heart.  May  the  Swedes  receive  her 
well,  now,  and  not  soon  get  tired  of  her !  Otherwise,  \ye 
shall  take  her  to  Berlin,  and  get  her  an  engagement  there,  in 
accordance  with  Meyerbeer's  wish.  He  maintains  that  she 
ought  to  appear  there."  t 

This  proves,  clearly  enough,  that,  after  hearing  the  effect  of 
Mdlle.  Lind's  voice,  in  the  salle  of  the  Grand  Opera,  Meyer- 

*  Bistoire  de  VAcademie  Royale  de  Musique.     (Paris.) 
t  The  date  of  this  letter  establishes  Saturday,  July  23,  1842,  as  the 
day  on  which  the  trial  took  place. 
±  Frora  the  Lindblad  letters. 


1842.]  TEE  RETURN.  147 

beer  was  of  opinion  that  Berlin  would  offer  a  better  field  for 
the  exercise  of  her  talents  than  Paris ;  and  subsequent  events 
proved  that  his  judgment  was  perfectly  correct.  Neither  the 
style,  nor  the  tastes  of  the  singer,  would  have  found  a  con- 
genial home,  on  the  stage  of  the  Grand  Opera ;  and  it  would 
have  been  a  miracle  indeed,  if  the  pronunciation  of  any 
foreigner,  though  never  so  accomplished,  could  have  perfectly 
satisfied  a  Parisian  audience.  There  was,  in  all  probability, 
no  difference  of  opinion  between  any  of  the  parties  concerned, 
on  this  point ;  and,  for  the  moment,  this  probationary  per- 
formance passed  off,  without  any  practical  result.  But,  in 
after  years,  the  circumstance  was  brought  before  the  public, 
in  a  distorted  form  which  entirely  changed  its  import,  by 
giving  a  glaringly  false  account  of  the  circumstances  under 
which  the  trial  took  place. 

It  was  said,  that  "  Mdlle.  Lind  had  vowed  a  profound 
artistic  dislike  to  France,  in  remembrance  of  the  check  which 
she  had  there  experienced,  and  for  which  she  retained  a  lively 
resentment ;  "  that  "  she  constantly  refused  the  engagements 
offered  to  her  from  Paris,  because  she  had  been  heard  there, 
without  success,  at  the  beginning  of  her  career,  by  the 
Direction  of  the  Opera ;  "  that  she  had  even  "  made  a  debut 
at  this  theatre  ; "  that  "  this  debut  had  not  been  a  happy  one ;  " 
and  that  it  was  this  "  that  provoked  her  resentment."  * 

These  false  reports  were  publicly  contradicted,  in  November, 
1887,  by  M.  Arthur  Pougin — the  author  of  the  Supple- 
ment to  M.  Fetis's  well-known  Biogrcifliie  Universelle  des 
Musiciens  —  who,  in  an  article  communicated  to  '  Le 
Menestrd,'  related  the  circumstances,  precisely  as  they  are 
here  recorded,  with  the  addition  of  some  farther  details 
furnished  by  M.  Leon    Pillet,  the   Director   of  the   Grand 

*  See  Le  Menestrel,  (Paris,  November,  1887,  pp.  372,  373);  also 
The  Musical  World,  (London,  November  12,  and  26,  and  December  3, 
1887). 

L   2 


148  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  ii.  ch.  vi. 

Opera  under  whose  auspices  the  trial  performance  took  place 
upon  the  unlighted  stage. 

These  reports  appear  to  have  originated,  or,  at  least,  to 
have  reached  their  culminating  point  of  falsehood,  in  the 
year  1846,  when  the  management  of  M.  Leon  Pillet  was- 
severely  criticised,  both  Ly  the  public,  and  the  press. 

M.  Pillet  published,  in  his  defence,  a  brochure*  in  which  he 
alludes,  in  no  uncertain  terms,  to  the  circumstances  in  question. 
In  answer  to  the  accusation,  that  he  had  neglected  more  than 
one  opportunity  of  engaging  so  famous  a  vocalist,  he  says  : — 

"  It  has  been  pretended :  (i)  That  Meyerbeer  himself 
presented  Mademoiselle  Lind  to  me,  four  years  ago,  and, 
that  I  rejected  her. 

(ii)  That,  after  her  success  in  Germany,  he  again  pressed 
me,  in  vain,  to  engage  her. 

"  Some  have  even  gone  so  far  as  to  say,  that  Mademoiselle 
Lind  offered  herself ;  and  the  exact  amount  of  the  salary  that 
I  refused  her  has  actually  been  published,  in  some  of  the 
theatrical  journals. 

"  These  were  so  many  fables,  on  the  value  of  which  it  is- 
necessary  that  I  should  enlighten  you. 

"  Four  years  ago,  when  Meyerbeer  was  in  search,  not  of  a 
soprano,  but  a  tenor,  for  Le  Prophetc,  he  came,  on  the  evening 
before  his  departure,t  to  ask  me  for  permission  to  hear,  on 
the  stage,  a  young  person  of  whom  he  had  heard  a  very  good 
account.  '  It  is  not  for  you,'  he  hastened  to  add ;  '  it  is  a 
voice  which  is  described  as  pretty,  but  too  weak  for  the 
Grand  Opera.  I  want  to  see  whether  I  can  make  use  of  it, 
for  Berlin.' 

"  I  gave  ]\Ieyerbeer  all  the  facilities  he  demanded ;  placing 
at  his  disposal,  not  only  the  theatre,  but  an  accompanist — 
M.  Benoist.  Finally,  I  myself  escorted  Mademoiselle  Lind 
to  the  stage,  where  I  prepared  to  listen  to  her,  when  I  was 
told  that  the  Commission,  which  was  then  assembled  at  the 
Opera,  was  waiting  for  me. 

*  Academie  Royale  de  Musique.  Compte  rendu  de  la  gestion,  depuis 
le  I"  Juin,  184:0,  jusqu'au  1"  Juin,  1846,  par  Leon  Pillet.    (Paris,  1846.) 

f  It  will  be  remembered  that  Meyerbeer,  in  his  letter,  mentions  details 
which  confirm  the  microscopic  correctness  of  M.  Pillet's  account. 


1842.]  TEE  RETUBN.  149 

"  I  excused  myself  to  Mademoiselle  Lind,  and  to  Meyer- 
beer, and  left  them,  without  hearing  a  single  note. 

"  On  the  next  day,  I  asked  what  Meyerbeer  had  thought 
of  his  singer. 

"  He  had  said — I  was  told — that  she  was  not  without 
talent,  but  had  still  much  to  accomplish. 

"  This  did  not  indicate  that  she  had  made  any  very  great 
impression  upon  him  ;  and,  in  fact,  he  thought  so  little  of 
her,  for  the  Opera,  that  he  did  not  even  speak  to  me  about 
her.  It  was  only  last  year,  when  talking  about  Mademoiselle 
Lind,  at  Cologne,  that  he  recalled  the  circumstances  that  I 
have  had  the  honour  to  relate  to  you. 

"  As  to  the  other  assertion,  that,  after  this  period,  Meyer- 
beer vainly  pressed  me  to  engage  j\Iademoiselle  Lind,  it  is 
as  inexact  as  the  preceding.  Meyerbeer  did  indeed  tell  me, 
last  winter,  that  he  had  the  highest  opinion  of  this  artistes 
talent,  and  that,  if  it  were  possible  to  engage  her,  and 
Madame  Stolz,  at  the  same  theatre,  it  would  be  an  admirable 
thing.  But,  he  hastened  to  add,  that  he  believed  this  to  be 
impossible ;  that  it  would  probably  be  with  them,  as  with 
Nourrit  and  Duprez ;  that,  both  being  strong  enough  to  take 
the  first  rank  at  the  theatre,  neither  the  one  nor  the  other 
would  be  content  with  the  second  ;  that  Mademoiselle  Liud's 
pecuniary  demands  would  also  be  very  considerable;  and 
that,  so  far  as  he  himself  was  concerned,  he  would  be  quite 
content  with  Mademoiselle  Brambilla,  or  Madame  Kossi- 
Caccia,  for  the  part  of  seeonda  donna  in  Le  Prophete. 

"  On  my  own  account,  however,  in  order  to  satisfy  my 
mind,  I  begged  him  to  ask  Mademoiselle  Lind  whether  she 
would  quit  the  country  of  her  triumphs,  for  Paris.  But,  he 
refused  to  undertake  the  commission. 

"  I  was  about  to  take  this  step,  myself,  when  M.  Vatel — 
the  then  Director  of  the  Theatre  Italien — who  entertained  the 
same  desire,  sent  me  the  following  letter,  which  he  had  just 
received : — 

"  '  Berlin,  December  9,  1845. 

" '  Monsieur  Le  Directeur, 

" '  I  have  had  the  honour  of  receiving  your  letter  of 
November  13,  and  I  must  ask  your  pardon  for  having  left  it 
so  long  unanswered.  But,  before  replying  to  you,  it  was 
necessary  that  I  should  reflect. 

" '  I  have  decided.  Monsieur,  to  remain  in  Germany,  for 
the  little  time  that  I  shall  continue  on  the  stage,  and  there 
to  pursue  my  artistic  career. 


150  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  ir.  ch.  vr. 

" '  For,  the  more  I  think  of  it,  the  more  I  am  persuaded 
that  I  am  not  suited  for  Paris,  nor  Paris  for  me. 

" '  I  shall  quit  the  stage,  in  a  year  from  tliis ;  and,  until 
that  time,  I  shall  be  so  much  occupied  in  Germany,  that  it 
would  be  impossible  for  me  to  accept  any  other  engagement, 
either  at  Paris  or  in  London. 

" '  Permit  me,  nevertheless,  to  express  my  thanks  to  you 
for  having  thought  me  worthy  to  appear  before  the  first 
audience  in  the  world.  But,  rest  assured,  also,  Monsieur  le 
Directeur,  that  I  do  you  less  M^rong  by  not  running  the  risk 
of  bringing  a  failure  upon  you. 

"  '  Jenny  Lind.'  " 

"  '  One  can  see  from  this,'  says  M.  Pougin,  '  what  to  think 
about  the  pretended  resentment  of  Jenny  Lind  against  the 
public  of  Paris ;  and,  also,  about  the  unfortunate  debut  she 
was  said  to  have  made,  either  at  the  Opera,  or  the  Theatre 
Italien.  This  famous  dehut  never  took  place ;  and,  if  Jenny 
Lind  was  never  heard  in  Paris,  it  was  undoubtedly  because 
she  felt  too  much  distrust  of  our  public,  persuaded  as  she 
was — as  she  herself  says,  in  her  letter — that  she  was  not  for 
Paris,  nor  Paris  for  her.'  "  * 

We  have  thought  it  necessary  to  reproduce  this  corre- 
spondence, in  cxtenso,  because,  of  late  years,  the  subject  has 
been  discussed,  both  in  England,  and  in  France,  in  terms 
calculated  to  give  Parisian  audiences  a  very  false  idea  of  the 
esteem  in  which  they  were  held  by  an  Artist,  who,  during 
the  time  she  spent  in  Paris,  derived  such  intense  delight  from 
the  performances  she  witnessed  at  the  Grand  Opera,  the 
Theatre  Italien,  and  the  Conservatoire,  as  well  as  those  of 
Mademoiselle  Eachel. 

When  the  great  singer — then,  Madame  Goldschmidt — 
gave  a  concert,  at  Cannes,  in  1866,  for  the  benefit  of  the 
hos})ital,t  Le  Pliarc  du  Littoral  announced : — 

*  Le  Menestrel.     (Paris,  November,  1887.) 

I  The  concert  took  jalace  in  the  rooms  of  the  Club  \_Cerde  Nautique],  at 
Cannes,  on  ine  7tb  of  April,  1866 ;  and,  after  all  expenses  were  paid, 
produced,  for  the  Hospital  the  sum  of  3300  fr.  A  full  account  of  the 
performance,  and  the  enthusiastic  reception  accorded  to  the  singer,  is 
contained  in  the  Revue  de  Cannes  fur  April  14,  1860. 


1842.]  THE  BETUBN.  151 

"  Jenny  Lincl  will  sing  in  France  ! ! !  It  is  true,  that  it  will 
be  at  Cannes  :  and,  for  the  benefit  of  a  charity.  It  is  not  yet 
at  Paris.  But,  it  is  still  a  concession  of  the  celebrated 
vocalist,  who  had  declared  that  she  would  never  sing  in 
France." 

She  never  made  any  such  declaration.  But  it  is  strange 
that  she  should  have  been  accused  of  this,  on  the  one  hand, 
and,  on  the  other,  of  having  actually  sung  in  France, 
and  failed.  Both  Mendel,  *  and  La  Eousse,  f  assert 
that  she  sang  at  the  Grand  Op^ra,  without  success;  while 
M.  Castil-Blaze,  in  the  work  already  quoted,  gravely  tells 
us,  that,  "  strongly  recommended  by  Garcia,  under  whom 
she  had  been  studying,  and  by  Meyerbeer,  who  had  heard 
her  sing,  Jenny  Lind  applied  in  1840,  for  an  engagement 
at  the  Grand  Opera,  but  was  refused,  after  a  private 
hearing,  throuoh  the  influence  of  Madame  Stolz  with  M. 
Leon  Fillet ; "  and  Mr.  Sutherland  Edwards,  commenting 
upon  this,  in  the  Musical  World,  for  December  3,  1887, 
says,  that,  "justly  susceptible,  Jenny  Lind  did  not  forget  the 
slight ;  and  when,  seven  or  eight  years  later,  after  her 
brilliant  success  in  London,  an  engagement  was  offered  her 
at  the  Paris  Opera-House,  she  refused  it,  without  assigning 
any  definite  reason." 

We  have  seen,  from  the  letters  of  Meyerbeer  and  Lindblad 
that  these  statements  are  without  a  shadow  of  foundation — 
so  baseless,  that,  but  for  the  deductions  drawn  from  them, 
with  equal  unfairness  to  the  debutante,  to  the  Director 
of  the  Opera,  and  to  the  Parisian  public,  we  should  not  have 
thought  this  long  digression  necessary  for  their  refutation. 
Mademoiselle  Lind  was  not  in  Paris,  in  1840.  Never  having 
sung  before  a  Parisian  audience,  she  could  have  had  no 
possible  cause  for  resentment  against  it ;  and,  at  no  period  of 

*  Musikalisches  Conversations-Lexicon. 
t  Dictionnaire  du  Bix-neuvieme  Siecle. 


152  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  ii.  ch.  vi. 

her  life  did  she  ever  entertain  so  unworthy  a  feeling.  More- 
over, when  the  trial  performance  took  place,  in  1842,  she  was 
not  open  to  an  engagement,  either  in  Paris,  or  elsewhere  ;  for, 
the  contract  with  the  "  Direction  "  of  the  Eoyal  Theatre  at 
Stockholm  had  already  been  signed  and  ratified.     The  die 

was  cast. 

"  Paris,  July  25,  1842. 
"  Jenny  is  now  returning  home,"  wrote  Herr  Lindblad, 
"  and  longing  for  it,  with  her  whole  heart.  She  will  accom- 
pany the  Hiertas.  There  is  a  question  of  returning  by  way  of 
England,  and  staying  there  until  the  11th  of  August,  when 
the  steamer  leaves  for  Stockholm.  If  this  is  possible,  we 
might  all  be  back,  by  the  14th  of  August,  or  the  15th,  at  the 
latest."  * 

And  it  was  possible.  The  journey  to  Paris,  with  its  hopes 
and  fears,  its  long  hours  of  diligent  study,  its  cruel  alter- 
nations of  confidence  and  despondency,  dominated  by  a  firm 
and  righteous  determination  to  achieve  success  in  spite  of  every 
obstacle,  at  the  cost  of  every  sacrifice  of  personal  ease  and 
comfort  that  the  nature  of  the  case  might  demand — the 
eventful  journey  to  Paris,  so  carefully  planned,  and  so 
bravely  brought  to  its  conclusion,  had  accomplished  all,  and 
more,  far  more  than  ever  was  expected  from  it.  And  the 
second  phase  of  the  great  Art-life  was  at  an  end. 

*  From  the  Lindblad  letters. 


BOOK  III. 


ACHIEVEMENT. 


(     155 


CHAPTEE  I. 

home:   and  after? 

"Land  of  my  birth!      Oh,  that  I  could  one  day. show  how 
dear  thou  art  to  me !  "     That  had  been  the  deep  desire  of 
Jenny  Lind,  as  she  toiled  in   Paris.     And,  indeed,  it  had 
seemed  as  if  the   Fates  were   set  on  fulfilling  her  desire. 
Back  to   Stockholm   it    was   decreed   that   she    should   go. 
Paris,  in  one  way  or  another,  failed  to  open  its  doors  to  her. 
Berlin,  in  the  shape  of  Meyerbeer,  had  hovered  about  her, 
but  had  let  her  slip.     The  Continent  remained  passive  as 
yet ;  it  suffered  her  to  come  and  go,  without  any  positive 
sign.     She  had  made  her  pilgrimage ;  and  now,  at  its  close, 
she  was,  it  would  seem,  to  return  to  her  familiar  boards — to 
put  herself  under  the  old  yoke.     At  home,  then,  lay  her 
mission ;  not  in  the  open  field  of  European  drama.     That 
great   Italian    Opera,    with   its   famous    heroines    of   song, 
was  to  remain  a  vision  of  what  was  doing  in  the  big  world 
outside.      She   was   not   to   enter,  it   would  seem,   on  that 
magnificent  scene.     Enough  for  her  to  carry  out  her  bond 
with  that  Theatre,  which   had   been  her   nursery   and   her 
home,  in   her  beloved   Stockholm,  at   a  humble   salary   of 
1800  r.  d.  banco,  i.e.,  £150  a  year.     Very  happily,  so  far  as 
we  can  see,  she  set  to  work ;  though  inwardly  conscious  of 
the  immense  increase  of  knowledge  and  power  which  had 
become  hers  since  she  had  begun  again  with  Garcia  "  at  the 
beginning  of  the  beginning,"  and  had  learnt  what  "Art" 


156  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  in.  ch.  i. 

meant.  She  arrived  in  August,  1842,  and  rented  rooms  for 
herself  and  Annette,  the  maid,  on  the  upper  floor  of  the 
same  Bonde  Palace,  where  the  Lindblads  still  lived.  With 
them  she  had  the  delight  of  feeling  at  home,  and  all  the 
comfort  of  domestic  affection ;  but,  in  the  following  year,  she 
found  it  well  to  establish  herself  in  an  independent  position, 
and  she  took  rooms  in  another  house,  whither  she  invited 
her  old  friend,  Louise  Johansson,  to  come,  and  be  her 
companion. 

On  October  10th  she  opened,  at  the  theatre,  with  a  per- 
formance of  Norma — the  very  Opera  in  which  she  had  closed 
her  appearances  on  June  19  th,  1841.  It  must  have  been  a 
direct  challenge  to  the  critical  world  of  Stockholm,  to 
recognise  the  change  that  had  intervened  between  the  two 
performances.  What  that  change  was,  we  learn  from  an 
estimate  which  has  been  kindly  supplied  us  by  a  most  com- 
petent and  judicious  critic,  himself  a  musician,  who  sang 
with  her  often,  both  before  and  after  her  visit  to  Paris.  We 
give  his  own  words  : — 

"  So  much  has  already  been  written,  concerning  Mdlle. 
Jenny  Lind's  artistic  career,  that  farther  discussion  of  its 
details  may  possibly  be  regarded,  by  some  of  your  readers,  as 
needless.  Those,  however,  who  enjoyed  the  opportunity  of 
intimate  acquaintance  with  this  rare  apparition  in  the  world 
of  Art,  and  were  gifted  with  the  insight  necessary  for  true 
appreciation  of  its  significance,  well  know  that  the  subject  is 
far  from  being  exhausted. 

"  Among  many  things  still  remaining  untold,  the  follow- 
ing are  worthy  of  notice,  as  characteristic  of  the  Artist's 
extraordinarily  rapid  powers  of  perception. 

"When,  during  the  years  1838,  1839,  and  1840,  Jenny 
Lind  enraptured  her  audience,  at  Stockholm,  by  her  inter- 
pretation of  the  parts  of  'Agathe,'  'Pamina,'  'Alice,' 
'  Norma,'  or  '  Lucia,'  she  succeeded  in  doing  so  solely 
through  her  innate  capacity  for  investing  her  performances, 
both  musically  and  dramatically,  with  truthfulness,  warmth, 
and  poetry. 

"  The   voice,   and    its    technical   development,  -were    not. 


1842-44.]  HOME:    AND   AFTER?  157 

however,  in  sufficiently  harmonious  relation  with  her  inten- 
tions. 

"  In  proof  of  this,  it  was  noticed  that  the  Artist  was  not 
always  able  to  control  sustained  notes  in  the  upper  register 
— such,  for  instance,  as  the  A  flat,  above  the  stave,  in 
Agathe's  cavatiua,  '  Und  6b  die  Wollcc ' — without  perceptible 
difficulty ;  and,  that  she  frequently  found  it  necessary  to 
simplify  the  fioritiira  and  cadenzc,  which  abound  in  florid 
parts  like  those  of  Norma  and  Lucia. 

"  Nay  ! — there  were  not  wanting  some,  who,  though  they 
had  heard  her  in  parts  no  more  trying  than  that  of  Emilia,  in 
Weigl's  Siviss  Famihi — a  role,  which,  in  many  respects,  she 
rendered  delightfully — went  so  far  as  to  doubt  the  pos- 
sibility of  training  the  veiled  and  weak-toned  voice  in  a 
wider  sense. 

"  Jenny  Lind,  however,  went  to  Paris,  fully  determined  to 
cultivate  her  Art  more  fully,  under  Garcia's  direction. 

"  Garcia,  finding  the  voice  fatigued,  enjoined  three  months' 
absolute  rest ;  and  the  period  of  twelve  months  originally  set 
apart  for  study  was  thus  reduced  to  nine. 

"Yet,  in  spite  of  this,  Jenny  Lind,  when  resuming  her 
sphere  of  action  at  the  Stockholm  Theatre,  proved  to  have 
not  only  acquired  a  soprano  voice  of  great  sonority  and 
compass,  capable  of  adapting  itself  with  ease  to  every  shade 
of  expression,  but  to  have  gained,  also,  a  technical  command 
over  it,  great  enough  to  be  regarded  as  unique  in  the 
history  of  the  musical  world. 

"  Never  have  the  walls  of  the  Eoyal  Theatre  at  Stockholm 
— so  famous  for  their  excellent  acoustical  properties — echoed 
to  a  more  finished,  more  enchanting  song  than  that  of 
Jenny  Lind,  in  the  part  of  '  Amina,'  in  La  Sonnamhula,  after 
her  return  from  Paris.  What  exquisite  sonority !  What 
mastery  over  the  technique  !  Her  mcssa  di  voec  *  stood  alone 
— unrivalled  by  any  other  singer.  As  the  awakening 
'Amina,'  in  the  last  scene  of  the  above-named  Opera,  she  made 
a  long-sustained  G  (above  the  stave)  express,  first,  her 
surprise,  bordering  on  consternation,  at  the  sight  of  '  Ehdno,' 
penitent,  at  her  feet;  then,  doubt,  as  to  whether  it  were 
really  he ;  and  finally  the  blissful  rapture  of  receiving  back 

*  A  technical  term,  applied  to  the  art  of  swelling  or  diminishing  the 
tone  of  the  voice,  by  imperceptible  gradation  from  the  softest  attainable 
piano,  to  the  full  volume  of  its  utmost  power,  and  vice  versa. 


158  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  in.  CH.  i. 

again  him  by  whom  she  believed  herself  to  have  been  aban- 
doned.* 

"  In  like  manner,  in  her  shake,  her  scales,  her  legato  and 
staccato  passages,  she  evoked  astonishment  and  admira- 
tion, no  less  from  competent  judges  than  from  the  general 
public :  and  the  more  so  since  it  was  evident,  that,  in  the 
exercise  of  her  wise  discrimination,  the  songstress  made 
use  of  these  ornaments,  only  in  so  far  as  they  were  in 
perfect  harmony  with  the  inner  meaning  of  the  music. 

"  The  incredibly  rapid  development  of  Jenny  Lind's  voice 
and  technique,  caused  many  people  to  question  the  value  of 
the  instruction  she  had  originally  received.  Such  doubts 
must,  however,  be  dismissed,  as  unjustifiable.  The  true 
reason  why  Jenny  Lind's  singing,  before  she  went  abroad, 
could  not  be  said  to  flow  in  the  track  which  leads  to  per- 
fection, is  undoubtedly  to  be  found,  in  the  first  place,  in  the 
fact  that  she  was  a  so-called  Tlieaterelev — a  pupil  educated  at 
the  expense  of  the  Directors  of  the  Theatre  itself — and,  as 
such,  was  unable  to  escape  from  the  necessity  of  appearing  in 
public  before  her  preparatory  education  was  completed — a 
proceeding  no  less  disastrous  to  the  pupil  than  contrary  to 
the  good  sense  of  the  teacher. 

"  To  the  impartial  critic,  it  must,  indeed,  be  evident,  that, 
though  the  technical  development  of  Jenny  Lind  is  to  be  traced, 
in  the  main,  to  her  quick  reception  of  Garcia's  training,  she 
was  nevertheless  greatly  indebted,  with  regard  to  several  im- 
portant details,  to  her  first  teacher,  f  for  the  high  rank  she 
subsequently  occupied  in  the  world  of  song." 

Such,  then,  was  the  transformation  that  had  come  over  her 
rendering  of  Norma.     She  had  sung  it  before,  with  a  thin 

*  This  wonderful  G,  in  the  extended  form  here  described,  forms  no  part 
of  Bellini's  score.  The  germ  from  which  Mdlle.  Lind  developed  it  is  to  be 
found  in  a  short  phrase  of  exceedingly  common-place  recitative  :  — 


=b«= 


^^ 


^ 


Ah!  gio  -  ja!        Ah!      gio    -    ja! 

The  first  Ah  I  gioja !  was  an  agitated  whisper ;  after  which,  the  singer 
prolonged  the  minim  G — here  marked  with  an  asterisk — to  a  length 
almost  incredible,  with  the  effect  described  in  the  text.  This  beautiful, 
and  altogether  original  conception,  was  entirely  due  to  the  genius  of  Mdlle. 
Lind ;  not  to  that  of  Bellini. — Ed. 

1 1.  A.  Berg. 


1842-44.]  EOME :    AND   AFTER?  159 

voice,  in  a  "  provincial "  style,  with  a  throat  fatigued,  using 
bad  methods  of  technique.  She  sang  it  now  with  a  voice 
that,  besides  its  new  tone  and  sonority,  had  become  capable  of 
a  vocalisation  which  placed  her  among  the  phenomenal  singers 
of  European  history.  No  wonder  that  Stockholm  was  wild 
with  enthusiasm. 

She  sang  in  seven  performances  of  Norma,  and  in  six  of 
Lucia,  besides  giving  some  scenes  from  Eossini's  Semiramide, 
and  in  January,  1843,  repeated  her  favourite  "  Alice,"  three 
or  four  times. 

She  took  up  several  new  characters  —  "Amazili,"  in 
Spontini's  Ferdinand  Gortez,  the  second  act  of  whicli  was  given 
eight  times  during  the  spring ;  "  Valentine,"  in  the  Huguenots  ; 
"  Minette,"  in  La  Gazza  Ladra  ;  "  La  Contessa,"  in  Mozart's 
Nozze  di  Figaro  ;  above  all,  "  Amina,"  in  the  Sonnamhula — 
one  of  her  representations  which  was  to  become  so  famous  in 
after-years,  and  which  she  sang,  for  the  first  time,  on  March 
1st,  1843.  Altogether,  before  the  nine  months  of  the  year's 
engagement  were  out,  she  had  made,  between  October  10th, 
1842,  and  June  21st,  1843,  one  hundred  and  six  appearances 
in  thirteen  different  parts. 

But,  besides  her  normal  work,  those  nine  months  were 
chiefly  memorable  for  two  main  incidents,  one,  personal  and 
domestic  ;  the  other,  national  and  dramatic. 

The  personal  event  formed  the  last  crisis  in  her  home- 
relations.  These  relations  were  still  strained ;  for  we  must 
remember  that  she  has  never  gone  back  on  that  first  decision 
to  leave  her  parents'  home,  which  landed  her  in  the  Lindblads' 
household.  She  is  still  living  apart  from  them  ;  and  this  is  all 
the  more  marked,  now  that  she  is  independent  of  the  Lind- 
blads, and  living  in  her  own  hired  rooms,  with  the  sole 
companionship  of  the  faithful  Louise.  A  woman,  by  Swedish 
law,  at  that  time,  was  bound  to  be  under  guardianship  until 
she  married.     Yet  it  must  have  been  as  difficult  as  ever  for 


160  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  hi.  ch.  i. 

her  to  remain  under  the  guardianship  of  parents,  who  cared, 
indeed,  for  her,  and  valued  her  highly,  but  who,  yet,  could 
not  possibly  enter  into  her  motives  and  aims,  which  were 
beyond  the  range  both  of  the  easy-going  conscience  of  her 
father,  and  of  the  embittered  temperament  of  her  mother.  We 
have  only  to  recall  her  deep  and  peculiar  sense  of  the  obliga- 
tion she  was  under,  to  devote  her  art  and  its  rewards  to  the 
service  of  God  and  man,  to  see  how  tough  a  difficulty  this 
desire  would  prove  to  Herr  Lind,  who  had  never  taken  life 
very  seriously,  and  to  Fru  Lind,  who  had  fought  her  own 
way  along,  with  sturdy  resolution,  under  the  ugly  burden  of 
poverty,  and  who  had  seen  no  good  cause  to  be  over  tender 
towards  a  world  which  had  dealt  hardly  enough  with  her. 

In  view,  then,  of  this  radical  difficulty,  Jenny  Lind  took  a 
step,   which,  with  characteristic  generosity,  put  an  end  to 
the  long  and  tangled  story.      Out  of  her  earnings,  scanty 
though   they  were,  she  managed   to   secure  a  little   home 
in  the  country,   in   which  she   established  her  father   and 
mother.     And,  then,   she  won   their  consent  to  transfer   a 
guardianship,   which    they   could  not  well    exercise  at    a 
distance,  to  an  official  guardian,  duly  appointed  by  law,  to 
whom  they  would  hand  over  all  parental  responsibilities. 
This  they  did ;  and  the  transference  was  a  marked  moment 
in  her  life.     Not   only  did  she  thereby  put  a  total  end  to 
all  the  domestic  troubles  which  had  so  darkened  her  young 
days ;  not  only  did  she  set  free  her  natural  affection  for  her 
mother,  by  releasing  it  from  all  the  aggravation  of  jarring  wills ; 
but  also  she  did  something  towards  securing  for  herself  what 
she,  always,  most  sorely  needed — needed,  indeed,  with  all  the 
innermost  necessities  of  her  being — a  strong  and  steady  per- 
sonal influence  at  the  back  of  her  life,  to  calm  her  agitations, 
to  control  her  uncertainties,  to  abide  constant  throughout  her 
reactions,  to  correct  her  self-mistrust,  to  dissipate  her  sus- 
picions, to  fix  her  emotions,  to  anchor  her  conscience.     She 


1842-44.]  HOME:    AND   AFTER?  161 

had  all  the  fervour  and  the  lapses,  the  starts  and  the  recoils, 
of  a  dramatic  genius ;  and,  firm  and  high  as  was  her  moral 
ideal,  its  very  force  brought  it  into  confused  collision  with  the 
bewilderment  of  circumstances,  and  it  was  as  liable  to  perplex 
and  distress  her,  as  to  cheer  and  impel.  This  made  her  pas- 
sionately feel  for  something  which  could  from  without 
buttress  and  reassure  her  spiritual  intentions,  which  so  often 
found  themselves  sadly  at  fault  in  a  world  that  would  not 
correspond  with  them.  Shaken,  as  she  herself  often  was,  by 
the  strong  emotions  which  swept  across  her  soul,  she  needed 
an  external  mark,  a  sign,  a  symbol,  of  the  unshaken  security 
of  that  moral  End  in  which  she  trusted.  Some  one  ought  to 
be  near  at  hand,  from  whom  she  could  receive  the  profound 
assurance  that  "  all  was  well " — that  her  belief  in  goodness 
had  not  played  her  false.  This  is  what  her  home  had  sadly 
omitted  to  give  her:  and  for  this  loss  nothing  could  now 
compensate.  But  it  was,  at  least,  a  profound  relief,  under 
such  a  strain,  to  have  obtained  a  guardian  whose  presence 
abode  with  her,  from  then  to  Ms  death  in  1880,  as  a 
permanent  pledge  of  all  that  was  wise,  and  kindly,  and 
excellent,  and  of  good  report,  Herr  Henric  M.  Munthe, 
Judge  of  the  Court  of  Second  Instance,  the  guardian 
chosen,  was  a  man  of  high  character  and  distinguished 
position ;  she  could  confide  in  his  judgment  with  absolute 
confidence,  while  she  could  also  rely  on  his  apprecia- 
tion of  her  art,  as  he  was  himself  a  cultivated  musician, 
and  took  his  part  in  the  best  amateur  quartette  in  Stock- 
holm. His  portrait  suggests  a  benignant  and  benevolent 
"  Thackeray  " — a  face  full  of  fatherly  interest  and  mild  good 
humour,  yet  with  the  discreet  wisdom  of  one  who  knows  the 
Law.  He  looks  compact  with  honesty,  of  unqualified  worth, 
charged  with  measured  advice,  sober  and  yet  not  unsympa- 
thetic. And,  indeed,  with  the  slu-ewdness  of  a  councillor,  he 
combined  true  sympathy  with  all  that  was  most  deeply  im- 

VOL.  I.  JI 


162  JENNY  LINl).  [bk.  hi.  ch.  i. 

planted  in  her  heart.  She  wrote  to  him  constantly  and 
freely  ;  and  she  found  in  him  one  who  could  understand  her, 
even  in  those  respects  in  which  a  legal  trustee  is  most  apt  to 
fail.  For  it  was  he  who  directed  and  managed  for  her,  so  long 
as  his  guardianship  lasted,  those  abundant  charities  which  she 
showered  upon  her  native  Stockholm.  About  these  she  could 
pour  out  her  mind  to  him,  sure  of  intimate  comprehension. 
And  his  open  recognition  of  her  ideas  in  all  this,  is  evidenced 
by  the  fact  that  he  stored  up  her  letters  to  him,  and  left  them 
at  his  death  inscribed  with  this  description,  "  the  mirror  of  a 
noble  soul "  ;  though,  according  to  her  own  words  to  his  son, 
these  letters  were  almost  entirely  occupied  with  the  distribu- 
tion of  her  charitable  gifts.  She  declares  this,  in  a  letter 
written,  in  June  1880,  to  Carl  H.  Munthe,  the  son  of  the 
Judge,  after  she  had  learned  from  him  of  the  existence  of 
these  letters,  on  the  father's  death  in  April,  1880.  Her  letter 
throws  so  much  light  on  her  character  that  the  main  portion  of 
it  is  printed  here.  It  shows  her  own  instinctive  feelings  about 
her  gifts,  and  how  natural  she  thought  them.  And  it  shows, 
also,  how  entirely  the  old  man  had  acquiesced  in  her  designs, 
and  how  faithfully  and  loyally  he  had  set  himself  to  the  task 
of  carrying  them  to  a  wise  issue,  without  raising  objections, 
or  hampering  her  with  cautions ;  while,  by  his  preservation  of 
the  letters,  he  evinces  his  recognition  of  the  special  nobility 
of  the  soul  which  he  was  serving. 

This  letter  to  Carl  Munthe  has  an  interest,  also,  that 
belongs  to  the  present  memoir,  for  it  will  be  noticed  that  she 
here  mentions  her  intention  of  writing  an  autobiography ; 
and,  above  all,  of  recording  her  artistic  experience.  Though 
this  purpose  was  utterly  abandoned  (or,  rather,  was  never  put 
in  action),  yet  her  words  lend  a  sanction  to  the  effort  made,  in 
these  volumes,  to  give  some  record  of  her  career  as  an 
artist.  In  her  last  years,  she  was  prone  to  justify  her  aban- 
donment of  the  autobiography  by  indignant  remonstrances 


1842-44.]  HOME:    AND   AFTER?  163 

at  the  hopeless  failure  of  the  public  to  understand  Carlyle's 
'  Eeminiscences.'  Her  experience  of  the  cruel  stupidity  with 
which  a  mighty  character  like  his  could  be  maltreated  and 
misinterpreted,  made  her  put  the  thought  utterly  away.  "  If 
they  could  so  treat  him,  who  was  so  great,  what  respect  would 
they  pay  me  ?  "  she  said.  "  JSTo  !  let  the  waves  of  oblivion 
pass  over  my  poor  little  life  !  " 

But  we  must  go  back  to  our  letter  :  here  it  is  : — 

Extract  of  a  Letter  from  Fru  Jenny  Lincl-Goldsehmidt  to 
Hofrdttsrddet  Carl  Munthe. 

"  1  Moreton  Gardens,  June  ISth,  1880. 

"  The  letters  from  me,  left  in  your  charge,  my  dear  brothers 
and  my  sister  Emma,  can  contain  only  dispositions  for  distri- 
bution of  pensions  and  purses  to  different  people.  What  good 
would  there  be  in  exhibiting  these  letters  to  the  curiosity  of 
the  public,  long  after  that  the  writer  thereof  is  decayed  and 
forgotten  ?  To  me,  the  most  acceptable  course  would  be  the 
burning  of  those  letters  after  you  all  are  gone.  There  is  nothing 
I  have  shunned  more,  during  my  life,  than  praise  for  the  assist- 
ance I  have  been  fortunate  enough,  through  the  grace  of  God,, 
to  render  to  my  fellow-men  as  far  as  lay  in  me,  and  it  can 
never  be  a  merit  to  give  of  that  which  has  been  given  to  us. 
These  are  my  views — and  if  I  am  not  much  mistaken  about, 
you,  brother  Carl,  you  will  say  I  am  right. 

"  Moreover,  I  intend  to  write  an  autobiography.  My  life — 
especially  as  an  artist — has  furnished  material  for  a  biography 
in  such  abundance,  that  I  almost  look  upon  it  as  a  duty  tO' 
produce  something  of  the  kind,  before  leaving  a  world  where- 
I  had  been  called  upon  to  take  so  active  a  part.  That  in  such 
a  biography,  written  by  myself,  my  beloved  guardian  should 
take  his  well-deserved  place,  is  only  natural :  that  the  help- 
he  gave  me  with  the  distribution  of  my  little  bounties  in  my 
fatherland,  was  of  the  greatest  importance  for  those  who' 
received  them,  is  a  fact  nobody  can  dispute,  and,  conse- 
quently, his  part  in  this  page  of  my  life  must  be  clear  and 
unmistakable.  Alas  !  in  my  letters  to  him,  he  does  not  by 
any  means  occupy  the  place  to  which  he  is  entitled,  conse- 
quently they  would  be  only  interpreted  to  my  advantage  y 
and  still,  had  he  remonstrated  a.Q;ainst  my  urgent  commis- 

M  2 


164  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  hi.  ch.  i. 

sions — which  he  was  mnch  too  noble  and  much  too  discreet 
ever  to  do — I  should  most  probably  have  listened  to  his 
.objections." 

Such  was  the  kind  and  fatherly  guardianship  which  she 
won  for  herself,  under  a  legal  sanction  obtained  from  His 
Majesty's  Lower  Town  Court  on  the  30th  of  January,  1843, 
under  the  chairmanship  of  the  Sous-Prefet,  Chamberlain,  and 
Knight  of  the  Order  of  the  Eoyal  North  Star,  M.  Kuy- 
lenstjierna,  when  the  following  request  was  presented : — 

"  Having  decided  to  leave  Stockholm  for  good,  and  conse- 
quently being  unable  to  bestow  due  attention  to  the  guardian- 
ship of  my  dear  daughter,  the  Court-singer,  Jenny  Lind, 
I  hereby  beg  that  I  may  be  relieved  from  this  duty,  and  that 
Herr  H.  M.  Munthe,  Judge  of  the  High  Court,  may  be 
.appointed  in  my  place  to  the  guardianship." 

This  is  signed  by  N.  J.  Lind,  with  the  title  of  "  Fabrikor," 
i.e.,  manufacturer,  to  which  he  was  entitled  through  having 
acquired  ownership  of  a  weaving-loom.  After  that  Herr 
Munthe  has  formally  signified  his  consent,  the  Eoyal 
Court  agrees  to  the  request,  and  Judge  H.  M.  Munthe 
"  is  herewith  appointed  guardian  of  the  Court-singer, 
Jenny  Lind,  in  accordance  with  regulations  provided  by 
the  law." 

So  happily  closes  a  long  and  chequered  chapter  of 
domestic  history.  The  parents  contentedly  enjoy  the  fruits 
of  their  daughter's  generosity .  Their  discomforts,  and  their 
;anxieties  are  over.  They  seem  to  have  been  very  fond 
of  one  another ;  and  henceforward,  the  days  seem  to  have 
begun  of  which  their  daughter  speaks  in  her  letter  from 
America,  on  her  mother's  death — days  of  quiet  and  kindly 
peace  in  which  the  natural  affections  found  free  way. 

The  second  great  event  of  that  spring  was  the  National 
Jubilee,  to  celebrate  the  twenty-fifth  year  of   the  reign   of 


1842-44.]  HOME:    AND   AFTER?  165' 

King  Carl  Johan.  The  Eoyal  Family  of  the  Bernadottes^ 
in  spite  of  their  abrupt  introduction  into  the  country,  have 
succeeded  in  attracting  about  them  the  national  associations  ; 
and  the  Jubilee  was  to  be  celebrated  by  appeals  to  everything 
that  was  native,  and  popular,  and  Swedish.  The  Eoyal 
Theatre  set  itself  to  the  task  by  the  production  of  a  "  Diver- 
tissement National," — a  medley  of  national  scenes,  with  words 
and  dances  by  Bottiger,  Tegner's  son-in-law,  and  himself  a 
poet ;  and  with  music  by  Berwald,  the  conductor  at  the 
Theatre  Eoyal.  In  this,  Jenny  Lind  sang,  in  the  character 
of  a  peasant  girl  from  Wermland.  This  piece  ran  for 
twenty-seven  nights,  all  through  February,  and  March,  into 
April ;  and  it  was  followed  in  May,  by  another  Piece 
d' Occasion,  of  the  same  type,  with  national  melodies  and 
dances,  called  A  May  Day  in  Wdrend — full  of  Swedish 
customs,  and  melodies,  and  dresses ;  in  which  she  sang 
the  part  of  "Martha,"  the  heroine,  riding  in,  at  one  part, 
on  horseback  on  to  the  stage,  and  singing  as  she  rode. 
This  ran  for  fifteen  nights  before  June  was  over.  She 
was  capitally  supported  by  the  barytone,  Belletti,  in  the 
character  of  an  itinerant  Italian.  We  can  imagine  how 
her  Swedish  blood  would  tingle,  as  she  threw  herself, 
with  her  whole  heart,  into  the  delight  of  rendering  the 
native  peasant  life  which  was  so  dear  to  her,  and  which 
she  so  instinctively  interpreted.  She  would  pour  her  soul 
out  in  melodies  which  touched  the  very  fibres  of  her  being, 
as  they  spoke  to  her  of  the  sounds  and  sights  which  make 
Sweden  what  it  is  to  Swedish  hearts.  She  must  have  felt 
that  the  opportunity  was  indeed  come  to  put  out  all  the 
new  powers,  which  she  had  gained  abroad,  to  prove  to  her 
own  people  how  dear  they  were  to  her. 

We  find  that,  from  this  time  on,  the  Court  besan  to 
take  delight  in  showing  her  both  favour,  and  friendship  ; 
and  especially  kind  to  her  was  the  Queen,  Desideria,  wife 


166  •         JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  m.  ch.  i. 

of  Bernadotte.     We  are  allowed  to  use  the  interesting  notes 
from  the  diary  of   a   lady-in-waiting   on  Queen  Desideria, 
which  belong  to  this,  and  the  following  years.     This  lady, 
Froken  Marie  von  Stedingk,  had,  in  quite  early  days,  pre- 
dicted  a   great  future  for  Jenny  Lind,  when  she  heard   of 
her    wonderful    dramatic    gifts,    as    a    child    of    eleven    or 
twelve.     And,  now,  after  the  return  from  Paris,  it  was  "  her 
greatest  treat "  to  witness  the  fulfilment  of  her  prophecy ; 
and  to  hear  "  Our  nightingale,  the  charming  Jenny  Lind," 
both  in  the  Divertissement  National,  and  in  her  great  parts, 
"  Norma"    ^' la  SonnamUda,"    etc.      She  had,    also,  "  often 
the  advantage  of  hearing  her,  through  the  wdnter,  in  private 
houses,  where    one   and    all    treated    her   with   distinction. 
Her  behaviour,  and  her  reputation  are  faultless  ;  her  manners 
pleasant   and  modest.     Without  being   pretty,  she   has   an 
expression  of  purity  and  genius,  which,  combined  with  her 
youth,  and  her  charming  figui^e,  is  exceedingly  prepossess- 
ing."     This  is  a  delightful  picture  of  her  at  the  time— the 
simple  modest  girl,  with  her  light,  graceful,  quick-moving 
figure;    and,  then,  the  last,  the  crown  of  all — "a  look  of 
purity  and  genius  ! "      We  shall  hear  more  of  tliis  diary  in 
the  years  1844  and  1845. 

So  the  first  year  of  the  home  engagement  ended — prospe- 
rous, happy,  secure.  But,  after  all,  was  it  to  be  possible 
that  this  great  gift  of  hers  should  be  left  to  be  the  private 
possession  and  j^rize  of  her  Swedish  home  ?  Could  it  be  so 
hid  ?  Was  no  rumour  to  creep  about  of  this  strange  singing 
'mid  the  northern  seas  ?  Was  the  "  Nightingale  "  caught, 
and  caged  for  ever  ? 

,  It  could  not  be ;  and  we  have,  now,  to  follow  her  first 
flights  outside  the  home-limits,  and  to  watch  her,  as  she  dis- 
covers that  her  voice  has  that  in  it  which  can  overleap  all  the 
barriers  set  up  between  people  and  people,  and  can  speak  to 
ihe  souls  of  those  whose  tongue  is  unknown  to  her,  and  whose 


1842-44.]  E02IE:    AND   AFTER?  167 

eyes  have  never  seen  the  woods  and  waters  of  Sweden. 
There  was  a  little  experiment  first,  in  Finland,  in  the  summer 
of  1843,  which  met  with  overwhelming  response.  A  grace- 
ful and  pathetic  record  of  the  visit  is  given  us  in  the  verses 
of  the  aged  poet  of  Finland,  Topelius,  written  for  a  festival  in 
1888,  on  the  news  of  Jenny  Lind's  death.  The  old  poet  is 
carried  back  to  recall  the  days  when  he  first  heard  her  sing 
so  long  ago ;  and  we  venture  to  give,  in  a  free  translation,  a 
few  of  the  opening  verses,  which  describe,  with  delicate 
accuracy,  the  effect  she  then  made  on  all — the  effect  of  one, 
who,  using  all  the  subtlest  resources  given  her  by  skill  and 
training,  still  spoke  straight  home,  from  soul  to  soul,  with  the 
natural  direct  ease  with  which  a  bird  sings  its  heart  out,  in 
sheer  simplicity  and  joy : — 

"  I  saw  thee  once,  so  young  and  fair. 
In  thy  sweet  spring-tide,  long  ago ; 
A  myrtle  wreath  was  in  thy  hair, 
And,  at  thy  breast,  a  rose  did  blow. 

■  ••••• 

"  Poor  was  tby  purse,  yet  gold  thy  gift ; 
All  music's  golden  boons  were  thine  : 
And  yet,  through  all  the  wealth  of  Art, 
It  was  thy  soul  which  sang  to  mine ! 

"  Yea  !  sang,  as  no  one  else  has  sung, 
So  subtly  skilled,  so  simply  good  ! 
So  brilliant !  yet  as  pure,  and  true 
As  birds  that  warble  in  the  wood  ! " 

So  it  went  well  in  Finland. 

But  yet  another  step  outward  was  to  be  made  that 
summer — a  step  into  a  country,  near  enough  to  be  familiar, 
yet  remote  enough  to  be  almost  foreign.  Once  before,  she 
had  just  looked  in  at  Copenhagen,  in  the  middle  of  her  pro- 
vincial tour,  in  1840  ;  and,  now,  she  visited  it  again.  It  was 
in  connection,  again,  with  a  provincial  tour  which  she  made ; 
and  of  which  we  have  some  happy  records  in  the  life  of  the 
musician,  Jacob  Axel  Josephson. 


168  JENNY  LINT).  [bk.  in.  ch.  i. 

This  name  is  so  closely  linked  with  these  years  of  Jenny 
Lind's  life,   that  we  must   pause   upon  it   before  going  on 
with    our   story.     Josephson   was    a    Swedish    composer — 
born  in  1818,  and  died  in  1880 — whose  songs  have  become 
^videly  famous  in  Sweden.     In  these  songs  he  has  proved 
himself  a    faithful   successor  to  Geijer,  and  Lindblad;   he 
has  much  of   their   spirit ;   on   the   other  hand,   he   repro- 
duced less  of  the  national  type   of   music  than   they  did, 
and   showed  more   of   the   influence  of  the   great  German 
song-writers    of    his    own    day.      The    event    of    his    life 
was  a  tour  through  Germany  and  Italy,  for  the  study  of  Art ; 
it  was  this  which  brought  liim  under  the  full  sway  of  classical 
culture  in  music  ;  and  it  was  with  this  tour,  as  we  shall  see, 
that  Jenny  Lind  was  so  personally  and  deeply  concerned.    He 
returned  from  it  in  1847,  and  was  appointed  Musical  Director 
of  Upsala  University  in  1849.      He  devoted  himself  with 
indefatigable  perseverance  to  producing  the  great  works  of 
the  great  masters,  especially  the  oratorios  of  Handel,  Haydn, 
and  Mendelssohn.     Through  these  efforts,  as  well  as  through 
his  lectures  on  the  '  History  of  Music,'  given  at  Upsala,  he 
has  done  much  to  kindle  and  to  purify,  by  the  power   of 
music,  the  minds  of  the  present  generation  in  Sweden.     All 
his    compositions,    and    they   were    many,    including    one 
symphony,  prove  him  to  have  been  an  earnest  and  highly- 
trained  musician. 

Now,  in  1843,  Josephson  was  just  at  the  critical  point  in 
his  musical  education ;  he  was  longing  to  get  abroad ;  he  had 
no  sufficient  funds.  Here  was  a  situation  which  Jenny  Lind 
would  thoroughly  understand ;  for  it  had  been  her  own.  We 
shall  soon  see  how  she  dealt  with  it.  They  met,  in  the 
August  of  this  year,  at  this  town,  Linkoping,  whither 
Josephson  had  gone,  on  the  occasion  of  an  annual  concert, 
to  be  given  under  the  direction  of  Concert-Master  Eandel,  in 
aid  of  the   fund  for   the  widows   and  orphans.     It  was  a 


1842-44.]  HOME:    AND   AFTER?  169 

most  pleasant  surprise,  as  he  tells  us  in  his  Diary,*  to 
meet  with  a  number  of  old  acquaintances  and  friends,  and 
among  others  Jenny  Lind  and  Giinther,  who  had  come  to 
give  a  concert  of  their  own,  and  joined  in  tliis  preliminary 
entertainment.  Crowds  were  present  from  all  parts  of  the 
country,  partly  owing  to  the  presence  of  some  of  the  royal- 
ties ;  and  the  heat  and  the  crush  in  the  church,  where  the 
concert  was  given,  were  intolerable,  and  he  did  not  enjoy  it 
so  much  as  he  expected — "  even  Jenny  Lind  was  less  success- 
ful than  usual."  This  was  on  the  18th  August;  but,  at  her 
own  concert,  in  the  evening  of  the  following  day,  she  was 
in  excellent  voice,  and  he  was  enraptured ;  "  she  sang  in 
a  manner  unsurpassed.  What  brilliancy  of  delivery,  side  by 
side  with  that  grandeur  which  is  so  characteristic  of  her ! 
What  energy  and  pathos,  even  in  the  very  fioriture  1  What 
classical  finish  in  her  cadenzas !  "  In  the  evening  she  was 
serenaded.  And  on  the  following  day,  at  the  concert  given 
by  her  and  Herr  Giinther,  he  heard  her  sing,  in  costume, 
a  scena  from  the  Freischiitz.  "  She  is  incomparable  !  "  is  his 
verdict.  "  The  beautiful  gentle  calm  during  the  first  part  of 
the  scene ;  her  fine  attitudes,  full  of  feeling,  when  listening 
for  the  horns ;  her  rapture  and  glowing  prayer  at  the  sup- 
posed victory  of  her  beloved — all  this  is  so  glorious,  so  true, 
so  enchanting,  that  in  reality,  nothing  can  be  said,  while  the 
full  heart  feels  all  the  more  from  the  lack  of  words."  She 
sang  one  of  Josephson's  own  songs,  at  this  concert,  "  Believe 
not  in  Joy ! "  After  this  musical  feast  at  Linkoping,  the 
friends  separated.  Josephson  and  Gunther  went  on  a  tour  of 
their  own,  giving  musical  soirees,  while  Jenny  Lind  took  the 
opportunity  of  a  run  across  to  Copenhagen.  Before  the  three 
meet  again,  we  must  see  what  happened  to  her  there.  She 
had  intended  only  to  make  a  visit ;  but  there  was  in  Copen- 
hagen, an  eager,  and  enthusiastic  friend  who  was  not  to  be 
*  '  Gedenkblatter  an  Jakob  Axel  Josephson  : '  von  IST.  P.  Udman,  1886. 


170  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  hi.  ch.  i. 

denied.  This  was  Mr.  A.  A.  Bournonville,  of  whom  we  have 
already  spoken  as  being  delighted  with  Jenny  Lind's  operatic 
singing  as  far  back  as  1839,  when  he  was  indignant  at  the 
pittance  at  which  she  was  rendering  such  magnificent  service 
to  the  Eoyal  Theatre.  He  was  eminent,  both  at  Copenhagen 
and  at  Stockholm,  as  a  composer,  and  master  of  ballets ;  he 
was  made  knight  of  the  Danebrog  in  Denmark,  and  of  the 
Wasa  in  Sweden  ;  he  was  greatly  respected  and  beloved,  and 
it  was  at  his  house  that  Jenny  Lind  usually  stayed,  on  her 
visits  to  Copenhagen.  He  urgently  pleaded  that  she  should 
give  them  "  her  incomparable  Alice"  in  Roberto  ;  and  suggested 
that  she  should  sing  her  part  in  Swedish,  while  the  rest  sang 
in  Danish,  as  the  languages  were  so  nearly  akin. 

"  All  the  theatre  showed  the  greatest  good- will,"  he  writes 
in  his  memoir  of  his  theatrical  life ;  "  but  the  one  obstacle 
was  the  fear  of  Jenny  Lind  herself;  she  dreaded  a  foreign 
stage.  And  when  she  saw  Fru  Heiberg  act  in  the  Son 
of  the  Desert  she  felt  such  enthusiasm  for  her,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  such  depression  for  herself,  that  she  begged  me, 
with  tears  of  anguish,  to  spare  her  the  pain  of  exhibiting  her 
own  insignificant  person  and  talent,  on  a  stage  which  had,  at 
its  disposal,  the  genius  and  the  beauty  of  Fru  Heiberg.  In 
addition  to  this,  my  counter-arguments  excited  her  to  such  a 
degree  that  she  began  to  reproach  me  for  having  laid  a  trap 
for  her.  This  both  frightened,  and  wounded  me  ;  and  I  pro- 
mised to  cancel  all.  But  now  the  '  woman '  came  to  the 
front;  for  as  I  began  to  doubt,  she  waxed  firm." 

An  admirable  episode,  as  amusing  as  it  is  natural !  So 
long  as  it  is  only  her  oion  doubt,  it  is  only  due  to  nervous- 
ness, however  real  its  anguish ;  but  if  another  doubt  her 
powers,  it  constitutes  an  attack,  a  challenge ;  and  "  the 
artist,"  as  well  as  "  the  woman,"  is  up  in  arms  to  repel  it. 
Bournonville  seems  to  have  seen  how  to  reap  the  advantage  of 
this  mode  of  argument  with  her  ;  he  must  have  deepened  his 
doubts  to  the  point  which  secured  complete  conviction  in  her. 
For,  certainly,  he  obtained  her  consent.      She  sang ;  and  the 


1842-44.]  HOME:    AND   AFTER?  171 

success  was  tremendous,  was  overpowering.     "  Jenny  Lind 
gained  in  Denmark  a  second  Fatherland,"  writes  Bournonville. 
And,  after  deploring  the  slackness  which  failed  to  secure  her 
services  for  the  Danish  Opera,  he  speaks,  significantly  enough, 
of  the  impression  which  the  event  made  on  her — of  the  dis- 
covery which  she  made  for  herself.     "  The  ice  was  broken. 
Jenny  Lind  discovered  that  she  could  get  her  living  out  of 
Sweden ;  and  also  she  learned  that  the  Artist,  in  reality, 
should  not  settle  down  on  the  native-soil,  but,  like  the  bird  of 
passage,  should  go  there  only  in  search  of  rest."     The  words 
are  those  of  the  theatrical  master,  who  has  made  the  drama 
his  world.     They  are  singularly  unlike  what  she  would  have 
used,  at  any  time.     But  they  may  describe,  in  his  language, 
an  effect   which   she  would   have   differently  expressed,    if 
indeed  she  could  have  expressed  it  at  all,  but  which   did 
take  place  within  her  secret  self.     She  must  have  experi- 
enced a  sense   that  the  doors  were  being  flung   open,  and 
that  she  might  pass  out  through  them,  if  she  would.     There 
was   a  world,    she   now  knew   for   certain,   out   and   away 
beyond  the  range  of  home,  where  she  would  find  that  her 
powers  would   tell,  her  gifts   be  welcomed,  her   genius   be 
met   with   the  warmth   of  sympathy.      There  were  worlds 
which    she    could    conquer,    elsewhere.       This    must    have, 
indeed,  been  something  like  a  revelation,  to  one  who,  as  we 
have  just  seen  in  the  scene  with  Bournonville,  was  terribly 
susceptible  to  self-mistrust.      There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
Copenhagen  marked  an  eventful  hour  in  her  destiny.     It  was 
the  omen  of  what  was  to  come.     Bournonville  records  what 
so  shortly  followed,  with  a  touch  of  justifiable  pride  in  his 
own  anticipatory  judgment.     "  Her  name   soon  became  of 
European  fame ;  gold  and  praise  were  showered  upon  her ; 
princes  and  nations  vied  with  one  another  in  their  offerings 
to  her ;  poets  sang  of  her  ;  in  the  midst  of  winter,  she  never 
wanted  flowers." 


172  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  hi.  ch.  i. 

She  only  sang  twice  in  the  theatre,  on  September  10  th  and 
13th :  and  in  one  concert,  in  the  large  hall  of  the  Hotel 
d'Angleterre,  on  September  16th.  The  Opera,  on  each  occasion 
was  Rohcrto.  The  following  words  from  a  History  of  Danish 
Dramatic  Art,  by  Th.  Overskou,  form  an  admirable  comment. 
After  stating  that,  in  her  case,  it  was  not  a  single  party  of 
admirers,  excited  into  ecstasy  by  some  one  or  other  brilliant 
quality,  but  that  it  was  the  entire  public  which  was  moved 
to  enthusiasm  by  all  the  harmonising  elements  of  true  artistic 
beauty,  it  goes  on  : — 

*'  It  was  said  about  Jenny  Lind,  that  in  her  everything  is 
combined  to  make  the  perfect  dramatic  singer ;  a  clear,  full, 
sonorous  voice  of  large  compass  ;  an  easy  and  charming 
method  of  singing,  which  she  never  overl3urdens  with  in- 
appropriate ornament :  a  style,  in  the  highest  degree  expressive 
and  enchanting :  and  an  extraordinary  dramatic  talent. 
Added  to  this,  there  lies  diffused  throughout  the  whole 
personality  of  this  admirable  artist,  a  peculiar  charm,  a 
naturalism  rare  on  the  stage,  which  makes  an  immediate 
appeal  to  the  goodwill  of  the  audience.  And,  after  all,  this 
eulogy,  however  detailed  and  true,  can  only  give  but  an 
imperfect  account  of  the  gifts  by  which,  without  dazzling 
through  beauty,  she  fascinates  all  by  her  appearance,  her 
singing,  and  her  speech ;  or  her  power  derives  its  origin  and 
its  life  from  a  loveliness  altogether  characteristic  and 
individual,  such  as  it  is  impossible  to  describe,  and  which 
banishes  all  disturbing  influences,  and  collects  all  her  rare 
and  precious  advantages,  so  as  to  create  an  irresistible 
impression  of  grace  and  purity  of  soul." 

ISTo  words  could  be  more  delicately  chosen,  to  convey  the 
effect  which  Jenny  Lind  invariably  produced.  It  is  most 
interesting  and  curious  to  note  how  all  attempts  to  describe 
this  effect,  whenever  they  come  from  elevated  and  sympa- 
thetic observers,  fall  into  the  same  language.  "  Genius  and 
Purity,"  said  the  Lady  of  the  Court  at  Stockholm.  "  Grace 
and  Purity  of  Soul,"  says  the  Danish  History.  "  A  noble 
Nature,"  said  the  Upsala  Journal.     The  same  phrases  come 


1842-44.]  HOME:    AND   AFTER?  173 

to  the  surface  again  and  again :  and  all  of  them  testify  to  the 
intensity  of  the  personal  character,  which  fused  all  the  varied 
gifts  of  Art  and  Nature  into  a  vivid,  and  irresistible  unity. 
It  is  she  herself  who  lends  the  wonderful  bewitchment  to  the 
voice,  and  to  the  action :  and  the  impression,  so  received, 
tliough  without  the  aid  of  physical  beauty,  has  always  (as 
they  tell  us)  all  the  character  of  that  which  we  call 
"  beautiful,"  so  that  they  cannot  but  speak  of  her  possessing 
*'  charm  "  and  "  loveliness." 

Nor  was  it  only  the  possibility  of  a  wider  public,  which 
opened  upon  her  at  Copenhagen.  She  also  found  that  here, 
as  at  Stockholm,  she  won,  in  a  peculiar  manner,  the  admira- 
tion an  J  the  friendship  of  eminent  men,  such  as  the  artists 
Jensen  and  Melbye,  the  poet  CEhlenschlager,  and,  above  all,  of 
Hans  Andersen,  who  was  absolutely  fascinated,  and  who  for 
a  long  time  after,  paid  her  a  devotion,  which  had  in  it  all 
that  delightful  mingling  of  simplicity,  and  childishness, 
which  was  so  characteristic  of  him.  In  his  '  Story  of  my 
Life '  he  tells  in  beautiful  words  how  he  was  called  in  by 
Bournonville,  to  take  part  in  the  work  of  persuading  her  to 
sing : — 

"  Except  in  Sweden,"  she  said,  "  I  have  never  appeared  in 
public.  In  my  own  country  all  are  so  kind  and  gentle 
towards  me  ;  and  if  I  were  to  appear  in  Copenhagen,  and  be 
hissed  !  I  cannot  risk  it !  "  "  When  she  appeared  in  Alice,'' 
he  writes,  "  it  was  like  a  new  revelation  in  the  domain  of  art. 
The  fresh  young  voice  went  direct  to  the  hearts  of  all.  Here 
was  truth  and  nature.  Everything  had  clearness  and 
meaning.  In  her  concerts,  Jenny  Lind  sang  her  Swedish 
songs.  There  was  a  peculiar,  and  seductive  charm  about 
them :  all  recollection  of  the  concert-room  vanished :  the 
popular  melodies  exerted  their  spell,  sung  as  they  were  by  a 
pure  voice  with  the  immortal  accent  of  genius.  All  Copen- 
hagen was  in  raptures.  Jenny  Lind  was  the  first  artist  to 
whom  the  students  offered  a  serenade :  the  torches  flashed 
round  the  hospitable  villa,  where  the  song  was  sung.  She 
expressed  her  thanks  by  a  few  more  of  the  Swedish  songs, 


174  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  hi.  ch.  i. 

and  I  then  saw  her  hurry  into  the  darkest  corner,  and  weep 
out  her  emotion.  'Yes,  yes,'  she  said, '  I  will  exert  myself; 
1  will  strive  ;  I  shall  be  more  efficient  than  I  am  now,  when 
I  come  to  Copenhagen  again  ! '  " 

This  is  the  remarkable  note  of  her  character — so  natural, 
yet  so  rare — that  every  triumph,  instead  of  satisfying  her  with 
her  skill,  spurs  her  to  further  efforts  to  be  more  worthy  of 
its  joy.     Hans  Andersen  goes  on  : — 

"  On  the  stage,  she  was  the  great  artist,  towering  above  all 
around  her  ;  at  home,  in  her  chamber,  she  was  a  gentle  young 
o-irl,  with  the  simple  touch  and  piety  of  a  child.  .  .  .  The 
spectator  laughs  and  weeps,  as  she  acts :  the  sight  does  him 
(rood  :  he  feels  a  better  man  for  it :  he  feels  that  there  is 
something  divine  in  Art.  One  feels,  at  her  appearance  on 
the  stage,°that  the  holy  draught  is  poured  from  a  pure  vessel." 

We  will  close  this  visit  to  Copenhagen  with  the  graceful 
and  touching  words  in  which  ]\Ir.  Bournonville  has  clothed 
an  incident  which  seemed  to  him  to  embody  the  secret  of 
Jenny  Lind's  significance  at  that  time.  In  translating  the 
words  from  their  congenial  French,  we  must,  we  fear,  strip 
them  of  half  their  charm  :  but  here  they  are  :— 

"  Again  and  again  have  the  delights  of  Nature,  the  glory  of 
Art,  the  enthusiasm  for  the  true  and  the  beautiful,  inspired 
in  me  some  attempts  at  verse.  How,  then,  is  it  that,  to-day, 
the  sweet  singing  of  Jenny  Lind  has  left  my  lyre  mute  ? 
How  is  it  that  I  fail  to  find  even  an  echo  within  me  which 
mioht  pass  on  into  the  distance  the  sound  of  that  music  which 
laid  open  to  my  soul  a  world  as  yet  unknown  ?  Alas  !  To 
paint  in  words  the  tones  of  a  voice  steeped  in  all  the  utter- 
most tenderness  of  the  human  heart,  is  as  vain  as  to  seek 
shadows  in  the  darkness  !  Moreover,  the  sound  of  my  voice 
would  be  lost  in  the  thunders  of  a  people's  praise.  The  little 
flower  that  alone  I  could  offer  to  the  artist,  in  the  midst  of 
her  triumphs,  would  be  crushed  under  the  feet  of  the  crowds 
that  press  round  her.  No !  Eather  let  me  treasure  up  the 
memory  of  her  gifts,  and  of  her  story  within  my  home,  and 
let  me  leave,  as  a" legacy  to  those  that  come  after,  one  trait  of 
her  life,  which  will  serve  to  bring  her  honour  in  the  day  when 


1842-44.]  HOME:    AND   AFTEE  ?  175 

the  loud  applause  will  have  died  away,  and  when  the  poets 
will  be  singing  the  praises  of  other,  and  newer  names. 

"  I  had  a  friend  who  enjoyed  all  the  privileges  of  happy 
comfort,  of  public  esteem,  of  cultivated  taste,  of  the  affection 
of  his  family,  of  the  love  of  his  fair,  young  wife.  A  cruel 
sickness  brought  him  down  to  the  very  edge  of  the  grave  ;  but 
by  God's  mercy,  he  was  saved.  He  was  lying,  still  weak  and 
faint,  in  his  bed,  when  the  thrill  of  excitement  which  Jenny 
Lind  had  kindled  in  Copenhagen,  reached  even  to  his  sick- 
room ;  and  bitter  were  the  regrets  of  the  young  wife,  at  the 
sick  man's  loss  of  that  which  would  have  been  to  him  such  a 
delight.  Jenny  heard  of  her  desire,  and  offered,  at  once,  to 
sing  to  the  invalid  :  and  so,  in  the  very  heart  of  her  triumphs, 
when  the  Court,  and  the  Town  were  anxiously  craving  to 
know  whether  they  could  yet  keep  her  one  day  more,  she 
found  time  to  charm,  with  her  heavenly  voice,  the  hearts  of 
the  two  young  people.  It  was  on  a  Sunday,  the  16th  of 
September,  18-43,  at  the  hour  when  all  the  churches  were 
filled  with  the  praises  of  God,  that  Jenny,  without  any 
strangers  to  observe  her,  without  any  public  notice,  did  this 
act  of  charity ;  and  the  tears  of  gratitude  which  flowed  from 
the  eyes  of  Mozart  and  Mathilde  Waage  Petersen  were  the 
waters  in  which  they  christened  her  with  the  name  of  'Angel.' 
The  emotion,  and  the  pleasure  of  the  visit  served  to  help  the 
recovery  of  my  friend. 

"  May  God  ever  bless  Jenny  Lind  ! 

"  May  she  receive  the  reward  of  her  charity,  if,  one  day,  she 
be  wed  ! 

"  And  if  God  grant  her  children,  may  it  be  given  them  to 
know  of  this,  their  mother's  act." 

This  kindness  of  hers  was  not  forgotten,  we  shall  find, 
when  she  returned  to  Copenhagen  about  two  years  later ;  for 
on  the  back  of  the  picture  then  presented  to  her — a  picture 
of  white  roses  by  Jensen — appear  the  names  of  tliis  happy 
little  couple,  Mozart  and  Mathilde. 

It  may  be  further  noted,  that  she  went  to  sing  to  the  sick 
man  in  spite  of  having  to  appear,  on  the  afternoon  of  that 
same  day,  in  the  large  room  of  the  Hotel  d'Angleterre,  at  her 
great  concert,  at  which  she  sang  two  songs  from  Norina,  and 
Swedish  Ballads,  and  National  Melodies. 


176  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  hi.  ch.  i. 

So  ended  the  first  flight  outside  the  house,  the  first  brief 
act  of  achievement  beyond  her  native  stage.  She  crossed 
back  to  Sweden,  to  continue  her  series  of  concerts ;  and  on 
reaching  Westerwik  about  the  25th  of  September,  by  the 
steamer  "  Scandia,"  she  found  herself  once  again  in  company 
with  Giinther  and  Josephson,  who  had  lingered  on  in  the 
town,  after  a  successful  musical  soiree.  The  friends  joined 
together  at  the  hotel  in  the  evening.  "  I  greatly  rejoiced," 
writes  Josephson,  "to  meet  her  again  after  the  brilliant 
triumphs  she  has  achieved  at  Copenhagen." 

"  Her  genial  modesty  had  lost  nothing  through  her 
success.  Her  Nature  wins  more  and  more  harmony  ;  and  in 
consequence  there  is  more  equanimity  in  her  disposition  and 
in  her  friendliness,  than  before  she  went  abroad." 

Josephson  was  just  parting  with  Giinther,  at  the  close  of 
their  tour ;  so,  while  Giinther  went  straight  home  to  Stock- 
holm, Josephson  decided  to  tack  himself  on  to  Jenny  Lind 
and  her  companion,  now  on  their  way  to  give  a  concert  at 
Norrkoping,  where  he  might  be  able  to  help.  So,  on  the 
28th,  he  started  after  her  in  a  light  cart,  caught  up  her 
carriage  at  Vida,  and,  after  that,  took  his  seat  alternately  on 
his  own  trap  or  on  the  box  of  her  carriage,  while  she  read  aloud 
to  him  some  of  Hans  Andersen's  poems,  from  a  book  presented 
to  her  by  Hans  himself  At  the  country  inn  they  improvised 
a  rough  dinner,  which  they  enriched  with  the  music  of  an  old 
barrel  organ,  by  chance  discovered  on  the  premises.  They 
arrived  at  Norrkoping  that  night ;  and  spent  the  next  day 
in  arrangements  and  rehearsals,  while,  in  the  evening,  Jenny 
was  serenaded  by  singers  from  Upsala. 

"After  the  rehearsal,"  Josephson  goes  on,  "I  spent  a 
pleasant  evening  with  the  ladies,  partly  at  the  tea-table, 
partly  at  the  piano.  Jenny  sang  many  of  Lindblad's  newest 
and  unpublished  songs.  Like  the  earlier  ones,  they  are 
marked  by  genius  ;  and  he  clearly,  in  the  Lied  gains  more 


1842-44.]  HOME:    AND  AFTER  f  111 

and  more  a  character  of  calm  development  in  the  melody. 
The  mysticism  which  envelopes  most  of  his  earlier  songs  with 
peculiar  fascination,  has  now  somewhat  diminished ;  the 
melody  is  more  flowing,  though  not  more  captivating ;  the 

whole  has  gained  in  transparency  and  sweetness 

Through  the  great  development  Jenny's  song  and  voice  have 
attained,  through  the  grandeur  which  gives  colour  to  her 
diction,  the  Lied,  as  rendered  by  her,  has  lost  much  of  the 
unconscious  inspiration  of  the  moment.  She  sings  the 
Lied    better    than    nearly  everybody  else,  as   a  matter   of 

course ;  but  still,  not  as .     In  tliat  case,  the  character  of 

the  Lied  never  gets  lost,  just  because  the  voice  has.  not 
arrived  at  any  developed  power  of  execution.  Such  a  power 
always  must  imply  reflection  upon  its  own  use ;  the  natural 
devotion  to  the  subject  is  not  any  longer  so  independent. 
The  strength  and  sonority  developed  in  the  voice  have,  with 
Jenny  Lind,  received  every  kind  of  noble  grandeur,  which, 
perhaps,  ought  to  draw  her,  chiefly,  to  compositions  of  a 
grand  character.  In  the  meantime  it  is  always  interesting 
to  hear  her  sing ;  her  genius  always  shines  through  in  full 
glory."  * 

This  most  interesting  personal  criticism  seems  to  show 
that,  just  at  this  period,  before  her  own  inherent  spontaneity 
had  wholly  absorbed  her  new-trained  technical  development, 
she  was  apt  to  prove  too  overpowering  for  those  lighter  and 
simpler  effects  of  song,  which,  a  year  or  two  later,  when  the 
mastery  over  her  art  was  matured,  she  could  render  with 
such  exquisite  delicacy  of  tone,  and  effect,  that  she  made 
those  very  songs  of  Lindblad  speak  with  wonderful  direct- 
ness, to  the  first  musicians  of  Germany, 

On  the  30th  of  September  she  gave  her  concert,  singing 
airs  from  Figaro,  Norma,  Boherto,  and  Niobc.  At  supper 
that  evening  at  General  Cronhj elm's  she  was  again  serenaded, 
and  next  morning  was  off  to  Stockholm. 

She  returned,  for  another  year's  work,  at  her  old  salary  ; 
in  the  course  of  which,  between  October  4,  1843,  and 
July  5,   1844,  she  made  sixty-six   appearances,  in   sixteen 

N.  P.  Odman  in  op.  cit. 
VOL.  I.  N 


178  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  in.  ch.  i. 

different  characters,  six  of  them  being  wholly  new.  She 
reached  her  sixtieth  performance  of  "  Alice  "  ;  her  forty-ninth 
of  "  Lucia "  ;  her  thirty-sixth  of  "  Agatha " ;  her  twenty- 
sixth  of  Norma;  her  eighteenth  of  the  Sonnamhula.  The 
jubilee  play,  The  May  Day  in  War  end,  ran  on  to  within  a 
few  days  of  the  ISTational  mourning  for  the  King  Carl  Johan, 
whose  death  closed  the  theatre  from  March  4  to  May  2.  Her 
new  parts  were  "  Thyra  "  in  The  Elves,  an  opera,  by  a  Dutch 
pianist  of  mark,  residing  in  Stockholm,  called  Van  Boom : 
"  Fiorilla "  in  Eossini's  Turco  in  Italia :  "  Armida "  in 
Gluck's  famous  work :  and  "  Anna  Bolena "  in  Donizetti's 
opera  of  that  name.  Of  Armida,  she  wrote  a  characteristic 
note  to  Judge  Munthe,  on  February  17,  1844  : — 

"  I  send  you  some  seats  for  my  '  benefit '  on  the  19th  in 
Gluck's  Armida.  I  trust  that  you  will  greatly  enjoy  the 
music.  Both  the  music,  and  the  piece,  are  so  grand,  that  my 
smallness  will  be  shown  out,  thereby,  in  its  true  light.  But 
I  am  so  thrilled  by  the  sublime  spirit  of  the  music  that  I  am 
only  too  ready  to  risk  my  own  personality." 

During  the  opening  of  this  year,  1844,  she  was,  in  concert 
with  Giinther,  interesting  herself  greatly  in  the  fortunes  of 
Josephson.  Giinther  had  begun  to  scheme  on  behalf  of  his 
tour  abroad,  during  their  trip  together  in  the  autumn ;  and 
had  already  in  November  written  to  him  about  a  proposal  to 
give  a  concert  to  raise  funds  for  this,  in  Stockholm.  "  Jenny 
Lind,"  he  had  then  reported,  "  knows  all ;  and  has  l^esides 
received  an  anonymous  letter  from  Upsala  on  the  matter." 
On  the  12th  of  January,  1844,  Josephson  received,  with 
rejoicing,  a  kind  letter  from  Jenny  Lind,  confirming  the  news 
of  the  concert  which  she  and  Giinther  were  to  give  for  his 
benefit.*  On  the  6th  of  March,  he  spent  the  morning  arrang- 
ing with  them  the  details  ;  but,  towards  the  close  of  April,  the 
concert,  to  his  great  joy,  was  shifted  from  Stockholm  to  LTpsala, 
and  was  fixed  for  Whit  Monday.  It  succeeded  beyond  all 
*  '  Biography  of  J.  A.  JosepbsoD,'  p.  106.    ' 


1842-44.]  HOME :    AND   AFTER  ?  179 

expectations.  "  All  have  come  forward  in  the  most  generous, 
spontaneous  manner,  and  the  result  has,  by  God's  grace, 
turned  out  for  the  best.  My  journey  is  now  guaranteed."  So  he 
writes  on  the  30  th  of  May :  "  If  hitherto  I  have  belonged  to 
Art  privately,  I  am  now  challenged  to  work  more  generally 
for  the  holy  cause.  This  gift  from  my  friends  ought  to  bring 
with  it  a  blessing  on  my  way,  for  their  sympathy  has  had  the 
largest  share  in  bringing  it  about.  I  am  all  round  besieged  with 
kindness.  How  remain  faithful  and  grateful !"  *  So  loyally 
and  generously  had  she  worked  to  fulfil  the  dream  of  another, 
who  shared  in  her  own  profound  aspiration  after  the  highest 
ideal,  and  was  beset  by  the  same  obstacles.  For  two  long 
years,  Josephson  had  been  yearning  for  this  opportunity,  and 
now  it  was  given  him.  It  was  a  good  work,  which  proved 
well  rewarded. 

As  to  the  Season,  it  must  have  passed  much  as  usual.  She 
wrote  to  Hans  Andersen,  at  the  time  of  the  national 
mourning  : — 

'•  Stockholm,  19tb  March,  1844. 

"  My  good  Brother  : 

"  Mr.  Bournonville  mentioned  in  his  last  letter  to 
me  that  you  have  been  shedding  tears  because  of  my 
silence.  This,  naturally,  I  take  to  be  nonsense,  but  as  my  con- 
science does  reproach  me  in  regard  to  you,  my  good  brother, 
I  hasten  to  recall  myself  to  your  memory,  and  to  ask  my 
friend  and  brother  not  to  be  angry  with  me,  but  rather 
to  furnish  me  soon  with  a  proof  that  I  have  not  forfeited  my 
right  to  his  friendship  and  goodwill.  A  thousand,  thousand 
thanks  for  the  pretty  tales !  I  find  them  divinely  beautiful 
to  such  a  decree  as  to  believe  them  to  be  the  grandest  and 
loveliest  that  ever  flowed  from  your  pen.  I  hardly  know  to 
which  of  them  I  should  concede  the  palm,  but,  upon  reflection 
I  think  The  Ugly  Duckling  the  prettiest.- — Oh,  what  a 
glorious  gift  to  be  able  to  clothe  in  words  one's  most  lofty 
thoughts ;  by  means  of  a  scrap  of  paper  to  make  men  see 
so  clearly  how  the  noblest  often  lie  most  hidden  and 
covered  over  by  wretchedness  and  rags,  until  the  hour  of 

*  lb.,  p.  124. 

N   2 


180  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  hi.  ch.  i. 

transformation  strikes  and  shows  the  figure  in  a  divine  light ! 
Thanks,  from  all  my  heart,  thanks  for  all  this — as  touching 
as  it  is  instructive.  I  long  now  very  much  for  the  moment 
when  I  shall  be  allowed  to  tell  my  good  brother  by  word  of 
mouth  how  proud  I  am  of  this  friendship,  and  with  the  help  of 
my  Liccler  to  express — if  even  in  a  trifling  degree — my  grati- 
tude !  only  that  you,  my  brother,  are  surely  better  fit  than 
any  one  to  comprehend  our  Swedish  proverb :  '  Every  bird 
sings  according  to  his  beak.' 

"  This  country  is  now  in  mourning — peace  to  those  who  are 
fone !  After  all  one  is  happiest  when  once  well  out  of  the 
way.  Our  theatre  is  now  closed  for  about  seven  or  eight  weeks, 
and  this  is  not  pleasant,  but  meanwhile,  we  are  busy,  studying 
new  things.  I  must  tell  you,  my  good  brother,  that  I  have 
here  quite  a  cozy  little  home.  Cheerful,  sunny  rooms,  a 
nightingale  and  a  greenfinch  : — the  latter,  however,  is  greatly 
superior  as  an  artist  to  his  celebrated  colleague,  for,  while 
the  first  remains  on  his  bar  grumpy  and  moody,  the  other 
jumps  about  in  his  cage,  looking  so  joyous  and  good- 
natured,  as  if,  to  begin  with,  he  was  not  in  the  least  jealous, 
but,  instead  of  that,  supposes  himself  created  merely  for 
the  purpose  of  cheering  his  silent  friend  !  And  then  he  sings 
a  song,  so  high,  so  deep,  so  charming  and  so  sonorous,  that 
I  sit  down  beside  him  and,  within,  lift  up  my  voice  in  a 
mute  song  of  praise  to  Him  whose  '  strength  is  made  perfect 
in  weakness.'  Ah!  it  is  divine  to  feel  really  good.  My 
dear  friend!  I  do  feel  so  happy  now.  It  seems  to  me  I 
have  come  from  a  stormy  sea  into  a  peaceful  cottage.  Many 
struggles  have  calmed  down,  many  thoughts  have  become 
clearer,  many  a  star  is  gleaming  forth  again  and  I  bend 
my  knee  before  the  Throne  of  Grace  and  exclaim  :  '  Thy  will 
be  done.'  Farewell !  God  bless  and  protect  my  brother  is 
the  sincere  wish  of  his  affectionate  sister 

"  Jenny." 

This  peace  in  the  "  cosy  little  home  "  is  to  be  quickly 
broken  up.  A  flight  abroad  is  now  to  be  taken,  which  will 
carry  her  further  afield  than  Finland,  or  Copenhagen.  It  is 
no  less  a  place  than  Berlin  that  has  begun  to  take  note  of 
this  wonderful  singing,  and  is  preparing  to  capture  it  for  its 
own  service  and  joy.  Meyerbeer  is  there,  engaged  in  bringing 
out  a  work,  which  is  to   celebrate   all   the  glories   of  the 


1842-44.]  HOME:    AND   AFTER?  181 

Prussian  kingdom :  and  he  is  anxious  to  secure  all  the  talent 
open  to  him.  He  had  heard  her  sing,  as  we  know,  in  Paris, 
and  had  felt,  then,  that  Berlin  was  her  proper  sphere :  and, 
now,  his  memory  and  his  zeal  are  kindled  anew  by  the  en- 
thusiasm of  an  artist  of  no  mean  ability,  who  arrived  at 
Berlin  from  Stockholm,  with  a  fervent  admiration  for  what 
he  had  seen  and  heard  there.  Tliis  artist  was  M.  Paul 
Taglioni,  a  brother  of  the  famous  danseuse,  a  descendant, 
on  the  mother's  side,  of  the  Swedish  tragedian  Karsten,  and 
well  known  both  in  Paris  and  Berlin,  not  only  as  a  graceful 
dancer,  but,  also,  as  a  skilful  composer  of  Ballets,  and  a 
ludicious  and  competent  critic.  During  the  course  of  a 
conversation  with  her  son,  many  years  afterwards,  Madame 
Goldschmidt  spoke  of  the  visit  of  M.  Paul  Taglioni  to 
Stockholm  as  having  undoubtedly  revived  Meyerbeer's 
recollections  of  what  he  had  heard  of  her  singing,  at  Paris, 
in  the  month  of  July,  1842 ;  and  to  M.  Taglioni's  report  of 
the  successes  he  had  witnessed  at  the  Ptoyal  Theatre  she 
attributed  Meyerbeer's  marked  anxiety  to  engage  her  at  Berlin 
in  order  that  she  might  take  the  principal  part  in  the  new 
opera — Das  Fcldlagcr  in  Schlcsien — which  he  was  composing 
for  the  opening  of  the  new  Ptoyal  Opera  House  in  the 
Prussian  capital. 

The  records  of  the  proposals  made  by  Meyerbeer  are  lost ; 
but,  some  time  in  that  summer,  they  reached  sufficient 
definiteness  to  induce  her  to  determine  on  a  visit  to  Dresden 
in  July,  in  order  that  she  might  work  up  her  German  to  the 
level  demanded  by  an  appearance,  on  such  an  historic 
occasion,  in  the  Opera  House  at  Berlin.  Off  to  Dresden  she 
resolutely  went,  as  soon  as  her  season  was  over,  ending,  as  it 
did,  on  July  5,  with  eight  performances  of  the  Tuixo  in 
Italia — an  almost  forgotten  opera  of  Eossini's — in  which  she 
played  the  part  of  Piorilla.  ]\Idlle.  von  Stedingk  tells  us 
how  she   stole  off  to  the  Theatre,  incognita,  owing  to   the 


182  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  hi.  ch.  i. 

Court  being  still  in  mourning,  and  heard  her  in  this  Opera,  in 
which,  as  she  says,  "  she  made  even  the  unpleasant  part  of 
Fiorilla  graceful  and  womanly.  But  I  prefer  Norma,  which 
is  her  greatest  triumph." 

Her  enthusiasm  breaks  out  in  the  record  of  a  tea-party 
which  she  gave.  "  In  honour  of  Jenny  Lind,  previous  to 
her  departure  for  Germany;  Carl  and  Charlotte*  were  the 
other  guests.  It  was  to  me  an  indescribable  enjoyment, 
when  she  sat  down  at  my  piano,  and  sang  to  us.  From  that 
moment,  my  little  room  became  dearer  to  me,  and  more 
harmonious  than  ever. 

"  The  Queen  Dowager  was  extremely  kind  to  Jenny,  at 
the  farewell  audience,  presenting  her  with  portrait  medals  of 
herself  and  the  late  King,  and  with  a  watch,  which,  she  said, 
is  '  To  remind  you  not  to  forget  the  time  of  your  return 
to  us.' " 

So  the  time  came  for  the  new  venture.  She  had  thought 
herself  escaped  "  into  a  peaceful  cottage  from  out  of  a  stormy 
sea."  So  she  had  written  to  Hans  Andersen  in  March. 
But  a  greater  voyage  into  a  wider  sea  is  now  before  her. 
The  wind  is  up:  the  sails  are  set:  she  must  go.  The  first 
note  that  she  sinfrs  in  Berlin  will  have  sealed  her  fate. 
There  will  be  no  withdrawal  possible  for  her  after  that. 
Out  into  the  deeper  floods  the  strong  currents  will  sweep  her. 
The  great  European  world,  its  peoples,  its  kings,  its  musicians, 
its  heroes,  will  close  in  round  her ; — will  claim  her  with 
irresistible  insistence.  Her  returns  to  Stockholm  —  her 
"  beloved  Stockholm  "■ — will  become  rarer,  and  rarer :  at  last, 
she  will  come  back  only  to  enrich  it  with  endowments,  and 
to  bid  it  "  Good-bye  "  ! 

*  I.e.  Count  and  Countess  Carl  Bjornstjerna. 


BOOK   IV. 


MASTEEY. 


(     185     ) 


CHAPTER  I. 

IN   DRESDEN. 

And  now,  once  more,  the  Curtain  rises  on  a  new  Act  in  our 
Drama — a  new  phase  in  the  great  Art-life  which  we  are 
endeavouring  to  depict,  as  faithfully  as  we  may,  by  aid  of 
the  records  that  have  been  preserved  to  us,  and  the  memories 
of  some  whose  recollections  are  even  more  precious  than 
written  evidence  or  printed  criticism. 

Now,  for  the  second  time,  we  find  Mademoiselle  Lind 
leaving  home  and  friends  and  all  that  lay  nearest  to  her  heart, 
and  departing,  in  obedience  to  the  call  of  Art,  to  seek 
new  fortunes  in  a  country  utterly  unknown  to  her  ;  and  we, 
who  followed  her  earlier  venture,  must  once  more  accom- 
pany her  on  a  journey,  undertaken,  not  as  in  the  former 
case  in  the  character  of  a  timid  student  in  search  of 
knowledge,  but  in  that  of  a  profoundly  cultivated  and  highly 
accomplished  mistress  of  her  Art,  distrustful  as  ever  of  her 
own  artistic  power,  yet  quite  capable  of  displaying  that 
power  to  the  wonder  and  delight  of  the  most  exacting  critics 
in  the  world. 

The  opportunity  was  a  splendid  one,  and  might  well  have 
tempted  any  aspiring  artist.  But  there  was  the  terrible 
home-sickness  in  the  way — the  aching  void  which,  in  her 
case,  seemed  almost  to  verge  upon  physical  malady,  the  cruel 
nostalgia  of  the  medical  schools. 

Still,  we  may  fairly  believe  that,  to  a  nature  so  thoroughly 


186  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  i. 

Scandinavian,  German  thought  and  German  habits  would 
seem  less  unsympathetic  than  those  of  France.  For  France, 
in  temper,  manners,  and  associations,  stands  curiously  alone 
among  the  nations  of  Europe ;  while  between  the  Teutonic 
and  the  Scandinavian  peoples  there  exist,  indubitably,  many 
ties  and  bonds,  which  continue  to  exercise  a  vital  influence 
such  as  is  recognised  and  felt  in  the  most  intimate  depart- 
ments of  life. 

No  bond  exists  of  stronger  tenure  than  religious  con- 
formity. ISTow,  religious  thought  was  no  less  deeply  affected 
in  Sweden  and  Norway  than  in  the  northern  provinces  of 
Germany  by  the  doctrines  set  forth  in  the  religious  teaching 
of  Luther  and  his  disciples,  and  the  af&nity  thus  established 
when  those  doctrines  were  first  preached  to  the  world  was 
certainly  not  weakened  by  the  terrible  experiences  of  the 
Thirty  Years'  War. 

Again,  the  touching  pictures  of  Scandinavian  home-life, 
painted  in  such  glowing  and  natural  colours  by  Frederika 
Bremer  and  Hans  Christian  Andersen,  find  a  ready  response 
under  many  a  German  roof-tree,  and  are  in  living  sympathy 
with  practical  home-life  on  the  banks  of  the  Elbe  and  the 
Weser. 

Here,  then,  are  two  points  which  may  be  fairly  looked  upon 
as  connecting  links  between  the  two  races — to  say  notliing  of 
others  which  it  would  be  manifestly  beyond  our  province  to 
notice  in  our  present  chapter. 

We  may  hope,  therefore,  if  we  give  due  weight  to  these 
considerations,  that  Mdlle.  Lind  did  not  feel  herself  quite  so 
much  a  stranger  in  Germany  as  she  had  previously  done  in 
France,  though  her  attachment  to  her  own  country  was  so 
deep  and  passionate  that  it  seemed  as  if  she  could  never  be 
truly  happy  in  any  other. 

But  it  rarely  falls  to  the  lot  of  genius  to  choose  its  own 
sphere  of  action.     Events  had  shaped  themselves -irrevocably. 


18M.]  IN  DRESDEN.  187 

The  die  once  cast,  nothing  remained  bnt  to  sul3mit  to  the 
necessities  of  the  case;  to  press  forward  on  the  only 
path  that  still  remained  open,  while  all  side  issues  were 
liopelessly  barred;  and  to  determine  that,  come  what 
might,  it  should  lead  to  success ;  and  this  is  what  Mdlle. 
Lind  did. 

Her  farewell  to  Sweden  had  been,  as  we  have  already 
seen,  a  touching  one. 

The  reader  will  not  have  forgotten  the  incidents  mentioned 
in  connection  with  it  by  Froken  Maria  von  Stedingk,  who 
supplements  the  account  in  her  Diary  with  the  words, 
"  I  was  also  present  at  the  farewell  representation,  and 
felt  that  I  had  never  seen  anything  so  superior  as  Jenny 
Lind." 

She  was  indeed  "  superior "  in  every  sense  of  the  word. 
It  was  time  that  the  Germans  should  know  this ;  but  it 
needed  careful  preparation. 

It  had  never  been  her  wont  to  trust  to  genius  alone  for 
results  which,  she  well  knew,  could  be  attained  only  by  the 
union  of  genius  with  conscientious  industry.  As  a  cul- 
tivated musician,  a  singer,  an  actress,  a  sympathetic  inter- 
]3reter  of  the  master-pieces  of  the  greatest  dramatic  composers 
of  the  modern  schools,  she  had  nothing  more  to  learn.  She 
did  not  even  need  experience  ;  for,  after  forming  her  method 
in  Paris,  she  had  already  had  ample  opportunity  for  testing 
its  excellence  in  practical  connection  with  the  stage.  But 
in  order  to  ensure  her  success  at  Berlin  it  was  necessary  that 
:she  should  add  to  these  high  qualifications  an  intimate 
acquaintance  with  the  pronunciation,  at  least,  of  the  German 
language,  if  not,  indeed,  a  thorough  mastery  of  its  grammatical 
construction.  We  have  already  witnessed  the  zeal  with 
which,  in  Paris,  she  strove  to  overcome  the  difliculties  of  two 
languages — French  and  Italian — the  necessity  for  studying 
which  then  presented  itself  to  her  for  the  first  time.     She 


188  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch,  i. 

now  found  herself  placed  in  precisely  the  same  position  with 
regard  to  German ;  and,  far  from  attempting  to  evade  the 
difficulty,  she  adopted  the  best  possible  expedient  for  over- 
coming it.  She  determined  to  set  apart  a  sufficient  time  for 
quiet  and  regular  study,  not  in  the  city  in  which  she  was  to 
appear  for  the  first  time  before  a  German  audience,  but 
in  Dresden,  where  she  would  not  only  be  able  to  obtain 
without  difficulty  the  best  possible  instruction,  but  could 
also  usefully  supi^lement  it  by  attending  the  performances 
at  one  of  the  best  Opera-Houses  in  Germany.  And  here, 
too,  Meyerbeer  had  arranged  to  meet  her,  for  the  purpose  of 
consultation  with  regard  to  the  principal  part  in  the  im- 
portant work — Das  Feldlager  in  ScJilcsien — which  he  was 
preparing  for  the  reopening  of  the  Grand  Opera  House  in 
Berlin. 

To  Dresden,  then,  she  repaired,  accompanied  by  her  aunt, 
Froken  ApoUonia  Lindskog  —  familiarly  known  by  her 
relatives  as  Tante  Lona — arriving  there  on  the  25th  of 
July,  three  weeks  only  after  her  last  performance  in  Stock- 
holm. Truly,  it  was  not  her  habit  to  waste  much  time  in 
"  needful  rest." 

By  the  luckiest  of  chances  she  was  welcomed  at  the  very 
moment  of  her  arrival  in  the  Saxon  capital  by  her  trusty  and 
valued  friend,  Herr  Jakob  Axel  Josephson,  who  was  then, 
through  her  generous  assistance,  prosecuting  his  studies  in 
Germany,  and  who,  while  accidentally  crossing  the  Alte 
Briicke,  the  grand  old  bridge  over  the  Elbe,  passed  a  crowd 
of  carriages  conveying  passengers  into  the  town  from  the 
terminus  of  the  Leipzig  Eailway,  and,  peeping  into  one 
of  these,  saw  Mdlle.  Lind  with  Tante  Lona  sitting  by  her 
side. 

"I  hailed  the  driver  immediately," he  writes  in  his  Diary. 

'  The  carriage  stopped ;  and,  as  soon  as  I  could  force  my  way 

through  the  crowd,  I  paid  my  respects  to  the  travellers ;  ar- 


1844.]  IN  DBESDEN.  189 

ranged  to  call  on  them,  later  in  the  day,  at  their  hotel,  and 
left  them  to  continue  their  jonrney."* 

After  paying  his  visit,  and  finding  her  "  happy  and  con- 
tented," he  resumes  : — 

'■  It  was,  in  fact,  to  Jenny  that  I  was  indebted  for  the 
means  of  coming  here  myself.  I  had  therefore  a  great  deal 
to  say  to  her,  but  I  found  it  difticult  to  express  my  meaning, 
and  she  herself  seemed  to  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  me.  Between 
old  friends  there  is  no  need  of  many  words."  f 

The  evening  was  pleasantly  spent  in  a  walk  on  the 
Bruhl'sche  Terrasse  by  moonhght,  followed  by  a  friendly 
supper  at  the  hotel ;  and  after  devoting  the  next  morning  to 
an  exhaustive  exploration  of  the  town  in  search  of  private 
apartments  for  the  ladies,  a  pianoforte  for  Mdlle.  Lind,  and 
another  for  Herr  Josephson,  the  three  friends  walked  together, 
at  six  o'clock,  to  the  iine  old  Opera-House,t  to  hear  Wagner's 
Bienzi,  which  had  been  produced  there,  with  great  success,  in 
1842,  and  had  furnished  the  first  stepping-stone  to  its 
composer's  subsequent  reputation. 

It  will  naturally  be  understood  that,  having  visited  Dresden 
for  purposes  of  study  only,  MdUe.  Lind  lived  a  life  of  com- 
parative seclusion,  residing  in  the  private  lodgings  found  for 
her  by  Herr  Josephson,  and  very  rarely  going  into  society. 
She  was  furnished  however,  as  a  matter  of  course,  with 
letters  of  introduction  to  the  Swedish  Consul,  Herr  Karl 
Kaskel — who  happened  to  be  a  personal  friend  of  Meyerbeer 
— and  Herr  Josephson's  sympathetic  pen  has  furnished  us 
with  an  account  of  her  appearance  at  an  evening  party  given, 
during  the  last  week  in  July,  at  the  country  house  of  that 

*  *  Aus  dem  Leben  tines  Schwedischen  Componisten ;  Oedenhhldtter  an 
Jahoh  Axel  Josephson,^  von  N.  P.  Udmau  (Stockholm,  1886),  vol.  ii. 
t  Ibid. 
X  Long  since  burned  down,  and  rebuilt  on  a  still  grander  scale. 


190  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  i. 

gentleman's  father.  Making  due  allowance  for  the  some- 
what highly  coloured  language  of  a  young  man  just  entering 
upon  an  artist's  life  and  determined  to  employ  his  critical 
faculties  to  the  best  possible  advantage,  we  shall  find  the 
narrative  a  very  interesting  one. 

"  It  is  just  a  month,"  he  says  in  his  Diary,  "  since  I  left 
Sweden.  This  short  time  has  already  been  rich  in  ex- 
periences, and  brought  me  into  contact  with  many  interesting 
acquaintances.  I  have  heard  a  great  deal  of  music,  and 
made  various  discoveries  in  connection  with  its  condition  in 
Germany  at  the  present  time.  Although  the  love  for  music 
of  the  best  kind,  as  it  has  been  fostered  in  Germany  for  more 
than  a  century,  is  more  at  home  there  than  in  other  countries, 
one  must  confess  that  it  is  only  instrumental  music  that  is 
thus  encouraged,  while  the  Art  of  Song  lacks  representatives 
everywhere.  It  is  therefore  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  a 
talent  so  genial  as  that  of  Jenny  Lind,  awakening  great  and 
unusual  interest  wherever  it  is  brought  into  notice,  should 
now,  like  a  lightning  flash,  illumine  the  darkness  of  the 
singer's  night  in  Art-loving  Germany,  penetrate  the  over- 
flowing mass  of  German  music  and  kindle  the  flame  of 
enthusiasm. 

"The  beginning  of  this  was  eftected  this  evening,  and 
though  only  in  a  private  soiree,  still  in  such  a  way  that  its 
repetition  on  a  larger  scale  can  scarcely  be  delayed.  Consul 
Kaskel  had,  in  addition  to  some  music-loving  residents 
in  Dresden,  invited  Fraulein  Lind,  Jroken  Lindskog, 
Herr  Beskow  and  family.  Pastor  Odljerg  with  his 
pupils,  and  myself.  We  were  really  however  the  guests 
of  Consul  Kaskel's  father  (the  head  of  a  rich  and  influential 
banking  firm),  who  lives  in  a  pleasant  country  house  on  the 
Elbe. 

"  The  evening  began,  as  usual,  with  conversation,  for  the 
polite  and  true-hearted  Saxons  are  well  known  as  excellent 
hosts  and  the  Saxon  ladies  as  entertaining  hostesses.  But 
after  a  little  time  they  begged  Jenny  Lind  to  sing;  and, 
sitting  down  to  the  piano,  she  began  with  Berg's  Fjcrran  i 
skog*     Scarcely  had  she  ended  it  before  a  cry  of  satisfaction 

*  Eerdegossen ;  a  Swedish  song,  by  Herr  Berg,  containing  some  long- 
sustained  notes  concerning  which  we  shall  have  more  to  say  in  a  future 
chapter. 


1844].  IN  DBESDEN.  ■  191 

rang  through  the  room.  She  repeated  the  song,  followed  it 
up  with  Tro  ci  [jladjcn,  sang  Fjcrran  i  skog,  for  the  third 
time,  and  finished  with  the  Eomance  from  Winter's  Das 
unterhrochcnc  O^oferfcst,  which  flows  so  sweetly  and  lovingly 
on  the  true  classical  stream.  As  Jenny,  later  on,  sang  the  Aria 
from  Niohe*  in  her  grand  style,  and  adorned  it  with  her  most 
hesiwtihxl  Jioritura,  ilie  general  delight  burst  forth  into  loud 
applause,  and  all  remained  throughout  the  rest  of  the 
evening  simply  enchanted,  for  God  knows  how  long  a  time 
had  elapsed  since  any  one  had  heard  anything  like  it. 

"  For  us  Swedes  the  meeting  was  a  truly  brilliant  in- 
auguration of  Jenny's  entrance  into  Germany,  and  an 
especially  joyful  one,  though  only  in  so  small  a  house  ;  and 
we  remarked  with  pleasure  how  anxious  the  good  Germans 
were  to  hear  her  in  public,  whether  on  the  stage  or  in  the 
the  Concert-room."t 

Apart  from  the  sensation  she  created  on  the  occasion 
to  which  Herr  Josephson  alludes,  she  lived,  in  company 
with  Eroken  Apollonia,  in  strictest  privacy  during  the 
whole  of  the  time  she  remained  in  Dresden.  She  had 
indeed  but  little  time  permitted  to  her,  even  for  consultation 
with  Meyerbeer  or  for  the  purpose  of  study;  for  on  the 
28th  of  August — one  month  and  three  days  only  after  her 
arrival  at  the  terminus  of  the  Leipzig  Eailway — she  was 
recalled  to  Stockholm,  to  assist,  in  her  character  of  "  Court 
Singer,"  at  the  festivities  which  graced  the  Coronation  of 
King  Oscar  I. 

Queen  Desideria's  watch  had  already  marked  the  hour  for 
the  wanderer's  return,  |  though  on  this  occasion  it  was  to 
be  represented  by  a  very  brief  visit. 

The  Court  was  now  out  of  mourning,,  and  all  Stockholm  in 
festal  attire  to  do  honour  to  the  approaching  ceremony. 
Unfortunately,  Froken  Marie  von  Stedingk,  being  in  close 

*  '  II  soave  e  hen  contento,'   from   Paciui'a   Nidbe,  with   its  brilliant 
caballetta — '  /  tuoi  frequenti  paljjiti '— iu  B  b. 
t  N.  P.  Odman,  iu  op.  cit.  vol.  ii. 
t  See  page  182. 


192  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  i. 

attendance  on  the  Queen  Dowager,  was  prevented  by  the 
imperious  demands  of  Court  etiquette  from  attending  the 
performances  at  the  Royal  Theatre,  and  her  Diary  therefore 
furnishes  us  with  no  account  of  Mdlle.  Lind's  appearances. 
But  we  know,  from  the  archives  of  the  theatre,  that  they 
were  ten  in  number — viz.,  three  of  La  Sonnamhula  ;  three  of 
Norma ;  one  of  Gluck's  Armida ;  and  three  introducing 
single  acts  of  Dcr  Frcischutz,  Norma,  Lucia  di  Lammermoor, 
and  Anna  Bolcna* 

So  well  prepared  were  the  Swedes  to  appreciate  their 
talented  countrywoman  at  her  true  value  that  they  could 
not  endure  the  idea  of  losing  her.  In  the  hope  of  pre- 
venting her  from  singing  in  Germany,  Count  Hamilton,  the 
then  Director  of  the  Eoyal  Theatre,  offered  her  an  engage- 
ment as  principal  singer,  for  eight  years,  at  an  annual  salary 
of  five  thousand  dollars,!  which  was  to  be  continued  to  her 
after  the  termination  of  the  contract  as  a  pension  for  life. 
To  this  offer  she  felt  very  much  inclined  to  agree,  though 
her  best  friends  tried  hard  to  make  her  see  that,  by  so 
doing,  she  would  deprive  the  rest  of  Europe  of  all  participa- 
tion in  the  advantages  derivable  from  her  exceptional  talent. 
Eor  a  long  time  her  resolution  remained  immovable.  But 
one  day  a  trusted  friend  bethought  himself  of  a  curious 
method  of  persuasion,  which  could  only  have  occurred  to  one 
who  understood  her  nature  thoroughly.  After  leaving  her, 
as  he  feared  on  the  point  of  signing  the  dangerous  contract, 
he  encountered  in  the  street  a  certain  Consul  General  who 
prided  himself  upon  an  intimate  knowledge  of  everything 
connected  with  music.  To  this  gentleman  he  narrated  the 
circumstance,  with  many  expressions  of  regret  as  to  the  turn 

*  The  dates  were : — Sept.  18,  20,  La  Sonnamhula ;  Sept.  24,  Der 
Freischiitz  (act  ii.) ;  Sept.  26,  Norma  and  Anna  Bolena  (single  acts) ; 
Sept.  27,  Der  Freischiitz,  and  Lucia  (single  acts);  Sept.  30,  Armida; 
Oct.  2,  La  Sonnamhula ;  Oct.  4,  8,  9,  Norma. 

t  About  £420  sterling. 


1844.]  AY  DBESDEN.  193 

affairs  were  taking.  But  to  his  great  surprise  the  Consul 
General  took  the  opposite  view,  maintaining  that,  notwith- 
standing her  successes  at  home,  the  artist  herself  must  have 
known  that  her  powers  were  unequal  to  the  attainment  of  a 
similar  result  in  a  more  extended  sphere.  Well  knowing  the 
effect  which  this  absurd  misrepresentation  of  the  true  state  of 
the  case  could  not  fail  to  produce  upon  Jenny's  mind,  her 
friend  lost  no  time  in  making  her  acquainted  with  it ;  and 
then  and  there  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  seemg  her  tear  up 
the  fatal  contract  and  thus  put  an  end  to  the  discussion  for 
ever. 

Eetreat  was  now  impossible,  and  as  soon  as  practicable 
after  the  last  performance  of  Norma,  on  the  9th  of  October, 
she  took  leave  of  her  friends  and  started  on  her  trying  journey 
— a  journey  now  forced  upon  her  by  her  refusal  to  accept  the 
engagement  offered  to  her  at  Stockholm,  but  none  the  less 
trying  on  that  account,  and  rendered  painful,  moreover,  by 
those  fears  for  the  unknown  future  which  her  constitutional 
dif&dence  forbade  her  to  shake  off. 


VOL.  I.  0 


(         194         )  [bK.  IV.  CH.  II. 


CHAPTEE  II. 

AT   THE   COURT   OF   BERLIN. 

Notwithstanding  the  temporary  interruption  of  her  lin- 
guistic studies  at  Dresden,  Mdlle.  Lind  was  far  from  being 
unprepared  for  her  approaching  trial  when  the  appointed 
time  drew  near. 

Of  the  severity  of  that  trial  and  the  gravity  of  its  inevi- 
table though  as  yet  wholly  uncertain  consequences  it  would 
have  been  difficult  to  form  an  exaggerated  idea.  The 
successes  achieved  by  the  young  artist  in  her  own  country 
counted  as  nothing  when  considered  in  connection  with  the 
ordeal  that  awaited  her  in  Berlin.  That  a  native  singer  of 
rare  and  undoubted  talent  should  have  been  received  with 
acclamation  by  her  own  admiring  countrymen,  that  her 
reappearance  on  the  stage  she  had  trodden  as  a  child  should 
have  been  regarded  by  the  audience  assembling  at  the  Eoyal 
Theatre  as  a  national  triumph,  that  the  critics  of  Stockliolm 
should  have  been  ready  to  endorse,  in  its  fullest  significance, 
the  verdict  pronounced,  in  a  moment  of  enthusiasm,  by  the 
general  public ;  all  this  was  naturally  to  have  been  expected, 
and  might  indeed  have  been  easily  foreseen  by  any  one 
with  discernment  enough  to  read  the  signs  of  the  times, 
as  Froken  Marie  von  Stedingk's  account  of  the  circum- 
stances sufficiently  proves.  But  would  the  critics  of  Berlin 
endorse  the  verdict  pronounced  by  those  of  Stockholm  ? 
That  was  indeed  another  and  a  very  different  question. 
Stockholm  was  not,  and  never  had  been,  a  centr.e  of  artistic 


1844.]  AT  TEE   COURT  OF  BERLIN.  195 

progress,  even  of  the  second  order.  The  Eoyal  Theatre,  at 
its  best,  gave  but  a  dim  reflection  of  glories  which  in  the 
more  famous  European  Opera  Houses  were  of  too  common 
occurrence  to  excite  any  extraordinary  amount  of  astonish- 
ment. On  the  other  hand,  thougli  for  very  different  reasons, 
the  triumph  at  Stockliolm  could  not  be  dismissed  as  an 
altogether  unimportant  factor  in  the  coming  crisis.  And 
here  lay  the  gravest  difficulty  in  the  situation — an  almost 
unprecedented  paradox,  which  the  future  alone  could  solve. 
Though,  in  so  far  as  her  European  reputation  was  concerned, 
Mdlle.  Lind  was  really  preparing  to  make,  at  Berlin,  her 
true  debut  in  the  great  world  of  Art,  she  had  been  preceded 
by  rumours  which  rendered  it  imperative  that  she  should 
appear  there,  not  in  the  character  of  an  unknown  debutante, 
but  in  that  of  a  finished  and  recognised  artist  of  the  first 
order;  of  a  prima  donna,  to  be  judged,  not  by  the  measure  of 
her  own  merit,  but  by  the  achievements  of  the  greatest 
prime  donne  who  had  appeared  before  the  world  since  the 
beginning  of  the  century.  For  however  limited  might  have 
been  the  experiences  of  the  Stockholm  critics,  there  were 
critics  in  Berlin  who  were  familiar  with  the  performances 
of  Mesdames  Malibran  and  Pasta,  and  Mara  and  Sontag  and 
Schroeder  Devrient,  and  even  of  the  famous  Madame 
Catalani  herself,  to  say  nothing  of  Mesdames  Grisi  and 
Persiani  and  other  brilliant  stars  in  the  contemporaneous 
operatic  firmament ;  and  it  was  absolutely  certain  that 
with  the  performances  of  these  bright  luminaries  of  past  and 
present  years  would  the  performances  of  Mdlle.  Lind  be 
mercilessly  though,  it  was  to  be  hoped,  not  unjustly  com- 
pared. 

We  hear  people  wonder  sometimes  why  she  was 
so  modest,  so  diffident,  so  distrustful  of  her  own  powers. 
But  surely  she  had  reason  on  her  side  a  thousand  times. 
She  was  not   blind,    could   not  possibly  have  been   blind, 

0  2 


196  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  ii. 

to  the  perfection  of  her  own  ideal;  but  she  did  not  know, 
and  had  no  means  of  informing  herself,  how  far  the  great- 
ness of  that  ideal  was  likely  to  commend  itself  to  the 
severely  critical  audience  before  which  she  was  about  to 
appear.  She  had  never  heard  either  Catalan!  or  Pasta,  or 
Sontag  or  Malibran,  yet  circumstances  had  placed  her  in 
rivalry  with  them  all.  Was  her  ideal  really  greater  than 
theirs  ?  Was  it  even  as  great  ?  How  could  she  tell !  She 
must  have  seen  the  difficulties  of  the  situation ;  must  have 
felt  that  her  position  was,  in  many  respects,  an  altogether 
exceptional  one.  Yet,  for  all  that,  she  did  not  shrink  from 
the  ordeal,  and  when  the  time  of  trial  came  she  was  ready 
to  meet  it. 

After  her  last  performance  at  Stockholm,  on  the  9th  of 
October,  she  made  instant  preparation  for  her  journey,  and, 
accompanied  by  Mdlle.  Louise  Johansson,  arrived,  in  the 
third  week  of  October,  at  Berlin,  where  she  made  arrange- 
ments for  residing,  during  the  winter,  in  the  house  of 
]\Iadame  Eeyer,  No.  43,  in  the  Fianzosische  Strasse.* 

While  preparing  for  her  first  appearance  on  the  stage,  she 
passed  her  time  in  complete  retirement  from  public  life, 
but  her  reception  by  the  circle  of  private  friends  to  whom 
she  was  introduced  was  of  the  warmest  character.  Meyer- 
beer was,  of  course,  unremitting  in  his  attentions.  His 
position  towards  her  was,  indeed,  an  almost  painfully 
responsible  one.  He  alone  was  answerable  for  her  presence 
in  the  Prussian  capital,  and  her  success  or  failure  were 
matters  of  scarcely  less  importance  to  him  than  to  her.  His 
taste,  his  experience,  his  artistic  judgment  were  staked  upon 
her  fitness  to  sustain  the  position  to  which  he  had  introduced 
her.  Through  him  she  was  privately  presented  to  the 
Eoyal  Family,  the  members  of  which,  and  esj^ecially  Queen 

*  Madnme  Eeyer  (sister  to  the  Baroness  von  Eidderstolpe)  appears 
to  have  been  the  wife  of  a  schoolmaster  in  Berho. 


1844.]  AT  TEL'   COURT   OF  BERLIN.  I'Jl 

Elizabeth,  received  lier  with  a  grace  and  courtesy  which  did 

much  to  render  her  visit  more  than  ordinarily  agreeable.    On 

one    occasion — memorable  as  the  first    on  which    she  was 

called  upon  to  display  her  talent  in  the  presence  of  the  Court 

— she  was  invited  to  a  reception  given  by  the  Princess  of 

Prussia  *  one    evening  during  the  last  week  in  iSTovember. 

Concerning    this   she   thus   wi'ote   to   her   guardian,   Judge 

Munthe — 

"  Berlin,  Dec.  2,  1844. 

"  I  have  sung  at  Court,  and  been  so  very  fortunate  as  to 
please  greatly.  This  may  sound  somewhat  conceited,  but  I 
do  not  mean  it  so.  The  Countess  Eossi  (Sontag)  was 
present,  and  my  modesty  prevents  me  from  telling  you  what 
she  is  reported  to  have  said.  I  am  meeting  with  extra- 
ordinary success  everywhere.  I  go  out  much  into  fashion- 
able society,  because  this  gives  the  first  entrance  into  the 
world  of  Art ;  and — do  you  know  ? — I  am  already  known  by 
all  Berlin,  and  people  talk  of  me  with  an  interest  so  lively, 
and  so  flattering  to  me,  that  I  begin  to  think  I  must  be  in 
Stockholm ! 

"  Forgive  me !  dear  M.  IMunthe,  for  thus  openly  speaking 
of  things  as  they  occur.  I  promise  not  to  become  proud  or 
conceited ;  only  glad  and  happy  when  things  go  well." 

Among  the  guests  present  at  the  reception  thus  playfully 
described  were  the  late  Earl  and  Countess  of  Westmorland. 
Lord  Westmorland  ^^'as  at  that  time  the  English  Ambas- 
sador at  the  Court  of  Prussia ;  and,  through  the  kindness  of 
a  member  of  His  Excellency's  family,  we  are  able  to  present 
our  readers  with  a  vivid  picture  of  the  impression  made 
by  Mdlle.  Lind's  singing  upon  the  Countess  of  Westmor- 
land, who,  it  must  be  remembered,  was  no  unenlightened  or 
inexperienced  listener ;  for  Lord  Westmorland  was  himself 
an  ardent  student  of  music,  an  excellent  violinist,  the  com- 
poser of  no  less  than  one  English  and  six  Italian  Operas, 
and  the  founder  of  the  Eoyal  Academy  of  Music  in  London. 

*  Afterwards  the  Empress  Augusta. 


198  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  ii. 

When  released  from  his  political  duties  he  lived  in  an 
atmosphere  of  Art ;  and  Lady  "Westmorland's  testimony  is 
the  more  valuable  since  she  was  in  the  constant  habit  of 
hearing  at  home  the  best  music  of  the  time.  The  lady  to 
whose  kindness  we  are  indebted  for  our  information  writes 
thus : — 

"It  was,  I  think,  in  1844  that  Meyerbeer  brought  Jenny 
Lind  to  Berlin,  to  come  out  at  the  new  Opera  House  there  in 
the  part  he  had  written  for  her  in  his  Opera  of  Das  Felcllagcr 
in  Schlcsien. 

"He  had  told  all  his  friends  (amongst  whom  were  my 
parents  *)  about  this  wonderful  voice,  and  predicted  that  she 
would  be  the  greatest  singer-artist  the  century  had  produced. 
There  was  great  curiosity  about  her,  and  Meyerbeer  talked 
of  her  as  '  un  vrai  diamant  de  genie.' 

"  Before  she  appeared  on  the  stage  he  was  asked  to  bring 
her  to  sing  at  a  small  musical  party  at  the  Princess  of 
Prussia's  (the  late  Dowager  Empress  Augusta)  arranged 
for  the  purpose.  For  some  reasons,  my  father  was  prevented 
from  going;  my  mother  went  alone.  She  went  in,  full  of 
curiosity,  and  saw  sitting  by  the  piano  a  thin,  pale,  plain- 
featured  girl,  looking  awkward  and  nervous,  and  like  a  very 
shy  country  school-girl.  She  could  not  believe  her  eyes, 
and  said  that  she  and  her  neighbours — among  whom  was 
Countess  Piossi  (Henriette  Sontag),  whose  fame  as  a  singer 
and  a  beauty  was  then  still  recent — began  to  speculate 
whether  Meyerbeer  was  playing  a  practical  joke  on  them, 
and  wlien  he  came  up  to  speak  to  them  my  mother  asked 
him  if  he  was  really  serious  in  meaning  to  bring  that 
frightened  child  out  in  his  Opera.  His  only  answer  was 
'  Attcndcz,  Miladi: 

"  When  the  time  came  for  her  song — I  do  not  know  what 
it  was — my  mother  used  to  say  it  was  the  most  extraordinary 
experience  she  ever  remembered.  The  wonderful  notes  came 
ringing  out,  but  over  and  above  that  was  the  wonderful 
TRANSFIGUEATION— no  other  word  could  apply — which  came 
over  her  entire  face  and  figure,  lightening  them  up  with  the 
whole  fire  and  dignity  of  her  genius.  The  effect  on  the 
whole  audience  was  simply  marvellous,  and  to  the  last  day 

*  His  Excellency  and  Lady  Westmorland. 


1844.]  AT  TEE   COURT  OF  BERLIN.  199 

of  her  life  my  mother  used  to  recall  it  vividly  and  its  effect 

upon  her. 

"  When  she  reached  home,  my  father  asked  her — 

"  '  Well,  what  do  you  think  of  Meyerbeer's  wonder  ? ' 

"  She  answered — 

"  '  She  is  simply  an  angel.' 

"  '  Is  she  so  very  handsome  ? ' 

"'I  saw  a  plain  girl  when  I  went  in,  but  when  she 
began  to  sing  her  face  simply  and  literally  "  shone  like  that 
of  an  angel."  I  never  saiv  anything  or  heard  anything  the 
least  like  it.' " 

"  This  first  effect  did  not  wear  off  when  she  appeared  on 
the  stage.  My  mother  used  to  say  that  she  thought  her 
dramatic  power  was  quite  as  great  as  her  musical  genius, 
and  that  if  she  had  had  no  voice  she  might  still  have  been 
the  greatest  of  living  actresses.  And  there  was  this 
peculiarity  about  her  acting — that  it  was  entirely  part  of 
herself.  It  seemed  not  so  much  that  she  entered  into  the 
part  as  that  she  became,  for  the  moment,  that  which  she 
had  to  express.  For  this  reason  her  acting  was  unequal. 
She  coTild  not  render  anything  in  which  there  was  a  sugges- 
tion repugnant  to  her  own  higher  nature.  But  in  a  part 
that  suited  her — such  as  the  Sonnanibula — she  expressed 
every  varying  emotion  of  the  character  perfectly  because 
she  really  felt  it.  And,  for  the  same  reasons,  she  never 
acted  the  same  scene  twice  precisely  alike,  just  as  in  real 
life  no  one  does  the  same  thing  twice  precisely  in  the 
same  way.  In  her  gestures  and  tones  there  were  little 
unconscious  variations,  which  the  people  who  acted  with 
her  and  went  through  their  o^vn  parts  with  mechanical 
precision  often  found  disconcerting. 

"In  these  early  days  she  was  very  careless  of  outward 
appearances — her  Art  possessed  her  and  left  her  no  time  to 
think  of  herself.  She  disliked  the  artificial  adjuncts  of 
rouge,  &c.,  wliich  are  a  necessity  of  the  stage,  and  as  a 
natural  result  was  often  unbecomingly  dressed.  My  mother 
herself  and  her  friend  Madame  Wichmann  remonstrated 
with  her  about  this  and  made  her  attend  more  to  these 
details,  and  in  the  end  she  learned  to  dress  for  her  parts 
becomingly  and  gracefully,  though  never  conventionally. 

"  On  looking  back  I  cannot  help  being  struck  with  one 
thing.  My  parents  lived  a  great  deal  in  musical  and 
theatrical  society  of  all  kinds,  and  I  recollect,  from  my 
earliest  childhood,  hearing   musicians  and  actors  talked  of 


200  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  ii. 

and  often  praised.  But  even  quite  as  a  little  girl,  in  Berlin, 
long  before  I  was  old  enough  to  know  anything  about  it,  or 
even  to  be  taken  to  the  Opera,  I  can  distinctly  remember 
having  the  impression  that  Jenny  Lind  was  something  quite 
different  from  the  ordinary  people  I  heard  discussed.  And 
there  has  always  been  a  sort  of  reverence  in  the  way  they 
spoke  of  her — as  they  would  have  spoken  of  a  very  beautiful 
and  very  sacred  picture  or  poem.  I  suppose  it  was  the 
intense  purity  of  her  nature  that  made  her  very  acting 
religious.  I  cannot  exactly  express  it,  but  I  very  distinctly 
recollect,  as  a  child,  associating  her  name  with  a  sort  of 
mysterious  reverence.  And  even  now  the  same  childish 
feeling  seems  to  come  back  to  me  mixed  with  the  remem- 
brance of  my  mother's  enthusiastic  love  for  her." 


"  » 


These  interesting  recollections  prove  conclusively  that 
even  before  her  first  appearance  in  public  Mdlle.  Lind  had 
completely  won  the  hearts  of  a  brilliant  and  influential  circle 
of  private  friends,  many  of  whom  remained  in  affectionate 
intercourse  with  her  to  the  last  day  of  her  life.  Their  kind 
sympathy  must  have  encouraged  her  to  face  the  coming  trial 
with  the  resolution  and  fortitude  it  so  imperatively  demanded  ; 
for,  strong  as  was  her  determination  when  the  crisis  arrived, 
the  time  of  anticipation  was  always  one  of  terror  and 
depression. 

At  this  period  also  an  event  took  place  which  exercised  a 
marked  influence  on  the  artistic  phase  of  her  professional 
career,  though  less  perhaps  in  connection  with  the  Stage 
than  with  the  Concert-room. 

She  had  been  invited,  on  the  21st  of  October,  to  a  Soiree 
at  the  house  of  Professor  Wichmann  in  the  Hasenheger 
Strasse.  At  the  moment  of  starting  Meyerbeer  called  to 
pay  her  a  visit;  and  having,  no  doubt,  many  important 
matters  to  discuss  \vith  her,  stayed  so  long  that  she  arrived 
at    the   evening   party   under   the   escort   of  Madame  von 

*  From  a  private  memorandum  written  by  the  Lady  Rose  Weigal],  by 
wliose  kind  permission  it  is  inserted  here. 


1844.]  AT  THE   COUBT  OF  BERLIN.  201 

Eidderstolpe  some  hours  after  the  appointed  time.  How- 
ever, late  as  it  was,  she  did  arrive  there,  and  in  a  letter 
dated  October  the  22nd  she  thus  describes  the  great  event  of 
the  eveninsr : — 

"  Last  night  I  was  invited  to  a  very  pleasant  and  elegantly 
furnished  house,  where  I  saw  and  spoke  to  Mendelssohn 
Bartholdy,*  and  he  was  incredibly  friendly  and  polite,  and 
spoke  of  my  '  great  talent.'  I  was  a  little  surprised,  and 
asked  liim  on  what  ground  he  spoke  in  this  way.  '  Well ! ' 
he  said,  '  for  this  reason,  that  all  who  have  heard  you  are  of 
one  opinion  only,  and  that  is  so  rare  a  thing  that  it  is  quite 
sufficient  to  prove  to  me  what  you  are.'  " 

This  first  meeting  between  the  two  great  artists  was  a 
memorable  one  for  both,  and  formed  the  foundation  of  a 
friendship  which  terminated  only  with  the  death  of  the 
beloved  composer  in  1847. 

That  Mdlle.  Lind  stood  in  sorest  need  of  all  the  help  and 
consolation  that  friendship  could  afford  during  the  period  of 
suspense  that  preceded  her  introduction  to  the  general 
public  is  evident  from  private  letters,  in  which  she  ex- 
presses herself  in  terms  of  almost  hopeless  despondency 
with  regard  to  her  capacity  for  fulfilling  the  expectations 
that  had  been  formed  of  her.  Her  anxiety  had,  in  fact, 
become  almost  intolerable — so  deep  that  it  prompted  her  to 
write,  in  agonised  insistence,  to  her  friends  in  Sweden,  even 
before  she  had  any  decisive  intelligence  to  communicate  to 
them  either  of  good  or  evil. 

That  the  true  nature  of  the  intelligence  she  was  really 
justified  in  sending  has  long  since  been  anticipated  by  our 
readers  we  cannot  reasonably  doubt ;  but  though  the  coming 
triumph  seemed  assured,  we  shall  see  presently  that  the  path 
to  the  Stage  w^as  not  exactly  strewn  with  roses. 

*  Mendelssohn  was  at  that  time  residing  at  Frankfort,  but  he  fre- 
quently came  to  Berlin,  either  in  his  character  of  General  Musik  Director 
to  King  Friedrich  Wilhelm  IV.  or  for  the  purpose  of  visiting  his  family. 


(        202        )  [bK.  IV.  CH.  III. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   NEW   OPERA-HOUSE. 

Befoee  narrating  the  events  connected  with  Mademoiselle 
Lind's  first  appearance  at  the  Court  Theatre  at  Berlin  it  is 
desirable  that  we  should  say  a  few  words  in  explanation  of 
the  more  than  ordinary  interest  attached  to  the  reopening  of 
that  splendid  Opera-House,  so  famous  in  the  history  of  Art 
and  so  closely  interwoven  with  that  of  the  HohenzoUern 
dynasty. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  King  Frederick  the  Great,  after  his 
accession  to  the  throne  of  Prussia,*  on  the  30th  of  May, 
1740,  was  the  foundation  of  an  Opera-House,  designed  on  a 
scale  sufficiently  splendid  to  eclipse  the  glories  of  every  other 
theatre  in  Europe. 

The  scheme  was  worthy  of  its  author,  who  was  one  of  the 
most  enthusiastic  patrons  of  Art  then  living — a  "  Eoyal 
Musician  "  in  every  sense  of  the  word ;  and  the  promptitude 
with  which  it  was  carried  ou.t  gave  early  proof  of  the  decision 
which  formed  so  prominent  a  feature  in  his  character. 

The  preparation  of  the  design  was  nominally  committed  to 
the  Freiherr  von  Knobelsdorf,  the  Court  architect ;  but,  if 
tradition  may  be  trusted,  its  most  important  features  were 
suggested  by  the  King  himself. 

The  building  was  completed  in  the  winter  of  the  year  1742, 
and  on  the  7th  of  December  its  inauguration  was  celebrated 
with  extraordinary  pomp  by  a  magnificent  performance  of 

*  Under  the  title  of  Kins;  Friedrich  II. 


1844.]  THE  NEW  OPERA-HOUSE.  203 

Graun's  Ccsare  &  Cleopatra,  at  wliicli  the  King  and  all  the 
Court  were  present.  The  fitness  of  the  theatre  for  the  high 
purpose  for  which  it  was  designed  was  pronounced  by  those 
best  able  to  form  a  judgment  upon  the  subject  to  be  perfect ; 
and,  fortunately  for  the  history  of  Art,  an  eye-witness  of  no 
small  experience  who  visited  Berlin  in  1772 — ^just  thirty 
years  after  its  completion — and  was  present  at  a  performance 
at  which  the  King  himself  assisted,  has  left  us  the  following 
eloquent  description  of  its  then  appearance:  a  description 
which  we  quote  in  preference  to  a  more  modern  account, 
because  it  furnishes  an  exact  and  graphic  picture  of  the  theatre 
in  which  Mademoiselle  Lind  was  to  make  her  debut,  for 
after  the  calamitous  fire  of  1843  the  present  Opera-House  was 
reconstructed  so  exactly  upon  the  model  of  the  old  one  that 
one  and  the  same  description  will  serve  for  both. 

*'  The  theatre  is  insulated,"  says  Burney,  "  in  a  large  square, 
in  which  there  are  more  magnificent  buildings  tlian  I  ever 
saw,  at  one  glance,  in  any  city  of  Europe.  It  was  constructed 
by  His  present  Majesty  soon  after  his  coming  to  the  Crown. 
The  principal  front  has  two  entrances :  one  on  a  level  with 
the  ground,  and  the  other  by  a  grand  double  escalier.  This 
front  is  decorated  with  six  Corinthian  pillars,  with  their 
entablature  entire,  supporting  a  pediment  ornamented  with 
reliefs,  and  with  this  inscription  upon  it — 

"FKIDEKICUS   REX   APOLLIXI   ET   MUSIS. 

"  This  front  is  decorated  with  a  considerable  number  of  the 
statues  of  poets  and  dramatic  actors,  which  are  placed  in 
niches.  The  two  sides  are  constructed  in  the  same  manner, 
except  that  there  are  no  pillars. 

"  A  considerable  part  of  the  front  of  this  edifice  forms  a 
hall,  in  which  the  Court  has  a  repast  on  ridotta  days.  The 
rest  is  for  the  theatre,  which,  besides  a  vast  pit,  has  four  rows 
of  boxes,  thirteen  in  each,  and  these  severally  contain  thirty 
persons.  It  is  one  of  the  widest  theatres  I  ever  saw,  though 
it  seems  rather  short  in  proportion. 

"  The  performance  of  the  Operas  begins  at  six  o'clock  ;  the 
King,  with  the  Princes  and  his  attendants,  are  placed  in  the 


204  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  hi. 

pit,  close  to  the  orchestra ;  the  Queen,  the  Princesses,  and 
other  ladies  of  distinction  sit  in  the  front  boxes.  Her 
Majesty  is  saluted  at  lier  entrance  into  the  theatre  and  at  her 
departure  thence  by  two  bands  of  kettle-drums  placed,  one 
on  each  side  of  the  house,  in  the  upper  boxes. 

"  Tlie  King  always  stands  beside  the  Maestro  cli  Ga'p'pdla, 
in  sight  of  the  score,  which  he  frequently  looks  at,  and  indeed 
performs  the  part  of  Director-General  here  as  much  as  that 
of  Generalissimo  in  the  field."  * 

The  building  thus  described  by  Dr.  Burney  stood  almost 
intact,  with  but  slight  modifications  suggested  from  time  to 
time  to  suit  the  conveniences  of  the  aoe,  for  more  than  a 
hundred  years.  But  a  fate  hangs  over  theatres  which  it 
seems  impossible  to  evade.  On  the  night  between  the 
18th  and  19th  of  August,  1843,  it  was  burnt  to  the  ground, 
in  the  hundred  and  second  year  of  its  existence  ;  and,  following 
the  example  of  his  illustrious  ancestor.  King  Frederick 
William  IV.  commanded  its  immediate  reconstruction  almost 
exactly  upon  the  lines  of  the  original  design.  The  task  of 
rebuilding  the  edifice  was,  on  this  occasion,  entrusted  to 
Baurath  C.  Ferd.  Langhans,  jun.,  who  departed  from 
Knobelsdorfs  design  only  in  narrowing  the  elliptical  form 
of  the  interior,  the  irregularity  of  which  had  attracted  Dr. 
Burney's  notice  more  than  seventy  years  previously ;  in  re- 
arranging the  boxes  upon  a  more  convenient  plan ;  and  in 
making  some  indispensable  changes  in  the  disposition  of  the 
staircases.  The  modern  building,  therefore,  with  the  in- 
auguration of  which  we  are  now  concerned,  was  almost  an 
exact  reproduction  of  that  described  by  our  learned  and  genial 
musical  historian  in  1773. 

The  new  theatre  was  completed  towards  the  close  of  the 
year  1844,  and  opened  in  the  presence  of  the  Court  on  the 
evening  of  the  7th  of  December. 

*  'The  Present  State  of  Music  in  Germany,  the  Netherlands,  and 
United  Provinces';  by  Charles  Burney,  Mus.  Doc.  (London,  1773, 
v'ul.  ii.  i^p.  94,  et  seq.) 


1844.]  THE  NEW  OPERA-HOUSE.  205 

It  was  naturally  to  be  expected  that  on  an  occasion  so 
deeply  interesting  to  the  leading  members  of  the  House  of 
HohenzoUern  care  would  be  taken  to  present  a  piece  in 
harmony  with  the  spirit  of  the  festival.  To  this  end 
Meyerbeer  had  been  commanded,  as  we  have  already  seen,  to 
compose  the  music  for  an  Opera  the  libretto  of  which  was 
founded  upon  an  episode  in  the  history  of  King  Frederick 
the  Great,  and  had  arranged  the  meeting  with  Mdlle.  Lind, 
in  Dresden,  for  the  purpose  of  accommodating  the  principal 
part  to  the  style  of  her  performance.  The  piece  was  to  be 
called  Das  Feldlagcr  in  ScJilesien*  and  the  libretto,  carefully 
prepared  by  L.  Eellstab,  brought  into  prominence  an  in- 
cident in  the  history  of  that  famous  campaign  in  Silesia, 
through  which  the  world  first  learned  to  appreciate  at  its  just 
value  the  military  genius  of  the  redoubtable  "  Vater  Fritz." 
This  piece  was  a  good  one,  full  of  highly  dramatic  situations, 
though  entirely  free  from  violence  or  exaggeration.  Meyer- 
beer's music  was  of  his  best.  Fired  by  the  splendour  of  this 
opportunity,  he  had  thrown  his  whole  soul  into  the  work, 
and  it  was  in  response  to  his  desire  that  the  principal  role 
should  be  performed  by  the  most  finished  artist  who  could  be 
persuaded  to  undertake  it  that  Mademoiselle  Lind  had  been 
invited  to  Berlin. 

But  the  intrigues  of  the  stage  are  inscrutable,  and  cannot 
be  foreseen  even  by  the  most  experienced  directors.  Meyer- 
beer's cherished  project  was  opposed  by  a  local  interest. 

Fraulein  Tuczec,  Avho  had  for  years  sung  at  the  theatre 
as  prima  donna,  claimed  the  right  of  appearing  in  the 
principal  part,  on  the  reopening  of  the  house,  on  the  ground 

*  The  full  title  of  the  Opera  was,  '  Has  Feldlager  in  Schlesien.  Oper, 
in  drei  Aufziigen,  in  Lebensbildern  aus  der  Zeit  Friedrich  des  Grossen, 
von  L.  Eellstab.  Musik  von  Meyerbeer.  Tanze  von  Hoguet.'  '  TJte 
Camp  of  Silesia.  Opera,  in  three  acts,  in  Life-pictures  from  the  time  of 
Frederick  the  Great,'  by  L.  Eellstab.  Music  by  Meyerbeer.  Dances  by 
Hoguet.' 


206  JENNY  LINT).  [bk.  iv.  ch.  m. 

that  she,  being  a  permanent  member  of  the  company,  enjoyed 
privileges  of  which  it  would  be  nnjust  to  deprive  her  in 
favour  of  a  stranger  engaged  for  "  guest  performances  "  only  ;  * 
and  for  the  perhaps  still  stronger  reason  that,  when  it  had 
appeared  doubtful  whether  Mademoiselle  Lind,  after  having 
been  recalled  to  Stockholm  for  the  coronation  of  King  Oscar, 
would  arrive  in  Berlin  in  time  to  undertake  the  part,  she 
herself  had  been  requested  to  study  it. 

The  case  was  not  without  its  difficulties.  On  both  sides 
there  was  a  show  of  justice  with  respect  to  the  conflicting 
claims. 

Meyerbeer  was  perfectly  justified  in  urging  that  not  only 
had  he  written  the  part  expressly  for  Mademoiselle  Lind,  but 
that  she  had  been  invited  to  Berlin  for  the  express  purpose  of 
sinCTinff  it,t  while  on  the  other  hand  he  could  not  conceal 
from  himself  the  fact  tl\at,  since  the  part  had  been  given  to 
Fraulein  Tuczec  for  study,  when  doubt  arose  as  to  the  probable 
date  of  Mademoiselle  Lind's  arrival  in  Berlin,  her  chagrin 
wlien  she  found  that  it  had  been  withdrawn  from  her  was  far 
from  unnatural.  The  moral  strength  of  her  claim  was  patent 
to  every  one.  "Whether  or  not  she  had  talent  enough  to 
justify  her  in  forcing  that  claim  on  the  present  occasion  was 
another  question,  which  the  event  only  could  decide. 
Meyerbeer,  no  doubt,  foresaw  the  result  of  her  determination  ; 
but  with  that  result  Mademoiselle  Lind  was  in  no  wise  con- 
cerned. We  have  ^\Titten  to  little  purpose  if  our  readers 
have  not  already  obtained  sufficient  insight  into  her  character 
to  feel  convinced  that  she  woidd  be  the  last  person  in  the 
world  either  to  infringe  upon  a  lawful  privilege  or  to  take 
advantage  of  an  untoward  accident. 

*  Gastrollen.  In  the  German  theatres,  performers  not  belonging  to  the 
ret^ular  company,  and  employed  for  a  limited  number  of  performances 
only,  are  called  '  guests '  {Gdste),  and  engaged  on  special  terms,  without  a 
formal  contract  in  writing. 

t  See  page  188. 


1844.]  THE  NEW  OPERA-HOUSE.  207 

When  ]\Ieyerbeer  endeavoured  to  persuade  her  to  take  liis 
view  of  the  circumstances,  she  even  went  so  far  as  to  appeal 
to  the  authority  of  the  Haus  Minister,  Prince  Wittgenstein, 
in  support  of  what  she  considered  to  be  Fraulein  Tuczec's 
just  claim  ;  and  it  was  actually  through  the  Prince's  interven- 
tion, imported  into  the  case  at  her  earnest  request,  that 
Fraulein  Tuczec  was  able  to  fight  with  any  prospect  of 
success  against  the  enormous  weight  of  Meyerbeer's  influence 
at  Court. 

But  even  before  the  case  was  decided,  and  while  Fraulein 
Tuczec's  claim  was  still  in  abeyance,  a  false  account  of  the 
circumstances  had  already  found  its  way  into  the  newspapers  ; 
and  to  correct  this  Mademoiselle  Lind  %vrote  the  following 
letter  to  her  friend,  M.  Lars  Hierta,  at  Stockholm  : — 

"  Berlin,  Nov.  25,  1844. 
"  Herr  Konigl.  Secretar, 

"  Kindly  excuse  me  if,  for  a  few  moments,  I  beg  to 
encroach  upon  your  valuable  time. 

"  Having  seen,  in  an  article  in  the  '  Aftonblad,'  reproduced 
from  the  '  Frankfurter  Ober-Postamt-Zeitung,'  that  my  friends 
in  Stockholm  are  incorrectly  informed  about  my  position 
in  Berlin,  I  venture,  Herr  Koniglicher  Secretar,  to  call  your 
attention  to  the  following  lines. 

"  I  came  to  Berlin  under  the  impression  that  the  principal 
role  in  the  new  opera  *  had  been  assigned  to  no  other  than 
myself;  but  I  found  that  it  was  also  given  for  study  to 
Mademoiselle  Tuczec,  under  the  apprehension  that  my  deten- 
tion in  Sweden  might  otherwise  have  rendered  it  necessary 
to  delay  the  opening  of  the  new  Opera-House.  On  my  arrival 
in  Berlin,  however,  Meyerbeer  took  it  for  granted  that  I,  for 
whom  he  had  composed  the  part,  should  undertake  to  sing  it 
at  the  first  representation.  He  therefore  called  upon 
Mademoiselle  Tuczec,  and — perhaps  with  some  temper — 
informed  her  that  I  had  now  arrived,  that  the  part  was  mine, 
and  that  it  was  consequently  my  duty  to  sing  it  for  the  first 
time. 

"  Mademoiselle  Tuczec,  who  is  very  nervous,  was  altogether 

*  Bas  Feldlager  in  Schlesien. 


208  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  hi. 

beside  herself,  and  wrote  a  petition  to  the  King  begging 
His  Majesty  to  permit  her  to  appear  at  the  opening  of  the 
new  theatre. 

"When  this  came  to  my  knowledge  I  was  greatly  surprised, 
for  I  had  not  heard  a  single  M'ord  of  it,  and  did  not  even 
know  that  the  role  had  been  given  to  Mademoiselle  Tuczec. 
And  as  I  am  not  fond  of  strife  and  understand  nothing  what- 
ever  of  intrigue,  I  ceded  my  place  with  pleasure — the  more 
willingly  because  I  considered  that  Mademoiselle  Tuczec  w^as 
right,  since  she  had  had  the  part  for  some  time,  and  was, 
moreover,  a  great  favourite  with  the  public  here,  while  I  am 
quite  unknown  and  a  foreigner  also. 

"  In  addition  to  this  there  remains  the  question  of  the 
foreign  language.  It  surely  would  be  very  unfavourable  for 
me,  under  these  circumstances,  to  make  my  first  appearance 
in  connection  with  dialogue  and  melodi'ama ! 

"It  is  I,  then,  who  have  really  arranged  the  whole 
matter,  and  Mademoiselle  Tuczec  seems  quite  satisfied 
with  me. 

"I  hope,  Herr  Koniglicher  Secretar,  that  you  have  been 
able  to  understand  my  disjointed  phrases,  and  that  you  will 
be  good  enough  to  say  a  few  words  in  my  behalf  in  your 
paper  in  order  that  my  friends  in  Stockholm  may  be  aware 
of  the  true  state  of  the  matter — and  also  of  this,  that,  though 
I  am  a  poor  sensitive  lonely  girl,  in  a  foreign  land  and 
surrounded  by  cabals  and  intrigues,  I  am  none  the  less 
possessed  of  a  heart  that  beats  high  at  the  thought  of  Sweden, 
and  am  consequently  not  always  in  a  cheerful  mood ;  and  this 
I  know,  that  the  pleasure  I  have  been  happy  enough  to  give 
my  countrymen — at  times,  perhaps,  when  my  mind  was  most 
oppressed — would  be  forgotten,  beyond  all  doubt,  if  at  any 
moment  I  appeared  liere  without  success,  even  though  my 
talent  remained  undiminished.  But  rather  than  involve 
myself  in  law-suits  I  would  renounce  everything;  and  as 
long  as  I  have  my  two  hands  to  work  with  I  w^ould  rather 
earn  my  bread,  under  such  circumstances,  away  from  the 
stage. 

"  I  trubt,  Herr  Koniglicher  Secretar,  that  you  will  be  good 
enough  to  excuse  this  long  epistle,  which  now  draws  to  an 
end ;  and  should  you  find  anything  in  it  worth  writing  about, 
I  venture  to  rely  on  the  kindness  you  have  always  shown  me, 
and  hope  you  will  place  me  on  this  occasion  in  the  light  I 
really  deserve. 

"  Begging  you  to  convey  my  kind  regards  to  your  wife  and 


1844.]  THE  NEW   OPERA-HOUSE.  209 

the  other  members  of  your  family,  I   take  the   liberty  of 
signing  myself, 

"  Your  obedient  servant, 

"  Jenny  Lind."  * 

As  the  reader  will,  no  doubt,  have  already  foreseen, 
her  intervention  on  the  side  of  simple  justice  produced 
a  marked  reaction  in  Traulein  Tuczec's  favour ;  and, 
to  Meyerbeer's  intense  disappointment,  the  part  of 
"  Vielka,"  in  the  new  Opera,  was  officially  confided  to  the 
privileged  prima  donna. 

The  inauguration  of  the  new  Court  Theatre  was  celebrated 
with  the  utmost  possible  splendour  on  the  7th  of  December, 
in  presence  of  the  Eoyal  Family,  the  foreign  ambassadors, 
and  a  brilliant  gathering  of  all  the  rank  and  fashion  of  Berlin. 
The  general  success  of  the  festival  was,  of  course,  assured 
beforehand ;  but  though  Bas  Feldlagcr  in  Schlesicn  contained 
some  of  the  best  and  most  attractive  music  that  Meyerbeer 
had  as  yet  produced,  it  was  evident  that  it  failed  to  make  the 
desired  impression  upon  the  public — for  the  simple  reason 
that  the  principal  role  was  unsuited  to  the  style  of  the  per- 
former who  had  undertaken  to  interpret  it.  The  part  of 
"Vielka"  had  not  been  written  for  Fraulein  Tuczec.  It 
bristled  with  difficulties  with  which  but  very  few  of  the  best 
singers  of  the  day  would  have  been  able  to  contend ;  and  to 
add  to  the  embarrassment  of  the  situation,  the  music,  ex- 
pressly written  for  Mademoiselle  Lind,  had  been  so  exactly 
adapted  to  the  quality  of  her  voice  and  the  style  of  her 
execution  that,  deprived  of  the  individuality  wliich  she  was 
prepared  to  communicate  to  it,  it  would  necessarily  have  lost 
its  greatest  charm  if  it  had  been  entrusted  to'  any  other 
singer  than  herself,  however  highly  accomplished.  As  it  was, 
the  new  piece  could  scarcely  have  been  regarded  as  having 


* 


Letter  from  Mdlle.  Lind  to  Herr  Konigl.  Secretar,  Lars  Hjerta,  dated, 
Berlin,  Nov.  25,  1844 ;  and  inserted  by  permission  of  his  family. 
VOL.   I.  P 


210  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  hi. 

fallen  very  much  short  of  a  failure,  and  Meyerbeer's  chagrin 
at  the  cold  reception  of  his  long-cherished  work  was  very  bitter 
indeed.  It  is  true  that  Fraulein  Tuczec  appeared  in  it 
altogether  five  times,*  but  after  Mademoiselle  Lind's  dehut, 
on  the  15th  of  December,  the  two  last  performances  were 
treated  by  the  public  very  much  after  the  manner  of  "  off- 
nights."  It  was  an  unfortunate  mistake,  and  the  more  to  be 
regretted  because  it  placed  a  really  clever  singer  and  actress 
— which  Mademoiselle  Tuczec  undoubtedly  was— in  a  cruelly 
false  position. 

*  On  Dec.  7,  10,  13,  17,  and  22,  1844. 


(     211     ) 


CHAPTEE   IV. 

THE   DEBUT. 

Since  Mdlle.  Lind  had  been  prevented,  by  untoward  circum- 
stances, from  taking  an  active  part  in  the  festival  with 
wliich  the  new  Opera-House  was  inaugurated,  there  clearly 
remained  no  reason  why  she  should  not  make  her  first 
appearance  before  a  German  audience  in  one  of  her  own 
favourite  parts ;  and  she  herself  felt  it  to  be  eminently 
desirable  that  an  Italian  opera  should  be  selected  for  the 
occasion. 

Her  choice  fell  upon  Norma,  in  which  she  had  already 
achieved  immense  success,  notwithstanding  the  well-known 
fact — or  perhaps  by  reason  of  it — that  her  interpretation  of 
the  role  differed  in  every  one  of  its  most  strildng  charac- 
teristics from  that  adopted  by  every  prvna  donna  of  note 
who  had  undertaken  to  impersonate  the  unhappy  priestess 
from  whom  Bellini's  master-piece  takes  its  now  familiar 
name.  And  what  inima  donna  of  note  had  not  undertaken 
that  most  difficult  impersonation  ?  It  was  a  part  in  wliich 
all  the  greatest  soprano  singers  of  the  age  had  striven  to 
shine ;  and  though  Mdlle,  Lind  chose  it  for  her  debut 
simply  because  it  was  one  of  her  favourite  parts,  and  with- 
out a  thought  of  constructive  rivalry,  she  really,  by  that 
bold  and,  as  it  turned  out,  most  happy  choice,  unconsciously 
staked  her  reputation  against  that  of  every  ;prima  donna 
who  had  charmed  the  public,  from  Madame  Pasta,  for  whom 
the  part  was  written,  in  1832,  to  Madame  Grisi,  who  wa^; 

p  2 


212  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  iv. 

nightly  playing  it  in  London  and  in  Paris  in  the  self-same 
year  1844. 

The  debut  was  fixed  for  Sunday  the  15th  of  December, 
and  its  success  exceeded  the  warmest  expectations  of  all 
concerned.  The  public  was  in  raptures — the  critics  were 
disarmed.  The  heroines  of  the  past  and  present  were 
forgotten.  The  new  reading  of  the  part  commended  itself  to 
all.  Madame  Pasta  had  rendered  it  with  a  noble  energy, 
a  fiery  power,  worthy  of  high  admiration,  though,  it  must  be 
confessed,  more  remarkable  for  its  vigour  than  its  womanly 
tenderness.  Madame  Grisi,  inheriting  the  o^'ole  directly  from 
her  great  predecessor,  in  company  with  whom  she  had,  in 
the  original  cast,  played  the  secondary  part  of  Adalr/isa* 
— Madame  Grisi,  with  even  less  of  tenderness  and  more 
exaggerated  energy,  delineated  a  Pythoness — a  passionate 
savage,  with  whom  none  but  a  savage  could  have  fallen  in 
love.  But  PoUio  was  not  a  savage.  He  was  a  true  Eoman, 
voluptuous,  inconstant,  ready  to  sink  weakly  into  the  arms 
of  a  new  mistress  without  a  thought  of  remorse,  when  his 
passion  for  his  first  inamorata  began  to  cool,  but  incapable 
of  yielding  to  the  violence  of  a  Meenad.  He  might  reason- 
ably have  fallen  in  love  with  Madame  Pasta's  Norma,  but 
not  with  Madame  Grisi's. 

Upon  these  two  primary  interpretations  of  the  part  all 
later  ones  were  based,  until,  for  the  first  time  in  its  history, 
Mdlle.  Lind  presented  the  impassioned  Druidess  before  the 
world  in  the  character  of  a  true  woman.  The  critics  of 
Berlin,  familiar  with  every  tradition  of  the  Stage,  early 
or  recent,  yielded  at  once  to  the  logical  consistency  of  this 
beautiful  though  unfamiliar  conception,  and  accepted  the 
new  ideal  as  the  highest  impersonation  of  the  character  of 
Norma  that  had  as  yet  been  presented  to  the  public.     One 

*  At  the  Teatro  della  Scala  at  Milan,  during  the  carnival  of  1832. 


1844.]  THE  DEBUT.  213 

of  them,*  -writing  in  the  leading  journal  of  the  day,  gives  us 
the  following  account  of  the  impression  it  made  upon  him 
both  from  a  musical  and  a  dramatic  point  of  view,  After 
some  preliminary  remarks  of  no  general  interest,  he  begins  his 
critique  proper  with  a  description  of  the  artist  herself : — 

"Her  voice,"  he  says,  "not  without  fulness,  but  more 
pleasing  than  powerful,  moves  within  the  two  soprano 
octaves,  from  the  once  to  the  thrice-marked  C,t  with  charm- 
ing lightness  and  certainty  ;  though  the  middle  register  is 
sometimes  shaded  by  a  soft  veil  which  serves  to  bring  out 
the  upper  notes  in  clearest  and  most  silvery  contrast.  This 
beautiful  natural  gift  is  supplemented  by  a  groundwork  of 
most  diligent  study.  Her  pronunciation — though  the  German 
language  is  not  familiar  to  her — is  pleasing,  clear,  and 
distinct.  She  possesses  that  sustaining-power  of  tone  which 
in  the  best  Italian  school  lends  so  peculiarly  tender  a  colour 
to  Eecitative.  Her  melodies  she  accentuates  in  truest 
measure  throughout.  But  the  high  cultivation  of  her  style 
most  strikingly  manifests  itself  in  the  clearness  and  pearly 
evenness  of  her  passages.  We  have  heard  such  passages 
sung  with  greater  rapidity,  but  never  with  greater  perfection. 

"  So  much  for  the  Singer. 

"  And  the  Actress — especially  in  the  elasticity  of  her 
motions — is  of  fully  equal  excellence. 

"  All  her  movements  have  a  womanly  charm,  which  gives 
a  beautiful  expression  to  her  voice,  while,  at  the  same  time, 
it  shows  no  lack  of  character,  or  energy,  or  majesty. 

"  One  might  not  unnaturally  suppose,  from  these  general 
features  in  the  portrait  of  our  artist,  that  Norma,  at  least, 
ruled  by  demons  of  darkness,  would  give  her  some  trouble. 
But  it  is  exactly  here  that  her  conception  reconciles  us  with 
this  fearful  character.  She  bases  it  throughout  upon  the 
element  of  love,  that  one  day  changes  this  proud  priestess 
into  a  humble  slave ;  love,  that  thenceforth  vanquishes  the 
sombre  flames  of  rage  and  vengeance  with  its  soft  and  rosy 
rays.     Pasta  presents  a  "  Norma  "  Icfore  whom,  our  artist  a 

*  Herr  Ludwig  Kellstab,  critic  and  poet,  the  author  of  the  libretto  of 
Das  Feldlager  in  ScJiIesien. 

t  That  is  to  say,  from  the  notes  known  to  English  pianists  as  "  middle 
C,"  to  the  C  two  octaves  above  it.  But  Mdlle.  Lind's  voice  really  ex- 
tended far  beyond  this  in  the  upward  direction. 


214  JENNY  LIND.  [bk,  iv.  ch.  iv, 

"  Norma "  vnth  whom,  we  tremble.  The  art  of  the  one  is 
broader,  more  astonishing ;  that  of  the  other  more  sweet  and 
entlu-alling.  Upon  these  essential  peculiarities  the  i3art 
depends  for  its  culminating  j)oint  of  interest. 

"  Until  now  no  sinoer  has  ever  sun"  the  cavatina,  Kcusclie 
Gottm,*  as  w^e  think  it  ought  to  be  sumj.  Our  actress  is  the 
first  who  has  satisfactorily  performed  this  apparently  easy 
task.  She  clothes  the  melody  in  that  pale  romantic  moon- 
light under  the  influence  of  which  it  was  conceived,  and  she 
knows  so  well  how  to  sustain  this  colouring  throughout  the 
difficulties  of  the  mechanical  passages — in  themselves  less 
beautiful — that  the  highest  triumph  of  her  thrilling  de- 
livery is  achieved  in  the  clear  execution  of  the  chromatio 
runs.  The  singer  here  obtained  a  mark  of  recognition  which 
has  never  before  been  witnessed  within  the  experience  of 
any  of  us — the  air  was  encored,  and  the  artist  called  forward 
in  the  middle  of  the  act !  May  such  barbarous  applause, 
which  destroys  all  the  dramatic  propriety  of  the  work,  never 
become  naturalised  amono-  us !  The  singer  herself  seemed  to 
leel  it  m  its  true  light ;  for  her  demeanour  was  so  modest,  as 
the  affair  proceeded,  that  on  her  part,  at  least,  no  interruption 
was  noticeable.f 

"We  should  be  carried  much  too  far  were  we  to  dilate 
upon  every  beautiful  detail  of  the  performance.  The  singer 
was  charming  from  the  first  note  to  the  last,  and  proved 
thereby  that  which  we  have  so  often  vainly  striven  to  impress 
upon  many  other  performers,  that  the  true  beauty  of  Art,  as 
well  as  its  most  powerful  effect,  lies  in  the  skilful  economisa- 
tion  of  the  means  at  command.  There  was  nothing  of  that 
tormenting  inaiigcndo,  that  ceaseless  wailing,  that  destroys 
all  beauty  of  tone  ;  yet  everywhere  there  was  inmost  spiritual 
expression,  even  in  passages  which  are  treated  by  others  as- 

*  "  Casta  diva  "  in  the  original  Italian. 

t  It  is  not,  we  believe,  generally  known  that  the  opening  movement 
of  the  well-known  cavatina — Casta  diva — was  originally  written  for 
Madame  Pasta  in  the  key  of  G.  It  stood  thus  in  the  MS.  score  formerly 
used  at  Her  Majesty's  Theatre,  and  destroyed  in  the  conflagration  of 
December  6th,  1867,  but  the  only  printed  edition  with  which  we  are 
acquainted  in  which  it  appears  in  the  original  key  is  the  complete  one 
published  some  years  ago  by  Messrs.  Boosey  &  Co.  in  the  series 
entitled  'The  Standard  Lyrical  Drama.'  Mdlle.  Lind  sang  it  in  the 
softer  and  far  more  appropriate  and  congenial  key  of  F,  in  which  it  is 
now  almost  universally  performed  and  printed. 


1844.]  THE  DEBUl.  215 

accessories  introduced  merely  for  the  purpose  of  attesting  to 
the  brilhancy  of  a  finished  execution.  The  singer  firmly 
associates  each  passage  with  the  nature  of  the  situation,  and 
thus  employs,  as  a  necessary  living  feature  indispensable  to 
the  perfection  of  the  whole,  that  which  would  otherwise 
appear  as  a  dead  or  superfluous  ornament.  A  proportionate 
measurement  of  many  of  the  tempi,  of  which  expedient  Pasta 
also  availed  herseK — for  instance,  in  the  duet,  '  Eriipfcmge 
diesen  Schwcsterhuss '  * — served  materially  to  enhance  the 
beauty  of  the  changeful  expression,  whether  of  feeling  or 
passion. 

"When,  however,  we  say  that  the  artist  attains  in  the 
cavatina  the  purest  and  most  inspiring  effect  that  we  have 
ever  heard  produced  by  any  representative  of  the  part 
of  "  ISTorma,"  the  reader  would  grievously  misunderstand  us 
were  he  to  suppose  that  she  has  reached  the  summit  of  her 
ideal.  Oh,  no !  She  well  knows  how  to  rise  from  weak  and 
yielding  moments  to  passionate  ones,  and  increases  in  power 
from  scene  to  scene.  She  is  as  much  mother  as  lover ;  and 
especially  in  the  closing  scene,  when  she  remembers  her 
children  and  the  fate  that  awaits  them  after  the  sacrifice  of 
their  parents,  both  acts  and  sings  with  inimitable  beauty 
and  power  of  expression. 

"  The  summons  of  the  singer  before  the  curtain  after  the 
first  act  and  at  the  close  of  the  performance  is  a  theatrical 
accessory  which  speaks  for  itself.  Among  the  public  there 
was  not  one  single  dissentient  voice :  its  verdict  truly 
represented  the  expression  of  its  thanks  for  the  gift  re- 
ceived." t 

Warm  as  is  this  eulogium,  those  who  are  fortunate 
enough  to  remember  her  impersonation  of  the  part  of 
"  Norma  "  will  confess  that  it  is  in  no  degree  exaggerated. 
"  Norma "  was  certainly  one  of  her  most  perfect  creations, 
comparable  only  to  her  interpretation  of  the  roles  of  "  Alice  " 
in  Bohcrt  le  Dialle  and  "  Amina  "  in  La  Sonnambula.  Even 
in  the  master-pieces  of  Mozart,  her  vocal  powers  were  scarcely 

*  "  Ah  I  si  fa  core  e  ahhracciami  "  in  the  original  Italian. 

t  Konigliche  jprivilegirte  Berlinische  {Vossische)  Zeitung.  (Berlin, 
Dec.  15, 1845.)  Vide  also,  '  Gesammelte  Schri/ten  von  Ludwig  Kellstab.' 
(Leipzig,  1861,  vol  xx.  pp.  388-91.) 


216  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  iv. 

displayed  to  greater  advantage,  and  as  an  actress  she  could 
not  have  won  higher  and  purer  praise,  even  in  a  classical 
tragedy. 

From  the  moment  of  this  first  performance,  the  reputation 
she  had  already  attained,  in  Stockholm,  was  more  than 
confirmed,  and  her  position  in  Berlin  assured.  She  appeared 
in  Norma  for  the  second  time  with  equal  success  on  Friday, 
December  20th ;  and  again,  for  the  third  time,  on  Wednes- 
day the  25th.  Then  followed  a  few  days  of  retu^ement  from 
the  turmoil  of  actual  publicity,  concerning  the  employment 
of  which  we  are  furnished  with  an  interesting  account  from  a 
sympathetic  pen. 

On  the  23rd  of  December  her  young  friend,  Herr  Josephson, 
arrived  in  Berlin  on  an  invitation  to  spend  Christmas  with 
her.  After  calling  upon  her  at  Madame  Eeyer's  he  writes 
in  his  diary  : — 

"  I  have  seen  Jenny  again,  now  that  she  also  has  been 
abroad — and  winning  laurels.  When  we  parted,  four  months 
ago,  in  Leipzig,  we  little  thought  that  we  should  so  soon 
meet  again.  Fate,  however,  shapes  our  paths  in  a  way  we 
cannot  foresee;  and  here  we  were  pleasantly  associating 
again  as  in  Dresden  last  summer. 

"  Jenny  seemed  satisfied  with  her  reception  here — which, 
indeed,  is  as  splendid  as  it  can  possibly  be ;  and  I  found  her 
in  a  calm  and  fairly  cheerful  mood. 

"  On  the  following  morning  I  called  on  the  Swedish 
Minister,  and  again  heard  what  the  Baroness  Pddderstolpe — 
Madame  Eeyer's  sister — had  already  told  me  on  the  previous 
evening ;  viz ,  that  every  one  in  Berlin  has  been  in  raptures 
ever  since  Jenny's  appearance.* 

Josephson  spent  Christmas  Eve  with  her  at  Madame 
Pieyer's,  and  on  his  return  home  made  the  following  entry  : — 

"  I  have  spent  a  merry  Swedish  Christmas  Eve  with  Jenny 
and  the  Beyers.     The  Baroness  Eidderstolpe  was  there,  and 

*  N.  P.  Odman,  in  op.  cit,^  vol.  ii. 


1844.]  THE  DEBUT.  217 

some  Swedish  ladies  who  were  here  on  a  visit  had  been 
assisting  our  hostess  to  arrange  everything  in  true  Swedish 
fashion.  Amidst  joyful  friendly  faces,  cheering  and  beauti- 
ful gifts,  and  a  profusion  of  lights,  a  harmonious  tone 
pervaded  the  whole,  despite  a  few  passing  clouds  over  the 
sky  of  the  Swedes  when  thinking  of  the  dear  ones  left 
behind.  If  we  were  to  be  so  far  away  from  home  we  could 
not  wish  for  anything  better  or  happier  !  "  * 

The  homely  little  Swedish  festival  recalls  a  similar  one 
which  took  place  in  Paris  in  1841,  at  the  house  of  Mdlle.  du 
Puget.f 

But  how  different  the  circumstances.  Then  Mdlle.  Lind 
was  labouring  to  acquire  the  technical  knowledge  and  power 
of  execution,  with  which  she  hoped  one  day  to  accomplish 
something  worthy  of  the  high  mission  which  in  her  heart 
of  hearts  she  felt  certain  had  been  committed  to  her.  Now 
she  had  accomplished  it.  The  most  severely  critical  people 
in  the  world  in  matters  of  the  highest  Art,  admitted  that 
they  had  never  seen  her  like.  It  might  well  have  been  said, 
without  presumption,  that  her  reputation  was  already  made 
and  her  fortune  assured.  There  was  hard  work  before  her, 
it  is  true  ;  and  it  was  not  her  wont  to  neglect  anything  that 
she  believed  to  be  her  duty.  Still,  jit  was  familiar  work 
and  there  could  be  no  reasonable  doubt  as  to  its  results. 

*  Ibid. 

t  See  pages  122-123. 


(        218        )  [bK.  IV.  CH.  V. 


CHAPTER  V. 

DAS  FELDLAGEE  IN   SCHLESIEN. 

Mdlle.  Lind's  triumph  was  but  a  few  days  old  when  she 
began  to  devote  herself  to  the  exercise  of  that  boundless 
charity  in  which,  throughout  the  whole  of  her  life,  she  took 
infinitely  greater  interest  than  that  which  she  bestowed  upon 
her  own  advancement  in  the  world. 

On  Sunday,  the  29th  of  December,  Herr  Josephson — who 
had  been  reading  one  of  Pastor  Lindgren's  sermons  to  her 
early  in  the  morning  at  Madame  Pteyer's — accompanied  her, 
later  in  the  day,  to  the  house  of  Madame  Birch-Pfeiffer,  a  lady 
under  whose  superintendence  she  had  resumed  her  study  of 
the  German  language  so  inopportunely  interrupted  in  Dresden. 

"She  had  just  returned,"  says  Herr  Josephson  in  his 
Diary,  "  from  the  Intendant  of  the  Theatre,  Herr  von  Kiistner, 
who  had  offered  her  an  engagement  for  six  months,  with  an 
honorarium  of  six  thousand  thalers  and  a  benefit.*  She  had, 
of  course,  not  yet  given  her  answer  ;  but  she  felt  grateful  and 
happy  that  such  a  sum  should  have  been  offered  to  her 
without  any  suggestion  whatever  from  herself. 

" '  I  feel  bound,' "  she  said,  "  '  in  one  way  or  another,  to  prove 
in  a  practical  way  my  thankfulness  to  God,  who  has  given 
me  so  much  prosperity.  You  remember — do  you  not  ? — 
something  that  I  once  spoke  to  you  about  when  we  were  at 
Dresden  ?  I  myself  have  good  reason  to  remember  it,  for 
now  you  will  be  able  to  go  to  Italy  whenever  you  like.'f 

*  Six  thousand  thalers  equal  about  £900  in  English  money. 

t  A  sojourn  in  Italy,  for  purposes  of  study,  had  been  the  dream  of  Herr 
Josephson's  life ;  and  it  is  evident  that  he  must  have  spoken  to  her  about 
it  in  Dresden  during  the  previous  summer. 


1844-45.]  DAS  FELDLAGER   IN  SCELESIEI^.  219 

"We  had  only  a  sliort  distance  to  walk.  There  was  no 
time  for  long  explanation.  I  only  replied,  therefore,  that  I 
thonght  it  was  too  soon  to  think  of  this,  and  that,  moreover, 
in  accepting  her  proposal  I  should  always  consider  myself  her 
debtor,  as  even  I  might  hope  for  more  success  in  the  future. 

"  Every  day  reveals  to  me  some  new  trait  in  her  character ; 
and  I  know  not  which  is  greatest,  my  gratitude  to,  or  my 
admiration  for,  her.  I  stand  daily  on  a  more  and  more  inti- 
mate and  brotherly  footing  with  her,  and  am  therefore  able 
to  accept  gladly  and  thankfully  from  her  that  which  from 
many  others  1  could  not  take  without  a  certain  reservation 
of  feeling.  I  can  only  pray  that,  in  her  restless  life,  peace 
may  one  day  obtain  the  victory."  * 


Of  the  result  of  this  conversation  we  shall  have  to  speak 
more  fully  hereafter.  For  the  moment  we  must  follow 
MclUe.  Lind  in  the  fulfilment  of  her  own  career. 

No  record  of  the  contract  mentioned  by  Herr  Josephson 
has  been  found  among  the  archives  of  the  Berlin  Opera 
House,  and  that  for  the  very  good  and  sufficient  reason  that 
it  is  customary  for  the  royal  intendancies  to  issue  contracts 
in  writing  only  in  connection  with  engagements  offered  to 
members  of  the  permanent  staff,  and  not  to  draw  them  up  in 
favour  of  visitors  engaged  for  Gastrollen  only.f  It  is  there- 
fore impossible  now  to  ascertain  whether  the  arrangement 
was  actually  concluded  or  not ;  though,  as  the  duration  of 
MdUe.  Lind's  first  visit  to  Berlin  was  limited  to  four  months, 
during  which  period  she  sang  twenty  times  only  for  the 
directors — her  own  "  benefit "  taking  place,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  as  an  extra  night — it  is  evident  that,  if  six  continuous 
months  were  intended,  the  engagement  could  not  have  been 
completed. 

But  however  this  may  have  been,  the  strength  of  her 
position,  founded  singly  and  solely  upon  the  brilliancy  of  her 

*  N.  P.  Odman,  in  op.  cit. 
t   Vide  page  206. 


220  JJiJNNT  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  v. 

success,  was  incontestable ;  and  we  may  well  believe  that  she 
might  have  obtained  any  terms  she  herself  felt  justified  in 
demanding.  She  was  accepted  as  the  greatest  singer 
and  actress  then  living.  Meyerbeer  was  in  raptures  with 
her,  and  his  desire  that  the  principal  role  in  his  new 
Opera  should  be  assigned  to  her  grew  stronger  and  stronger 
every  day.  Though  he  had,  hongre,  mat  gre,  suffered  Fraulein 
Tuczec  to  appear  in  it  on  the  opening  night,  he  had  never 
relinquished  his  long-cherished  project.  He  had  written  the 
part  of  "  Vielka  "  expressly  for  Mdlle.  Lind,  and  was  quite 
determined  that  the  task  of  interpreting  it  in  accordance 
with  his  own  idea  should  be  confided  to  her.  It  was  due  to 
his  artistic  position  that  Fraulein  Tuczec  should  resign  into 
more  masterly  hands  the  duty  she  had  so  imprudently 
undertaken  to  fulfil,  and  fulfilled  so  imperfectly  that  the 
success  of  the  Opera  was  more  than  endangered  by  the  un- 
fitness of  the  role  for  her.  To  this  compromise  Mdlle.  Lind 
was  quite  willing  to  assent,  but  some  little  time  and  a  great 
deal  of  very  hard  study  were  needed  in  order  to  secure  a 
perfect  interpretation  of  the  role.  For,  after  the  manner  of 
the  time-honoured  German  ScJiauspiel,  the  new  Opera  con- 
tained, m  place  of  classical  recitative,  long  passages  of  spoken 
dialogue,  and  it  was  chiefly  for  the  sake  of  attaining  a  more 
perfect  accent  in  the  delivery  of  these  that  she  had  resumed 
her  studies  in  German  under  the  direction  of  Madame 
Birch-Pfeiffer. 

She  could  scarcely  have  made  a  better  or  a  more  fortunate 
choice,  for  the  lady — of  whom  we  shall  have  to  speak  again 
more  particularly  hereafter — had  herself  been  well  known 
as  a  clever  and  intelligent  actress,  and  under  her  maiden 
name — Charlotte  Pfeiffer — had  appeared  on  the  stage  with 
success  in  Munich,  Vienna,  Berlin,  and  many  other  import- 
ant German  capitals.  In  middle  life,  she  retired  from  the 
stage,    married    Dr.    Christian    Birch,    of  Copenhagen,   the 


1845.]  DAS  FELDLAQER  IN  SCELESIEK  221 

son  of  a  late  Danish  Minister  of  State,  and,  uniting  his 
name  to  her  own,  devoted  herself  thenceforward  to  dramatic 
authorship,  producing  at  different  times  nearly  seventy  plays, 
some  of  which — such  as  the  well-known  dramas  Die  Marquise 
von  Villette  and  Die  Frau  Professorin — have  kept  their  places 
on  the  German  stage  to  the  present  day.* 

Under  the  superintendence,  then,  of  Madame  Birch- 
Pfeiffer,  Mdlle.  Lind  made  such  rapid  progress  in  the  German 
language  that  within  less  than  a  fortnight  after  her  third 
performance  of  Norma  she  was  ready  to  appear  in  the  new 
part. 

The  gifted  composer  was  delighted  with  her  interpretation 
of  his  music,  which,  as  was  his  wont,  he  altered,  re-wrote, 
improved,  and  not  unfrequently  injured,  with  microscopic 
attention  to  every  minutest  detail  till  the  very  last  moment. 
Herr  Josephson  was  present  at  two  of  the  last  rehearsals,  on 
the  3rd  and  4th  of  January,  wliich  he  thus  describes  in  his 
Diary  : — 

"  January  3,  1845,  Meyerbeer  was  altogether  enchanted 
with  Jenny's  singing,  and  embraced  her  at  the  end  of  the 
rehearsal.  January  4th.  Kehearsed  again,  in  the  mornino-. 
I  drove  back  with  Meyerbeer  and  Jenny.  I  begged  the 
maestro  that  I,  too,  might  be  allowed  to  express  my  thanks- 
for  his  beautiful  Opera,  and  he  answered  me  in  a  very 
gracious  manner.  He  is  a  most  polite  man;  something  of 
the  courtier ;  something  of  the  man  of  genius  ;  something  of 
the  man  of  the  world ;  and  has,  in  addition,  something  iidgety 
about  his  whole  being.  Before  re-producing  the  Opera  with 
Jenny  Lind  he  called  upon  her,  to  the  best  of  my  belief,  at 
least  a  hundred  times,  to  consult  about  this,  that,  or  the 
other.  He  alters  incessantly,  curtails  here,  dovetails  there, 
and  thus,  by  his  eagerness  and  anxiety,  prevents  the  spon- 
taneous growth  of  the  work,  and  imparts  a  fragmentary 
character  to  its  beauty."  f 

*  Madame  Birch-Pfeiffer  died  on  the  25th  of  August,  18G8 ;  and  her 
husband,  Dr.  Birch,  four  days  later,  on  the  29th. 
t  Josephson,  op.  cit.,  vol.  ii. 


222  JENNY  LINT).  [bk.  iv.  ch.  v. 

In  tliis  fastidious  desire  to  secure  the  most  perfect  finish 
in  every  insignificant  detail  Meyerbeer  was  only  following 
out  his  own  invariable  custom — and,  after  all,  his  crowd  of 
after-thoughts  was  not  greater  than  that  which  haunted 
Beethoven  until  his  works  were  actually  in  print.  However, 
he  was  satisfied  at  last;  in  conformity  with  previous  an- 
nouncement, Das  Feldlager  in  Schlesien  was  duly  performed, 
with  Mdlle.  Lind  in  the  principal  part,  on  the  5  th  of  January, 
1845 ;  and  its  effect  upon  the  audience  was  even  more 
striking  than  that  produced  by  the  great  performance  of 
Norma  exactly  three  weeks  previously. 

The  constitutional  diffidence  of  her  character  tempted  her 
to  distrust  her  own  powers  up  to  the  very  moment  of 
performance.  Herr  Josephson,  who  saw  her  in  the  mornmg, 
evidently  thought  she  was  no  less  "  fidgety  "  than  Meyerbeer 
himself. 

"  Jenny  was  extremely  successful,"  he  says,  "  in  her  debut 
as  '  Vielka.'  Her  singing  was  beautiful,  her  acting  full  of 
genius,  life,  and  fire.  The  applause  was  spontaneous  and 
enthusiastic.  Her  nervousness,  which  had  kept  her  practising 
the  whole  afternoon  and  again  before  the  beginning  of  the 
Opera,  was  not  noticed  by  any  one  ;  neither  did  it  prevent  her 
either  from  singing  or  acting  her  very  best.  The  public  was 
enchanted,  and  Meyerbeer  happy.  On  comparing  it  with 
what  I  have  seen  and  heard  in  Germany,  I  am  amazed 
at  the  difference.  With  her  the  moving  principle  is  the 
nobility  of  art — with  others,  less  worthy  motives  are  always 
apparent.  The  public  sees  this,  and  is  astonished  and  fas- 
cinated.    How  she  will  be  missed  when  she  is  gone."  * 

The  verdict  of  the  critics,  far  warmer  than  this,  was  re- 
corded without  reserve.  The  most  influential  journal  of  the 
period  gave  an  account  of  the  performance  no  less  generously 
enthusiastic  than  that  which  had  appeared  after  the  first 
representation  of  Norma. 

*  Joseplison,  o^.  cit.,  vol.  ii. 


1845.]  DAS  FELDLAGER  IN  SCHLESIEN.  223 

"  Through  her  second  role — '  Vielka,'  in  the  Fcldlager — 
Mdlle,  Lind  has  proved,"  says  the  critic,*  "  that  her  talent 
fulfils  the  highest  conditions  not  only  in  one  direction,  but 
in  many. 

"  With  unerring  sensitiveness,  with  the  clearest  knowledge 
of  the  heart,  she  has  based  the  groundwork  of  the  character 
upon  a  conception  of  its  inner  life,  by  which  it  can,  through 
its  forebodings,  its  childlike  faith,  and  its  pure  intentions, 
soar  into  the  regions  of  marvel.  Vielka's  faith  gives  her 
the  power  to  interpret  character.  Such  insight  she  would  be 
logically  bound  to  possess ;  but  to  display  this  power  of 
hers,  as  our  artist  does,  in  a  living  picture  is  a  rare  and  a 
wonderful  gift. 

"  The  deep  earnestness  with  which  she  entered  upon  the 
first  part  of  her  task,  when  she  first  delivered  the  Roynanze  in 
musical  form  in  tones  full  of  ominous  foreboding,  might  well 
have  given  rise  to  the  presumption  that  she  would  bring 
the  light  and  more  pleasing  part  less  prominently  forward. 
But  she  justly  recognised  true  earnestness  and  true  cheer- 
fulness as  perfectly  compatible  emotions,  clothed  them  in 
the  natural  loveliness  and  grace  of  womanhood,  impersonated 
the  loving  maiden  no  less  truthfully  than  the  inspired  pro- 
phetess, and  thus  in  her  ideal  fulfilled  the  later  conditions 
as  perfectly  as  she  had  fulfilled  the  earlier  ones  in  those  more 
exalted  moments  in  which  she  was  brought  into  contact  with 
the  weightiest  concerns  of  inner  life  and  external  history. 

"  An  ever-living  commentary  on  her  inward  conception  is 
furnished  by  her  dramatic  and  imitative  expression,  both  of 
which  are  richly  employed  in  the  scene  in  which,  by  the 
exercise  of  her  magic  art,  she  terrifies,  tames,  charms,  cajoles 
the  wild  country-folk.  Nothing  can  equal  the  grace  with 
wliich,  in  most  modest,  most  gentle  gyrations,  she  shakes  the 
tambourine  in  her  dance,  and  puts  in  practice  all  the  magic 
of  her  loveliest  allurements.  The  action  was  irresistible; 
and  one  could  not  only  foresee  that  the  wild  warriors  would 
obediently  foUow  her,  but  could  feel  that  they  had  no  choice 
but  to  do  so. 

"  From  this  scene  forward  the  liveliest  and  most  enthu- 
siastic bursts  of  applause  were  accorded  to  her  untU  she  was 
called  before  the  curtain. 

"  Our  task  would  never  come  to  an  end  were  we  to  notice 
every   striking   detail,   every   truthful   charm,   with  which 

*  Herr  Eellstab. 


224  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  cii.  v. 

throughout  the  entire  role  she  illustrated  her  delineations. 
Her  outward  expression  rendered  every  inward  feeling  with 
the  veracity  of  a  mirrored  picture.  Fear,  love,  hope,  joy,  all 
imprinted  themselves  with  equal  ease  and  truthfulness  to 
nature  upon  every  gesture  and  every  significant  movement. 
She  set  before  us  earnest,  tragic,  joyful,  lively  surprises,  in 
endless  variety.  We  remember,  for  instance,  the  manner 
in  which  she  rendered  the  little  phrase, '  He  is  saved !  He  is 
hidden  ! '  in  the  finale  to  the  first  act ;  how,  in  the  third  act, 
she  dragged  Conrad  to  the  writing-table ;  and — more  beau- 
tiful than  all — how  she  sang  the  little  added  recitative  at 
the  close  as  she  retired  backwards  from  the  royal  cabinet. 

"  Some  passages  allotted  to  the  artist  in  the  dialogue  had 
been  changed  into  recitative,  and  many  others  excised  or 
assigned  to  other  performers,  as  she  was  too  diffident  to  make 
use  of  the  foreign  language  unaided  by  the  music.  We 
venture,  however,  to  give  her  the  positive  assurance  that  this 
precaution  was  unnecessary,  for  her  fulfilment  of  even  this 
part  of  her  task  was  more  than  pleasing.  Indeed,  the  soft 
foreign  accent  seems  rather  favourable  than  the  reverse,  and 
may  well  be  accepted  as  a  happy  characteristic  of  the  role, 
since  the  alien  '  Vielka  '  might  well  have  retained  some  trace 
of  her  nationality  in  her  speech. 

"  But  are  we  to  busy  ourselves,  then,  only  with  the 
acting  ?     Have  we  nothing  to  say  concerning  the  singer  ? 

"  Yes,  indeed !  to  repeat  everything  that  we  said  after  her 
first  appearance.  The  singer  is  here  exactly  what  she  was 
then.  The  mild  timbre  of  the  voice,  the  clearness  of  the 
finished  passages,  the  colouring  of  the  tones  through  their  ever- 
changing  expression,  are  here,  as  everywhere,  apparent.  In  a 
host  of  piquant  cadences  introduced  by  the  composer,  no  less 
than  in  the  duet  with  the  two  flutes  in  the  third  act,*  the 
art  of  the  singer  asserts  itself  in  its  most  powerful  form. 
And  thus  a  picture  is  presented  that,  through  the  romantic 
conception  of  the  whole  no  less  than  through  the  charm  of 
its  multifarious  details,  imprints  itself  indelibly  upon  the 
soul."t 

*  This  famous  piece,  in  whicli  the  voice  is  accompanied  by  two  flutes 
{obhligati)  was  afterwards  transferred,  by  Meyerbeer,  to  VEtoilc  du  Norcl. 

t  Konigliche  2^'rivilegirte  Berlinische  {Vossisclie)  Zeitung.  (Berlin, 
Jan.  7,  1845.)  A  second  and  equally  enthusiastic  critique  of  Das 
Feldlager  in  Schlesien  appeared  in  the  same  journal  on  January  13,  and 
a  second  critique  of  Norma  on  January  24. 


1845.]  DAS  FELDLAGER   IN  SCELESIEN.  225 

It  was  in  all  probability  this  highly  favourable  critique 
which  Mademoiselle  Lind  sent  to  her  friend,  Fru  Lindblad,  in  a 
letter  dated  January  8,  1845,  from  which  we  reproduce  the 
following  extract : — 

"  Everything  seems  to  go  well  in  hand.  It  would  be  im- 
possible to  imagine  a  greater  success  than  I  have  made  here 
in  Berlin.  Sontag  herself  had  not  so  brilliant  a  triumph. 
Last  Sunday,  the  5th,  I  appeared  in  Meyerbeer's  new  Opera,* 
and  I  herewith  enclose  a  critique. 

"  I  do  feel  so  happy  about  Meyerbeer's  exceeding  satis- 
faction. And  I  feel  easier  in  my  mind,  for  having  been  able 
to  put  his  Opera  into  better  relief;  for  through  Mdlle. 
Tuczec's  unequal  rendering  of  my  part  it  very  nearly  came 
to  grief.  I  almost  think  I  achieved  a  greater  triumph  than 
in  Norma. 

"Last  night  Josephson  and  I  were  at  Frau  Bettina 
Arnim's,  f  and  I  cannot  conceive  how  the  time  passed  so 
quickly.  We  did  not  return  till  after  twelve  !  The  old 
lady  is  divinely  child-like  sometimes.  When  she  is  in  her 
right  element,  and  creeps  up  in  her  chair,  with  all  those 
sweet  girls  dispersed  around  her  on  the  floor,  one  can  only 
envy  their  light-heartedness  and  independence  of  the  narrow 
judgment  of  the  world. 

"  Nowadays  the  world  is  influencing  me  very  considerably, 
and  just  now  I  cannot  say  that  creeping  is  my  principal 
pleasure.  It  looks,  however,  as  if  I  might  become  inde- 
pendent some  day  ;  for  I  am  now  invited  to  go  to  London, 
and  it  will  be  curious  to  see  where  all  this  will  land  me. 
This  evening  I  am  invited  to  Tieck's." 


o 


Continued  on  the  9th  of  January,  1845  : — 

"  Last  evening  was  one  rich  in  enjoyment.  The  talented 
old  man,  with  that  frail  body  of  his,  was  a  touching  sight.  I 
had  the  honour  of  taking  turns  with  him  ;  for,  when  he  had 
recited  a  poem,  I  had  to  sing  a  song.  And  in  this  way  the 
evening  flew  by  very  quickly  indeed."  X 

*  Das  Feldlager  in  Schlesien. 

t  Goethe's  '  Bettina.' 

X  From  the  Lindblad  letters. 

VOL.  I.  Q 


226  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  v. 

Though  she  speaks  thus  modestly  of  the  possibility  that 
she  may  some  day  "become  independent,"  it  was  evident 
that  her  future  was  now  assured.  The  demonstration 
that  accompanied  her  first  appearance  in  Das  Feldlager  in 
ScJilesien  proved  to  be  no  evanescent  burst  of  enthusiasm. 
The  Opera  was  repeated  on  the  10th,  14th,  and  19th  of 
January,  with  raised  prices  and  undiminished  success  ;  and 
succeeded  by  four  performances  of  Norma  on  the  21st,  23rd, 
28th,  and  31st  of  the  month,  after  which  Meyerbeer's  Opera 
was  resumed,  for  one  night  only,  to  be  succeeded  by  Weber's 
Euryanthe. 

Every  one  of  these  performances  was  a  veritable  triumph, 
and  so  strong  was  the  popular  feeling  that,  after  the  fourth 
performance  of  Das  Feldlager  in  ScJilesien  on  the  21st  of 
January,  she  was  publicly  greeted  with  a  serenade,  which  is 
thus  described  in  the  journal  from  which  we  have  already 
quoted : — 

"After  the   Opera,   in   which,    as    always,    Mdlle.   Lind 
had    achieved    the    most    brilliant    success,    a    number    of 
singers    and    young   musicians    greeted   the    artist    at    her 
residence  with  a  vocal  serenade.     Four  poems,  by  Messieurs 
Forster,  Kopisch,    Schnackenburg,  and   Eellstab,  had   been 
set  to  music  for  the  occasion  by  Messieurs  Rungenhagen, 
Commer,    Liihrs,     and    Wichmann.       The    artist    received 
this   expression    of    homage   to   her   talent  in   the   modest 
manner  which  so  greatly  enhances  the  value  of  her  artistic 
gifts,  and  seemed  deeply  moved  by  this  acknowledgment  of 
them.     The  poems  were  brought  to  her  printed  upon  a  white 
satin  fillet,  and  presented,  with  a  laurel  crown,  upon  a  satin 
cushion."  * 

The  white    satin  fillet  was  preserved  by  Madame  Gold- 
schmidt.     The  following  is  the  list  of  the  poems : — 

•  Kdnigliclie  privihgirte  BerliniscJie    (Vossische)    Zeitung.      (Berlin, 
Jan.  21,  1845.) 


1845.]  DAS  FELDLAGER   IN  SCHLESIEN.  227 

I.  ^  Das  Land  der  Tapfern  und,  der  Treuen^     (Words  by  Forster. 

Music  by  Eungenhagen.) 
11.  'Ach!  tvie  lieblich  ist  das  Leben^    (Words  by  Kopisch.     Music 
by  Commer.) 

III.  '  Woher  erschallen  Jene  Wundertone.'     (Words  by  Schnackenburg. 

Music  by  Liihrs.) 

IV.  'Die  diircli  Tone  uns   heyliickte.''      (Words  by  Rellstab.      Music 

by  Herrmann  Wichmann.) 


Q  2 


(         228         )  [bK.  IV.  CH.  VI. 


CHAPTEE  VI. 

THE   BUNN   CONTEACT. 

We  called  attention  in  our  opening  chapter  to  the  fact 
that,  notwithstanding  a  very  wide-spread  belief  to  that  effect, 
Mdlle.  Lind's  artistic  reputation  was  neither  confined  to  nor 
even  made  in  the  country  of  her  final  adoption — England. 

Nor  was  it  the  special  property  of  Germany — though,  for 
the  world  in  general,  it  certainly  originated  there. 

Before  she  had  appeared  five  times  on  the  stage  in  Berlin 
it  had  spread  so  far  that  an  attempt  was  made  to  induce  her 
to  visit  London. 

She  alludes  to  this,  as  we  have  seen,  in  her  letter  to  Fru 
Lindblad,  written  two  days  after  her  first  appearance  in  the 
part  of  "  Vielka." 

The  matter  was  brought  about  in  this  Avise. 
Mr.  Alfred  Bunn,  the  then  lessee  of  Drury  Lane  Theatre, 
went  to  Berlin  in  the  hope  of  securing  Mdlle.  Lind,  for  hi& 
approaching  season  of  English  Opera.  He  was  an  experienced 
manager,  well  acquainted  with  the  public  taste,  and  past- 
master  in  all  that  concerned  the  business  aspect  of  theatrical 
affairs.  No  one  knew  better  than  he  how  to  draw  up  an 
agreement,  to  tempt  an  aspiring  debutante,  or  to  turn  to 
good  account  the  talent  of  a  popular  favourite.  He  had  done 
something  for  Art,  but  not  for  Art  of  a  high  order.  He  had 
revived  Weber's  Olcron,  brought  out  a  number  of  popular 
Operas,  and  written  a  multitude  of  libretti,  original  and 
translated,  some  of  which   had   been   severely  satirised  by 


1845.]  .      TEE  BUNN  CONTRACT.  229 

unfeeling  critics.  Moreover — and  it  is  with  this  point  that 
we  are  now  chiefly  concerned — he  had  attained,  by  long 
experience,  the  power  of  predicting,  with  absolute  certainty, 
whether  or  not  an  artist  was  likely  to  find  lasting  favour 
with  the  public;  and  by  prudent  exercise  of  this  precious 
faculty  he  had  succeeded,  not  only  in  engaging  Madame 
Malibran,  but  also  in  bringing  into  notice  a  goodly  number 
of  fairly  capable  singers  of  the  second  order,  many  of  wdiom, 
having  done  well,  both  for  themselves  and  for  him,  under  his 
management,  remained  faithful  to  him  to  the  last. 

Mr.  Bunn's  visit  to  Berlin  took  place  at  a  period  ante- 
cedent to  that  at  which  the  diflficulty  of  obtaining  tickets  for 
the  Opera  became  almost  insuperable ;  he  was,  therefore, 
fortunate  enough  to  hear  Mdlle.  Lind,  and  to  be  thus  enabled 
to  judge  for  himself  how  far  the  rumours  he  had  heard  were 
well  founded.  To  a  man  of  his  long  experience  one  hearing 
was  more  than  enough  to  decide  the  question.  He  saw  at  a 
glance  that,  if  he  could  only  succeed  in  attaching  her  to  his 
company  at  Drury  Lane  Theatre,  his  fortune  would  be  made. 

He  was  a  man  of  prompt  action,  and  lost  no  time  in 
making  an  offer  which,  to  a  young  singer,  seemed  not 
illiberal.  But  how  could  she  form  a  fair  judgment  upon  it, 
she  who  was  utterly  ignorant  of  everything  connected  with  the 
stage  except  in  so  far  as  its  artistic  aspect  was  concerned  ? 
She  knew  that  it  was  to  be  the  stepping-stone  towards  the 
independence  she  had  mentioned  in  her  letter  to  Fru  Lind- 
blad,  but  in  what  way  she  knew  not.  She  stood  in  urgent 
need  of  an  experienced  and  impartial  adviser,  but  where  was 
she  to  look  for  one  ?  She  stood  alone.  A  mere  child,  whose 
interest  was  pitted  against  that  of  one  of  the  most  acute  and 
enterprising  speculators  in  the  then  theatrical  world.  What 
could  she  do  ?  How  was  it  possible  for  her  to  solve  the 
problem  ? 

Mr.  Bunn  pressed  for  an  immediate  answer.     Xaturally 


230  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  vi. 

enough,  she  hesitated.  He  was  urgent.  It  was  manifestly 
to  his  interest  to  allow  her  the  least  possible  time  for  reflec- 
tion, and  still  less  for  taking  advice  ;  for  the  intervention  of 
a  thoroughly  disinterested  and  business-like  friend  might  ruin 
everything — for  him.  Not  a  word  could  be  said  against  his 
position  from  a  business  point  of  view.  He  was  perfectly 
justified  in  endeavouring  to  secure  the  services  of  the  most 
splendid  dramatic  artist  he  had  ever  met  with  on  the  lowest 
possible  terms.  But  it  was  hard  upon  the  artist,  who  was 
probably  less  able  to  form  a  true  estimate  of  her  own  value 
in  the  theatrical  market  than  any  one  in  Berlin.  She  knew 
what  she  was  worth  to  Art ;  but  the  manager  alone  knew 
what  she  was  worth  to  him.  And,  as  a  man  of  business,  he 
was  certainly  not  bound  to  enlighten  her  on  a  subject  in 
which  her  interests  were  diametrically  opposed  to  his  own. 
The  danger  was  that  some  one  else  might  enlighten  her  at 
any  moment.  And  to  prevent  this  he  pressed  his  offer  upon 
her  with  the  utmost  possible  urgency.  It  would  be  unfair 
to  blame  him  for  it.  Any  other  manager  would  quite 
certainly  have  done  the  same.  Yet  our  readers  must  surely 
feel,  with  us,  that  it  was  very  hard  upon  her. 

On  the  10th  of  January  the  matter  came  to  a  crisis. 

On  that  evening — a  most  unlucky  Friday  in  so  far  as  Mr. 
Bunn's  proposal  was  concerned — Mdlle.  Lind  was  to  j)lay  the 
part  of  "  Vielka  "  for  the  second  time,  and  so  great  was  the 
excitement  with  which  the  announcement  of  the  coming  event 
was  received  that  Herr  von  Iviistner,  the  Intendant  of  the 
Opera  House,  finding  it  impossible  to  supply  the  demand  for 
places,  determined  to  raise  the  prices  of  admission.  At  any 
other  time  this  proceeding  would  have  given  rise  to  serious 
dissatisfaction,  but  on  this  occasion  the  public  was  prepared 
to  make  any  sacrifice  rather  than  miss  an  opportunity  of 
hearing  the  new  ijrima  donna.  And  the  excitement  was  nO' 
ephemeral  outburst  of  popular  feeling.     As  the  season  ad- 


1845.]  TEE  BUNN  CONTRACT.  231 

vancecl  the  demand  for  tickets  increased  to  such  an  "  extra- 
ordinary and  unaccustomed  extent,"  that  the  number  of 
applications  frequently  amounted  to  twice,  and  even  thrice, 
the  number  of  places  at  the  disposal  of  the  Eoyal  Intendantur, 
who  found  it  necessary  to  issue  elaborate  instructions  as 
to  the  form  in  which  preliminary  application  for  tickets 
was  to  be  made.  Even  with  these  safeguards  the  number 
of  final  disappointments,  when  the  season  came  to  a  close, 
was  enormous;  and  so  great  was  the  pressure  that  no 
less  than  four  clerks  were  kept  constantly  employed  in 
answering  the  letters  of  application  in  the  order  of  their 
arrival.* 

In  the  midst  of  this  excitement  Mr.  Bunn  was  fortunate 
enough  to  obtain  a  seat  in  the  box  of  the  British  Ambassador. 
We  have  already  had  occasion,  in  a  previous  chapter,  to 
speak  of  Lord  Westmorland's  deep  interest  in  everything 
connected  with  the  Art,  of  which,  during  the  whole  of  his 
long  and  useful  life,  he  was  so  generous  and  munificent  a 
patron.  He  was  no  less  enthusiastic  in  his  admiration  for 
Mdlle.  Lind's  talent  than  Lady  Westmorland,  whose  opinion 
on  the  subject  we  have  already  learned;  and  his  personal 
regard  for  her  was  sincere  and  lasting — so  lasting  that  he 
remained  her  friend  until  the  end  of  his  life.  He  had  been 
informed  that  an  engagement  for  London  had  been  proposed ; 
and,  for  the  credit  of  his  country's  taste,  he  was  anxious 
that  so  great  an  artist  should  be  heard  and  duly  apj)re- 
ciated  there.  It  is  more  than  probable  that  she  had, 
before  this,  asked  his  advice  upon  the  subject;  but  what 
could  he  say  ?  He  was  as  ignorant  of  managerial  business 
and  managerial  terms  as  she  was,  and  was  an  absolute 
stranger  to  the  manifold  intrigues  which  seem  to  be  insepar- 
able from  the  destiny  of  a  "  Child  of  the  Drama."     To  him 

*  See  the  notice  issued  by  the  General- Intendantur  der  Kgl.  Schau- 
spiele,  and  published  in  the  play-bills  of  the  day. 


232  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  vi. 

the  proposal  seemed  an  advantageous  one,  and  there  seems 
no  doubt  that  he  said  as  much  to  her. 

Our  information  concerning  the  events  of  this  memorable 
evening  is  very  far  from  complete.  In  after  life  Madame 
Goldschmidt  could  rarely  be  induced  to  speak  of  the 
occasion,  the  disastrous  results  of  which  she  could  never 
recall  without  pain.  We  have,  however,  been  favoured  with 
a  MS.  sketch  of  her  early  life,  written  in  1855-57  by  the  late 
Mrs.  George  Grote  {nee  Lewin),  the  sister  of  her  old  and 
valued  friend  (Madame  von  Koch,*  of  Stockholm),  from  wliich 
we  extract  an  interesting  passage  tending  to  throw  some 
welcome  light  upon  the  subject,  notwithstanding  the  in- 
accuracy of  its  dates  and  some  other  self-evident  slips  of 
memory.f 

"  It  was  during  her  engagement  in  Berlin  that  Mr.  Alfred 
Bunn,  the  manager  of  Drury  Lane  Theatre,  London,  con- 
ceived the  hope  of  alluring  Jenny  to  his  theatre,  for  the 
winter  season  of  1845-6. 

"  In  this  view  he  repaired  to  Berlin  in  the  month  (I  think) 
of  March,  1845  ;  and  laying  close  siege  to  the  fair  cantatrice, 
induced  her  to  contract  an  engagement  to  sing,  in  English, 
at  his  theatre  in  the  winter  of  1845-6. 

"  Jenny  (she  often  assured  me)  was  not  willing  to  form  the 
engagement,  and  hung  back  for  some  time ;  and  at  the  last 
moment  was,  as  it  were,  surprised  into  putting  her  signature 
to  the  bargain. 

"  The  occasion  on  which  she  was  persuaded  to  sign  was 
this — 

"Between  the  Acts  of  an  Opera  in  which  she  was  per- 
forming, the  Earl  of  Westmorland — the  British  Ambassador 
at  the  Court  of  Berlin — invited  her  to  his  loge  in  the  salle, 

*  See  page  105. 

t  The  late  Mrs.  Grote — widow  of  George  Grote,  the  historian  of  Greece 
• — left,  among  her  unpublished  MSS.,  an  incomplete  '  Memoir  of  the  Life 
of  Jenny  Lind,'  carried  down  to  the  year  1848,  and  filling  between  fifty 
and  sixty  closely  written  pages.  This  Memoir,  which  was  written  between 
the  years  1855  and  1857,  has  been  committed,  through  the  kindness  of 
Mrs.  Grote's  literary  executrix,  to  Mr.  Goldschmidt. 


1845.]  TEE  BUNN  CONTRACT.  233 

attached  to  which  was  a  small  private  salon.  Jenny  com- 
plied, all  '  stage-attired '  as  she  was,  and  on  entering  the 
loge  found  Mr.  Bunn  along  with  His  Excellency  awaiting  her. 
The  former  urgently  conjured  Jenny  to  complete  the  contract 
in  question,  pleading  that  pressing  business  compelled  him 
to  leave  within  a  few  hours  for  London.  He  of  course 
endeavoured  to  inspire  her  with  a  belief  that  her  appearance 
at  his  theatre  would  pave  the  way  to  permanent  advantages 
in  England,  and  it  is  but  fair  to  add  that  the  sum  which  he 
offered  her  for  her  services  w^as  both  liberal  and  unusual  in 
amount,  and  that,  considering  the  conditions  on  which  she 
was  then  acting  in  Berlin,  it  bore  the  appearance  of  a  hand- 
some and  advantageous  engagement. 

"  The  Ambassador  warmly  seconded  the  entreaties  of  the 
manager ;  and  thus  beset,  and  anxious  not  to  lose  what 
appeared  a  respectable  and  lucrative  offer — having  nobody  to 
consult  with,  and  wholly  ignorant  as  she  was  of  the  state 
of  theatrical  matters  in  England,  Jenny  allowed  herself  to 
be  persuaded,  chiefly  (she  afterwards  said)  confiding  in  the 
judgment  of  Lord  Westmorland — she  took  the  pen,  signed 
the  treaty,  and  returned  to  her  part,  not  however  without 
grave  misgivings  as  to  the  prudence  of  the  step  she  had 
taken.  Away  sped  Manager  Bunn,  contract  in  pocket ;  the 
said  '  contract '  being  destined  to  entail  a  concatenation  of 
difficulties,  embarrassments,  and  wearisome  contests  for  the 
three  years  following  upon  this  transaction."  * 

In  explanation  of  the  grave  anachronisms  involved  in  this 
account  it  would  be  unfair  to  the  writer  to  omit  her  own 
confession  that  "  her  memory  respecting  the  exact  dates  of 
their  occurrence  was  not  complete." 

And  it  must  also  be  remembered  that  Mrs.  Grote  did 
not  "write  at  Madame  Goldschmidt's  dictation,  but  simply 
introduced  into  her  narrative  the  record  of  events  wliich  to 
the  best  of  her  recollection  had  been  mentioned  by  her 
friend  in  the  course  of  casual  conversation.f  In  presence  of 
these  elements  of  doubt  it  seems  not  unnatural  to  believe 
that  His  Excellency  may  well  have  expressed  liis  opinion  on 

*  From  Mrs.  Grote's  MS.  '  Memoir.' 

t   Vide  supra,  '  she  often  assured  me  '  (]iage  232.) 


234  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  vi. 

the  matter  without  resorting  to  actual  persuasion  ;*  and  we 
now  know  with  absohite  certainty  that  he  was  at  first  inclined 
to  regard  the  proposal  in  a  favourable  light,  but  afterwards 
entirely  changed  his  mind,  and  rejoiced  greatly  that  it  was 
never  put  into  execution. 

Passino-  from  the  discussion  of  the  incidental  circuni- 
stances  here  related,  we  proceed  to  put  our  readers  in  pos- 
session of  a  literal  translation  of  the  now  famous  "  Bunn 
contract,"  the  text  of  which  was  originally  drawn  up  in 
French  to  the  following  purport : — 

"  Mr.  Bunn  f  director  of  Drury  Lane  Theatre  London 
makes  the  following  offers  to  Mdlle.  Jenny  Lind  and  engages 
to  execute  them  entirely  at  his  own  risks  and  perils  if  Mdlle. 
Lind  accepts  them : 

"  (1)  Mr.  Bunn  engages  Mdlle.  Lind  to  sing  twenty  times 
at  Drury  Lane  Theatre  either  from  15th  June  to  31st  July 
1845  or  from  30th  September  to  15th  November  1845.  It 
depends  upon  Mdlle.  Lind  to  decide  which  of  these  two 
different  epochs  is  most  convenient  to  her,  but  she  engages 
herself  to  make  known  her  choice  to  Mr.  Bunn  not  later 
than  the  end  of  the  month  of  March. 

"  (2)  Mr.  Bunn  engages  to  pay  to  Mdlle.  Lind  the  sum  of 
fifty  Zovis  cVor  X  for  each  of  these  twenty  representations  and 
allow  her  also  the  half  of  a  benefit  (gross  receipts). 

"  (3)  Mr.  Bunn  engages  to  pay  to  Mdlle.  Lind  the 
stipulated  price  of  fifty  Louis  always  twenty-four  hours  after 
each  represention. 

"  (4)  Mdlle.  Lind  will  sing  three  times  a  week  and  not 
oftener  except  during  the  last  week.  She  will  never  sing  on 
two  following  days  and  Mr.  Bunn  engages  to  leave  an 
interval  of  at  least  one  day  between  one  representation  and 
the  next. 

"  (5)  Mdlle.  Lind  will  make  her  debut  in  the  part  of 
"  Vielka  "  in  the  opera  Bin  Fcldlagcr  iii  Schlcskn  by  Meyer- 

*  A  letter,  written  some  montlis  later,  proves  that  whatever  amount 
of  'persuasion'  may  have  been  used,  it  came  from  a  very  different 
quarter.     The  moving  spirit  was  undoubtedly  Meyerbeer. 

t  Sic,  without  the  Christian  name  Alfred. 

J  Equal  to  about  £40  in  Englisli  money. 


1845.]  THE  BUNN  CONTBACI.  235 

beer  and  she  will  afterwards  slug  also  the  role  of  "  Amina  "  in 
La  Sonnamlula  by  Bellini  if  Mr.  Bunn  requires  it.  It  is 
understood*  that  Mdlle.  Lind  will  only  sing  in  two  roles 
during  the  whole  course  of  her  representations, 

"  (6)  Mr.  Bunn  will  find  at  his  cost  the  costumes  for  the 
two  roles  of  Mdlle.  Lind. 

"  (7)  Mdlle.  Lind  accepts  these  conditions  but  as  she  has 
not  time  to  consider  sufficiently  the  contract  which  Mr.  Bunn 
presents  to  her  to-day  and  as  Mr.  Bunn  must  depart 
to-morrow  she  reserves  the  right  of  introducing  additions  and 
changes  into  this  contract  if  that  appears  to  her  necessary 
Init  she  must  make  them  known  to  Mr.  Bunn  by  the 
1st  of  March  at  the  latest.  Meanwhile  it  is  well  understood 
that  such  additions  and  changes  as  Mdlle.  Lind  may  introduce 
must  never  apply  to  the  first  or  second  articles  which  must 
remain  fixed  as  they  are  now. 

"  It  is  agreed  equally  that  if  the  changes  and  additions  are 
not  agreeable  to  Mr.  Bunn  he  shall  have  the  right  to  reject 
them  but  if  this  be  done  the  treaty  shall  be  revoked  and 
regarded  as  null  and  of  no  effect. 

"Executed  in  duplicate  at  Berlin  the  10th  January 
1845."  t 

It  has  been  said  that  taking  into  consideration  the 
difference  between  the  terms  demanded  by  the  popular 
operatic  "  stars  "  of  the  present  day  and  those  received  by 
the  great  singers  of  forty  or  fifty  years  ago,  those  offered  to 
Mdlle.  Lind  were  both  liberal  and  unusual  in  amount,  and 
that  the  proposed  engagement  was  "a  handsome  and  an 
advantageous  one  " — but  it  was  nothing  of  the  kind. 

Some  fourteen  or  fifteen  years  previously  Mr.  Bunn 
himself  had  engaged  Madame  Malibran,  for  nineteen  nights, 
at  £125  a  night,  payable  in  advance ;  in  1833  she  had  sung 
forty  nights  at  Drury  Lane,  for  £3,200,  with  two  benefits, 
which  produced  an  additional  sum  of  £2,000 — thus  raising 
the  Jionorarmm  for  each  night  to  the  sum  of  £130 ;  and  in 

*  *  intendu '  {sic). 

t  Translated  from  the  somewhat  questionable  French  of  the  original 
document. 


236  JENNT  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  vi. 

1835  she  had  received,  at  Her  Majesty's  Theatre,  £2,775 
for  twenty-four  performances — that  is  to  say,  £115  12s.  Qd. 
a  night. 

Surely,  after  such  a  dehut  as  she  had  made  at  Berlin, 
Mdlle.  Lind's  services  were  worth  more  than  half  as  much  as 
those  of  Madame  Malibran. 

However,  be  this  as  it  may,  it  was  in  the  terms  above 
mentioned  that  the  contract  between  Mdlle.  Jenny  Lind 
and  Mr.  Alfred  Bunn  was  duly  signed  and  ratified,  in  the 
presence  of  the  British  Ambassador,  and  in  His  Excellency's 
box  at  the  Berlin  Opera-House — and  therefore,  in  the  political 
sense  of  the  term,  within  British  territory — on  the  10th  of 
January,  1845.  That  is  to  say,  '  duly  signed '  by  Mdlle. 
Lind ;  but,  as  we  shall  hereafter  be  able  to  show,  the 
*  duplicate  '  given  to  her  was  not  signed  by  Mr,  Bunn. 

As  we  shall  have  occasion  to  recur  to  the  history  of  this 
remarkable  document  more  than  once  during  the  course  of 
our  narrative,  the  reader  will  do  well  to  bear  in  mind,  not 
only  the  facts  we  have  recorded,  but  together  with  these 
the  doubts  we  have  expressed  and  the  suggestions  we  have 
ventured  to  place  before  him. 

The  subject  is  a  very  difficult  one,  and  for  the  present 
we  must  leave  it,  to  follow  the  course  of  our  history  in  other 
directions. 


(     237     ) 


CHAPTEE  VII. 

HOMAGE  TO  WEBER  {Euvyanthe). 

Aftek  performing  seven  times  in  Norma,  and  five  in  Da& 
Fcldlager  in  ScMcsicn,  Mdlle.  Lind  was  announced  to  appear,, 
on  Tuesday  the  7th  of  February,  in  Euryanthe. 

She  had  been  familiar  with  this  remarkable  Opera  in 
Stockholm,  where  she  had  appeared  in  it,  for  the  first  time,, 
on  the  1st  of  December,  1838.  But  she  had  not  revived 
the  part  since  her  return  from  Paris,  nor  had  she,  as  yet, 
attempted  it  in  German  ;  and  the  occasion  for  which  she  was 
now  preparing  to  do  so  was  a  more  than  ordinarily  interesting 
one. 

Carl  Maria  von  Weber  died,  in  London,  at  the  house  of  his 
friend.  Sir  George  Smart,  in  Great  Portland  Street,  on  the  night 
between  the  4th  and  5th  of  June,  1826.  He  had  been  laid 
to  rest,  on  the  21st,  far  away  from  home  and  friends,  in  a 
vault  beneath  the  floor  of  S.  Mary's  Chapel,  Moorfields.  But, 
in  the  autumn  of  1844,  the  surviving  members  of  his  family, 
aided  by  a  few  devoted  friends  and  admirers — foremost  among 
whom  were  his  pupil, Mr-  (afterwards  Sir  Julius)  Benedict,*  and 
the  then  almost  unknown  Pdchard  Wagner — made  a  vigorous 
effort  to  treat  his  memory  with  the  homage  wliich  had  been 
denied  to  him  by  his  ungrateful  fellow-citizens  during  his 
life-time,  and,  at  their  expense,  his  remains  were  exhumed, 
transported  to  Dresden,  and,  on  the  night  of  the  14th  of 
December,  deposited  in  a  vault  in  the  Cemetery  of  Friediich- 
*  See  his  "  Life  of  Weber,"  in  '  The  Great  Musicians.' 


238  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  vii. 

stadt  in  wliich  his  son  Alexander  had  been  buried  only  a 
fortnight  before.  His  widow  and  surviving  children,  sup- 
ported by  Madame  Schroeder-Devrient  and  a  crowd  of 
sympathising  fellow-artists,  covered  his  cofiin  with  laurels 
and  flowers,  and  it  was  proposed  to  erect  over  it  a  monument 
worthy  of  his  fame.  Great  efforts  were  made  to  collect 
sufficient  funds  for  the  execution  of  this  project,  and  a  grand 
performance  of  Euryanthe  had  been  promised  at  the  Berlin 
Opera  House  in  aid  of  the  pious  purpose. 

It  was  on  this  solemn  occasion  that  Mdlle.  Lind  sang  the 
■part  of  "  Euryanthe  "  for  the  first  time  in  the  language  in 
which  it  was  originally  produced. 

A  prologue,  written  for  the  occasion  by  Herr  Eellstab, 
was  spoken  by  Fraulein  Charlotte  von  Hagen,  and  no  pains 
were  spared  for  the  purpose  of  rendering  the  performance 
worthy  of  its  high  intent.  The  whole  musical  world  took  a 
vivid  interest  in  the  proceedings.  Dresden  had  nobly  ex- 
piated the  long  course  of  neglect  which  had  terminated  so 
sadly,  and  so  fatally,  eighteen  years  before.  And  now 
Berlin  had  taken  up  the  good  cause,  in  the  name  and  with 
the  full  consent  of  the  whole  Fatherland. 

The  task  assigned  to  her,  in  connection  with  this  solemn 
festival,  was,  beyond  all  doubt,  the  most  difficult  one  that 
had  ever  been,  or  was  ever  destined  to  be  entrusted  to  her, 
durins  the  whole  of  her  artistic  career.  And  she  inherited 
the  difficulty  from  Weber  himself 

From  first  to  last,  Euryanthe  had  never  been  understood, 
either  by  the  critics,  or  by  the  public.  The  scope  and 
purpose  of  its  design  had  escaped  them  all.  In  Der 
Freischiitz  Weber  had  spoken,  for  the  first  time,  heart  to 
heart  with  the  great  German  people  ;  and  they  had  understood 
him  as  he  had  understood  them,  on  the  evening  of  its  first 
performance,  without  one  instant  of  doubt  or  hesitation. 
With  Euryanthe  it  was  different.     As  a  direct  inspiration  of 


1845.]  HOMAGE   TO    WEBER   (EUBYANTEE).  239 

creative  genius — not  worked  out,  but  flashed  in  upon  the 
composer's  heart  and  brain — Der  Freischiitz  stands  alone  in 
the  history  of  the  Eomantic  Opera.  Euryanthe  is  no  less  clearly 
impressed  with  the  stamp  of  inspiration  than  Der  FreischiXtz : 
only,  in  this  case,  the  idea  is  carefully  and  elaborately  worked 
out  with  consummate  skill  and  truest  artistic  instinct ;  with 
richest  development  of  musical  form  and  exhaustive  employ- 
ment of  all  available  technical  resources  in  one  direction ; 
and  in  the  other — involving  the  aesthetic  aspect  of  the 
subject — with  intensest  sympathy,  with  virgin  purity,  with 
knightly  loyalty,  with  pomp  of  chivalr}^  and,  above  all,  with 
the  powerful  element  of  the  supernatural.  It  was  in  con- 
nection with  this  last-named  point  that  Weber  was  so  fatally 
misunderstood.  He  made  it  the  leading  characteristic  of  his 
conception,  both  in  his  treatment  of  the  music  and  in  the 
conduct  of  the  story,  which  was  worked  out  by  the  librettist 
entirely  under  his  direction ;  and  it  was  utterly  ruined  by 
the  critics,  who,  mistaking  Lysiart's  infamous  wager  for  the 
true  animus  of  the  plot,  abused  the  libretto  for  its  inanity 
while  overlooking  the  motive  upon  which  its  whole  romantic 
interest  depended. 

When  the  Opera  was  first  produced  at  Vienna,  in  1823,  it 
soared  so  high  above  the  heads  of  the  audience,  that  the 
brainless  wits  of  the  period  nicknamed  it  F Ennnyante,  and  the 
stupid  joke  was  accepted  as  a  miracle  of  esjirit.  When  Madame 
Schrceder-Devrient  afterwards  undertook  the  interpretation 
of  the  principal  role,  she  sang  the  music  superbly,  but  treated 
the  part  as  one  needing  the  expression  of  pure  passion  only 
— a  characteristic  in  which  not  one  of  her  German  con- 
temporaries could  approach  her — and  missed  the  super- 
natural element  entirely.  Mdlle.  Lind  seized  upon  it  as  the 
leading  motive  of  the  whole  impersonation.  She  penetrated 
Weber's  meaning,  though  the  critics  did  not.  They  could 
not  withstand  the  power  of  her  conception — it  would  have 


240  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  vii. 

been  impossible  to  have  done  so,  but  they  utterly  failed  to 
comprehend  its  moving  spirit. 

The  following  quotation  from  a  critique  which  appeared  in 
the  Berlinisclic  Zcitung  on  the  13th  of  February  will  explain 
this  clearly  enough  : — 

"  In  the  first  act,  the  singer  presents  before  us  all  that  she 
possesses  of  loveliness  and  grace.  The  duet  with  Eglantine* 
— Madame  Palm-Spatzer — and  the  finale  f  are  pearls  of 
finished  execution.  But  for  us,  the  greatest  achievement  in 
this  act  is  the  narrative  of  the  apparition  of  Emma, 
which,  in  dramatic  and  vocal  expression,  fulfils  the  highest 
demands  of  an  Art-ideal. 

"  In  the  second  act,  the  artist  impresses  us  with  the  most 
perfect  form  of  womanly  innocence  and  purity.  Her  task 
here  fulfils  itself  by  the  force  of  its  fidelity  to  nature.  Yet 
she  would,  perhaps,  have  succeeded  in  expressing  contrasts 
more  richly  varied  still  if  she  had  seen  some  of  her  great 
predecessors.  Eor  instance,  we  can  scarcely  doubt  that, 
if  she  had  been  acquainted  with  Wilhelmine  Schrceder- 
Devrient's  rendering  of  the  passage, '  Den  Blick  erhoht  Ilir  iiiclit 
zu  mir'X  she  would  joyfully  have  availed  herself  of  it  for 
use  in  her  own  representation  without  losing  anything  of  her 
individuality.  That  which  she  sets  before  us  is  beautiful, 
womanly,  but  not  creative — no  fitting  climax  to  the  long 
chain  of  beauties  in  her  performance. 

"  The  emotional  prol^lem,  as  propounded  in  the  third  act, 
is  solved  by  the  artist  from  the  depths  of  a  pure  soul.  But 
her  features  exhil)it  too  much  morbid  bodily  fatigue. 
Perhaps  an  atom  of  rouge  might  remove  this  slight  defect.§ 
The  dizzy,  almost  maddened,  rapture  of  the  Aria  in  C 
major  || — one  of  the  composer's  grandest  creations — forms  a 
crown  to  the  rich  treasures  of  the  performance. IT 

*  '  Uitter  ist  meia  Stern  gegangen.^ 

t  That  is,  the  quartet,  '  Frohliche  Kliinge,^  with  which  it  concludes. 
X  111  the  fiuale  to  the  second  act. 

§  We  have  ah'eady  liad  occasion  to  notice  Mdlle.  Lind's  dislike  to  such 
stage-accessories.     See  pa,2;e  199. 

II  'Zuihml  Z'uihriil'  An  air  filled  with  enormous  technical  difficulties. 
1  Kgl  priv.  Bed.  Zeitung.     (Feb.  13,  1845.) 


1845.]  HOMAGE   TO    WEBER   {EUEYANTEE).  241 

The  reader  cannot  fail  to  notice  that,  warm  as  it  is,  this 
critique  is  the  first  that  has  expressed  a  doubt  as  to  the 
truthfulness  of  Mdlle.  Lind's  conception  of  her  role.  The 
critic  had  formed  a  conception  of  his  own,  founded  on  that  of 
Madame  Schroeder-Devrient,  and  the  new  one  did  not  accord 
with  it.  But  unconsciously,  as  it  would  seem,  he  calls 
attention  to  a  point,  in  the  new  interpretation,  which  proves 
both  its  correctness  and  the  keen  intelligence  brought  to 
bear  upon  it  in  connection  with  the  composer's  own  intention. 

He  tells  us  that,  for  him,  "  the  greatest  achievement  in 
the  first  act  is  the  narrative  of  the  apparition  of  Emma  " — 
that  is  to  say,  the  precise  point  at  which  the  supernatural 
element,  to  which  he  makes  no  direct  allusion  whatever,  iS' 
first  introduced,  and  he  confesses  that  Mdlle.  Lind's  con- 
ception of  the  passage  "fulfils  the  highest  demands  of  an, 
Art-ideal."  * 

The  importance  attached  by  Weber  himself  to  this  passage,, 
and  to  all  else  that  concerns  the  episode  of  Udo  and 
Emma,  with  its  ghostly  sequel,  is — or  ought  to  be — made 
unmistakably  evident  before  the  curtain  rises  on  the  first 
act.  For,  though  the  design  is  very  rarely  carried  out  iu 
practice,  the  overture  was  intended  by  Weber  to  serve  the 
purpose  of  a  prologue  and  to  fix  the  attention  of  the  audience 
in  a  marked  manner  upon  the  narrative  so  highly  praised  by 
our  critic. 

At  the  hundred-and-twenty-ninth  bar  of  the  overture — 
where  Weber  introduces  the  wonderful  Larfjo,  with  it& 
weird  unearthly  harmonies,  its  long-drawn  wail,  sustained 
by  the  scarcely  audible  tones  of  the  four  violini  con 
sordini,  intensified,  now  and  again,  by  the  broken  tremolo 
of  the  violc  shudderino-  beneath  them  —  at  this  most 
striking  point  Weber  directed  that  the  curtain  should 
rise    upon   a    gloomy    tableau,    intended    to    prepare    the 

*  Sse  page  240. 

VOL.  I.  K 


242  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  vii. 

spectator  for  the  secret  which  forms  the  mainspring  of  the 
plot. 

The  stage  represents  a  sepulchral  vault,  in  the  centre  of 
which  lies  Emma's  coffin,  surmounted  by  a  medieval  herse. 
Upon  the  coffin  is  seen  the  ring  which  plays  so  fatal  a  part 
in  the  story,  behind  it  is  a  monumental  figure  in  the  style 
of  the  twelfth  century,  at  the  foot  of  the  sarcophagus  kneels 
Euryanthe  in  prayer,  the  traitress  Eglantine  crouches  in 
the  shadow  beyond,  and  in  the  vaulting  of  the  groined  roof 
hovers  Emma's  restless  spirit,  condemned  to  haunt  the  scene 
of  its  imexpiated  sin. 

This  highly  suggestive  tableau  having  been  exposed  to  view 
for  a  few  moments  only,  the  curtain  slowly  descends  again, 
and  the  overture  proceeds  with  the  contrapuntal  treatment  of 
the  bold  subject  which  follows. 

The  audience  is  now  fully  prepared  to  understand  the 
secret  of  Eglantine's  treachery ;  and  when,  in  the  first  act, 
Euryanthe  narrates  to  her  the  story  of  the  ghostly  appa- 
rition, the  connection  is  kept  up  by  the  recurrence,  in  the 
accompaniment  to  her  recitative,  of  the  weird  harmonies 
and  wailing  orchestration  already  heard  in  the  largo  of  the 
overture. 

Whether  this  tableau  was  exhibited  or  not  at  the  Berlin 
Opera-House  we  cannot  say;  but  however  that  may  have 
been,  it  is  certain  that  Mdlle.  Lind  penetrated  the  composer's 
idea,  seized  upon  this  salient  point  in  his  conception, 
and  brought  it  out  so  clearly  that  even  Herr  Eellstab, 
though  so  strongly  prepossessed  in  favour  of  another  reading  of 
the  part,  pointed  to  tliis  very  scene  as  "  fulfilling  the  highest 
demands  of  an  Art-ideal."  And  it  is  worthy  of  remark  that, 
original  as  her  conceptions  invariably  were,  pervaded  as  they 
were,  through  and  through,  by  the  marked  individuality  which 
enabled  her  to  make  each  part  her  own,  she  never  attained 
her  own  ends  at  the  sacrifice  of  the  composer's  meanings 


1845.]  HOMAGE   TO    WEBER   {EURYANTHE).  243 

Her  ideal,  however  new  it  might  seem  to  superficial  observers, 
rested  always  upon  an  esoteric  basis,  in  closest  connection 
with  and  logically  inseparable  from  the  very  heart  and  life 
of  the  dramatic  poem  she  was  illustrating.  It  is  precisely 
upon  this  same  basis  that  every  really  great  composer — and 
we  speak  of  no  others — builds  up  his  own  ideal ;  and  thus  it 
was  that,  by  following  the  same  path  as  the  composer, 
Mdlle.  Lind  always  succeeded  in  attaining  the  same  end  by 
the  same  means. 

Eurijanthe  w^as  announced  for  repetition  on  the  next 
Opera  night  (February  the  9th),  but  in  consequence  of  the 
illness  of  Madame  Palm-Spatzer,  Norma  was  substituted  for 
it ;  it  was  however  repeated,  with  the  same  cast,  on  the 
11th,  and  with  Mdlle.  Marx  in  the  part  of  "Eglantine," 
on  the  14th,  after  which  Mdlle.  Lind  was  announced  to 
appear,  on  Tuesday  the  18th,  in  La  Sonnamlula.  In  this 
ever- welcome  Opera  she  created  so  profound  a  sensation  that, 
when  a  repetition  of  the  performance  was  announced  for  the 
2nd  of  March,  the  price  of  the  boxes  rose  to  fifty,  and  even 
eighty  thalers,  and  no  places  could  be  obtained  for  less  than 
three  thalers,*  even  in  the  pit — a  price  which  was  said,  in 
in  the  German  theatrical  world,  to  be  absolutely  unpre- 
cedented. 

It  is — or,  at  least,  was  at  the  time  of  which  we  are  writing 
— the  fashion,  among  German  reviewers,  to  speak  very  con- 
temptuously indeed  of  the  music  of  La  Sonnamhula ;  but 
Mdlle.  Lind,  by  her  delightful  interpretation  of  the  role  of 
"  Amina  " — which  was  always  a  special  favourite  with  her, 
— seems  to  have  disarmed  the  critics  and  obtained  a  free 
pardon  for  the  sins  of  poor  unfortunate  Bellini.  The  leading 
journal  thus  speaks  of  one  of  her  later  appearances  in  the 
part : — 

*  That  is  to  say  £7  10s.,  £12,  and  9s.  in  English,  money. 

E  2 


244  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  vii. 

*'  She  raises  the  art  of  sincfino-  to  a  glorious  level.     Everv- 
thing  that  the  most  cultivated  instrumentalist  can  accomplish 
the  scatters  amongst  us,  in  richest  profusion,  in  lavish  pro- 
digality.    The  singer's  arpeggios  move  through  closely  com- 
bined chords  which  even  the  player  would  find  it  needful  to 
treat  with  the  greatest  possible  care,  and  which,  in  addition 
to  this,  create  for  the  voice  difficulties  which  only  become 
graceful   and  beautiful   by  the    ease   with  which  they  are 
overcome.     The  first  act  is  the  field  in  which  these  blossoms 
more  especially   flourish.      For  the  actress   it   furnishes  an 
opportimity  for  displaying   the   most   maidenly   gentleness, 
the   most   charming   naivete,  and  the   merriest  laughter  of 
love.     Earnestness  is  reserved  for  the  second  act,  in  which 
dramatic  and  vocal  expression  melt  inseparably  into  each 
other.     In  the  first  half,  until  she  falls  asleep,  the  singer 
avails    herself    only   of    the    indescribable    beauty    of    the 
softer  tones  she  has  so  easily  at  command  :  all  is  sweetness 
and  stillest  enchantment.      In  the   latter   half,  when   the 
weight  of  undeserved  sorrow  falls  upon  her,  she  adds  the 
strongest  colouring  of  dramatic  and  changeful  expression  to  the 
wailing  tones  that,  in  her  song,  sink  so  deeply  into  the  soul. 
Here   she   comes  out  more  strongly  than   before;    yet   we 
almost  venture  to  think  that  the  bonds  within  which  she  had 
previously  confined  her  expression  led  her  into  the  realms  of 
a  purer  beauty.      But  in  the  efiect  she  produced  upon  the 
public    she   evidently    won    a   more    brilliant    victory,    for 
the  storm  of  applause  burst  out  in  a  veritable  explosion. 
In  the  third  act,  in  which  the  sun  of  blessed  joy  alternates 
with  the  darkest  clouds  of  grief,  tragic  elevation  with  elegiac 
abandon  and  rapturous  joy,  the  effect  rises  to  its  culminating 
point.     Here  we  see  the  artist  in  full  command  of  the  whole 
range  of  many-sided  feeling,  and  the  rich  picture,  which  is 
thus  illuminated  by  the  dramatic  completion  given  to  the 
poem,  leaves  nothing  more  to  be  unfolded."  * 

We  have  thought  it  desirable  to  insert  these  long  quota- 
tions from  Herr  Eellstab's  transcendental  critiques,  since  they 
exactly  represent  the  feeling  produced  by  Mdlle.  Lind's  per- 

*  Kgl.  priv.  Berlinische  Zeitung.  (October  19,  1847.)  See  also 
'  Gesammelte  Schri/ten  von  Ludivig  BeUstah.'  (Leipzig,  1861,  vol.  xx. 
pp.  408,  et  seq.) 


1845.]  HOMAGE   TO    WEBER   {EURYANTHE).  245 


formances  at  the  time  they  were  written.  In  reading  them 
we  must  remember  that,  however  extravagant  or  "high- 
flown "  their  language  might  appear  in  an  English  critique 
at  the  present  day,  it  was  not  thought  "  high-flown "  in 
German  critiques  in  1844.  Moreover,  Herr  Eellstab  was  a 
poet  as  well  as  a  critic,  and  wrote  his  reviews  from  a 
modern  German  poet's  point  of  view.  It  was  only  natural 
that  he  should  adopt  a  glowing — nay,  even  an  ecstatic  tone. 
And  yet,  however  glowing  his  phrases,  they  were  but  the 
echo  of  those  that  passed  from  mouth  to  mouth,  in  the  theatre, 
in  the  salon,  in  the  street,  in  every  corner  of  Berlin  in  which 
the  discussion  of  artistic  topics  was  possible.  He  only  gave 
utterance  to  the  opinions  that  were  openly  expressed,  on 
every  side,  by  every  one  capable  of  forming  an  opinion  upoi  i 
the  subject. 

But  the  long  chain  of  successes  suffered  a  temporary 
interruption. 

After  appearing  twice,  in  the  part  of  "  Amina,"  on  the 
days  already  mentioned,  Mdlle.  Lind  was  announced,  on  the 
23rd  February,  to  sing  for  the  fourth  time  in  that  of  "  Eury- 
an  the,"  but  was  seized  with  sudden  indisposition  at  the  close 
of  the  first  act,  and  compelled  to  omit  a  considerable  portion 
of  her  role  as  the  Opera  proceeded.  The  audience,  however, 
showed  the  greatest  sympathy  throughout  the  evening  with 
the  beloved  artist."  * 

The  indisposition  continued  for  more  than  a  week,  to  the 
unspeakable  disappointment  of  the  public.  During  this 
trying  time  the  patient  was  overwhelmed  with  visits  of  con- 
dolence, but  prudence  forbade  the  admission  of  more  than  a 
few  intimate  friends,  and  these  only  at  favourable  moments. 
Meyerbeer  seems  to  have  been  unfortunate  in  his  choice  of 
days  or  hours,  and  expressed  his  disappointment,  on  the 
28th  of  February,  in  the  following  letter  : — ■ 

*  Kyi.  priv.  Berlinische  Zeitung.     (Feb.  25,  1845.) 


24.6  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  vii. 

"  Berlin,  Feb.  28,  1845. 

'  My  deae  Mademoiselle, 

"  Though  I  have  called  on  you  several  times  since 
,  your  indisposition,  I  have  not  been  so  fortunate  as  some  of 
your  other  friends  in  seeing  you. 

"  It  only  remains,  therefore,  for  me  to  express  in  writing 
my  congratulations  and  good  wishes  on  the  anniversary  of 
y  own  fete,  which  Madame  Keyer  tells  me  occurs  to-day,  and 
to  beg  you  at  the  same  time  kindly  to  accept  these  few 
flowers,  modest  and  pure  as  yourself 

"  But  what  remains  for  your  friends  to  wish,  to-day,  for 
you  whom  Heaven  has  so  richly  endowed  !  It  has  given  you 
that  great  and  sympathetic  voice  which  charms  and  moves 
all  hearts ;  the  fire  of  genius,  Mdiich  pervades  your  singing, 
and  your  acting ;  and,  in  fine,  those  indelible  graces  which 
modesty  and  candour  and  innocence  give  only  to  their 
favoured  ones,  and  which  bring  every  enemy  into  sub- 
jection. 

"  One  can,  therefore,  ask  nothing  more  for  you  from 
Heaven,  than  relief  from  those  doubts  in  the  power  of  your 
talent  which  turn  even  your  days  of  triumph  into  days  of 
anxiety;  the  removal  of  that  indecision  and  irresolution 
which  throw  you  into  such  continual  agitation ;  and,  finally, 
the  disappearance  of  that  diffident  temperament,  which,  ren- 
dering you  distrustful  of  the  source  of  the  sympathies  you 
inspire,  may  perhaps,  in  the  end,  deprive  you  of  that  most 
beautiful  consolation  of  human  life,  friendship. 

"  But  whether  Heaven  grants  you  or  not  this  little  supple- 
ment to  your  other  precious  qualities,  you  will  always  be,  for 
me,  my  dear  Mademoiselle,  one  of  the  most  touching  and 
noble  characters  that  I  have  ever  met  with  during  my  long 
artistic  wanderings,  and  one  to  whom  I  have  vowed  for  my 
whole  life  the  most  profound  and  sincere  admiration  and 
esteem. 

"  Your 

"  Ever  devoted, 

"  Meyerbeer,"  * 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  closing  paragraphs  of  this  most 
kind  and  sympathetic  letter  that  Meyerbeer,  like  so  many 

*  Translated  from  the  original  autograph,  which  is  written  in  French. 


1845.]  HOMAGE   TO    WEBER   {EURYANTHE).  247 

others  at  this  period,  was  sincerely  grieved,  and  even 
pained,  by  the  diffidence  for  which  Mdlle.  Lind's  character 
was  so  remarkable.  We  shall  have  more  to  say  on  this 
subject  hereafter,  but  at  the  moment  at  which  the  above 
letter  was  written  more  than  one  cause  of  uneasiness  was 
at  work  of  which  neither  Meyerbeer  nor  any  one  else  in 
Berlin  entertained  the  slightest  suspicion — more  than  one 
element  of  anxiety  quite  serious  enough  to  have  originated 
the  illness  which  the  world,  and  probably  the  doctors  them- 
selves, mistook  for  the  natural  result  of  over-study  and  fatigue. 

For  instance,  the  reader  will  readily  understand  that,  since 
the  unhappy  moment  in  which  the  "  Bunn  contract "  was 
signed  in  the  box  of  the  British  Ambassador,  Mdlle.  Lind  had 
never  failed  to  reflect  upon  it,  in  secret,  even  at  a  time  when 
her  mind  was  so  fully  occupied  with  her  work  upon  the  stage. 

She  had,  in  fact,  written  to  Mr.  Bunn,  informing  him  that,. 
for  reasons  which  to  her  appeared  quite  unanswerable,  she 
found  it  impossible  to  fulfil  the  terms  of  her  engagement 
with  him ;  and  by  a  coincidence  which  it  is  difficult  to 
believe  accidental  her  letter  is  dated  on  the  22nd  of  February — 
the  day  previous  to  that  on  which  she  was  so  suddenly  taken 
ill  in  the  middle  of  the  fourth  performance  of  Euryantlie. 

The  letter,  originally  written  by  Mdlle.  Lind  in  French,* 
ran  thus : — 

,,  ,^  "  Berlin,  Feb.  22,  1845. 

"  MOXSIEUE, 

"  I  have  delayed  until  to-d*ay  to  give  you  the  re- 
quired information  concerning  the  time  of  my  visit  to 
London  (the  decision  of  which  was  left  to  me  until  the  1st  of 
March),  because  I  wished  very  much  to  fulfil  my  promised 
contract. 

*  The  original  draft  of  the  letter  was  drawn  up  for  Mdlle.  Lind,  iu 
German,  by  her  friend,  Madame  Birch-Pfeiffer.  She  herself  only  tran- 
scribed it,  in  French,  from  the  copy  thus  supplied  to  her,  and  now  in  the 
collection  of  Frau  von  Hillern  (the  daughter  of  Madame  Birch-Pfeiifer), 
by  whose  kind  permission  it  is  inserted  bere. 


248  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  vii. 

"  Unfortunately,  weeks  of  continued  study  and  fruitless 
effort  have  proved  to  nie  that  it  is  impossil)le  for  me  to  learn 
tlie  English  language  in  the  short  time  allowed  to  me,  for 
which  reason,  if  I  were  to  come  to  London  in  October,  I 
sliould  not  be  ready  to  appear  in  English  Opera. 

■'I  am  therefore  compelled  to  tell  you  that  I  cannot 
come  to  London,  and  that  I  look  upon  the  engagement  as 
null  and  void,  because  I  cannot  fulfil  the  principal  condition. 
Moreover,  the  great  exertion  I  have  suffered  here  has  so 
shaken  my  health  that  the  doctors  have  recommended  me,  if 
I  wish  to  preserve  my  voice,  to  take  complete  and  continued 
rest  during  the  whole  of  the  summer. 

"  On  this  account  my  guardian  at  Stockholm  * — without 
whose  consent,  and  signature,  none  of  my  engagements  are 
legal — has  quite  forbidden  me  to  undertake  the  fatiguing 
•enterprise  in  London. 

"  Do  not  believe  the  report  that  I  count  upon  going  to  the 
Italian  Opera  in  London.  On  my  word  of  honour,  which  I 
] /ledge  to  you,  I  will  no  more  sing,  this  year,  at  the  London 
Italian  Opera  House  than  at  the  English  one.  And  I 
assure  you  I  regret  very  much  that  I  am  obliged  to  disappoint 
those  hopes  the  fulfilment  of  which  exceeds  my  physical 
strength  and  capability. 

"  With  the  greatest  respect, 

"  Yours  obediently, 

"  Jenny  Lind."  f 

To  this  certainly  not  very  "  business-like  "  letter  Mr.  Bunn 
replied  in  language  which  rendered  anything  like  a  release 
from  the  conditions  of  the  contract  almost  hopeless.  ISTor  was 
the  style  of  his  communication  any  more  encouraging  than 
its  substance — and  it  was  in  all  probability  for  this  reason 
that  she  left  it  for  some  considerable  time  unanswered. 
Mr.  Bunn,  however,  insisted  upon  his  right  to  a  reply,  and 
some  weeks  afterwards  demanded  it  in  no  uncertain  terms. 

*  Judge  Munthe. 

t  The  letter  is  dated,  Berlin,  Feb.  22,  1845  ;  and  was  published,  in  Tlie 
Times,  in  the  form  of  an  English  translation,  on  the  23rd  of  February, 

1848. 


1845.]  HOMAGE   TO    WEBER   (EURYANTHE).  249 

We   subjoin   liis   letter,  without   attempting  to    soften   tlie 
"  business-like  "  tone  of  tlie  language  in  which  it  is  couched. 

"  Theatre  Koyal,  Drury  Lane,  March  20,  1845. 

"  Mademoiselle, 

"  You  have  not  replied  to  my  last  letter,  and  I  there- 
fore address  you  again. 

'•  I  am  well  aware  of  your  great  progress  in  the  English 
language,  and  am  also  aware  that  you  are  deterred  from 
fulfilling  your  contract  with  me  by  the  falsest  misrepresenta- 
tions ;  and  I  know  the  parties  who  have  made  them ;  and  I 
know  likewise  the  overtures  which  have  been  made  to  you 
to  sing  at  our  Italian  Opera. 

"  If  you  have  any  doubts  as  to  the  payment  of  your 
money,  I  will  lodge  it  in  a  banker's  hands  before  you  leave 
Berlin,*  and  if  there  be  any  other  obstacle  I  will  also 
remove  it. 

"  The  public  here  would  be  ready  to  hear  you  sing  in 
German  as  well  as  in  English,  and  there  is  no  question  of 
your  having  immense  success.  All  I  want  is,  for  you  to 
keep  faith  with  me  and  for  me  to  keep  faith  with  the  public. 
I  therefore  again  call  upon  you  to  fulfil  your  contract  with 
me,  or  to  make  me  such  ample  remuneration  as  will  justify 
me  in  releasing  you  from  it. 

"  I  have  the  honour  to  be, 

"  Your  obedient  servant, 

"A.    BUNN." 

It  Mill  be  observed,  that,  while  Mdlle.  Lind  cautions  Mr. 
Bunn  not  to  believe  the  "  report  "  that  she  intended  to  sing  at 
"  the  Italian  Opera  in  London,"  Mr.  Bunn  tells  her  that  he 
knows  she  is  "  deterred  from  fulfilling  "  her  contract  "  by  the 
falsest  misrepresentations,"  and  then  goes  on  to  say  that  he 
knows  of  "  the  overtures  which  have  been  made  "  to  her,  "  to 
sing  at  our  Italian  Opera." 

After  having  made  the  most  minute  and  diligent  researches 
in  every  direction  in  which  it  seemed   possible   that   light 

*  She  had  left  BerUo,  for  Hanover,  some  days  before  this  was  written. 


250  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  vii. 

might  be  thrown  upon  the  question,  we  do  not  hesitate 
to  say  that  no  such  "  overtures  "  were  made  to  her  until 
long  after  the  period  of  which  we  are  now  treating.  That 
false  "  reports  "  were  current  there  can  be  no  possible  doubt ; 
but  the  "  falsest  misrepresentation  "  of  all  was  that  which 
accused  Mdlle.  Lind  of  accepting  another  engagement  in 
London  while  she  left  unfulfilled  that  contracted  with  Mr. 
Bunn.  How  or  where  these  reports  originated  no  one  has 
ever  been  able  to  discover.  But  there  is  ample  evidence  to 
prove  that  they  were  extensively  propagated,  at  a  very  early 
period,  both  in  England  and  in  Germany  ;  that  they  reached 
her  ears  as  well  as  those  of  Mr.  Bunn ;  and  that  they 
tended  to  exacerbate,  with  fatal  effect,  the  tone  of  the 
resulting  controversy. 

The  coincidence  of  dates  leaves  no  reasonable  doubt  that 
the  worry  of  this  miserable  controversy  was  a  primary 
cause,  though  not  the  only  one,  of  the  alarming  attack  which 
prevented  her  from  finishing  the  part  of  "  Euryanthe  "  on 
the  23rd  of  February — that  cruel  worry  which,  to  sensitive 
natures,  is  a  far  more  potent  source  of  illness  than  any 
amount  of  predisposition  or  even  of  actual  infection. 

For  a  whole  week  the  indisposition  continued,  to  the  equal 
disappointment  of  the  subscribers  and  the  public. 

On  the  28th  of  February  a  performance  of  Donizetti's 
La  Figlia  del  Reggimento*  with  Fraulein  Tuczec  in  the 
principal  part,  was  substituted  for  the  serious  opera.  Mdlle. 
Lind  was,  however,  able  to  reappear  in  La  Sonnamhula,  on 
the  2nd  of  March,  with  undiminished  powers.  On  the  4th 
she  sang,  for  the  last  time,  in  Das  Fcldlagcr  in  Schlesien  ;  re- 
peated the  part  of  "Aniina  "  on  the  7th  and  9t:h — the  last  two 
nights  of  her  engagement — and  on  the  11th  made  her  last 
appearance  for  the  season  in  Norma,  on  the  occasion  of  her 

*  It  was  not  until  some  months  after  this  that  Mdlle.  Lind  herself 
appeared  for  the  first  time  in  this  popular  opera  at  Stockholm. 


1845.]  HOMAGE   TO    WEBER   (EUBTANTEE).  251 

own  benefit.     She  speaks  of  her  reason  for  choosing  that 
Opera,  in  preference  to  another  which  had  been  suggested,  in 
a  letter  to  Madame  Birch-Pfeiffer  : — 
_  ,  ^  "  Berlin,  March  7,  1845. 

"Deae  Mothee, 

"  I  hesitate  no  more.  All  is  settled,  and  I  adhere  to 
Norma  for  my  benefit,  and  sing  on  Sunday  in  La  Sonnam- 
hula.  Why  ?  do  you  ask  ?  Because  I  have  no  time  for 
reflection,  and  I  cannot  and  will  not  appear  l^efore  the  public 
in  a  state  of  uncertainty.  So  I  have  begged  to  be  let  off  Ber 
Freischutz,  and  to  sing  the  part  of  "  Agathe  "  on  my  return  ; 
and  all  has  been  conceded.  Only,  dearest,  kindest,  best  Frau 
Mutter,  do  not  be  angry  with  me  ;  but — I  am  really  delighted 
not  to  be  obliged  to  sing,  act,  and  talk  in  Dcr  Freischutz, 
on  Sunday.  Greetings,  a  thousand  times  (what  lovely 
German  I),*  to  the  Aunt,  and  my  best-beloved  little  sister, 
and  two  tickets  for  Nanni,  from 

"  Your  heartily  devoted, 

"  Jenny."  t 

The  announcement  of  this  was  followed  by  so  frantic  a 
demand  for  places  that,  long  before  the  performance  took 
place,  it  was  found  necessary  to  issue  an  of&cial  notice  to 
the  effect  that  no  more  tickets  could  be  given  out ;  and  it 
was  agreed,  on  all  hands,  that  on  the  evening  itself  she 
surpassed  herself  in  the  part  she  had  already  made  so 
famous. 

"  We  followed  '  Norma,'  in  her  love,  grief,  wrath,  despair, 
magnanimity,  and  self-sacrifice,"  says  the  Berlin  journal, 
"  with  the  irresistible  sympathy  she  had  wrung  from  us  at 
her  first  performance ;  nay,  with  more  !  At  certain  moments 
the  artist  seemed  to  us  to  have  reached  a  hio-her  level  than 


■'o^ 


*  The  original  is — Tausend  Mai  Grilsse! 

t  Translated  from  the  original  autograph,  in  the  possession  of  Madame 
Birch-Pfeiffer's  daughter,  Frau  von  Hillern,  who  has  kindly  given  us 
permission  to  quote  largely  from  her  valuable  collection  of  letters.  In 
future  cases,  these  quotations  will  be  acknowledged  as,  "  From  Frau  von 
Hillern's  collection." 


252  JENNY  LINT).  [bk.  iv.  ch.  vii. 

before ;  as,  for  example,  in  her  resolution  to  make  known  her 
fault,  in  the  remembrance  of  her  children,  in  the  abandon- 
ment of  her  humility  when  she  threw  lierself  at  her  father's 
feet.  Her  art  possesses  the  property  of  rising,  with  so  clear 
a  success,  into  a  higher  sphere,  that,  in  her  interpretation, 
she  always  brings  with  her  something  that  touches  us 
supremely,  as  in  those  burning  passions  of  the  woman's  soul, 
which,  while  thus  disclosed,  are  purified,  like  asbestos,  in 
their  own  flame. 

"  After  all  the  effect  and  triumph  that  necessarily  followed 
tlie  artist  throughout  the  series  of  her  dramatic  interpre- 
tations, she  reached,  at  the  close,  the  highest  point  that  had 
been  yet  attained.  The  stage  was  covered  with  flowers  and 
Avreaths  thrown  from  the  boxes  in  the  proscenium  ;  even  the 
ladies,  carried  away  by  the  enthusiasm  of  the  moment, 
heightened  the  meed  of  applause  with  eyes,  hearts,  and  hands. 
The  wreath  that  they  gave  her  was  not  of  laurel,  but  of  roses  ; 
a  sister's  gift  for  the  artist,  who,  among  the  difficulties 
of  her  calling,  appears  as  so  fit  a  guardian  of  the  Palladium 
of  Womanhood  and  Purity.  As  for  her  thanks,  the  threefold 
summons  before  the  curtain  could  win  no  word  from  the 
firmly  closed  lij)s ;  Ijut  the  eye  overflowed  and  blotted  out 
the  faults  of  the  mouth. 

"  The  artist  appears  to-night  for  the  last  time.  She 
leaves  us — but  we  shall  see  her  again,  and  we  hope  in 
the  full  possession  of  her  gifts ;  yes,  in  fresher,  richer  un- 
folding of  their  spring-blossoms  !  And  may  the  mild  sun 
of  this  spring  be  the  omen  of  a  long,  long  continuance !  "  * 

And  with  this  touching  Auf  Wicdcrselicn  the  Berlin  public 
took  leave  of  the  actress.  But  the  singer  was  yet  again  to  be 
heard  in  the  Concert-room. 

*  Kgl.  priv.  Berl.  Zeitung.    (March   11,  1845.)     See   also,    Rellstab's 
Gesammelte  Schriften^  vol.  xx.  p^x  394-396. 


(     253     ) 


CHAPTEE  VIII. 

IX   THE   CONCEET-ROOM. 

We  have  recorded,  in  a  former  chapter,  the  impression 
produced  upon  the  Countess  of  "Westmorland  by  Mdlle. 
Lind's  singing  at  a  reception  which  took  place  in  the  apart- 
ments of  the  Princess  of  Prussia  not  long  after  her  arrival  in 
Germany. 

This,  however,  was  not  the  only  concert  in  which  the 
young  singer  took  part  during  her  first  visit  to  Berlin. 

On  Thursday,  the  13th  of  February,  1845,  she  made  her 
first  public  appearance  in  the  Concert-room  at  a  Soiree  given 
by  the  brothers  Ganz  ;  and,  if  we  may  accept  the  verdict 
pronounced  by  the  critics  of  the  day  as  a  fair  and  unbiassed 
one,  her  triumph  on  this  occasion  was  not  a  whit  less 
brilliant  than  that  which  she  had  achieved  two  months 
previously  at  the  Opera-House. 

"  Our  reporter,"  says  the  leading  journal,  "  entered  tlie 
room  at  the  exact  moment  at  which  the  first  note  of  the  air 
from  Niobe  *  was  sung  by  Mdlle.  Lind.  It  was  also  the  first 
note  that  the  artist  had  uttered  in  the  character  of  a  concert- 
singer;  and,  whether  it  was  that  the  hall  resounded  with 
peculiarly  happy  effect  to  the  tone  of  her  voice,  or  that  tliis 
very  effective  air  was  especially  effective  for  her,  it  seemetl 
to  us  that  the  splendour  of  the  concert-singer  exceeded  even 
the  brilliancy  of  the  dramatic  artist — though,  of  course, 
in  a  subordinate  sphere.  The  tones  were  of  such  pearly 
clearness,  the  words  were  so  closely  united  with  the  tones ; 
piano,  forte,  crescendo  shaded  the  expression  so  tenderly,  and 

*  '  II  scave  e  hen  contento,^  from  Pacini's  Niobe. 


254  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  vm. 

yet  so  certainly,  that  we  never  remember  having  been  so 
delighted  with  a  concert-singer.  We  noticed  especially  the 
charm  of  the  little  passages  of  fioritura  executed  with 
absolute  certainty  in  the  highest  register,  the  smooth  descend- 
ing chromatic  scales,  and  some  shakes,  with  which  the  singer 
adorned  the  tasteful  and  fascinating  brilliancy  of  the  air."  * 

The  same  high  praise  was  awarded  to  the  accomplished 
vocalist  on  the  occasion  of  her  next  appearance,  at  Herr 
Nehrlich's  concert  on  the  10th  of  March. 

"  Mdlle.  Lind,"  says  the  reviewer,  "  sang  the  air  of 
Donna  Anna,  in  F  major,t  with  womanly  depth  of  expression 
and  with  strict  adherence  to  the  text.  On  the  stage  we 
might  perhaps  have  wished  for  a  little  more  power  in  certain 
passages,  but  for  the  concert-room  she  exactly  reached  the 
happy  medium.  The  individuality  of  the  artist  was  still 
more  captivatingly  displayed  in  her  delivery  of  three 
German  songs.  Each  of  these  little  compositions  deserves  a 
word  of  praise.  The  first,  by  Josephson,  was  perhaps  the 
most  worthy  of  remark,  though  the  low  tessatura  of  the  vocal 
part  rendered  it  the  least  welcome.  To  the  second — '  Vergiss- 
meinnicht ' — by  Herrmann  Wichmann,  we  ourselves  should 
feel  inclined  to  give  the  preference,  for  its  simple  natural 
expression,  which  the  singer  brought  out  with  full  earnest- 
ness. The  third,  by  F,  Weiss,  was  the  most  successful  of 
the  three.  Certain  it  is  that,  so  interpreted,  these  three 
songs  touched  the  inmost  chords  of  artistic  sympathy."  % 

Of  the  Court-concerts  in  which  she  took  part  about  this 
time  the  journals  gave,  of  course,  no  published  account. 

Apart  from  the  private  reception  given  by  the  Princess  of 
Prussia,  and  already  described,  she  sang,  on  the  18th  of 
December,  1844,  in  company  with  Herr  Botticher  and 
other  artists,  at  a  Court  performance,  in  memory  of  which  the 
King  and  Queen  presented  her  with  a  valuable  bracelet. 
And  again,  soon  after  the  beginning  of  the  new  year,  she 

*  Kgl.  priv.  Berlinische  (^Vossische)  Zeitung.     (Feb.  15,  1845.) 
t  '  Non  mi  dir,^  from  Mozart's  U  Don  Giovanni. 
X  E(jl.  priv.  Berl.  Ztit.     (March  12,  1845.) 


1845.]  IN   TEE   CONCERT-ROOM.  255 

assisted  at  two  more  Court  concerts — tlie  last  of  the 
season.  The  impression  made  upon  the  Eoyal  Family  by 
these  performances  and  the  personal  interest  taken  in  her 
by  Queen  Elizabeth,  were  well  known  in  Berlin,  and  it  is 
pleasant  to  know  that  the  feeling  was  a  lasting  one  and 
not  the  result  of  a  mere  evanescent  burst  of  artistic 
enthusiasm. 

The  actual  farewell  for  the  season  took  place  on  the 
13th  of  March,  at  a  concert  given,  in  the  hall  of  the  Sing- 
Akadcmie,  in  aid  of  the  "Asylum  for  Blind  Soldiers."  The 
room  was  so  crowded  that  not  only  was  the  space  usually 
devoted  to  the  orchestra  filled  by  the  audience,  but  it  was 
only  with  great  difficulty  that  room  could  be  found  for  the 
artists  and  the  accompanying  pianoforte.  It  is  pleasant  to 
find  Eraulein  Tuczec  highly  praised  on  this  occasion. 

"  The  most  piquant  charm,"  says  the  journal  we  have  so 
frequently  quoted,  "  was  produced  by  the  duet  from  Sargino* 
sung  by  Mdlles.  Lind  and  Tuczec,  and  followed  by  a  storm 
of  applause,  called  forth  by  their  zealous  efforts  to  do  their 
best.  Every  artist,  indeed,  contributed  his  part  with  the  best 
possible  good  will,  and  thus  deserved  the  liveliest  thanks  of  the 
public.  Before  all,  however,  these  thanks  were  won  by  the 
l)eloved  and  modest  Singer  who  took  leave  of  us  in  this 
concert.  She  sang  the  grand  air,  '  Bohcrt,  toi  que  faime,'  f 
from  Robert  le  Diable,  with  expression  as  intense  as  her 
execution  was  brilliant,  rising  to  the  high  D  flat  in  the  upper 
register ;  and  completed  the  cycle  of  her  artistic  achieve- 
ments in  our  capital  city  by  the  performance  of  some  of 
those  simple  Swedish  songs,  which  overcame  us  with  so 
irresistible  a  charm.  The  first — 'Am  Aarensee  rauseht  der 
vielgrilnc  Wald '  | — she  sang  in  German  ;  the  two  others — one 
a  very  tender  one,  dying  away  in  the  softest  scarcely  audible 

*  An  Opera  huffa,  by  Paer. 

t  This  famous  air  belongs  to  the  part  of  "  Isabelle " ;  not  to  that  of 
"  Alice,"  which  Mdlle.  Lind  always  impersonated  on  the  stage. 

t  A  strikingly  original  song  by  Adolph  Lindblad,  composed  to  German 
words  by  Graf  von  Schlippenbach,  and  printed,  ia  the  general  collection 
of  his  songs,  without  a  Swedish  translation. 


256  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  viii. 

tones  * — in  the  original  Swedi.sh ;  so  that  her  last  notes 
seemed  already  vanishing  in  the  distance. 

"  Amidst  the  loud  outbreak  of  applause  which  followed 
place  was  found  for  a  silent  sign  of  acknowledgment.  While 
Mdlle.  Lind  was  singing,  a  lady  had  deposited  a  wreath  and 
a  garland  of  flowers  upon  the  pianoforte.  The  artist  now 
took  them  up,  with  a  look  of  eloquent  thanks,  and,  retreating 
backwards,  greeted  the  audience  repeatedly,  while  the  shouts 
of  applause  continued  until  she  had  vanished  beyond  the 
last  steps  of  the  platform. 

"  Many  heartfelt  blessings  accompany  her  into  her  retreat, 
where  she  needs  must  take  with  her  the  rich  satisfaction  that 
she  has  done  so  much  and  been  so  thoroughly  appreciated."  f 

And  many  heartfelt  blessings  most  certainly  did  accompany 
her,  not  only  from  the  grateful  public,  but  from  dear  ones 
with  whom  she  had  found  true  and,  as  later  events  proved, 
lasting  bonds  of  friendship. 

King  Erederick  William  lY.,  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  the 
various  members  of  the  Eoyal  Eamily,  behaved  to  her  as 
true  friends,  not  only  then  but  in  after  years  also. 

By  Lord  and  Lady  Westmorland  she  was  never  forgotten, 
and  among  the  members  of  their  family  her  memory  is 
still  held  precious. 

She  has  told  us,  in  her  own  words,  of  her  pleasant  inter- 
course with  the  aged  poet  Tieck,  and  the  innocent  little 
family  party  at  Erau  Bettina  von  Arnim's.t  Madame  Eeyer 
and  her  sister.  Baroness  von  Eidderstolpe,  were  kind  and 
home-like  friends ;  and  through  their  acquaintance  with  the 
family  of  Herr  von  Waldenburg,  a  gentleman  of  position  in 
Berlin,  she  was  first  introduced  to  the  well-known  sculptor, 
Professor  Ludwig  Wichmann,  who,  with  his  wife  and  family, 
received  her,  a  little  later  on,  into  bonds  of  closest  intimacy. 
Professor  and  Madame  Wichmann  had  Ijeen  delii^hted  with 


^o 


*  Probably,  Berg's  '  Fjerran  i  shog.' 

t  Kfjl.  priv.  Berl.  Zeit     (March  15,  1845.) 

X  See  page  225. 


1845.]  IN   THE   CONCERT-BOOM.  257 

her  first  performance  in  Norma,  and  had  begged  Madame  von 
Waldenbnrg  to  bring  her  to  their  house,  in  the  Hasenheger 
Strasse,  which  was  then  a  favourite  resort  for  artists  and 
persons  of  culture ;  and  this  first  interview  led  to  the  forma- 
tion of  so  intimate  a  friendship  between  herself  and  Madame 
Wichmann  that  their  affection  for  each  other  never  afterwards 
cooled  for  a  moment.  The  reader  will  not  have  forgotten 
that  it  was  at  Professor  Wichmann's  house  that  she  first  met 
Mendelssohn  on  the  21st  of  October,  1844 ;  and  here  also, 
in  March,  1845,  she  met  for  the  first  time  Herr  Heinrich 
Brockhaus,  the  then  head  of  the  great  publishing  firm  of 
that  name  in  Leipzig,  a  man  of  high  cultivation  and  great 
influence,  of  whom  v/e  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  again. 

Most  of  these  kind  friends  were  intimate  with  each  other, 
and  many  pleasant  little  reunions  took  place  within  the 
charmed  circle.  It  was  at  a  party  at  Madame  von  Arnim's 
that,  on  the  7th  of  January,  Herr  Josephson  first  had  the 
pleasure  of  hearing  two  of  his  songs  sung  by  Mdlle.  Lind  in 
the  presence  of  Meyerbeer ;  "  and,"  says  he,  in  his  journal, 
"they  won  the  approval  both  of  the  maestro  and  of  the 
other  listeners — but  then,  Jenny  sang  them  in  excellent 
style."  * 

But  notwithstanding  the  sympathy  she  met  with  on  every 
side,  the  great  artist  seems — if  we  may  trust  Herr  Josephson's 
opinion — to  have  been  rather  dazed  than  rejoiced,  rather 
bewildered  than  delighted,  with  her  almost  miraculous 
success.  He  speaks  with  evident  anxiety  of  her  unrest, 
and  the  sudden  transitions  of  her  moods. 

"  She  is  oscillating,"  he  says,  "  between  lieaven  and  earth, 
not  knowing,  as  yet,  on  what  terms  she  is  with  either.  In 
the  meantime  my  friendship  for  her  is  growing  stronger 
every  day.  Daily  do  I  call  down  blessings  on  her  artist- 
soul,  so  great,  so  loving,  so  deep,  so  enthusiastic.  May  God 
send  her  all  the  peace  and  consolation  of  which  she  stands 

*  '  Aus  dem  Leben  eines  Schwedischen  Componisten,'  vol.  ii. 
VOL,  I.  S 


258  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  viii. 

in  need ;  and  grant  that,  in  days  of  storm,  she  may  not  forget 
the  treasures  of  grace  offered  her."  * 

The  "  unrest "  which  caused  Herr  Josephson  so  much 
anxiety  may  perhaps  be  partly  accounted  for  by  the  home- 
sickness to  which,  as  we  have  known  from  the  very  beginning 
of  her  wanderings,  she  was  so  constantly  subject. 

She  herself  justifies  us  in  arriving  at  this  conclusion  in  a 
letter  written  to  her  guardian,  Judge  Munthe,  just  before  the 
first  performance  of  Euryanthe  : — 

"  Everybody  is  so  kind  to  me,"  she  says,  "  that  it  is  only 
through  my  unbounded  love  for  home  that,  in  the  midst  of 
all  these  splendours,  my  whole  soul  goes  out,  all  the  same,  in 
longing  for  Sweden.  There  is  an  inexplicable  home-sympathy 
in  the  depths  of  my  soul,  and  I  look  upon  its  possession  as 
an  unspeakable  happiness ;  for  to  feel  so  warmly  as  this  for 
one's  country  is  a  divinely  elevating  sentiment. 

"  The  next  Opera  will  be  Euryanthe,  which  is  now  lieing 
diligently  rehearsed.  La  Sonnamlmla  will  probably  follow, 
and  after  that  lyhigenia  in  Aulis.  But  I  must  make  haste, 
if  I  am  to  get  through  my  twenty  appearances.  Hitherto  I 
have  only  reached  the  sixth.  During  the  last  weeks  I  shall 
have  to  liurry  on  and  sing  a  little  oftener."  f 

Surely  this  is  a  sigh  of  longing — not  of  bewilderment. 
And  surely  this,  added  to  the  ceaseless  worry  of  the  Bunn- 
contract,  may  have  done  a  good  deal  in  producing  that 
"  unrest "  that  gave  Herr  Josephson  so  much  concern,  and 
may,  possibly,  furnish  a  key  to  the  mysteries  of  changing 
humour  which  seemed  to  puzzle  him  so  cruelly. 

Let  us  bear  this  last  sad  sigh  for  home  carefully  in  mind, 
while  we  take  leave,  for  a  time,  of  the  turmoil  of  Berlin,  and 
accompany  her  on  a  tour  which  certainly  brought  her  nearer 
to  her  beloved  Sweden. 

*  '  Aus  dem  Leben  eines  Schwedischen  Componisten,'  vol.  ii. 
t  From  a  letter  written  by  her  to  her  guardian,  Judge  Munthe,  dated 
'  Berlin,  Jan.  13,  1845.' 


(     259     ) 


CHAPTER   IX. 

AT   HOME   ONCE   MOKE. 

Ox  Thursday,  the  13th  of  March,  1845,  as  we  have  already 
heard,  Mdlle.  Lind's  last  notes  died  softly  away  in  Berlin  at 
a  concert  given  for  the  benefit  of  the  "  Hospital  for  Blind 
Soldiers." 

On  Wednesday,  March  the  19th,  she  made  her  first  appear- 
ance at  the  Court  Theatre  at  Hanover  in  her  favourite 
character  of  "  jSTorma."  The  Opera  was  repeated  on  Tuesday, 
the  25th,  and  immediately  afterwards  she  left  for  Hambm-g. 

We  do  not  propose,  during  the  rapid  transitions  from  city 
to  city  upon  which  we  are  now  entering,  to  dilate  in  detail 
upon  performances  wliich  have  already  been  sufficiently 
criticised  at  Berlin.  It  will  suffice  therefore  for  the  present 
if  we  say  that  the  now  famous  songstress  was  received  by  the 
public  with  enthusiastic  plaudits,  and  at  Court  with  a 
kindly  consideration  which,  during  the  reign  of  the  succeed- 
ing King  and  Queen,  ripened  into  undisguised  attachment 
on  both  sides.  Years  ago,  in  the  days  of  the  Electress  Sophia 
and  her  descendants,  the  Georges,  Hanover  had  ranked  with 
Dresden  and  Berlin  and  Hamburg  as  one  of  the  principal 
centres  of  Art  in  the  north  of  Germany.  Under  the  direct 
influence  of  the  Abbate  Steffani,  and  the  shadow  of  the  giant 
Handel,  the  Lyric  Drama  had  prospered  exceedingly  in  the 
fine  old  Theatre.  The  Electors  had  thoroughly  appreciated 
the  work  of  these  great  Masters,  had  patronised  them 
liberally,  and  treated  them  with  marked  consideration  and 

s  2 


260  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  ix. 

respect ;  and  the  last  scions  of  the  old  Electoral  Dynasty 
proved  faithful  to  the  traditions  of  their  House  to  the  end. 

The  visits  to  Hanover  were  always  pleasant  ones  ;  but  on 
this  occasion  a  disquieting  communication  from  the  manager 
of  Drury  Lane  cast  its  ominous  shadow  over  the  otherwise 
happy  scene,  as  we  learn  from  the  following  sentence  con- 
tained in  a  letter  to  Madame  Birch-Pfeiffer,  dated  Hanover, 
March  24,  1845  :— 

"  I  have  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Bunn,  who  speaks  of 
dishonour  and  ingratitude,  etc.,  etc.  Dreadful !  {Sclireck- 
lich  !)  "  * 

But  that  shadow  fell  everywhere.  Let  us  try  to  forget  it 
as  long  as  we  can. 

On  leaving  Hanover,  Mdlle.  Lind  proceeded  at  once  to 
Hamburg,  where,  on  the  29th  of  March,  she  made  her  first 
appearance  at  the  Stadt  Theater,  in  the  Opera  in  which  she 
had  already  won  so  many  well-earned  laurels  for  Bellini  as 
well  as  for  herself. 

And  new  laurels  were  won  that  night. 

The  following  account  of  the  first  visit  to  Hamburg  is 
rom  ihe  pen  of  a  careful  and  conscientious  German  Art- 
historian, 

"The  'guest-performances'  began  on  the  29tli  of  March, 
1 845,  with  Norma,  and  created  a  positive  furore. 

"  It  would  be  impossible  to  give  any  idea  of  the  state  of 
ecstasy  into  which  the  whole  of  Hamburg  was  thrown.  More 
than  twelve  times  during  her  visit  she  sang,  at  raised  prices, 
to  houses  so  crowded  that  the  aid  of  the  police  had  to  be 
called  in  to  regulate  the  crush.  The  celebrated  Swede  did 
not  produce  this  effect  merely  by  aid  of  splendid  natural 
gifts  supplemented  by  diligent  study,  but  also  through  an 
ever-winning  personality,  shown  in  little  details,  which 
atoned  for  the  somewhat  narrow  changes  of  a  not  very  exten- 

*  From  Frau  von  Hillern's  collection. 


1845.]  AT  HOME   ONCE  MORE.  261 

sive  repertoire*  while  the  artist  enchanted  every  one  with  her 
pure  and  virgin  loveliness. 

"  Jenny  Lind  was  the  first  in  Hamburg  whose  whole  figure 
was  so  completely  bestrown  with  flowers  that  she  stood  upon 
an  improvised  carpet  of  blossoms.  The  critics  were  moved 
to  exhaust  the  whole  circle  of  laudatory  expressions  :  '  Her 
scales  are  pearls  ; '  'In  her  mezza  voce  was  a  charm  like  the 
tone  of  an  ^Eolian  harp  ; '  '  While  the  ear  is  delighted,  the  eye 
sees  poetry  alone  before  it.' 

"  The  serenade  which  was  sung  to  the  artist  in  front  of 
her  hotel — the  old  Stadt  London — after  her  last  performance 
was  quite  a  popular  festival.  With  this  ovation  was  com- 
bined a  torch-light  procession,  a  display  of  fireworks  on  the 
Alster,  and  other  demonstrations,  which  lasted  until  long 
past  midnight."  f 

During  this  visit  to  Hamburg  she  sang  in  Norma  five 
times,  including  her  own  benefit,  on  Tuesday,  the  6th  of 
May ;  five  times  in  La  Sonnamhula ;  twice  in  Lucia  di 
Lammermoor  (for  the  first  time  in  Germany)  ;  and  once  (also 
for  the  first  time  out  of  Stockholm)  in  Bcr  FreiscMtz. 

She  also  assisted  on  the  14th  of  April  at  a  concert 
in  Altona,J  at  which  she  sang  the  aria  from  Pacini's  Niole 
— '  //  soctvc  e  hen  contcnto ' — in  which  she  had  created  so  pro- 
found a  sensation  in  Berlin,  and  her  own  favourite  Swedish 
melodies.  On  the  21st  of  April  she  sang  the  same  pieces  at 
a  concert  given  by  Herr  Kapellmeister  Kxebs — the  father  of 
the  celebrated  pianiste,  Friiulein  ]\larie  Krebs — in  the  theatre 

*  Although  she  sang  in  such  an  endless  variety  of  characters  at 
Stockholm — Fidelio  being  almost  the  only  great  operatic  role  that  she 
never  attempted — the  persistent  desire  of  the  public  to  hear  her  in  certain 
special  parts,  after  her  first  great  triumph  in  Berlin,  and  the  labour 
also  of  learning  new  parts  in  a  foreign  language,  prevented  her  from 
appearing  in  others  in  which  she  was  equally  great. 

t  ^  Ein  Beitrag  zur  Deutschen  Culturgeschichte ;'  von  Dr.  Hermann 
Uhde.  (Stuttgart  Cotta,  1879.)  The  reader  will  observe  that,  in  this 
case,  the  transcendental  language  does  not  proceed  from  the  pen  of  Herr 
Eellstab.    If  he  was  under  the  spell  in  1846,  surely  Uhde  was  not  in  1879. 

X  The  town  of  Altona  forms  a  suburb  of  Hamburg,  which  it  almost 
joins,  though  it  was  formerly  within  the  Danish  territory. 


262  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  ix. 

at  Hamburg.  And  on  the  25th  of  April  she  sang  at  the 
Court  Theatre  of  Schwerin,  in  Norma,  followed  by  La  Son- 
namhtda  on  the  28th,  after  which  she  immediately  resumed 
her  duties  in  Hamburg,  as  above  described,  concluding  with 
the  "  benefit  "  on  the  6th  of  May.* 

And  now,  after  the  anxieties  and  fatigues  of  this  most 
trying  season — trying  and  fatiguing  in  direct  proportion  to 
its  success — came  the  moment  of  its  rich  reward. 

On  the  doors  of  the  Eoyal  Theatre  at  Stockholm  was 
affixed  a  play-bill  announcing  that  Mdlle.  Lind  would  re- 
appear in  her  native  town  on  the  16th  of  May,  in  Norma. 


It  needs  but  little  effort  of  the  imagination  to  picture  the 
joy  with  which  the  lonely  exile — for  lonely  she  had  been, 
even  amidst  the  glories  of  her  most  splendid  triumphs ;  lonely 
while  critics,  finding  conventional  terms  too  weak  to  express 
their  admiration,  were  exhausting  the  hendecasyllabic  licence 
of  German  idiom  in  the  fabrication  of  new  ones ;  lonely, 
while  she  stood  upon  the  carpet  of  flowers  in  Hamburg; 
lonely,  beyond  all  loneliness,  even  in  company  of  the  devoted 
friends  whose  affection  she  returned  with  ten-fold  warmth — 
it  needs,  we  say,  but  little  effort  to  imagine  the  joy  with 
which  this  lonely  exile  prepared  to  stand  once  more  upon  the 
l)oards  of  the  theatre  in  which  she  had  sung  and  acted  as  a 
child,  to  sing  and  act,  in  presence  of  a  Swedish  audience,  in 
that  same  part  of  "  Norma "  which  she  had  already  im- 
personated upon  those  very  boards  no  less  than  thirty  times, 

*  The  dates  were,  March  29, 31,  and  April  2*,  Norma;  April  5*,  7*,  10*, 
La  Sonnamhula ;  April  12*,  15*,  Lucia ;  April  18,  La  Sonnambiila ; 
April  30,  Der  Freischiltz ;  May  2*,  4,  La  Sonnanibula ;  May  6,  (Mdlle. 
Lind's  benefit),  Norma.  Twelve  performances,  in  all,  besides  the  benefit. 
The  asterisks  denote  raised  prices,  which  were  not  charged  on  the  benefit 
night. 


1845.]  AT  HOME   ONCE  MORE.  263 

and  in  which  she  had  in  the  meantime  excited  the  wonder 
and  admiration  of  the  most  critically  exacting  nation  in 
Europe. 

Such  joy  as  that  is  not  to  be  described  in  words,  and  we 
must  perforce  leave  it  to  the  reader's  imagination  to  paint  the 
pleasant  picture — bearing  in  mind,  however,  that  it  was 
distinctly  a  double  one.  The  Swedes  were  as  glad  to  welcome 
home  their  great  national  artist  as  she  was  to  return  to  them 
— as  proud  of  her  as  she  was  of  her  country.  And  not 
without  good  cause !  She  had  left  Stockholm  the  idol  of 
Sweden,  she  returned  to  it  the  idol  of  northern  Europe. 
The  Swedish  critics  had  accepted  her  as  the  greatest  singer 
known  to  them ;  the  German  critics  had  endorsed  and 
confirmed — nay,  glorified  the  verdict  passed  by  their 
northern  brethren.  It  was  no  small  thing  for  the  credit  of 
Scandinavian  Art  that  its  representatives  should  find  their 
opinion  so  triumphantly  vindicated.  And  here  we  must  beg 
the  reader  to  remember  the  position  we  assumed  in  the  very 
first  chapter  of  our  history,  and  have  ever  since  maintained, 
that  the  reputation  with  which  we  have  to  deal  was  not  a 
Swedish,  nor  a  German,  nor  an  English,  but  an  European 
one.  This  great  fact,  which  might  have  been  anticipated  from 
very  early  times,  was  made  more  and  more  clearly  apparent, 
as  each  successive  capital  expressed  its  opinion ;  and,  by  the 
time  of  which  we  are  now  treating,  there  could  be  no  reason- 
able doubt  as  to  its  ultimate  acceptation.  The  Swedes  did 
not  doubt  it,  at  any  rate ;  and  all  Stockholm  went  forth  to 
greet  the  national  heroine,  with  songs  of  joy  and  gladness. 

"  Jenny  Lind's  return  to  Sweden  caused  general  delight 
and  jubilation,"  says  Froken  Marie  von  Stedingk,  "  and  the 
first  reception  was  a  very  cordial  one.  The  steam-boat,  with 
the  celebrated  artist  on  board — our  '  Northern  Nightingale ' — 
did  not  arrive  until  midnight ;  but  notwithstanding  this  the 
port  and  neighbouring  streets  were  so  packed  that  I  could 


264  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  ix. 

only  witli  difficulty  find  a  tiny  corner  for  myself  and  maid 
on  a  ship  close  by. 

"  A  rocket  gave  the  signal  for  the  liveliest  shouts  of  delight, 
and  a  boat  went  out  to  meet  the  steam-ship  with  the  most 
beautiful  music  on  board. 

"When  the  crowd  began  to  disperse  I  was  able  to  get 
home  safely,  but  without  having  caught  so  much  as  a 
glimpse  of  Jenny  Lind,  who  probably  went  straight  to  her 
home  as  quickly  as  possible.  Her  stay  at  Berlin,  and  her 
progress  through  Germany,  had  been  a  long  succession  of 
triumphs,  and  her  modesty  and  great  eminence  combined 
had  w^on  friends  for  her  everywhere."* 

It  was  the  old,  old  story.  Wildest  excitement  on  the  one 
side,  feverish  yearning  for  retirement  on  the  other.  It  was 
tlie  quiet  of  home  that  the  wanderer  longed  for — not  the 
shouts  of  the  admiring;  multitude. 

During  the  course  of  this  short  visit  to  Stockholm, 
she  sang  eighteen  times :  twice  in  Norma,  twice  in  Der 
Freischiitz,  three  times  in  La  Sonnambula,  twice  in  Lucia  di 
Lammermoor,  eight  times  in  Donizetti's  La  Figlia  del  Beg- 
(jimento,  and  once  in  Eossini's  LI  Turco  in  Ltalia.'f 

The  terms  under  which  these  eighteen  performances  were 
secured  by  the  direction  were  laid  down  in  a  special  contract, 
drawn  up  with  the  consent  of  and  duly  signed  by  Judge 
Munthe,  her  guardian. 

Among  the  Operas  mentioned  the  reader  will  observe  the 
names  of  several  which  we  have  not  hitherto  critically 
noticed. 

Eossini's  //  Tm^co  in  Ltalia  (first  produced  at  Milan,  in 
1814,  as  a  companion  piece  to  L'Ltaliana  in  Algeri),  is  a 
delightful  Opera  huffa,  full  of  genial  melody  and  true  Eossinian 
freshness.      The  part  of  "  Tiorilla  "  abounds  with  passages  of 

*  From  the  Diary  of  Froken  Marie  von  Stedingk. 

t  The  dates  were  :  May  16, 19,  Norma ;  23,  26,  Der  Freischiitz ;  28,  30, 
La  Sonnambula;  June  2,  4,  Lucia;  6,  La  Sonnambula;  9,  11,13,  14, 
16,  18,  La  Figlia  del  Reg. ;  20,  II  Turco ;  21,  25,  La  Figlia. 


1845.]  AT  HOME   ONCE  MORE.  265 

most  delicate  fioritura,  furnishing  constant  opportunities  for 
the  introduction  of  those  inimitable  cadcnze  in  the  charm 
and  variety  of  which  Mdlle.  Lind  stood  unrivalled.  And 
thus  it  was  that  the  part,  though  not  in  all  respects  a 
pleasant  one,  became  a  favourite  with  her  audience  at  Stock- 
holm, where  she  had  first  introduced  it  in  the  previous  years, 
and  now  sang  it,  on  the  20th  of  June,  for  the  ninth  and  last 
time. 

Of  Dei'  Frcischutz  we  shall  prefer  to  speak  in  connection 
with  its  performance  in  Berlin,  where  it  was  in  the  following 
year  received  with  unbounded  admiration.  Our  notice  of 
Lucia  cli  Laimnermoor  and  the  world-famous  La  Figlia  del 
Regghnento  we  shall  reserve  until  we  meet  with  them  in 
London. 

One  circumstance,  however,  connected  with  the  last-named 
Opera,  in  which  she  appeared  for  the  first  time  on  the  9th 
of  June,  we  must  not  omit  to  notice  here,  since  its  interest 
is  entirely  centred  in  Stockholm. 

The  reader  will  not  have  forgotten  the  "  historic  fanfare  " 
mentioned  in  our  account  of  the  little  Jenny's  childhood ; 
how  delighted  she  had  been  when  she  heard  the  soldiers 
playing  it  in  the  street,  or  how  cleverly  she  had  afterwards 
imitated  it  on  the  little  old  family  pianoforte.  Military 
music  had  always  delighted  her,  and  the  sight  of  a  regiment 
of  soldiers  gave  her  scarcely  less  pleasure  in  after  life  than 
it  had  done  in  her  infancy.  La  Figlia  del  Heggimcnto  had 
therefore  a  special  charm  for  her  quite  apart  from  its  claim 
for  consideration  as  a  work  of  Art,  and  she  threw  so  much 
spirit  into  her  interpretation  of  the  i^art  of  the  little  vivan- 
diere  that  the  Swedish  soldiers  were  wild  with  enthusiasm 
about  it.  In  a  letter  to  Madame  Birch-Pfeiffer,  dated  '  Stock- 
holm, June  26,  1845,'  she  describes  her  eighth  and  last 
performance  of  the  part,  on  the  previous  evening,  as  a 
veritable  military  triumph  : — 


266  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  ix. 

"  I  am  free,"  she  says,  "  and  I  mean  to  rest  myself  right 
well. 

"  Yesterday,  the  performance  of  Die  Tochtcr  des  Regiments 
was  given  entirely  for  officers  and  soldiers.  The  King  had 
invited  them  all,  and  I  was  never  so  much  amused  in  my 
life.  All  was  cheerful  and  good-luimoured.  The  soldiers 
laughed  awfully,  and  applauded  me  so  furiously  that  I  really 
felt  quite  sorry  for  their  hands.  All  was  enthusiasm,  and 
it  all  looked  splendid.  The  whole  house  was  filled  with 
uniforms.     It  was  beautiful  indeed  ! 

"  This  evening  I  am  going  to  sup  with  my  beloved 
widowed  Queen — to  my  unspeakable  pleasure,  for  she  is  so 
very  gracious  to  me."  * 

Yes,  '  beautiful  indeed ' !  The  mischievous  little  vivandiere 
was  evidently  as  much  delighted  with  the  gallant  warriors 
who  applauded  her  so  furiously  as  they  were  with  her. 
What  a  treat  the  performance  must  have  been  !  and  how  the 
King  must  have  enjoyed  it ! 

Besides  these  operatic  performances,  she  assisted,  on  the 
7  th  of  June,  at  a  concert  given  by  F.  Priime,  on  which 
occasion  she  sang  an  air  from  //  Tioro  in  Italia  and  a  duet 
(with  Herr  Giinther)  from  Das  Feldlagcr  in  Sclilcsien. 

It  was  a  happy  time,  and  the  return  to  home-life  and 
home-scenery  inexpressibly  refreshing.  The  first  part  of  the 
visit  was  indeed  too  much  occupied  with  professional  engage- 
ments to  deserve  the  character  of  a  holiday ;  but  after  the 
performances  at  the  Opera  were  over  she  spent  a  few 
weeks  in  pleasant  retirement  at  the  country-home  of  her 
friends,  Herr  and  Madame  von  Koch,  of  whom  mention 
has  already  been  made  in  previous  chapters,  f  The  eventful 
episode  was  however  broken  in  upon,  for  the  second  time 
within  the  space  of  little  more  than  twelve  months,  by  a 
Royal  su.mmons — this  time  requiring  her  presence  at  the 
Court  of  Prussia. 

*  From  Frau  von  Hillern's  collection. 
t  See  pages  105,  232. 


1845.]  AT  HOME   ONCE  MORE.  267 

King  Frederick  William  IV.  was  preparing  to  entertain 
Queen  Victoria  and  the  Prince  Consort,  first  at  Briihl,  and 
afterwards  at  Schloss  Stolzenfels,  the  restored  Castle  on  the 
banks  of  the  Ehine  ;  and  it  was  his  wish  that  Mdlle.  Lind 
should  add  to  the  interest  of  the  festivities  by  singing  to 
his  Eoyal  guests. 

Wlien  the  time  of  departure  drew  near  she  received 
some  touching  marks  of  affection  and  esteem. 

"  The  Queen  Dowager,"  *  says  Froken  Marie  von  Stedingk, 
"  was  exceedingly  friendly  to  her,  and  gave  a  little  soiree  to 
which  the  Eoyal  Family  alone  were  invited,  and  at  which 
Jenny  sang  some  operatic  airs  splendidly  to  a  pianoforte 
accompaniment.     I  prefer,  however,  to  hear  her  on  the  stage. 

"  Before  going  to  the  Queen  Dowager  she  came  to  tea 
with  me,  in  company  with  the  two  maids  of  honour,  Lotten 
Morner  and  Lotten  Skjoldebrand  ;  and  we  spent  together  an 
hour  that  seemed  too  short  to  all  of  us. 

"  After  this  I  went  to  see  her  several  times ;  my  last  visit 
being  paid  for  the  purpose  of  taking  her  a  bracelet  sent  by 
the  Queen  Dowager. 

"  Jenny  Lind  resided  at  that  time,  in  some  very  comfort- 
able apartments,  in  Norra  Smedjegatan. 

"  Donizetti's  La  Figlia  del  Reggimento  had  been  brought 
out  that  season,  and  universally  admired.  To  me  it  was  a 
real  happiness  to  see  and  hear  her.  Both  her  acting  and  her 
singing  were  exquisite,  especially  in  the  scene  at  the  piano 
and  the  farewell  to  the  regiment.  Still,  in  La  Sonnambida,  I 
admired  her  even  more.  Never  had  she  appeared  to  me  in 
such  perfection — nature,  gracefulness,  expression — every- 
thing !  It  was  thus  a  matter  of  deep  regret  to  me  when  she 
left,  first,  for  the  country  to  take  some  rest,  and,  afterwards, 
to  continue  her  triumphal  progress  abroad."  f 

*  The  late  Queen  Dowager    Desideria,  was  the  widow  of  King  Karl 
XIV.  Johann  CBernadotte). 

t  From  the  Diary  of  Froken  Marie  von  Stedingk. 


268  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  x. 


CHAPTEE  X. 

IN  PRESENCE   OF   THE   QUEEN. 

The  month  of  August,  1845,  witnessed  festivities  of  unusual 
interest  on  the  banks  of  the  Ehine. 

Between  five  and  six  o'clock  on  Saturday  evening,  August 
the  9th,  the  Queen  and  Prince  Consort  started  down  the  river 
from  Woolwich  in  the  royal  yacht  Victoria  and  Albert,  com- 
manded by  Lord  A.  Fitzclarence  ;  and,  escorted  by  the  Black 
Eagle  and  the  Porcupine,  arrived  at  Antwerp  on  Sunday 
evening,  en  route  for  Briihl,  in  response  to  an  invitation  from 
King  Frederick  William  IV.  and  the  Queen  of  Prussia. 

The  occasion  was  especially  interesting,  as  this  was  the 
first  time  that  the  Queen  of  England  had  visited  the  Continent 
since  her  accession  to  the  throne,  and  the  highest  lesal 
authorities  were  somewhat  cruelly  exercised  as  to  the  con- 
stitutional etiquette  of  the  proceeding.  In  this  case,  however, 
fact  overpowered  theory,  and  on  Monday  evening  the  Eoyal 
party  was  received  at  Briihl,  about  six  miles  from  Cologne  on 
the  road  to  Bonn,  by  the  King  and  Queen  of  Prussia,  and 
entertained  at  half  past  eight  with  a  grand  military  concert 
in  the  brilliantly  illuminated  courtyard  of  the  Palace, 
where  seven  hundred  performers  officiated,  beginning  the 
programme  with  '  God  save  the  Queen '  and  ending  with 
'Eule  Britannia,'  supplemented  by  the  famous  Prussian 
'  tattoo  ' — a  kind  of  quick  march,  for  drums  and  fifes,  com- 
posed about  the  year  1720,  during  the  reign  of  King  Frederick 
the  Great, 


1845.]  IN  PRESENCE   OF   THE   QUEEN,  269 

But  it  was  not  in  the  Military  Concert  that  the  chief 
interest  of  the  musical  performance  offered  to  the  Queen  was 
centred.  Her  Majesty's  visit  was  designedly  coincident  with 
the  inauguration  of  the  bronze  statue  erected  in  honour  of 
Beethoven,  which  was  to  take  place  at  Bonn  on  the  following 
day. 

Accordingly,  at  one  o'clock  on  Tuesday,  the  12th  of 
August,  the  monument  was  unveiled,  amidst  the  firing  of 
cannon,  the  flourish  of  trumpets,  and  the  shouts  of  the 
multitudes  gathered  together  from  every  quarter,  not  only  of 
Germany,  but  of  every  other  music-loving  nation  in  Europe, 
and  in  the  presence,  not  only  of  the  Eoyal  Families  of 
England  and  Prussia,  but  of  more  Eoyal  and  Princely  lovers 
of  Art  than  we  have  space  to  mention. 

Among  the  great  musicians  j)resent  at  the  unveiling  of  the 
statue  were  Spohr,  Meyerbeer,  Moscheles,  Sir  George  Smart, 
Fetis,  Liszt,  Berlioz,  Eellstab,  Lindpaintner,  Staudigl, 
Madame  Viardot- Garcia,  Miss  Sabilla  Novello,  with  a  host  of 
singers  and  instrumentalists  of  the  highest  order.  And 
Mademoiselle  Lind  was  also  invited — not  to  the  festival,  but 
to  sing  privately  to  King  Frederick  William's  Eoyal  and 
distinguished  guests  at  Briihl  and  the  restored  old  feudal 
fortress  of  Stolzenfels  on  the  Ehine. 

Herr  Heinrich  Brockhaus,  of  Leipzig,  who,  it  will  be 
remembered,  had  visited  Berlin  in  the  month  of  March,* 
makes  the  following  entry  in  his  Diary  for  the  7th  of 
August : — 

"  (1845.  Leipzig,  August  7.)  Eduard's  f  birthday  was  cele- 
brated in  quite  an  exceptional  way ;  namely,  by  the  presence 
of  Jenny  Lind. 

*'  She  had  begged  us  to  take  post-tickets  for  her  to  Frank- 

*  See  page  257. 

t  Herr  (afterwards  Dr.)  Eduard  Brockhaus,  then  a  bright  enthusiastic 
youth  of  sixteen. 


270  JENNY  LINT).  [bk.  iv.  ch.  x. 

fort  on  the  INIain,  as  she  had  been  summoned  by  the  King  of 
Prussia,  to  Stolzenfels,  on  the  Ehine,  where  Queen  Victoria 
is  to  be  received  with  great  splendour ;  and  I  took  this  oppor- 
tunity of  inviting  her  to  spend  with  us  the  few  hours  between 
her  arrival  and  departure. 

"  I  met  her  at  the  station,  and  she  seemed  pleased  with  my 
invitation.  Her  Swedish  companion,*  who  speaks  but  little 
German  and  no  French,  and  Herr  Berg,  who,  I  believe,  was 
her  first  teacher,  came  with  her,  and  we  spent  a  few  hours 
very  pleasantly  together. 

"  She  is  stiil  in  every  respect  the  dear,  sensitive,  modest 
girl  whom  I  learned  to  know  in  the  spring ;  and  it  seems  as 
if  the  usual  consequences  of  the  excitement  and  jubilation 
that  she  everywhere  creates  pass  over  her.  Art  is,  to  her,  a 
veritable  religion,  of  which  she  is,  herself,  a  pure  and  chaste 
priestess.  1  have  known  but  few  womanly  natures  that  have 
made  so  wholly  favourable  an  impression  upon  me  as  that  of 
Jenny  Lind. 

"  We  accompanied  the  travellers  to  the  post-carriage,  and 
our  farewell  was  a  very  hearty  one  indeed."  f 

A  touching  little  episode  connected  with  the  journey  is 
told  in  a  letter  written  to  Madame  Birch- Pfeiffer  from 
Frankfort,  and  dated  August  10,  1845  : — 

"  I  have  not  much  to  say ;  since,  as  I  told  you,  we  spent 
most  of  our  time  in  the  diligence.     But  I  had  one  sorrow, 

"  When  we  left  Leipzig  the  conductor  took  with  him  a 
little  dog — a  Spitz — as  they  are  always  obliged  to  do,  for  the 
protection  of  the  luggage.  The  little  dog  was  engaging,  and 
every  time  we  came  to  a  station  I  kissed  him,  but  soon 
afterwards  the  poor  little  animal  fell  under  tiie  wheels,  and 
was  run  over.     Ah !  it  made  me  so  unhappy."  % 

The  English  correspondents  of  the  various  London  journals, 
while  giving  detailed  accounts  of  the  "  Beethoven  Festival  " 
at  Bonn,  were,  of  course,  necessarily  silent  on  the  subject  of 

*  Mdlle.  Louise  Johansson. 

t  Translated,  by  kind  permission  of  his  sons,  from  '  Aus  den  TageMchern 
von  Eeinrich  BrocJcJiaus'  (Leipzig,  1884),  Band  i.  p.  56.  Privately 
printed,  for  friends  only. 

X  From  Frau  von  Hillern's  collection. 


1845.]  IN  PRESENCE   OF   TEE   QUEEN.  271 

the  private  performances  at  Court ;  but,  fortunately,  we  are 
able  to  supply,  from  a  private  source,  some  valuable  informa- 
tion of  a  very  interesting  character  concerning  the  occasion 
on  which  the  Queen  and  Prince  Consort  heard  Mademoiselle 
Lind  sin"  for  the  first  time. 

The  late  Mrs.  Grote,  in  her  unpublished  '  IVIemoir  of  the 
Life  of  Jenny  Lind,'  from  which  we  have  already  made  more 
than  one  valuable  quotation,  gives  the  following  account  of 
the  circumstances  : — 

"  The  Queen  and  Prince  and  their  suite  having  arrived  at 
the  Chateau  of  Briihl — not  far  from  Bonn — Mademoiselle 
Lind  was  invited  thither,  and  took  part  in  the  musical  enter- 
tainment offered  by  the  Pioyal  host  to  his  guests. 

"  An  Ensjlish  nobleman  * — then  Lord  Steward  of  the  House- 
hold — who  attended  the  Queen  to  Briihl,  and  who  related  to 
me  not  long  afterwards  all  that  passed  there,  said  that  the 
expectations  raised  in  the  Pioyal  minds  by  the  reports  current 
in  Germany  respecting  Jenny  Lind's  singing  were  very  high 
indeed.  He  himself — an  amateur  of  great  experience,  and 
familiarly  acquainted  with  the  stage  and  its  votaries  all  his 
life — was  rather  disposed  to  be  prepared  for  a  disappoint- 
ment. King  Leopold  of  Belgium,  who  was  of  the  party 
at  Briilil,  and  aware  of  My  lord  Liverpool's  scepticism, 
smilingly  said  to  him,  '  I  expect,  that  you  will  be  satisfied, 
when  you  have  heard  the  Lind ;  she  is  something  extra- 
ordinary.' 

"  Whilst '  the  Lind '  was  singing  her  first  aria,  King  Leopold 
amused  himself  by  watching  the  effect  produced  upon  his 
English  friend ;  and  it  was  not  long  before  Lord  Liverpool, 
turning  his  head  round,  made  a  gesture  sufficiently  expressive 
to  satisfy  the  King  that  he  surrendered. 

" '  It  was,'  said  Lord  Liverpool,  *  a  combination  of  style, 
vocal  skill,  and  quality  of  voice,  which  absolutely  took  one  by 
storm.' 

"  The  Queen  and  Prince  Albert  were,  both  of  them,  en- 
chanted with  the  treat  provided  for  them ;  insomuch  that  the 
King  of  Prussia  pressed  Jenny  to  favour  him  ^vith  a  farther 
visit,  at  Stolzenfels,  another  schloss  belonging  to  him,  near 
Coblenz.       Again   Jenny  obeyed  the   Eoyal   mandate,  and 

*  The  late  Lord  Liverpool. 


272  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  x. 

again  Lord  Liverpool  was  captivated  by  her  incomparable 
powers,  as  were  indeed  the  whole  courtly  circle  there 
assembled. 

"  The  Queen  of  England  paid  her  the  most  cordial  com- 
pliments, expressing  a  '  hope  of  seeing  her,  one  day,  in 
England.' 

"Jenny  was  very  much  pleased  with  the  whole  week's 
excursion ;  and  being  afterwards  at  liberty  to  follow  her  own 
bent,  she  accepted  an  engagement  to  perform  a  couple  of 
nights  in  Frankfort,  where  the  utmost  impatience  was  felt  to 
see  and  judge  one  who  was  beginning  to  make  so  strong  a 
sensation  among  the  whole  musical  world."  * 

The  Queen  and  Prince  Consort  left  Stolzenfels,  in  the  Fairy, 
on  Saturday,  the  16th  of  August,  and  proceeded  thence  to 
Mainz.  On  Monday,  the  18th,  they  quitted  the  Ehine 
Provinces,  passed  through  Frankfort  on  their  way  to  Coburg 
and  Gotha,  reached  the  first-named  town  on  the  19th,  and 
the  last  on  the  28th ;  re-embarked  at  Antwerp,  on  their 
homeward  journey,  on  the  6th  of  September,  and  returned  to 
Osborne  on  the  8th. 

After  the  departure  of  the  Eoyal  party  from  Stolzenfels, 
Mademoiselle  Lind  descended  the  Ehine  again  as  far  as 
Cologne,  where,  on  the  26th  of  August,  she  was  serenaded 
by  the  company  of  the  theatre,  who  presented  her  with  a 
poem  beginning,  '  Wohl  heherrsclit  Gesang  die  G-eister ! ' 
beautifully  printed  on  a  white  satin  filet,  and  addressed  to 
her  by  "  Die  Mitglieder  des  Kolner  Stadt-theaters,  Koln,  den 
26  August,  1845." 

On  the  following  day  she  bade  farewell  to  the  Ehine  Pro- 
vinces, and  started  on  her  journey  to  Frankfort,  where  she 
was  announced  to  appear,  in  Norma,  on  the  29th. 

It  was  during  this  visit  to  Frankfort  that  Mademoiselle 
Lind  first  actually  met  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Grote,  of  whom  she  had 
frequently  heard,  through  Madame  von  Koch,  and  Mr.  Edward 

*  MS.  '  Memoir  of  the  Life  of  Jenny  Lind ; '  by  Mrs.  Grote. 


1845.]  IN  PRESENCE   OF   THE   QUEEN.  273 

Lewin  ;  and  the  acquaintance  thus  formed  soon  ripened  into 
closer  intimacy.  Mr.  Grote  was  a  man  of  business-like 
habits  and  experience,  while  Mrs.  Grote  was  almost  equally- 
well  versed  in  the  ways  of  the  world ;  and  when,  feeling  sure 
of  their  integrity  and  confidence,  Mademoiselle  Lind  entrusted 
to  them  the  secret  of  the  nightmare  which  had  for  so  many 
months  oppressed  her,  Mrs.  Grote  offered  to  do  all  that  lay  in 
her  power,  when  she  returned  to  England,  to  induce  Mr. 
Bunn  to  rescind  his  contract,  though  she  did  not  expect  to 
obtain  this  eminently  desirable  result  without  to  a  certain 
extent  indemnifying  the  manager  for  his  disappointment — a 
condition  to  which  Mademoiselle  Lind  readily  agreed, 
"  adding,"  says  her  friend,  "  that  she  would  ratify  any  terms 
which  I  should  deem  it  desirable  to  arrange,  in  the  way  of 
delit,  or  '  smart-money '  as  the  old  pkrase  used  to  be."  * 

Before  leaving  Frankfort,  on  her  return  to  England, 
Mrs.  Grote  held  another  confidential  communication  with 
her,  which  she  thus  describes  in  the  MS.  sketch  already 
quoted : — 

"  Amons:  the  thimis  Jennv  said  to  me  during  those  two 
days,"  she  writes,  "  one  was  that  her  earnest  desire  was  to 
have  done  witli  the  Stage,  and  to  retire  into  private  life  as 
speedily  as  was  consistent  with  pecuniary  independence. 

"  I  manifested  some  surprise  at  hearing  her  speak  of  her 
profession  with  such  dislike.  She  went  on  to  say  that  it  was 
the  Theatre,  and  the  sort  of  entourage  it  involved,  that  was 
distasteful  to  her:  that  at  the  Opera  she  was  liable  to  be 
continually  intruded  upon  by  curious  idlers  and  exposed  to 
many  indescribable  ennuis ;  that  the  combined  fatigue  of 
acting  and  singing  was  exhausting :  that  the  exposure  to  cold 
coulisses,  after  exertions  on  the  stage  in  a  heated  atmosphere, 
was  trying  to  the  chest :  the  labour  of  rehearsals,  tiresome  to 
a  degree :  and  that,  altogether,  she  longed  for  the  time  to 
arrive  when  she  would  be  rich  enough  to  do  without  the 
Theatre — adding,  '  My  wants  are  few — my  tastes  simple — a 

*  JilS.  '  Memuir,'  by  Mrs.  Grote. 
VOL.  I.  T 


274  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  x. 

small  income  would  content  me.'  She  wonld  sing  occasionally, 
she  said,  both  for  charity  and  for  her  friends,  as  well  as  for 
the  undying  love  she  felt  for  the  musical  Art ;  but  not  act, 
if  she  could  help  it. 

"  I  mention  tliis  to  prove  how  consistent  her  language  was 
all  through  the  subsequent  phases  of  her  artist-life.  I  must 
also  say  that  her  modesty  and  distrust  of  her  own  powers, 
at  this  period,  showed  me  that  she  cherished  a  lofty  standard 
of  ideal  excellence,  and  was  far  from  thinking  herself  what 
every  one  who  heard  her  thought  her — a  singer  of  the  highest 
order."  * 

This  however  was  certainly  the  opinion  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Frankfort,  whose  enthusiasm  was  scarcely  less  remarkable 
than  that  of  the  audience  at  Berlin. 

The  engagement  at  Frankfort  was  for  nine  nights,  from 
the  29th  of  August  to  the  loth  of  September,  and  included 
three  performances  of  Norma,  four  of  La  Sonnamhula,  one 
of  Der  FreiscMUz,  and  one  of  Lucia  di  Lammcrmoor.'\  The 
'Frankfort'  correspondent  of  one  of  the  leading  London 
journals  thus  speaks  of  her  appearance  and  reception  : — 

"  Eather  above  the  middle  height,  Jenny  Lind  is  slender, 
but  peculiarly  graceful  in  figure  and  action.  She  is  very  fair, 
with  a  profusion  of  beautiful  auburn  tresses ;  but  it  is  entirely 
in  the  expression  of  her  eyes  that  the  truly  great  artiste  will 
be  identified  :  the  feeling  and  intelligence  of  those  bright  orbs 
are  unmistakable. 

"The  lessee  of  Drury  Lane  Theatre  went  expressly  to 
Berlin  to  engage  her,  and  she  signed  an  agreement  with 
Mr.  Bunn  for  twenty  performances,  either  for  last  May  or 
the  present  month  of  October. 

"  Most  liberal  offers  have  also  been  tendered  to  her  by  Mr. 
Lumley's  agents,  for  Her  ]\Iajesty's  Theatre ;  but  we  repeat 
the  expression  of  our  belief  that,  whenever  her  dehtt  takes 
place  in  this  country,  it  will  be  on  the  Drury  Lane  boards. 

"  The  writer  of  this  little  narrative  had  the  good  fortune  to 


o"- 


*  MS.  '  Memoir,'  by  Mrs.  Grote. 

t  The  following  were  the  dates  of  the  performances:  Aug.  29,  31, 
Norma ;  Sept,  3,  5,  La  Sonnambula ;  Sept,  7,  Der  Freischiitz ;  Sept,  10, 
Norma ;  Sept.  12,  Lucia ;  and  Sept,  14,  15,  La  Sonnamlula, 


1845.]  IX  PRESENCE    OF   THE   QUEEN.  275 

hear  Jenny  Lind  at  Frankfort,  last  month,  in  Bellini's  La 
Sonnamhula.  The  house  was  crowded  to  excess,  and  even  the 
side-scenes  were  filled  with  auditors  disappointed  of  places 
in  front  of  the  curtain.  The  sensation  that  she  created  in  the 
part  of  '  Amina '  can  only  be  compared  to  that  which  was 
wont  to  attend  the  delineations  of  Malibran  in  the  same 
part,  and  that  is  awarding  the  highest  possible  praise  to  the 
Swedish  Siren. 

"Jenny  Lind  has  a  voice  of  extraordinary  compass,  the 
only  defect  in  which  is  a  deficiency  of  volume  in  the  medium 
register.  Her  upper  notes  are  delicious,  as  clear  as  a  bell ; 
and  she  warbles  with  the  facility  of  a  nightingale.  Her 
execution  is  of  the  most  brilliant  kind,  and  nothing  can 
approach  the  exquisite  propriety  and  aptness  of  her  cadenzas. 
They  always  come  in  at  the  right  moment :  she  never 
sacrifices  sense  to  sound.  Her  simplicity  of  style  is,  indeed, 
most  rigid ;  but  this  charming  naturalness  it  is  which  goes  so 
home  to  the  hearts  of  her  hearers.  Her  shake  is  perfect — 
truly  marvellous — proving  that  she  must  have  an  intuitive 
knowledge  of  her  Art  as  well  as  the  best  culture.  Her  style 
is  full  of  impulse  ;  or,  as  the  French  call  it,  ahandon.  In  the 
absence  of  all  stage-trickery  or  conventionalism  may  be  dis- 
tingoished  the  child  of  genius.  Her  opening  Cavatina,  in  the 
presence  of  Amina's  friends,  and  her  finale  were  contrasted 
with  the  highest  skill.  In  the  first  was  the  modest  subdued 
expression  of  joy — in  the  last,  the  triumphant  outbreak  of 
rapture  at  being  restored  to  Elvino.*  The  untiring  energy  of 
tliis  last  vocal  display,  after  two  encores,  electrified  the  band 
as  well  as  the  audience.  Never  shall  we  forget  the  amaze- 
ment of  the  conductor,  Professor  Guhr,  a  first-rate  musician. 
Throwing  away  his  laton,  after  the  exhibition  of  this  wondrous 
power  on  the  part  of  Jenny  Lind,  he  clapped  his  hands 
furiously  over  the  stage-lamps."  f 

It  was  about  this  time  that  a  proposal  was  sent  from 
Vienna,  by  Herr  Pokorny,  the  lessee  of  the  Theater  an  der 
Wien,  for  some  performances  at  that  famous  Opera-House 
during  the  coming  winter.  It  was  a  great  opportunity,  but 
the  idea  was  not  at  all  pleasing  to  Mademoiselle  Lind,  who 

*  See  also  p.  158. 

t  From  the  Illustrated  London  News  for  October  11,  1815.  (Pages 
232-233.) 

T   2 


276  JENNY  LIND.  bk.  iv.  ch.  x- 

thus  wrote  about  it  to  her  friend,  Madame  Birch-Pfeiffer, 
tlironoh  whom  the  engaoemeut  had  been  offered  to  her  : — 

"  Frankfurt-am-Main, 
"  4  Sept.  1845. 

"  Deae  good  Mother  Birch, 

"  What  do  you  think  of  me,  and  my  obstinacy  ?  For 
Heaven's  sake  do  not  be  angry! — only  let  me  tell  you 
honestly  all  about  it,  and  then  you  will  quite  certainly  be — 
more  angry  than  ever  ! 

"  Everything  goes  splendidly  with  me,  and  even  better 
than  that !  and  yet  I  have  such  anxiety  about  Vienna  that  I 
scarcely  believe  I  shall  dare  to  go  there.  They  have  such 
excellent  singers  in  Vienna ;  and  what  can  I  do  there  ?  And, 
besides  that,  I  gain  just  as  much  money  by  the  journeys 
I  am  now  making — though  A^ienna  is  the  chief  thing,  on 
account  of  the  renown. 

"  My  good  master  *  is  now  away,  so  I  must  judge  for 
myself.  I  have  had  the  privilege  of  speaking  to  the  Prince 
and  Princess  Metternich,  here  in  Frankfort,  at  Baron  Pioth- 
schild's,  and  they  have  both  advised  me  to  go  to  Vienna. 
And  yet — only  think ! — what  if  I  lose  my  whole  reputation  I 
If  I  do  not  please  !  And  this  anxiety  grows  so  much  upon 
me !  And  all  through  next  winter  the  thought  of  my  first 
appearance  in  Vienna  will  follow  me  like  an  evil  spirit. 
Ah,  yes !     I  am  very  much  to  be  pitied  ! 

"  Tell  Herr  Pokorny  that  I  am  very  grateful  to  him  for  the 
offered  half-receipts  and  quite  satisfied  on  the  score  of  money  ; 
but — that  he  must  engage  some  other  singer ;  for  he  cannot 
reckon  on  me,  as  I  cannot  accept  the  engagement,  and  cannot 
believe  that  I  should  be  able  to  carry  it  out  in  Vienna. 
Break  it  off,  good  mother.  I  am  contented  with  very  little, 
and  shall  perhaps  sing  no  longer  than  till  next  spring,  as  I 
can  then  go  home,  by  Hamburg,  and  afterwards  live  in  peace. 
For,  you  see,  mother  Birch,  this  life  does  not  suit  me  at  all. 
If  you  could  only  see  me — the  despair  I  am  in  whenever  I 
go  to  the  theatre  to  sing !  It  is  too  much  for  me.  This 
terrible  nervousness  destroys  everything  for  me.  I  sing  far 
less  well  than  I  should,  if  it  were  not  for  this  enemy.  I 
cannot  understand  how  it  is  that  everything  goes  so  well 
with  me.  People  all  take  me  by  the  hand.  But  all  this 
helps   nothing !     Herr   Pokorny   would    not   be   very   well 

*  Herr  Berg. 


1845.]  IN  PRESENCE   OF   TEE    QUEEN.  277 

pleased,  for  instance,  if  I  were  to  sing  there  once  only  and, 
that  once,  fail.  For  the  money  he  offers  me  he  can  get 
singers  anywhere  who  are  not  so  difficult  to  satisfy  as  I  am, 
and  who,  at  least,  wish  for  something,  while  I  wish  for 
nothing  at  all ! 

"  Mother !  what  do  you  say  to  this — that  I  have  so  mislaid 
your  letter  to  Madame — yes!  what  is  her  name? — that  I 
cannot  find  it  anywhere  ?  It  is  certainly  hidden  away  some- 
where ;  but  where,  I  cannot  tell.  For  Heaven's  sake,  do  not 
be  angry !  On  the  day  on  which  your  letter  arrived,  I 
received  so  many,  that  it  was  possibly  put  aside.  I  beg  you, 
above  all  things  in  the  world,  not  to  be  vexed  with  me  and 
not  to  lose  your  confidence  in  me. 

"  To-morrow  (La  Sonnanibula)  the  Queen  of  England  is 
coming  to  the  Theatre,  and  the  King  and  Queen  of  Bavaria, 
and  all  the  royalties  of  Darmstadt ;  that  is  what  they  believe 
here — but  I  do  not !     Is  not  that  lovely  ? 

"  Greet  the  Aunt,  my  dear  Sister,  and  all, 

"  From  your  ever  grateful  and  devoted 

"  Jenny."  * 

The  picture  is  not  a  cheerful  one.  But  we  shall  hear 
more  of  Vienna  later  on. 

*  From  Frau  von  Hillem's  collection. 


278  JENNY  LINT).  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xi. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

WITH   THE   DANES. 

The  short  visit  to  Frankfort  had  been  a  genuine  success,  but 
a  far  more  brilliant  one  was  at  hand. 

After  sino-ino-  two  nights  at  Darmstadt,  at  raised  prices, 
and  to  crowded  houses,*  :Mdlle.  Lind  prepared  to  renew  her 
acquaintance  with  the  kindred  spirits  with  whom  she  had 
entered  into  so  close  an  intellectual  communion  in  the 
autumn  of  the  year  1843. 

With  the  delights  of  her  first  visit  still  green  in  their 
memory,  the  grateful  and  apjDieciative  Danes  went  forth  to 
meet  her  with  demonstrations  of  enthusiastic  welcome. 

For  the  moment  their  hopes  were  held  in  abeyance,  under 
the  circumstances  narrated  in  the  following  communication, 

*  lu  Norma,  on  the  ITtli  of  September ;  and  La  SonnamUcla,  on  the 
19th.  In  memory  of  the  impression  produced  by  the  performance  of 
Norma,  an  anonymous  poem,  beginning,  "  Einst  war's,  dass  tie/  vom 
Norden,"  was  privately  printed,  on  a  pink  card,  and  circulated  among  the 
art-loving  inhabitants  of  the  town.     We  subjoin  the  first  two  stanzas  :— 

"  Einst  war's  dass  tief  vom  Norden,  im  Siegesjubelklang, 
In  deutsche  Herzen  stiirmte  der  Schweden  frommer  Sang ; 
Der  grosse  Gustav  Adolph  zog  kampfend  mit  seinem  Heer, 
Als  Sieger  durch  Deutschlands  Gauen,  zum  Schutze  und  zur  Wehr. 

"  Und  nach  zweihundert  Jahren  font  wieder  Schwedenschall, 
Doch  stromt  er  aus  der  Kehle  der  Schwedischen  Nachtigall ; 
Sie  singt  so  siiss  und  innig,  so  miichtig  und  so  stark, 
Ihr  Ton  schwillt  an  zum  Sturme,  durchzittert  Herz  und  Mark. 
*  *  *  *  *  * 

"  Darmstadt,  den  19ten  September,  1845." 


1845.]  WITH   THE  DANES.  279 

addressed  by  Herr  Sclioeltz  von  Schroeder,  the  Prussian 
Envoy  at  Copenhagen,  to  His  Excellency  Graf  von  Eedern, 
in  charge  of  the  Hofmusik  at  Berlin  : — 

"Your  Excellexcy, 

"  The  feted  heroine  of  the  day,  Mdlle.  Jenny  Lind, 
was  expected  here  yesterday  by  the  steam-packet  said  to 
be  arriving  from  Hamburg.  Expectant  worshippers  without 
number  were  assembled  on  the  strand ;  there  was  no  lack  of 
wreaths  and  flowers ;  the  poet  Andersen  had  prepared  a 
beautiful  '  Welcome ' — but,  alas !  all  fell  through ;  and 
instead  of  the  Singer  came  an  apologetic  letter,  which 
destroyed  all  hopes  of  seeing  her  here 

''&c.,  &c.,  &c., 

"SCHOELTZ   vox    SCHRQSDEl!.* 
"  Copenhagen,  September  25,  1845." 

"  Destroyed  all  hope  " — the  writer  should  have  said — "  for 
that  particular  day ;"  for  she  was  positively  announced 
to  appear,  three  days  afterwards,  and.  arrived  in  ample 
time  to  fulfil  her  engagement.  Her  appearances  were  neces- 
sarily few  in  number,  for  her  time  was  limited,  and  on 
one  of  the  appointed  nights  the  theatre  was  unavoidably 
closed,  on  account  of  her  indisposition.  But  her  stay  was 
sufficiently  prolonged  to  create  a  profound  and  lasting 
impression  among  all  classes  of  society. 

She  sang  three  times  in  Norma,  twice  in  La  Figlia  del 
Regfjiinento,'\  and  also  at  four  concerts.  % 

The  effect  of  these  performances  upon  the  public  is  thus 
described : — 

*  From  information  kindly  supplied  by  the  Oeneral-Intendantur  der 
Jcgl.  Schaiispiele  zu  Berlin,  who  courteously  submitted  the  Archives  of  the 
Royal  Opera  and  Hofmusik  to  Mr.  Goldschmidt's  examination  for  parti- 
culars -without  which  these  chapters  could  not  have  been  written. 

t  Sept.  28,  Oct.  3,  and  Oct.  5,  Norma ;  Oct.  8,  15,  La  Figlia  del  Begg. 

X  The  concerts  took  place  on  Sept.  16  and  30,  and  Oct.  10  and  16. 


280  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xi. 

"  Then  came  Jenny  Lind,  whose  few  special  Gastrollcn 
raised  a  tremendous  enthusiasm  among  the  public,  and 
every  time  drew  such  crowds  that  the  tickets  were  im- 
mediately sold  for  four  times  their  usual  price.  This,  how- 
ever, was  of  no  particular  benefit  to  the  theatre,  considering 
that  she  was  paid  two  hundred  Danish  rixdoUars  for  every 
performance. 

"  The  receji'tion  she  had  met  with  two  years  before  was 
extraordinary,  yet  it  counts  for  nothing  when  compared 
with  the  homage  now  offered  to  her  in  so  unprecedented  a 
manner.  On  the  occasion  of  her  first  visit  she  merely 
brought  from  her  own  country  a  distinguished  artist-name, 
supported  by  the  rare  talent  by  aid  of  which  she  was 
destined  to  acquire  European  fame.  This  fame  she  had 
now  earned  in  fullest  measure.  In  Berlin  and  Paris  *  she 
was  now  admired  and  praised,  no  less  by  the  first  musical 
authorities  than  by  the  enchanted  j)ublic. 

"  Everything  she  did  produced  a  thrilling  effect,  leaving 
behind  an  impression  far  more  lasting  than  the  most 
marvellous  execution.  Endowed  with  a  mellow,  flexible 
voice,  of  large  compass,  great  power,  and  delightful  sonority ; 
with  a  noble  style  of  acting,  in  the  comic  as  well  as  the 
pathetic  parts;  with  a  personality  which,  though  lacking 
regularity  of  features,  was  rendered  charming  to  the  last 
degree  by  its  womanly  dignity ;  with  eyes  capable  of  the 
deepest  expression  ;  with  the  highest  finish  of  vocal  technique ; 
with  the  most  refined  taste  in  the  use  of  these  musical  and 
dramatic  gifts  ;  with  spiritual  conception  and  feeling,  even  in 
tlie  most  varied  compositions — endowed,  we  say,  with  these 
precious  qualities,  she  carried  everything  before  her. 

"  The  public  had  been  wondering  whether  she  was  really 
able  now  to  produce  anything  more  beautiful  than  that 
which  had  already  been  so  much  admired  as  the  highest  form 
of  perfection.  But  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  first  repre- 
sentation it  became  evident,  from  the  lofty  calm  and  clear- 
ness, the  grace  and  power  with  which  the  notes  streamed 
forth,  that  she  actually  had  advanced  still  farther  in  vocalisa- 
tion, in  j)recision,  and  in  taste. 

"  Her '  Norma  '  had  not  the  wild  and  glowing  passion  which 
most  singers  impart  to  it,  but  there  was  such  deep  feeling, 
such  energy  in  the  acting  as  well  as  in  the  singing,  such 
unpretending  greatness,  such  graceful  harmony  in  look,  in 

*  This,  of  course,  is  a  mistake. 


1845.]  WITH  TEE  DANES.  281 

motion,  in  plastiqnc,  and  in  diction,  that  the  public  was 
transported  by  the  poetry  of  the  personification  ;  and  after 
the  first  act,  amidst  interminable  plaudits,  the  artist  was 
called  before  the  curtain  and  received  with  a  gentle  shower 
of  flowers.  At  the  end  of  the  performance  the  same  act  of 
homage  was  repeated  in  a  still  higher  degree ;  and  from  the 
theatre  a  great  crowd  rushed  on  to  her  residence,  in  order  to 
greet  her  with  cheers  on  her  return  home.* 

"  Her  performance  of  the  part  of  '  Marie '  in  La  Figlia  del 
Rcggimcnto  was  received  witli  no  less  rapture.  Here,  again, 
she  did  not  interpret  the  part  in  accordance  with  the  usual 
conception,  but  in  a  way  which  suited  her  temperament  _  to 
perfection.  There  was  so  intimate  and  marvellous  a  union 
of  good-nature,  poetical  feeling,  jesting  humour,  and  amiable 
naivete  in  the  delivery  of  her  dialogue  that,  with  whatever 
apparent  lightness  she  threw  her  words  about,  they  all,  in 
accordance  with  the  needs  of  the  moment,  teemed  with  a 
brightness  of  fun  of  which  she  herself  appeared  wholly 
unconscious.  The  effect  of  this  was  to  constantly  call  forth 
a  burst  of  applause  the  spontaneity  of  which  was  self- 
evident  ;  and  yet  the  chief  interest  of  the  performance  really 
lay  in  her  singing,  which,  whether  the  intention  was  grave  or 
merry,  had  in  every  simplest  phrase,  in  every  minutest 
ornament,  no  less  than  in  the  most  brilliant  Iravura 
passages,  a  fulness  of  soul  and  a  perfection  of  technique 
wliich,  combined  with  the  truthfulness  to  nature  which 
everywhere  pervaded  it,  held  the  public  in  a  condition  of 
never- failing  enthusiasm."  f 

The  reader  will  bear  in  mind  that  this  is  no  ephemeral 
critique,  culled  from  the  pages  of  a  daily  journal,  but  the 
deliberate  verdict  of  a  sober  art-historian ;  and  it  is  im- 
possible to  read  his  glowing  narrative  without  a  feeling  of 
surprise,  that  he  should  have  permitted  himself  to  indulge  in 
a  disi^lay  of  enthusiasm  so  little  in  accordance  with  the 
traditions  of  his  order;  yet  his  language  is  certainly  no 
stronger  than  that  to  which  we  have  already  become  accus- 

*  As  on  the  occasion  of  her  first  visit  to  Copenhagen,  Mdlle.  Lind  was 
the  guest  of  her  friends,  Monsieur  and  ]\Iadame  Bournonville. 

t  From  '  Den  danske  Skueplads ; '  a  History  of  Danish  Dramatic  Art, 
by  T.  Overskou.     (Copenhagen,  1864,  vol.  v.) 


282  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xi. 

tomed,  in  the  accounts  of  the  performances  at  Berlin  con- 
tributed to  the  Berliner  Zcitiiwj  by  Herr  Ludwig  Eellstab, 
whose  reviews  are  regarded  by  German  journalists  as  examples 
of  genuine  criticism,  second  only  in  value  and  interest  ta 
those  of  Schumann  and  Eochlitz.  Wliat  can  we  infer  from 
this  but  that  a  talent  capable  of  inspiring  experienced 
critics  with  a  fire  of  enthusiasm  so  foreign,  not  only  to  their 
practice,  but  to  their  fixed  and  habitual  principles,  must 
necessarily  be  a  very  remarkable  one — a  talent  of  an  order 
with  which  they  had  not  been  previously  accustomed  to  deal  ? 
And  the  progress  of  events  proved  this  to  be  the  truth. 

Besides  the  dramatic  performances  thus  favourably  noticed, 
Mdlle.  Lind  sang  at  a  concert  given,  on  the  16th  of  September, 
in  the  large  hall  of  the  Hotel  d'Angleterre  ;  at  another,  given 
in  the  Eidehus  (or  Hippodrome)  of  the  Eoyal  Palace  at 
Christiansborg,  on  the  30th  of  September ;  and  at  a  third, 
given  on  the  10th  of  October  at  the  Court  Theatre,  in  the- 
palace  at  Christiansborg,  in  aid  of  the  Association  for  the 
Eescue  of  Neglected  Children. 

So  o-reat  was  the  success  of  this  charitable  entertainment 
that,  on  the  following  day,  the  governors  of  the  Association 
sent  her  the  following  gratifying  address  : — 

"  Mademoiselle, 

"  During  the  years  that  the  under-mentioned  Associ- 
ation has  carried  on  its  work,  the  object  of  which  is  the^ 
prevention  of  crime  through  the  education  of  children  in  need 
of  moral  training,  the  aid'received  from  private  persons  has 
never  represented  a  richer  contribution  than  that  for  which 
the  Association  begs  permission  to  express  to  you  its  heartfelt 
thanks. 

"  By  using  the  rare  talents  you  possess  in  such  abundance 
for  the  benefit  of  the  Association,  at  last  night's  performance 
at  the  Court  Theatre,  you  have  procured  for  it  an  income 
which  will  render  possible  a  considerable  development  of  its- 
means  of  doing  good. 

"  On  leaving  Denmark  you  will  take  with  you  the  pleasant 


1845.]  WITH  TEE  DANES.  283 


consciousness  of  having  rescued,  from  dens  of  vice,  many  a 
child,  who  now,  through  your  active  charity,  will  be  brought 
up  to  a  useful  and  virtuous  life,  the  blessings  of  which  will 
follow  you  wherever  you  go." 

{Here  folloios  a  long  list  of  sigtiatures.) 

"  Association  for  the  Eescue  of  Neglected  Children, 
"  October  11,  1845. 

"  To  Frokcn  Jenny  Lind!' 

Truly,  this  was  a  worthy  beginning  of  the  w^ork  which,  not 
so  very  many  years  afterwards,  reached  so  noble  a  consum- 
mation at  Brompton,  at  Norwich,  and  Manchester,  and 
now  evokes  a  blessing  from  the  lips  of  every  loyal  and 
patriotic  Swede  in  Stockholm  itself. 

The  last  concert  at  which  she  assisted,  during  this  visit 
to  Copenhagen,  took  place,  on  the  16th  of  October,  in  the 
Eidehus ;  and  the  records  of  the  period  prove  that  these 
purely  musical  performances  were  no  less  successful  than 
the  dramatic  representations.  Mdlle.  Lind  herself — though 
she  caught  a  serious  cold — was  delighted,  not  only  with  her 
reception  by  the  Danish  public,  but  by  the  hearty  and  able 
co-operation  of  the  artists  with  whom  she  was  associated  in 
her  arduous  duties.  Writing  to  Madame  Birch-Pfeiffer,  on 
the  14th  of  October,  she  says  : — 

"  Ah  !  people  are  here  more  than  ordinarily  kind  to  me. 
The  ladies  of  the  chorus  have  decorated  my  room  so  beauti- 
fully ,  and  the  whole  orchestra  and  chorus  have  been  so 
friendly.  On  my  birthday  they  brought  me  a  Vivat  !  and  a 
serenade.     Ah,  yes  !  I  am  quite  at  home  here  ! 

"But  the  weather  has  been  frightfully  bad;  so  stormy 
that,  up  to  this  time,  I  have  not  dared  to  venture  upon  a 
voyage  by  sea,  for  several  ships  have  been  lost.  However,  as 
I  am  giving  concerts  here  to  four  thousand  people — for  they 
have  so  large  a  room — I  have  stayed  on  a  few  days  longer. 
But — alas  ! — I  have  caught  a  horrible  cold  ;  had  to  put  off 
the  performance  the  day  before  yesterday  ;  and  feel  myself 
so  much  knocked  up  that  I  can  only  sing  in  my  farewell 


284  ,      .        JENNY  LIND.  [bk.iv.ch.xi. 

concert,  and  dare  not  risk  any  more  singing  tliis  month,  if  I 
wish  to  preserve  my  voice ;  and,  as  I  shall  have  to  use  that 
voice  for  another  year,  I  have  been  obliged  to  write  to 
Hanover,  Bremen,  Cassel,  and  Leipzig,  to  say  that  I  cannot 
come — to  my  very  great  regret,  for  nothing  in  the  world 
grieves  me  so  much  as  not  being  aide  to  keep  my  promise. 

"  It  was  particularly  unfortunate  with  regard  to  Hanover, 
as  the  King  had  evidently  looked  forward  to  it.  I  have 
promised  to  go  there  as  soon  as  my  engagement  in  Berlin 
expires,  and  my  re^icvtoirc  will  then  be  more  extensive.  But 
it  would  really  not  have  been  right  of  me  to  sing  any  more 
now,  as  I  must  so  soon  be  in  Berlin  ;  for,  as  you  know, 
mother,  I  need  all  my  strengtli  there."  * 

But,  the  remembrance  of  tlie  artistic  tone  which  had  made 
her  visit  to  Copenhagen  so  thoroughly  enjoyable,  remained 
long  after  the  cold,  and  the  loss  of  voice,  and  the  stormy 
weather  had  been  forgotten.  ]\Iany  years  afterwards  she 
wrote  to  Madame  Bournonville  : — 

"  I  shall  never  forget  the  joy  with  which  I  sang  at 
Copenhagen ;  for  never  since  have  I  found  more  cultivated 
artists  anywhere."  f 

It  was  a  happy  time,  in  spite  of  the  threatened  loss  of 
voice;  but  it  owed  its  brightest  charm  far  less  to  the 
applause  of  a  genuinely  appreciative  public  than  to  the 
atmosphere  of  poetry  and  high  intellectual  culture  with 
which  the  young  priestess  of  Art  found  herself  surrounded 
on  every  side.  With  all  that  was  best  and  greatest  in  the 
mind-world  of  the  North,  she  was  admitted  to  closest  and 
most  unreserved  communion.  Poet  and  painter,  romancist 
and  historian,  vied  with  each  other  in  paying  homage  to 
her  genius.  Thorwaldsen,  whom  she  had  known  on  her  first 
visit  to  Copenhagen,  had  died  in  the  previous  year ;  but  her 
"  brother,"  Hans  Christian  Andersen — as  she  delighted  to  call 

*  From  Frau  von  Hillern's  collection. 

t  From  a  letter  from  Madame  Goldschmidt  to  IMadame  Bournonville, 
dated  Loudon,  June  1 1 ,  J  877. 


1845.]  WITH   TEE  DANES.  285 

him,  in  obedience  to  the  homely  Scandinavian  custom — was 
there  to  greet  her  with  the  '  Welcome '  mentioned  in  the 
letter  of  Herr  Schoeltz  von  Schroeder.  An  album  which  she 
kept  at  the  period,  and  which  is  still  fortunately  preserved, 
is  filled  with  the  contributions  of  her  most  valued  friends. 
Andersen  wrote  in  it  a  poem,  dated,  "  Copenhagen,  October  12, 
1845  "  ;  and  Anton  Melbye,  the  painter,  illustrated  it  with 
a  beautiful  little  etching,  executed  with  a  reed-pen,  and 
representing  the  steam-packet  surrounded  by  the  shipping 
in  the  harbour.  QEhlenschlager  wrote  a  poem  also,  and 
Geheimrath  Jonas  Collin.  Music  was  represented  by  Mels 
W.  Gade,  the  friend  of  Mendelssohn  and  Schumann,  and  the 
composer  of  Comala,  Im  Hoclilandc,  and  many  other  works 
of  undoubted  merit.*  Ed.  Lehmann  was  there  also.  And 
Jensen,  not  contented  with  drawing  in  the  album,  and 
unwilling  that  the  "  gentle  shower  of  flowers "  which  had 
fallen  upon  her  in  the  theatre  should  fade  without  remem- 
brance, drew  an  inspiration  from  Van  Huysum,  and  painted 
a  lovely  wreath  of  white  roses,  which  Avas  presented  to  her 
as  a  testimonial,  and  is  now  the  property  of  her  daughter. 
The  picture  was  painted  at  the  desire  of  a  few  friendly 
subscribers,  among  whom  we  find  the  names,  not  only  of 
her  genial  host  and  hostess,  M.  and  Madame  Bournonville, 
but  also  those  of  M.  Mozart  and  Madame  Mathilde  Waage- 
petersen,  the  touching  story  of  whose  sickness  was  related  in 
a  former  chapter.f 

The  poems  of  OEhlenschlager  and  Andersen  are  of  so 
great  an  interest  that  we  have  thought  it  desirable  to  re- 
produce them  in  the  original  Danish,  for  no  translation 
could  possibly  have  done  justice  to  their  strong  national 
colouring. 

*  Herr  Gade  filled  the  post  of  Hof  Kapellmeister  in  his  native  city, 
Copenhagen,  until  his  recent  (lamented)  death. 
t  See  page  175. 


286  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xi. 


JENNY  LIND. 

Folkesangen  liar  en  Wevden  inde, 
Du  bar  kaldt  deu  frem  til  Liv  paa  ny  ; 
San  gens  Muse  kom,  en  Nordisk  Qviude, 
Snillet  selv  og  dog  som  Barnet  bly ! 

Selv  du  ei  Din  bedste  Ynde  kjender, 
Sjelens  Eeenhed  ubevidst  udtalt; 
Hellig  for  Din  Ivunst  Dit  Hjerte  brender, 
Gud  er  Dig  dog  Stjernen  over  Alt. 

I  Krystal-Skal  Nectar-Dricken  bydes, 
Norden  bar  ved  Dig  een  Stjerne  meer, 
Ved  Din  Sang  vi  luttres,  rores,  frydes, 
Gud  med  Dig ! — Hans  bedste  Willie  skeer  ! 

med  broderligt  Sind 

H.  C.  Andersen. 
Kjobenbavn,  12  Oct.,  1845. 


PHILOMELE. 

En  lille  Fugl  i  Busk  og  Dal, 
Soedvanlig  kaldet  Nattergal, 
Om  den  de  gamle  Sagn  os  sige 
At  allerforst  den  var  en  Pige. 

Og  Pbilomele  bendes  Navn  ! 
(  :  Hvad  i  Stockliolm  og  Kiobenliavn 
Hun  bedder,  skal  jeg  strax  berette ; 
Dog  forst  maa  jeg  fortaella  Dette  : ) 

Eormodenlig  af  Jalousie, 

Fordi  bun  sang  sin  Melodie 

Saa  sodt,  en  Trold  det  Barn  fortrylled, 

Og  1  en  Fuglebam  indhylled. 

Nu  qvad  bun — Trylleri  til  Spot — 
Som  Fugl  vel  ikke  mindre  godt, 
Og  hver  en  Yaar  i  Blomsterdalen 
Hun  qviddred  sodt  som  Nattergalen. 

For  Elskerne-  var  bendes  Sang 

Til  Kildens  Accompagnemcnt 

Saa  kioer  som  for.     Hunselv,  bedrovet, 

Beskeden  sad  i  Skyggelovet. 


1845.]  WITH  THE  DANES.  287 

Saa  gik  det  mange  hundred  Aar, 
Da  vaagned  liun  engang  en  Yaar 
Igien  som  Pige.     Hendes  Stemme — 
Hvo  den  har  hort  kan  den  ei  glemme. 

Thi  Fuglens  Triller,  Orets  lyst, 
Med  Hiertet  i  et  oedelt  Bryst 
Forened  denne  liulde  Pige, 
Saa  aldrig  for  man  horte  lige. 

Xu  stod  hun  der  med  Smil  paa  Kind — 
Med  Taareblik — som  Jenny  Lind! 
Oni  Philomele,  Nattergalen, 
Var  der  slet  ikke  mere  Talen. 

Men  ak !  vor  Gloede  var  kun  kort — 
Som  Fugl  hun  flyver  atter  bort. 
Dog  trost  dig  Hierte,  stands  din  Klage, 
Hun  kommer  snart  igien  tilbage. 

A.  CEhlenschlagek. 

MELPOMENE  OG  THALIA. 

Thaha  stred  med  Melpomene 
Om  forste  Eang  paa  Digterscene, 
Apollo  skulde  fcelde  Dora, 
I  strid  de  hidsigt  til  ham  kom. 
Sangguden  i  det  Musamode, 
Som  ingen  af  dem  vilde  stode, 
Ved  Harpen  hilste  dem  og  loe. 
At  begge  vandt  og  ingen  tabte 
Til  Jenny  Lind  han  dem  omskabte. 
I  hende  see  vi  beggeto  ! 

A,  CEhlexschlager. 
Kiobenhavn,  21  Oct.,  1845. 

The  two  visits  to  Copenhagen  seem  to  have  made  a  deep 
impression  upon  the  mind  of  Hans  Christian  Andersen, 
for  not  only  did  he  celebrate  them  in  verse,  but  in  the 
autobiographical  sketch  entitled  '  Bas  Mdlirclicn  meines 
Lebens,^  he  speaks  of  them  at  considerable  length  and  in 
a  very  enthusiastic  tone  indeed. 

"  The  youthfully-fresh  voice,"  he  says,  "  forced  itself  into 
every  heart.  Here  reigned  Truth  and  Nature.  Everything 
was  full  of  meaning  and  intelligence. 


288  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xi. 

" '  Yes,  yes,'  said  she,  '  I  will  exert  myself ;  I  will 
endeavour ;  I  will  be  better  qualified,  when  I  come  to 
Copenhagen  again,  than  I  now  am.' 

" '  There  will  not  be  born,  in  a  whole  century,  another 
being  so  gifted  as  she,'  said  Mendelssohn,  in  speaking  to 
me  of  Jenny  Lind;  and  his  words  expressed  my  own  full 
conviction. 

"  There  is  nothing  which  can  dwarf  the  impression  made 
by  Jenny  Lind's  greatness  on  the  stage  except  her  own 
personal  character  at  home.  An  intelligent  and  childlike 
disposition  here  exercises  its  astonishing  power.  She  is 
happy — belonging,  as  it  were,  no  longer  to  the  world.  A 
peaceful  quiet  home  is  the  object  of  her  thoughts ;  yet  she 
loves  Art  with  her  whole  soul,  and  feels  her  vocation  in 
it.  A  noble,  pious  disposition  like  hers  cannot  be  spoiled 
by  homage.  On  one  occasion  only  did  I  hear  her  express 
her  joy  in  her  talent  and  in  her  sense  of  power.  It  was 
during  her  last  visit  to  Copenhagen,  Almost  every  evening 
she  appeared,  either  in  the  Opera  or  at  concerts.  Every  hour 
was  in  requisition.  She  heard  of  a  society  the  object  of 
which  was  to  assist  unfortunate  children  and  to  take  them 
out  of  the  hands  of  their  parents  by  whom  they  were  ill- 
treated,  and  compelled  either  to  beg  or  steal,  and  to  place 
them  in  other  and  better  conditions.  Benevolent  people 
subscribed  annually  a  small  sum  each  for  their  support; 
nevertheless,  the  means  for  tliis  excellent  purpose  were 
small. 

"  '  But  have  I  not  still  a  disengaged  evening  ? '  said  she. 
'  Let  me  give  a  performance  for  the  benefit  of  these  poor 
children,  and  we  will  have  doubled  prices.' 

"  The  performance  was  given,  and  its  proceeds  were  large. 
When  she  was  told  of  this,  and  that  by  this  means  a  large 
number  of  poor  children  would  be  benefited  for  several  years, 
her  countenance  beamed  and  her  eyes  were  filled  with 
tears. 

"  '  Is  it  not  beautiful,'  she  said,  '  that  I  can  sing  so  ? ' 

"  I  feel  towards  her  as  a  brother,  and  I  think  myself 
happy  that  I  can  know,  and  understand,  such  a  spirit.  God 
give  to  her  that  peace,  that  quiet  and  happiness,  that  she 
desires  for  herself. 

"  Through  Jenny  Lind  I  first  became  sensible  of  the 
holiness  of  Art.  Through  her  I  learned  that  one  must 
forget  one's  self  in  the  service  of  the  Supreme.      No  books, 


1845.]  WITH  THE  DANES.  289 

no  men,  have  had  a  more  ennobling  influence  upon  me  as  a 
poet  than  Jenny  Lind ;  and  therefore  have  I  spoken  of  her 
so  fully  and  so  warmly."  * 

"  She  is  happy,"  says  the  Danish  poet,  "  belonging,  as  it 
were,  no  longer  to  the  world."  In  the  world — as  the  holy 
ones  have  ever  lived — but  not  of  it.  Living  among  its 
people,  to  help  them,  wherever  help  was  possible,  but  with- 
drawing from  contact  with  all  that  was  mean,  and  base,  and 
sordid.    And  happy,  thrice  happy,  in  the  voluntary  isolation. 

Yes,  it  was  indeed  a  happy  time — but  even  then  the 
world  intruded  itself  into  the  happiness  of  the  moment, 
however  little  the  "  sensitive  young  girl  "  belonged  to  it.  The 
nest  of  the  "  Swedish  Nightingale"  was  overshadowed — or,  at 
least,  seemed  to  her  to  be  so — by  a  "  sable  cloud,"  which 
obstinately  refused  to  "  turn  forth  its  silver  lining  on  the 
night." 

*  '  Das  Marchen  meines  Lebens,'  von  H.  C.  Andersen  (Leipzig,  1880). 


VOL    I.  U 


290  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.iv.ch.xii. 


CHAPTEE  XII. 

THE  "  BUNN-CONTRACT  "  {continued). 

Not  even  her  intercourse  with  the  master-minds,  in  com- 
munion with  whom  she  spent  so  many  pleasant  hours  during 
her  second  visit  to  Copenhagen,  could  free  Mdlle.  Lind  from 
the  nightmare  of  her  dreadful  London  engagement.  The 
remembrance  of  it  haunted  her  everywhere,  and  in  the 
midst  of  her  brightest  triumphs,  oppressed  her  sensitive  and 
unsophisticated  nature  with  a  quite  unreasonable  terror, 
which,  as  time  wore  on,  sensibly  undermined  her  health  and 
caused  her  a  world  of  unhappiness. 

On  the  14th  of  October  she  wrote  to  Madame  Birch- 
Pfeiff'er,  in  a  letter  which  has  already  been  partly  quoted  in 
an  earlier  chapter : — 

"  What  do  you  say  to  Mr.  Bunn,  who  has  lately  announced 
that  I  must  make  my  deUU  at  Drury  Lane  on  the  19th  of 
October ! !  otherwise  I  shall  have  shamefully  broken  my 
contract  ?  Ah !  ah  !  mother !  More  foul  weather  is  in 
store  !  But  he  can  do  me  no  harm,  for  I  shall  never  in  my 
life  go  to  London.  And — is  it  true  ? — have  I  dreamed  it  ? — 
or  was  not  the  contract  signed  with  my  name  only,  and  his 
name  not  appended  to  it  ?  Was  it  not  so  ?  I  do  not  know 
where  that  horrid  thing  (the  contract)  is.  Is  it  with  you  ?  or 
is  it  in  Sweden  ?  In  either  case,  give  me  comfort !  Dear 
mother,  give  me  comfort,  and  write  to  me  once  more  before  I 
return  to  Berlin,  as  I  shall  stay  a  few  days  in  Altona  with 
Madame  Arnemann. 

"  Your  truly  loving  and  grateful, 

"  Jenny."  * 

*  From  Frau  von  Hill  em's  collection. 


1845.]  TEE  "  BUNN-CONTHACT"  (CONTINUED.)      201 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  this  suspicion  as  to  the  omission 
of  Mr,  Bunn's  signature  was  found  to  be  perfectly  justified. 
Why  the  manager  did  not  append  his  own  name  to  a 
document  so  important  it  is  difficult  to  understand ;  but  he 
certainly  did  not  append  it — at  least  to  the  copy  left  in 
Mdlle.  Lind's  possession — as  we  learn  from  another  letter 
written  by  her  to  the  same  lady,  from  Nienstadten,  on  the 
28th  of  October,  1845  :— 

"  I  have,  only  to-day,  found  the  English  contract ;  and  I 
was  quite  right — the  name  of  Mr.  Bunn  is  wanting,  and 
therefore,  I  am  told,  the  contract  is  not  valid.  Altogether, 
since  I  received  the  letter  from  my  good  mother,  I  have  been 
much  easier ;  and  I  am  easier  still  now,  in  every  way,  than 
I  was.  And  for  that  I  have  to  thank  my  firm  determination 
to  leave  the  stage.  Moii  Dieio  !  This  happiness  will  be  too 
much  for  me. 

"  Your  ever  grateful, 

"  Jenny."  * 

Meanwhile,  on  the  18th  of  October,  a  few  days  only  before 
she  took  leave  of  her  friends  in  Copenhagen,  she  wrote  to  Mr. 
Bunn  an  unfortunate  letter,  which  was  afterwards  fraught  with 
the  most  disastrous  consequences.  Knowing  nothing  at  all  of 
business  matters,  she  expected  that  Mr.  Bunn,  v/hen  her 
difficulties  were  explained  to  him,  would  treat  her  with  the 
generosity  which  she  would  most  certainly  have  accorded  to 
him  had  he  been  similarly  circumstanced.  A  more  ill- 
advised  step  could  scarcely  have  been  imagined,  for  Mr. 
Bunn  was  emphatically  "  a  man  of  business  "  ;  but,  in  most 
unbusiness-like  terms,  she  wrote  to  him  thus : — 

"  Copenhagen,  Oct.  18,  1845. 
"  M.  DlllECTEUK, 

"  The  interest  that  you  have  deigned  to  show  for 
my  trifling  talent,  the  obliging  offer  that  you  have  made 
me  in  London — in  short,  the  facility  that  you  have  wished  to 

*  From  Frau  von  Hillern's  collection, 

u  2 


292  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xii. 


o 


o 


grant  me  relative  to  the  debut  you  are  preparing  for  me  at 
the  National  Theatre  of  Drury  Lane,  entitles  you  to  my 
gratitude  and  my  highest  esteem.  How  can  I  thank  you 
sufficiently  ?  I  shall  exercise  towards  you  the  greatest 
frankness,  and  you  shall  judge  me,  not  as  a  director,  but  as 
a  gentleman  par  excellence. 

"  It  is  impossible  for  me  to  come  to  sing  in  London.  Not 
that  other  engagements  prevent  me — for  I  have  not  con- 
tracted any — but  I  do  not  feel  that  I  possess  sufficient 
capacity  to  fulfil  properly  the  expectations  of  a  public 
accustomed  to  the  most  remarkable  abilities  of  the  period. 
The  success  that  I  have  obtained,  up  to  this  time,  does  not 
give  me  courage  as  to  tlie  fate  which  might  await  me  in 
England.  I  neither  possess  the  personal  advantages,  the 
assurance,  nor  the  charlatanism  of  other  prime  donne ;  and 
I  feel,  with  fear,  that  a  check  experienced  in  London  would 
be  fatal  to  the  rest  of  my  theatrical  career. 

"Another  obstacle,  no  less  serious,  is  my  ignorance  of  the 
English  language,  the  pronunciation  of  which  is  so  contrary 
to  my  powers.  Even  supposing  that,  during  six  months,  I 
were  to  sacrifice  all  my  other  occupations  and  to  give  myself 
up  entirely  to  the  study  of  the  English  language,  it  would 
still  be  indispensable  that  my  organs  should  acquire  the 
flexibility  necessary  to  enable  me  to  perform  in  a  manner  that 
would  not  expose  me  to  the  laughter  of  the  audience.  All 
the  objections  wdiich  I  made,  in  tlie  first  instance,  to  the 
proposals  you  offered  at  Berlin,  and  which  M.  Meyerbeer 
endeavoured  to  combat,  in  order  to  attach  me  to  the  destiny 
of  his  Opera,  The  Camp  of  Silesia*  are  still  farther  fortified 
by  a  succession  of  fruitless  efforts.  In  fact,  the  execution  of 
the  project  of  the  celebrated  composer  has  been  stopped. 
Consequently,  the  primitive  cause  of  my  plan  for  a  journey 
is  practically  annulled.  I  find  myself  in  the  most  isolated 
position,  without  a  knowledge  of  the  language  and  Avithout  a 
hope  of  success. 

"  I  have,  then,  no  other  resource  but  to  beg  you,  as  a 
favour,  not  to  consider  my  signature  as  a  contract,  and  to  be 
o-enerous  enough  to  disenojaQ-e  me  from  an  unconsidered 
promise. 

"  You  know,  yourself,  under  what  influence  I  have  been 
persuaded,  not  to  say  surprised,  into  taking  a  step  so  contrary 

*  It  was  naturally  Meyerbeer's  wish  that  Mcllle.  Lind  should  make 
the  Opera  as  popular  in  England  as  she  had  already  made  it  in  Germany. 


1845.]  THE '' BUNN-CONTRACT"  {CONTINUED.)        293 

to  my  interests.  It  is  not  a  question  of  money,  but  simply 
of  my  existence  as  an  artist,  which  would  be  compromised 
by  my  appearance  in  London,  and  perhaps  annihilated  by 
my  (Uhut  at  Drury  Lane. 

"  I  know  nothing  of  chicanery ;  but  I  am  of  good  faith, 
and  I  know  the  respect  I  owe  to  your  undertaking.  I  do 
not  count  on  taking  any  other  engagement  in  England.  Will 
you  give  me  back  my  agreement  ?  And  I  promise  you,  that, 
even  although  it  does  not  contain  any  article  of  delit,  if  I 
should  resolve  to  sing  at  the  Italian  Opera  in  London,  I  will 
pay  such  indemnification  as  the  laws  of  your  country  may 
impose  upon  me. 

"  In  eight  days,  I  shall  be  in  Berlin,  where  I  shall  await 
your  reply,  and  the  release  which  I  expect  from  your 
humanity  and  generosity. 

"  Will  you,  in  the  meantime,  receive  the  assurance  of  my 
highest  consideration,  and  believe  me, 

"  M.  Directeur, 

"  Your  very  himible  servant, 

"  Jenny  Lind."  * 

To  this  appeal,  Mr.  Bunn  replied,  on  the  30th  of  October, 
in  the  f olio  win  q;  terms  : — 


o 


"  Theatre  Eoyal,  Drury  Lane,  Oct.  30,  1845. 

"  Madame, 

"  In  reply  to  your  letter,  dated  18th  inst.,  I  beg  to 
observe  that  the  matter  in  question  being  purely  a  business 
transaction  can  only  be  answered  in  that  light. 

"  The  sole  object  of  your  appeal  to  me  is,  to  get  rid  of 
your  liability  to  this  theatre  that  you  may  engage  at  the 
Italian  Opera  ;  on  which  subject  I  am  aware  of  all  the 
representations  which  have  been  made  to  you  and  of  the 
parties  who  have  made  them. 

"The  pretext  of  your  inability  to  learn  the  English 
language,  taking  into  consideration  the  wonderful  facility 
you  have  already  evinced,  and  the  great  effects  produced  by 
your    predecessors,    Madame    Schrceder-Devrient,    Madame 

*  From  a  translation  of  the  original  letter,  which  appeared  in  The 
Times  on  the  23rd  of  February,  1848. 


294  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xii. 

Malibran,  *  &c.,  cannot  be  listened  to.  When  you  state  that 
your  contract  '  nc  conticnt  2^oint  cV article  de  delit,'  I  am  led 
to  suppose  that  you  omitted  it  in  order  to  evade  it.  But 
you  will  find  yourself  subject  to  damages  more  than  any 
delit,  and  those  damages  I  shall  contend  for. 

"  I  went  at  great  expense  to  Berlin  purposely  to  engage 
you.  I  employed  an  author  to  re-write  and  translate  The 
Camp  of  Silesia  ;  and  I  incurred  the  heavy  cost  of  painting 
scenery  for  the  two  first  acts.  I  incurred  this  heavy  outlay 
on  the  faith  of  your  signature,  witnessed  by  the  British 
Ambassador.  Can  you  suppose  that  I  will  now  accept  a 
promise,  when  you  violate  a  contract  which  you  have 
formally  signed  ?  I  tell  you  I  will  not.  You  have  accepted 
an  enormous  salary  at  Berlin,  and  are  there  at  the  very  time 
that,  by  law  and  honour,  you  ought  to  be  here ;  and  you 
must  fulfil  your  contract  with  me,  or  fully  indemnify  me 
for  my  expenses  and  my  losses. 

"  On  giving  me  an  undertaking  that  you  will  not  appear 
at  the  Italian  Opera  House  in  London  before  the  15th  of 
August  next,  and  on  paying  me  such  a  sum  as  will  cover  all 
my  heavy  expenses,  and  in  some  measure  compensate  me  for 
my  anticipated  gains,  I  will  annul  the  contract  existing 
between  us  and  violated  by  you ;  and,  if  you  fail  so  to  do,  I 
shall  carry  the  whole  matter  to  be  laid  before  His  Majesty 
the  King  of  Prussia,  who  is  too  good  to  suffer  an  English 
subject  to  be  defrauded  by  any  one  paid  by  the  Prussian 
Government. 

"  I  shall  also  commence  an  action-at-law  in  Berlin, 
where  the  contract  was  made,  and  another  in  England, 
whenever  you  land  here.     This  is  my  fixed  determination. 

"  Oblige  me,  therefore,  witli  an  immediate  reply,  to  say 
whether,  by  an  honourable  offer,  we  are  to  remain  in  amity, 
or,  by  a  refusal,  we  are  to  be  at  war ;  and,  in  either  case,  I 
have  the  honour  to  be 

"  Madame, 

"  Your  obedient  servant, 

"  Alfred  Bunn  (Diorctcm')."-\ 

*  Madame  Malibran  spent  two  years  and  a  half  in  England  during  her 
youth,  and  spoke  the  language  fluently  long  before  she  was  ready  to 
make  her  debut  upon  the  operatic  stage. 

t  From  the  transcript,  published  in  TJie  Times  for  Feb.  23,  1848. 


1845.]  THE '' BUNN'CONTRACT"  {CONTINUED.)        295 

In  order  to  judge  this  letter  fairly,  it  is  necessary  to  entirely 
separate  the  hrutcdite — we  use  the  word  strictly  in  its  French 
sense — of  its  tone  from  the  subject-matter  of  Mr.  Bunn's 
complaint. 

It  is  impossible  to  deny  that  Mr.  Bunn  had  the  right  to 
complain — or,  rather,  that  he  had  the  right  to  refuse  the 
request.  No  doubt,  he  had  been  put  to  a  certain  amount 
of  expense,  and  still  more  disappointment ;  but  the  letter 
did  not  contain  a  threat  to  violate  the  contract — it  simply 
asked,  as  a  favour,  that  it  might  be  cancelled.  And  though 
no  one  with  the  least  idea  of  business  matters  could  for  a 
moment  suppose  that  Mr.  Bunn  would  accede  to  that  request, 
the  fact  that  it  had  been  preferred  did  not  justify  him  in 
imputing  to  the  writer  motives  which  she  most  certainly  never 
entertained.  She  had  no  desire  wdiatever  to  sing  at  the 
Italian  Opera  in  London,  and  had  entered  into  no  negotiations 
with  any  one  on  that  subject.  The  difficulty  of  which  she 
complained  with  regard  to  the  pronunciation  of  the  English 
language  was  a  real  one — so  real  that,  to  the  last  day  of  her 
life,  even  after  a  residence  of  so  many  years  in  this  country, 
her  accent  would  have  sounded  strangely  foreign  in  spoken 
dialogue — -and  the  English  version  of  The  Gamp  of  Silesia 
would  have  been  full  of  spoken  dialogue.  Equally  real  was 
the  modesty  which  led  her  to  dread  a  failure  in  London, 
which  would  "  be  fatal  to  the  rest  of  her  theatrical  career." 
She  doubted  her  own  powers  on  the  eve  of  her  greatest 
victories,  and  that  long  after  her  experiences  of  the  past  should 
have  assured  her  that  the  victory  was  certain.  Erom  the  first 
word  to  the  last  her  letter  was  written  in  the  most  perfect 
good  faith,  and  no  one  whose  eyes  were  not  blinded  by  self- 
interest  would  have  failed  to  see  that  this  was  the  case. 
Mr.  Bunn,  however,  preferred  to  assume  that  an  attempt  was 
being  made  to  hoodwink  him,  and  appealed  to  the  Law  in 
what  he  considered  a  necessary  case  of  self-defence. 


296  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xii. 

We  have  said,  in  a  former  chapter,  that  Mrs.  Grote  had 
promised  to  act  as  intermediaire  with  Mr.  Bunn  in  this  case. 
She  did  actually  enter  into  negotiations  with  him  imme- 
diately after  her  return  to  England,  and  indulged  in  the 
hope  that  she  might  have  the  happiness  of  seeing  the  contract 
annulled,  in  return  for  the  payment  of  a  sum  of  £500  by 
way  of  forfeit-money,  or  £300  if  Mdlle.  Lind  would  consent 
to  sing  one  night  for  Mr.  Bunn,  for  nothing.  But  at  the 
very  time  that  Mrs.  Grote  was  expecting  an  answer  to  this 
proposal  Mr.  Bunn's  agent  (Mr.  William  Sams)  called  upon 
her,  armed  with  the  unhappy  letter  of  October  the  18tli,  on 
reading  which  Mrs.  Grote,  without  enquiring  "  in  what  terms 
Mr.  Bunn  replied  to  Mdlle.  Lind,"  wrote  to  her,  saying  that 
"  her  interposition  had  entirely  set  her  aside,  and  leaving  it 
to  her  to  deal  henceforward  with  the  case  after  her  own 
fashion."  * 

In  the  meantime  the  most  unfounded  rumours  were  spread 
on  every  side.  It  is  doubtful  whether  Mr.  Bunn,  even  now, 
gave  up  all  hope  of  securing  his  prize.  One  section  of  the 
English  public,  at  any  rate,  did  not  give  up  all  hope  of 
hearing  the  coveted  ^jrwna  donna  at  Drury  Lane,  while 
another  felt  equally  certain  of  enjoying  that  pleasure  at  Her 
Majesty's  Theatre.  For  the  idea  that  Mdlle.  Lind  con- 
templated the  acceptance  of  an  engagement  at  the  last- 
named  house — which  at  that  period,  she  most  certainly  did 
not — was  by  no  means  peculiar  to  Mr.  Bunn.  It  was  men- 
tioned everywhere — and,  of  course,  after  the  manner  of 
reports  in  general,  and  utterly  unfounded  ones  in  particular, 
it  was  mentioned  with  the  assurance  that  it  was  absolutely 
and  most  incontrovertibly  true.  Each  repetition  was  based 
on  "  certain  private  intelligence "  which  no  one  but  the 
narrator  possessed,  and  in  process   of  time   the   story  was 

*  From  the  MS.  'Memoir  of  tlie  Life  of  Jenny  Lind,'  already  quoted. 


1845.]  THE  "  BUNN-CONTBACT"  (CONTINUED.)        297 

told    so   well    that    no    one    dreamed    of    questioning    its 
veracity. 

It  is  scarcely  ever  possilole  to  trace  a  rumour  of  this  kind 
to  its  veritable  source.      How  this  one  originated  no  one 
ever  knew.      In  all  probability  it  first  found  utterance  in 
the    mysterious    on    dit    of    some    imaginative    journalist. 
But  it  is  quite  possible  that  it  may  have  obtained  increased 
consistency   from  the  fact   that,  in  the   hope  of  doing  the 
best  she  could  for  her  friend,  Mrs.  Grote  asked  advice  on  the 
subject  from  Mr.  Lumley — who  was  her  great  friend  also. 
If — as  is  more  than  probable — Mr.  Bunn  discovered  this,  the 
step  between  giving  advice  concerning  one  engagement  and 
proposing   another  one  in  its  place  would   have  seemed  to 
him  so  microscopically  small  that,  although  Mr.  Lumley  did 
not  really  propose  an  engagement  for  Her  Majesty's  Theatre 
untn  loner  after  this,*  it  would  have  been  difficult  to  convince 
the  manager  of  Drury  Lane  that  no  sort  of  intrigue  had  ever 
been  introduced   into    the  business.       For   intrigue   is   the 
natural  atmosphere  of  the  Theatre,  in  England,  as  on  the 
Continent ;  and  in  this  case  Mdlle.  Lind,  who  was  ignorant 
of  its  simplest  rudiments,  was  accused  of  being  its  instigator 
when  she  was  in  reality  its  victim. 

Ignorance  is  not  always  bliss.  It  was  her  ignorance  of 
the  machinations  to  which  the  Stage  is  chronically  subject 
that  caused  her  so  much  needless  anxiety.  She  did  not 
know  that  Mr.  Bunn's  threats  were  absolutely  nugatory ; 
that  an  appeal  to  the  King  of  Prussia  would  have  furnished 
the  best  possible  opportunity  for  her  full  and  complete 
justification;  that  damages  could  no  more  be  claimed  from 
her  in  Berlin  than  they  could  be  claimed,  at  this  present 
moment,  in  Paris,  from  a  French  composer  against  whom 

*  A  year,  minus  one  day,  elapsed  after  this  before  she  could  be 
persuaded  to  sign  an  engagement  for  Her  Majesty's  Theatre;  and  she 
did  so  then  chiefly  by  the  advice  of  Mendelssohn. 


298  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xii. 

they  had  been  awarded  in  England  ;  that  she  was  as  safe  in 
Prussia  as  if  the  contract  had  never  been  signed. 

She  was  as  inexperienced  in  all  such  matters  as  a  child. 
Had  she  been  less  so  she  would  never  have  written  her 
unfortunate  letter.  But  she  had  a  reason  for  this  which  at 
the  time  seemed  to  her  imperative.  She  never  spoke  of  it 
to  Mrs.  Grote,  but,  in  a  subsequent  conversation  with  Mr. 
Grote  she  said  that  she  did  not  at  that  time  possess  £500 
in  the  world.  Mr.  Bunn  taunted  her  with  the  "  enormous 
salary  "  she  had  "  accepted  at  Berlin,"  yet  she  assured  Mr. 
Grote  that,  up  to  the  moment  of  her  engagement  at  Frank- 
fort, her  earnings  had  been  entirely  absorbed  by  her  expenses 
— including,  be  it  fully  understood,  the  maintenance  of  her 
parents  and  her  munificent  gifts  to  Herr  Josephson  and 
others  * — and  that  consequently  she  was  "  in  absolute  want 
of  pecuniary  means  to  fulfil  the  conditions  proposed."  f 

This,  then,  was  the  state  of  affairs  when,  in  the  last  w^eek 
of  October,  1845,  she  took  leave  of  her  friends  at  Copenhagen, 
and  returned  to  Berlin  to  fulfil  her  renewed  engagement  at 
the  famous  Opera-House. 

*  We  shall  see,  later  on,  that  she  had  sent  Herr  Josephson  a  cheque 
about  the  middle  of  June. 

t  From  Mrs.  Grote's  MS.  '  Memoir.' 


(     299     ) 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  KETUEN   TO   BEELIX   {Don   JuCLll). 

The  entries  in  the  album  kept  by  Mdlle.  Lincl  at  Copen- 
hagen extend  to  the  22nd  of  October,  1845.  On  the  23rd, 
or  24th,  she  quitted  Denmark  and  went  to  stay  with  her 
friend  Consul  Arnemann,  and  liis  wife  and  family,  at 
Nienstadten,  near  Altona;  and  on  the  28th  she  wrote  from 
thence  to  Madame  "Wichmann,  the  wife  of  the  sculptor, 
at  whose  house — No.  1,  in  the  Hasenheger  Strasse  * — 
she  had  been  invited  to  spend  the  coming  winter  at 
Berlin. 

The  letter,  written  in  French,  and  the  first  of  a  long  and 
interesting  series  from  which  we  shall  have  frequent  occasion 
to  quote,  ran  thus : — 

"  Xienstadten  bei  Altona,  28  Oct.  1845. 

"  Deae  a:n"d  amiable  Madame  WiCHiiANX, 

"  I  am  very  grateful  for  the  kind  letter  which  I  had 
the  honour  to  receive  from  you,  and  more  enchanted  still  to 
find  that  you  retain  for  me  the  kindly  feeling  which  makes 
me  so  pleased  and  happy. 

"  I  have  been  unwell  for  some  time.  I  caught  cold  at 
Copenhagen,  and  was  therefore  unable  to  go  either  to 
Hanover  or  to  Bremen  or  anywhere  else.  It  is  because  of 
this  indisposition  that  I  am  now  staying  with  a  very  good 
friend,  Madame  Arnemann,  near  the  town  of  Altona,  where 
I  am  getting  quite  well,  and  resting  myself. 

"  But  in  the  meantime  it  is  necessary  that  I  should  start  for 

*  Now  called  the  Feilner  Strasse,  in  honour  of  Madame  Wichmann's 
father. 


300  JENNY  LINB.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xiii. 

Berlin,  and  it  is  for  this  reason,  dear  Madame,  that  I  take 
the  liberty  of  informing  you  that  I  leave  this  place  to- 
morrow morning — or  on  the  30th ;  and  I  expect  to  be  in 
Berlin  on  the  31st. 

"  I  go  from  here  to  Zelle,  and  from  thence  I  hope  to  reach 
Berlin,  by  railway,  in  a  day.  To-day  is  Monday,  and  on 
Friday  I  hope  to  have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  again. 

"  It  will  be  very  nice  to  have  my  maid  there.  I  only 
feared,  ]\Iadame,  on  your  account,  that  it  would  not  be 
agreeable  to  .you  to  have  so  many  strange  faces  about  you. 
I  hope  to  find  you  in  good  health,  and  your  family  also ;  and, 
until  then,  good-bye,  dear,  good,  and  kind  Madame 
"Wichmann. 

"  I  am, 

"  Your  very  grateful  and  devoted 

"  Jenny  Lind,"* 

We  have  spoken  in  a  former  chapter  of  the  sincere  friend- 
ship which  sprang  up,  during  the  winter  of  1844-45,  between 
Mdlle.  Lind  and  Frau  Professorin  Amalia  Wichmann,  nee 
Eeilner — the  lady  to  whom  the  foregoing  letter  was  addressed. 
The  attachment  thus  formed  proved  to  be  a  lasting  one. 
The  young  artist  stood  sorely  in  need  of  a  trusty  friend  and 
counsellor,  in  whose  good  faith  and  loyalty  she  could 
place  unbounded  confidence,  and  upon  whom  she  could  lavish 
the  wealth  of  affection  with  which  her  own  true  heart  was 
overflowing.  To  an  ardent  and  impulsive  nature  like  hers 
the  love  of  such  a  friend  was  priceless,  and  Madame 
Wichmann  proved  herself  well  worthy  of  the  confidence  she 
inspired.  She  was  a  woman  of  marked  ability,  unvarying 
discretion,  amiable  and  prepossessing  to  the  last  degree,  and 
beloved  by  all  who  knew  her. 

*  Translated  from  the  original  autograph,  contained  among  the  letters 
written  by  Mdlle.  Lind  to  Frau  Professor  Amalia  Wichmann,  by  whom 
they  were  carefully  preserved.  These  letters  are  now  in  the  possession  of 
one  of  Frau  Wichmann's  sous,  who  has  kindly  permitted  us  to  furnish  our 
readers  with  numerous  extracts,  which  in  future  we  shall  acknowledge 
as  "  From  the  letters  to  Frau  Wichmann." 


Till-;    WlUl.MAM^    l;uuM,    AT    BERLIN.  \^To fo.Ce  IJ.  o^i. 


1845.]  TEE  RETURN  TO  BERLIN  (DON  JUAN).         301 

Her  husband,  Professor  Ludwig  Wilhelm  Wiclimann, 
Knight  of  the  Eed  Eagle,*  the  friend  of  Thorwaldsen  and  the 
favourite  pupil  of  Schadow,  was  at  this  period,  though  much 
her  senior,  a  vigorous  and  energetic  man  of  sixty-one,  of 
much  general  cultivation  apart  from  his  own  noble  calling. 
His  house  in  the  Hasenheger  Strasse  was  the  familiar  resort 
of  the  most  distinguished  artists  and  men  of  letters  in 
Berlin,  and  one  particular  room  in  it  became  afterwards 
consecrated  by  the  recollection  of  many  happy  evenings  spent 
in  company  with  the  Wiclimann  family  and  Mendelssohn, 
and  a  host  of  kindred  spirits,  never  to  be  forgotten.  A  little 
sketch  of  this  room,  painted  in  oil  colours  by  one  of  the 
Professor's  sons,  the  late  Herr  Otto  Wiclimann,  was  treasured 
by  Madame  Goldschmidt  among  her  choicest  relics,  accom- 
panied by  the  following  inscription  (in  English)  in  her  own 
handwriting : — 

"  A  room  in  Professor  Wichmann's  house  in  Berlin,  whore 
we  oft  were  sitting  till  late  in  the  night  conversing  with 
Mendelssohn  and  Taubert." 

As  the  reader  will,  no  doubt,  be  glad  to  picture  to  himself 
the  scene  of  so  many  pleasant  reunions  we  have  obtained  per- 
mission to  present  him  with  an  engraving  of  the  pretty  sctlon. 

The  approaching  winter  season  promised  to  be  a  brilliant 
one.  Mdlle.  Lind  took  part  in  it  for  five  months,  from  the 
9th  of  November,  1845,  to  the  2nd  of  April,  1846,  during 
which  period  she  sang  twenty- eight  times,  including  her  own 
benefit.  As  her  second  engagement  was,  like  the  first,  for 
GastroUen  only,  there  exists  among  the  archives  of  the 
Opera-House  no  written  contract  from  which  we  might 
ascertain  the  amount  of  the  honorarium  she  received.  All  we 
know  is  that  on  Saturday,  ISTovember  the  1st,  1845,  the 
play-bills,  after  announcing  the  first  performance  of  Men- 

*  Kitter  des  Rotlien  Adler  Ordens. 


302  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xiii. 

delssohn's  (Edipus  in  Colonos  in  the  theatre  attached  to 
the  New  Palace  at  Potsdam,  added,  in  a  foot-note,  that 
application  for  tickets  for  Mdlle.  Lind's  first  two  operatic 
performances  would  be  received  on  Monday,  November  the 
3rd.  On  the  4th  of  November  the  advertisement  was  re- 
peated, and  on  the  5tli  appeared  a  notice  to  the  effect 
that  no  more  tickets  for  the  first  two  performances 
remained  unsold,  though — as  during  so  great  a  part  of 
the  former  season — the  prices  were  raised,  to  all  parts  of  the 
house. 

The  series  of  GastrolUn  began  on  the  9th  of  November 
with  Norma,  which  was  repeated  on  the  13th ;  and  the 
journals  of  the  day  criticised  these  revivals  with  no  less 
enthusiasm  and  no  less  minuteness  in  detail  than  they 
had  imported  into  their  notices  of  the  original  performances 
in  1844.  The  Berlin  journal  laid  great  stress  on  the  fact 
that  the  artist  had  "  learned  nothing  and  forgotten  nothing." 
That  she  had  passed  through  the  fiery  trial  of  a  long  suc- 
cession of  triumphs  without  once  yielding  to  the  temptations 
with  which  it  is  invariably  associated,  and  had  returned  to 
Berlin  bringing  back  her  own  lofty  ideal  in  all  its  original 
purity.  We  will  not,  however,  follow  the  critics  in  their 
prolonged  analysis  of  works  already  fully  discussed,  but 
pass  on,  at  once,  to  the  roles  produced  tliis  season  for  the 
first  time. 

The  first  of  these  was  Mozart's  II  Don  Giovanni — the 
greatest  by  far  of  his  dramatic  works — in  wliich  she 
appeared,  for  the  first  time  in  Berlin,  in  the  character  of 
"Donna  Anna,"  on  the  19tli  of  November,  repeating  the  part 
on  the  21st  and  25th. 

Up  to  th-is  period  it  had  been  the  custom  when  this 
great  work  was  sung  in  German  to  suppress  Mozart's 
Becitativo  secco  in  favour  of  spoken  dialogue.  Moreover, 
since  Mozart's  death,  the  Opera  had  been  brought  to  a  con- 


1845.]  THE  RETURN  TO  BERLIN  (DON  JUAN).         303 

elusion — not  only  in  Germany,  but  wherever  else  it  was 
performed — with  the  descent  of  its  hero  to  the  depths  below  ; 
an  arrangement  which  curtailed  the  Finale  to  the  second  act 
of  three  important  movements  absolutely  necessary  to  the 
perfection  of  its  artistic  and  logical  proportions,  and  this  in 
spite  of  the  obvious  intention  of  the  composer  to  concentrate 
in  two  of  these  movements — the  Lar ghetto  in  G-  major, 
containing  the  marvellously  beautiful  duet  passages  for 
"  Donna  Anna  "  and  "  Don  Ottavio,"  and  the  Presto  in  D, 
with  its  bold  contrapuntal  subject,  which  is  undoubtedly  the 
most  masterly  piece  of  choral  writing  in  the  entire  work — in 
spite,  we  repeat,  of  the  evident  intention  of  the  comj)oser 
that,  in  this  magnificent  epilogue,  the  interest  of  his  greatest 
masterpiece  should  culminate.  To  neither  of  these  bar- 
barisms would  Mdlle.  Lind  consent.  Undeterred  by  the 
absurd  assertion — sufficiently  disproved  long  before  that 
time  by  Weber  in  his  Euryanthc,  and  destined  to  be  still 
more  satisfactorily  contradicted  a  few  years  later  by  the 
musical  dramas  of  Wagner — that  the  German  language  was 
unfitted  for  continuous  recitative,  she  caused  the  spoken 
dialogue  to  be  expunged,  and  Mozart's  original  Recitative 
secco  to  be  restored,  throughout  the  entire  Opera.  And, 
regardless  of  her  own  personal  fatigue,  she  procured  the 
restoration  of  the  last  three  movements  of  the  Finale  also — 
an  act  of  self-renunciation,  for  the  sake  of  Art,  in  which  no 
other  prima  donna  of  the  period  would  probably  have  cared 
to  imitate  her,  for  there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  the 
omission  of  these  movements  arises  in  a  great  measure  from 
the  unwillingness  of  the  lady  who  plays  the  part  of  "  Donna 
Anna " — to  say  nothing  of  the  representatives  of  "  Donna 
Elvira,"  "Zerlina,"  and  "Don  Ottavio" — to  reappear  upon  the 
scene,  in  a  long  and  elaborate  concerted  piece,  after  the 
triumph  of  their  solo  performances  has  been  completed. 
The    outcry   raised    against   an   anti-climax   will   not    bear 


304  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xm. 

examination  for  a  moment  in  this  particular  case ;  for 
the  interest  of  the  story  culminates,  not  in  the  punish- 
ment of  the  libertine,  but  in  the  victory  of  Good  over  Evil : 
and  the  climax  is  not  reached  until  the  close  of  the  last 
Finale* 

Two  days  after  Mdlle.  Lind's  first  appearance  in  the  part 
of  "  Donna  Anna "  her  performance  was  exhaustively  cri- 
ticised in  the  leading  journal  at  Berlin ;  but  before  we 
record  the  critic's  opinion  it  is  necessary  that  we  should 
say  a  few  words  in  explanation  of  the  point  of  view 
from  which,  in  the  then  prevailing  aspect  of  German  litera- 
ture, he  would  be  irresistibly  tempted  to  approach  the 
subject. 

"We  have  spoken,  in  a  former  chapter,  of  the  strong  pre- 
possession on  the  part  of  the  Germans  in  favour  of  Madame 
Schrceder-Devrient's  interpretation  of  the  part  of  "Eury- 
anthe,"  and  of  the  courage  with  which  Mdlle.  Lind  under- 
took the  difficult  task  of  contending  against  it.  She  found 
herself  placed  at  almost  an  ecj^ual  disadvantage  with  regard 
to  the  role  of  "  Donna  Anna  " ;  only,  on  this  occasion,  she 
was  brought  into  antagonism,  not  with  a  rival  frima  donna, 
but  with  a  literary  genius  of  the  highest  order- — one  of  the 
then  leading  spirits  of  the  German  "  Eomantic  school." 

Heinrich  Hoffmann,  in  his  well-known  '  Phantasiestiicke,' 
describes  an  imaginary  performance  of  Mozart's  chef-d'muvre, 
accompanied  by  a  fantastic  analysis  of  the  plot  of  the  story, 
and  embodying  an  interpretation  of  its  inner  meaning  dia- 
metrically opposed  to  that  whicli  Mozart,  in  his  music,  has 
expressed  with  a  clearness  too  great  to  admit  the  possibility 
of  misconception.     Starting  with  the  assumption  that  Donna 

*  We  have  reason  to  believe  that  spoken  dialogue  is  still  substituted 
in  GeiTnany  for  the  original  Recitativo  secco.  The  curtailment  of  the 
Finale  was,  until  very  lately,  universal ;  but  we  believe  it  is  now  some- 
times performed  as  Mozart  wrote  it. 


1845.]  THE  RETURN  TO  BERLIN  (DON  JUAN).  305 

Anna  is  not  the  pure  and  grossly  insulted  maiden  depicted 
in  the  music  of  Mozart,  he  presents  her  to  us  in  the  cha- 
racter of  a  guilty  accomplice  of  the  libertine :  a  repentant 
sinner,  it  is  true,  but  a  sinner  nevertheless :  a  ^dctim — but 
not  an  innocent  one.  He  would  have  us  believe  that,  ha^dng 
yielded  to  the  wiles  of  the  tempter,  she  awakes  from  her 
dream  of  passion  only  when  she  finds  herself  face  to  face 
with  its  fatal  consequences,  and  that  then  only  her  remorse 
takes  the  form  of  vengeance  for  the  murder  of  her  father ; 
that  her  fancied  love  for  the  "  cold  and  vulgar  Don  Ottavio  " 
— too  poor  a  creature  to  assist  her,  of  his  own  free  will, 
in  her  projects  of  revenge — is  purest  self-deception ;  and 
that  when,  in  the  last  scene  of  all,  she  begs  him  to  defer 
their  marriage  for  a  year  that  she  may  complete  her  term  of 
mourning  for  her  father,*  she  knows  very  well  that  she  has 
not  another  year  to  live,  since,  for  remorse  like  hers,  the  only 
cure  is  death. 

But  surely  this  is  the  character  that  Mozart  has 
painted  in  the  part  of  "  Donna  Elvira  " — not  in  that  of  the 
pure,  though  cruelly  outraged,  "  Donna  Anna,"  whose  music 
has  not  a  shadow  of  affinity  with  that  assigned  to  the  less 
heroic  victim  of  Don  Giovanni's  insidious  treachery.  Mo- 
zart's "  Don  Ottavio,"  too,  is  the  very  opposite  of  "  cold  and 
vulgar" — a  loyal  gentleman,  the  very  ideal  of  a  romantic 
lover.  If  we  accept  Hoffmann's  interpretation  of  the  story 
we  must  reject  IMozart's  from  the  first  scene  to  the  last, 
and  this  Mdlle.  Lind,  at  least,  was  not  prepared  to  do.  As 
in  the  case  of  Eurijanthe,  her  ideal  conception  and  that  of 
the  composer  were  one. 

Bearing  this  difference  of  interpretation  in  mind,  the 
reader  will   now   find  no  difficulty  in  understanding  Herr 

*  *  Lascia  o  caro  un  anno  ancora,  alio  sfogo  del  mio  cor,'  in  the  Finale 
to  Act  II.  This  passage  is  differently  rendered  in  the  German  transla- 
tion of  Rochlitz. 

VOL.  I.  X 


306  JENNY  LINT).  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xitt. 

Rellstab's  critical  description  of  Mdlle.  Lind's  reading  of  the 
part. 

"  When  the  critic,"  he  says,  "  exercises  his  calling  with 
relation  to  the  achievements  of  Fraulein  Jenny  Lind,  it 
hehoves  him  to  use  a  special  standard  of  measurement.  The 
closest  adherence  to  this  standard  is  needed  when  one  sees 
how  this  gifted  artist  grasps  a  role  in  its  totality,  and  carries 
it  through  from  beginning  to  end.  We  are  speaking  to-day 
of  her  performance  of  'Donna  Anna,'  in  Mozart's  Bon 
Juan*  It  is  well  known  that  this  part  admits  of  a  two- 
fold conception,  in  accordance  with  the  sense  given  to  the 
recitative  '  Schon  sank  die  Naclit  hcrab,  mit  ihrem  Dunkel.'  f 
Some  critics — first  among  whom  stands  Hoffmann,  in  his 
richly  imaginative  '  Phantasien ' — places  Donna  Anna  under 
the  spell  of  Don  Juan's  fascinating  influence,  thereby  in- 
troducing a  morbidly  romantic  element  similar  to  that  with 
which  some  would  surround  the  collision  between  Emilia 
and  the  Prince  in  Lessing's  Emilia  Galotti.  In  so  far  as 
past  performances  of  '  Donna  Anna,'  here  and  there,  are 
present  to  our  memory,  artists  seem  willingly  to  have  in- 
clined to  this  interpretation ;  the  more  so  because  it  is  the 
easiest  and  can  be  painted  in  the  most  gaudy  colours.  |  But 
none  the  less  do  we  hold  such  an  interpretation  to  be  entirely 
false.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  not  deducible  from  the  text ; 
besides  which  it  deprives  'Donna  Anna'  of  an  important 
part  of  her  completeness  as  a  dramatic  figure ;  whereas  the 
element  of  inward  leaning  towards  such  an  inclination  is 
admirably  represented  in  the  part  of  '  Zerlina.'  In  one 
word,  Jenny  Lind  clothes  the  part  in  her  own  modest  purity 
— no  other  conception  would  be  intelligible  to  her.  In  cor- 
roboration of  what  we  have  said  we  propose  to  mention  a 
few  passages  which  were  brought  prominently  forward,  during 

*  It  is  by  this  name  that  Mozart's  11  Don  Giovanni  has  always  been 
known  in  Germany. 

f  '  Era  gia  alquanto  avvanzata  la  notte,''  in  the  original  Italian,  Atto  I. 
Scena  13.  Becitativo,  No.  9,  preceding  the  Aria,  No.  10,  '  Or  sai  die 
Vonore.^ 

X  An  honourable  exception  to  this  assertion  must  be  recorded,  in  the 
case  of  Madame  Grisi,  whose  "Donna  Anna"  was  free  from  the  slightest 
suspicion  of  an  impure  reading — which  indeed  it  would  have  been  impos- 
sible to  have  associated  with  the  noble  "  Don  Ottavio  "  of  Signer  Eubini, 
with  whom  she  first  sang  the  part. 


1845.]  TEE  EETURN  TO  BERLIN  (DON  JUAN).  307 

the  course  of  the  performance.     In  the  first  Eecitatiye  the 
Artist  expressed  an  almost  more  than  earthly  sorrow,  in  the 
words,    '  TVeh   mir !    mit    Todtcnbldssc   ganz   hedecU'*    and 
'  Himmel !  ich  stcrbc  ! '  t   and  the  question,  '  Wo   ist   mein 
Vaterhmf't  betokened  a  grief  so  childlike,  and  so  deeply 
felt,  that  the  daughter  seemed  to  have  forgotten  all  else  that 
surrounded  her.      The  grandest  point  of  the  performance, 
however,  was  exhibited  from  quite  another  side.     We  mean 
the  moment,  in  the  first  quartet,  §  when  Donna  Anna  first 
gains   the   full  assurance   that  Don  Juan    is  the  murderer 
of  her  father.     The  expression  of  this  seems  the  more  diffi- 
cult inasmuch  as  the  previous  words — '  Rore,  wie  mir  die 
Thrdnenjiidh  tief  in  die  Scele  gclit '  |1— stand  in  no  connection 
with,  though  they  serve  to  prepare  it.     The  whole  action  of 
the  scene,  the  recognition  of  the  traitor,  is  comprised  in  the 
words,  '  Bcim  Himmel  !  er  ist  der  Morder  meines  Vaters  ! '  H 
We  will  not  attempt  to  describe  the  tones  in  which  Jenny 
Lind  here  expressed  so  exactly  the  grief  of  the  daughter. 
We  refrain  from  selecting  contrasted  fragments  of  the  part  for 
separate  praise,  in  order  that  we  may  show  how  aJl  these 
details  work  together  for  the  perfection  of  the  whole.     Only 
in  this  way  can  we  prove  how,  in  the  Artist's  mind,  the 
whole  intention  of  the  part  is  summed  up  in  the  grief  of  the 
daughter  for  the  father's  death.     This  stands  forth,  every- 
where, most  clearly.  It  may  be  the  expression  of  the  strongest 
determination,    as  in   the  words,  'Der  BosewicM   iiberlegeti 
an  Kraft,  hduft  schic  Misscthatcn,  da  cr  ihn  mordctc'  **  _    Or 
it  may  indicate  resignation  in  connection  with  the  happiness 
of  love,  as  when  she  says,   '  Liehe   kann   nur   die   Zeit   mir 
gewdhren.'  jt     We  could  cite  many  such  passages  from  a  role 
so  full  of  meaning,  especially  in  connection  with  the  purely 

*  '  Qud    vol  to,   Unto,  e  coj)erto  del  color  di  ?iiorte,'   in   the  orlgiDal 
Italian. 

t  '  lo  manco — io  moro  ! '  in  the  original. 

X  '  Ah  .'  II  padre  mio  dov'  eV  in  the  original.  ' 

§  '  Non  tifidar,  o  misera.'    Atto  I.  No.  8  of  the  score. 

II  '  II  suo  dolor,  le  lagrime  m'  empiono  di  pieta,'  in  the  original. 

^  '  Qiiagli  e  il  carnefice  del  padre  mio,'  in  the  Scena,  No.  9,  Atto  I.,. 
which  immediately  follows  the  quartett. 

**  '  E  Vindegao,  die  del  povero  vecchio  era  piu  forte,  compie  il  misfatto 
s?fo.'     In  the  Scena,  No.  9,  Atto  I. 

ft  'Ahlastanza  per  te  mi  parla  amore:    Eecit.  ed  Aria,  No.  10,  Atto- 
II. 

X  2 


308  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xiii. 

musical  part  of  the  performance ;  though,  in  this  case,  it  is 
diflBcult  to  separate  the  acting  from  the  singing,  so  closely  are 
they  interwoven  together.  But  the  lunited  space  at  our 
command  warns  us  that,  for  the  present,  we  must  bring  our 
remarks  to  a  conclusion."  * 

Three  days  later  Herr  Eellstab  resumes  his  unfinished 
critique,  discussing,  with  perfect  fairness  and  strict  im- 
partiality, the  points  of  difference  between  Hoffmann's  fan- 
tastic theory  and  Mdlle.  Lind's  pure  and  maidenly  conception 
of  the  character  of  "Donna  Anna";  and  summing  up  his 
masterly  analysis  with  the  strongest  possible  arguments  in 
favour  of  the  latter,  maintaining  that  in  presence  of  this 
lofty  ideal  the  exaggerated  poetical  licence  with  which  the 
subject  has  been  so  fancifully  surrounded  loses  all  its  pre- 
tended consistency  and  must  of  necessity  be  rejected,  by 
■every  thoughtful  mind,  as  utterly  false  and  artificial. 

With  this  favourable  verdict  the  frequenters  of  the  Opera 
were  evidently  disposed  to  agree  :  for  "  Donna  Anna "  was 
at  once  accepted  as  one  of  Mdlle.  Lind's  most  powerful  im- 
personations ;  and  though  Hoffmann's  utterances  were  received 
at  that  period  with  almost  superstitious  veneration,  no 
less  by  the  general  public  than  by  the  literary  and  philo- 
sophical world,  no  sign  of  dissatisfaction  was  ever  shown  at 
this  open  'and  unqualified  rejection  of  a  theory  propounded 
in  one  of  the  most  charming  and  spiritudle  of  his  imaginative 
pieces. 

On  the  first  occasion  on  which  she  undertook  the  part 
the  performance  derived  an  additional  interest  from  the 
fact  that  it  took  place  on  the  "  name-day  "  of  the  Queen, 
in  honour  of  which  the  Opera  was  mounted  with  new  scenery 
of  unusual  splendour.  The  other  parts  were  assigned  to 
Traulein  Marx  ("  Donna  Elvira  ") ;  Fraulein  Tuczec  ("  Zer- 
lina  ") ;    Herr  Mantius  ("  Don  Ottavio  ")  ;    Herr  Botticher 

*  Kgl.  xjriv.  Berlinische  Zeitung,     (Nuv.  21,  1845.) 


1845.]         THE  RETURN   TO   BERLIN  (DON  JUAN).         309- 

("  Don  Juan  ") ;  Herr  Krause  ("  Leporello  ")  ;  and  Herr 
Behr  ("Masetto").  All  did  good  service  to  the  general 
effect ;  and  the  "  Zerlina  "  of  Fraulein  Tuczec  received  high 
praise  at  the  hands  of  the  critics.  The  performance,  indeed, 
was  an  exceptionally  fine  one  in  every  respect;  and  the 
Opera  was  given  five  times  during  the  season  with  ever- 
increasing  interest  and  raised  prices  of  admission.* 

*  For  the  dates,  see  jd.  366. 


SIO  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xiv. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

DER   FREISCHUTZ. 

The  next  new  Opera  in  which  Mdlle.  Lincl  appeared,  during 
this,  her  second  season  at  Berlin,  was  Weber's  Dcr  Frcischutz. 

To  give  entire  satisfaction  to  a  German  audience  in  this 
first  and  most  famous  of  Eomantic  Operas  is  no  easy  matter. 
The  work  is  so  thoroughly  German,  so  well  known,  so 
•deservedly  popular,  and  affords  so  many  precious  oppor- 
tunities for  the  display  of  vocal  and  histrionic  talent,  that  it 
is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  singers  of  other  than  German 
nationality  approach  it,  on  the  national  stage,  with  a 
certain  amount  of  diffidence  ;  nor  can  we  feel  surprised  that, 
isince  the  part  of  ''  Agathe  "  has  been  so  often  performed  by 
native  singers  of  the  highest  excellence,  a  German  audience 
usually  listens  to  its  impersonation  in  a  frame  of  mind 
severely  critical  and  not  inclined  to  be  easily  satisfied. 

The  Opera  was  first  produced  at  the  then  newly  opened 
Schauspielhaus  in  Berlin,  on  the  18th  of  June,  1821 — the 
anniversary  of  the  Battle  of  Waterloo — wliicli  Weber  looked 
upon  as  a  lucky  day.  The  first  performance  took  place  under 
unheard-of  difficulties.  Spontini,  <vho  then  held  the  post  of 
General  Musical  Director  to  King  Frederick  William  III., 
was  strongly  prejudiced  against  it.  None  of  Weber's  pre- 
vious Operas  had  really  succeeded ;  and  his  friends  trembled 
for  the  fate  of  this.  At  the  last  rehearsal,  everything  went 
wrong.  Yet  the  work  was  received  by  the  public  with  an 
enthusiasm    which   bordered    upon   frenzy,    and   ever  since 


1845,]  DER  FREISCHiJTZ.  311 

that  eventful  night  it  has  kept  its  place  on  the  German 
Lyric  stage  with  undiminished  success,  and  year  after  year 
it  is  received  in  every  German  Opera-House  with  a  welcome 
as  warm  as  that  which  greeted  its  iirst  presentation  years 
ago.  The  Germans  seem,  indeed,  incapable  of  tiring  of  it ; 
and  at  the  Eoyal  Opera-House  in  Berlin  it  is  more  fre- 
quently performed  than  any  other  Opera,  Don  Juan  alone 
excepted. 

Mdlle.  Lind  first  impersonated  the  part  of  "  Agathe  "  at 
Berlin  on  the  30th  of  November,  1845  ;  and  on  the  2nd  of 
December  the  Bcrlinische  Zdtung  contained  the  following 
remarks  on  her  performance  : — 

"  It  gives  us  more  than  ordinary  pleasure  to  record  that, 
through  the  performance  of  Jenny  Lind,  Der  Frciscliutz  has 
received  a  new  impulse  and  a  new  birth ;  a  new  element 
over  and  above  that  derived  from  the  new  mounting  and  the 
careful  study  bestowed  upon  it ;  and  the  whole  organism  of 
the  work  is  enlivened  with  the  beat  of  a  stronger  pulse.  The 
singer  began  her  performance  in  a  modest  tone.  In  the  duet 
mth  "  Aennchen " — of  which  charming  character  Mdlle. 
Tuczec  was  the  excellent  exponent — she  set  before  us  the  gentle 
homely  element  alone.  One  had  to  listen  very  carefully  here 
in  order  to  recognise  the  singer  and  actress  who  exercises  so 
irresistible  a  power  over  us,  and  yet  she  rounded  off  the  whole 
"s^ith  many  fine  and  varied  touches.  In  the  grand  Aria,  later 
on,  the  most  heart-felt  love  and  the  tenderest  breath  of  maiden- 
hood were  blended  together  and  hallowed,  both  of  them,  with 
sincerest  piety.  The  singer  was  not  contented  with  continu- 
ing her  prayer  so  long  only  as  it  was  indicated  in  the  music : 
she  retained  it  in  her  soul,  that  it  might  ring  forth  as  a 
thank-offering  even  in  the  ecstasy  of  love  that  occupied  her 
to  the  last  moment.  No  singer  has  ever  before  adhered  so 
closely,  or  with  such  warmth  and  clearness,  to  the  religious 
tone  with  which  Weber  has  coloured  this  entire  scene.  If 
the  memorable  Nanette  Schechner*  carried  us  upwards, 
by  the  might  of  her  powerful  tones,  to  bursts  of  inward 
gladness   rising   ever  higher   and   higher — so,  on  the  other 

*  Afterwards,  Madame  Waagen. 


ol2  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xiv. 

hand,  the  expression  of  our  Artist,  springing  from  the 
inmost  depths  of  the  soul,  hallowed  the  relations  of  earthly 
love,  and  well  knew  how  to  enthral  the  hearer  through  a 
higher  bond  of  sympathy.  Beyond  this  rendering  of  the  entire 
picture,  in  action  and  expression,  addressed  to  the  eye  and 
the  ear,  the  artist  delighted  us  with  a  wealth  of  musical 
beauties  of  purest  worth.  We  well  remember  the  ethereal 
breath  with  which  she  dwelt  upon  the  so  frequently  misin- 
terpreted pause,  at  the  words  '  Welch  schone  Nacht,^  *  render- 
ing it  with  the  greatest  possible  correctness ;  the  jDi'^'t^'^ssi'tno 
with  which  she  began  the  prayer,  'Zcise,  lcise,frommc  Weise,'' 
and  which  she  continued  to  its  conclusion ;  and  the  passage 
in  the  Allegro,  '  Himmel,  nioiim'  dcs  DanJces  Zdhren,'  over- 
flowing with  the  thankfulness  of  sincerest  piety.  That  this 
scene  produced  an  outburst  of  stormiest  applause,  which  was 
only  with  difficulty  calmed  down  after  it  had  long  delayed 
the  progress  of  the  drama,  was  no  more  than  the  natural 
effect  of  so  beautiful  a  performance. 

"  In  the  third  act  the  performance  was  still  happier. 
In  the  second,t  one  felt  sometimes  that  the  ideal  nature 
was,  to  a  certain  extent,  restrained,  through  the  neces- 
sity for  accommodating  it  to  the  burgher  element.  But 
in  the  third,  when  the  dreamy  bride,  clothed  in  her 
\vedding  dress,  alone  claims  our  attention,  the  action  was 
entirely  devoted  to  the  manifestation  of  her  love.  In  some 
passages  in  the  '  Prayer  '|  her  voice  seemed  to  float  upwards, 
like  a  cloud  of  incense — a  musical  glamour  with  which  no 
other  singer  has  ever  so  enchanted  us  in  this  composition. 

For  most  singers  the  role  of  Agatha  is  comprised  in  two 
airs  alone.  Our  Artist  carried  on  the  interest,  like  a  golden 
thread,  from  beginning  to  end.  And  so  dear  to  her  heart 
was  the  masterpiece,  as  a  whole,  that  in  the  concerted  pieces 
she  never  once  assumed  more  than  the  exact  share  allotted 
to  her,  though  she  must  have  found  it  often  very  difficult  to 
restrain  herself  within  the  bounds  prescribed  by  the  demands 
of  the  situation. 

"  We   need  scarcely  say  that  at  the  close  shouts   and  a 

*  The  pause  is  on  the  Ftt,  in  the  ujDper  register,  on  the  vowel  o,  in 
•schone.  It  is  often  thoughtlessly  transferred  to  the  lower  F#,  at  the  end 
of  the  passage,  on  the  last  syllable  of  the  word. 

t  The  heroine  makes  her  first  entrance  on  the  rising  of  the  curtain  in 
ihe  second  act. 

X  '  Und  oh  die  Wollr: 


1845.]  DEE   FREISCEUTZ.  313 

call  before  the  curtain  resounded  on  every  side  though  after 
ha\dng  been  so  deeply  moved  by  truest  Art  such  a  conclusion 
to  the  performance  is  rarely  pleasant."* 

If  ever  critic  struck  the  right  note  in  his  analysis,  Herr 
Eellstab  struck  it  here.  If  ever  reviewer  was  led,  by  true 
artistic  instinct,  to  divine  the  secret  of  a  great  conception — 
to  trace  back  a  perfect  ideal  to  the  germ  whence  it  originally 
sprang — Herr  Eellstab  was  so  led  in  this  particular  instance. 
"  So  dear  to  her  heart  was  the  masterpiece  as  a  loliole"  he 
says — and  he  says  well.  "We  know,  from  her  own  words, 
how  dear  it  was  to  her.  He  foimd  it  out,  from  the  manner 
of  her  performance.  He  did  not  know,  as  we  do,  the 
story  of  that  memorable  7th  of  March,  in  1838,  when  she 
made  the  famous  discovery  recorded  in  one  of  our  earlier 
chapters  f — the  discovery  that  she  had  within  her  the  power 
of  striking  out  an  original  conception,  of  forming  an  ideal  of 
her  own  untinged  by  the  colouring  of  other  artists,  of 
identifying  herself  with  a  being  of  her  own  creation,  of 
thinking  its  thoughts,  of  speaking  its  w^ords,  feeling  its  pains, 
its  agonies  of  anxiety,  its  pangs  of  cruel  torture,  its  suspense, 
its  hopes,  its  consolations,  its  bursts  of  rapturous  joy.  He 
did  not  know  that  she  had  discovered  this — but  he  saw  the 
results  of  the  discovery,  and  with  the  instinct  of  a  true 
critic  he  traced  them  to  their  veritable  source — saw  that  it 
was  not  for  its  two  great  songs,  but  as  a  whole,  that  the 
masterpiece  was  so  dear  to  her — that  she  had  created  a  real 
character  to  illustrate  the  composer's  meaning  in  its  entirety, 
and  that  in  this  character  she  thought,  and  wept,  and  smiled, 
and  lived,  and  had  her  being.  How  could  it  have  been 
otherwise  ?  How  could  she,  who  loved  all  Nature  with  so 
true  a  love;  she  to  whom  forest,  and  tree,  and  stream,  and 
mountain  spoke  with  a  voice  so  clear  and  sweetly  intelligible 

•  Egl.  priv.  Berlinische  Zeitung.     (Dec.  2,  1845.) 
t  See  pp.  55-57  and  116. 


314  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  cu.  xiv. 

that  she  had  never  once  in  her  whole  life  misunderstood  it ; 
she,  to  whom  the  voice  of  the  birds  was  as  familiar  as  her 
own;  how  could  she  have  failed  to  identify  herself  with 
"  Agathe,"  the  Forest  Child  ?  If  she  had  actually  lived  in 
the  hunting-lodge,  instead  of  imagining  that  she  lived  there, 
would  not  every  bird  and  beast  and  butterfly,  every  wild 
creature  that  haunted  the  surrounding  forest,  have  made  her 
its  friend  ?  She  was  herself  a  Forest  Child ;  as  true  a  Child 
of  Nature  as  ever  lived.  And  Dcr  Freischutz  was  so  dear  to 
her,  as  a  ivliole,  because  it  was  essentially  the  Opera  of 
Nature.  Strange  as  it  may  seem  to  say  so,  it  is  precisely 
through  its  marvellous  truth  to  nature  that  it  reaches  the 
supernatural ;  through  the  cheery  halloo  of  the  realistic 
chase,  that  it  arrives  at  the  infernal  yell  of  the  Wild  Hunts- 
man ;  through  the  sough  of  the  night  wind  among  the  pines 
so  truthfully  depicted  in  the  immortal  Scena,  that  it  attains 
the  demoniac  storm  in  the  terrible  Finale  to  the  second  act. 
And  all  this  ghastly  conflict  between  the  natural  and  the 
supernatural  is — or  ought  to  be  if  rightly  understood — 
inseparable  from  the  part  of  "  Agathe."  The  power  of 
the  grim  fiend,  Zamiel ;  the  weird  influence  of  the  Wild 
Huntsman  ;  the  unholy  spells  of  the  Necromancer,  Caspar ; 
all  the  dread  forces  of  the  supernatural  are  in  league  against 
her.  And  the  Child  of  Nature  conquers  them  all.  The 
wreath  of  natural  roses,  consecrated  by  faith  and  love  and 
purity,  baffles  every  spell  that  the  spectres  of  the  forest  can 
bring  to  bear  against  it.  And  in  the  union  of  this  trans- 
cendental side,  so  to  speak,  of  the  character  of  "  Agathe," 
with  the  natural  picture  of  the  simple-minded  loving 
peasant  girl,  lay  the  charm  which  made  the  part  one  of  the 
finest  and  most  masterly  of  Mddle.  Lind's  impersonations, 
and  one  of  her  own  special  favourites.* 

*  For  the  dates  of  the  three  repetitious  of  the  Opera  which  followed, 
see  p.  367. 


(     315     ) 


CHAPTER  XV. 

Met^cuy  Se  Tovrcov  rj  dyaTrrj. 

And  now,  after  having  analysed  in  detail  Mdlle.  Lind's 
ideal  interpretation  of  some  of  the  greatest  masterpieces  of 
dramatic  and  musical  Art,  we  may  be  allowed  to  withdraw 
our  attention  for  a  moment  from  the  Stage,  with  its  turmoil 
and  its  enchantment,  the  glamour  of  its  poetry  on  the  one 
side  and  the  disappointment  of  its  cold  illusions  on  the  other, 
its  thunders  of  applause  in  front  of  the  curtain  and  its  heart- 
burning cabals  and  conflicts  of  bitter  jealousy  and  merce- 
nary self-interest  behind  it.  We  may  leave,  for  a  while,  this 
strange  scene  of  mingled  reality  and  deception  while  we 
turn  temporarily  aside  for  the  purpose  of  refreshing  ourselves 
with  some  pictures  of  a  different  kind. 

We  have  seen  many  instances  of  the  calmness  with  which 
Mdlle.  Lind  accepted  the  enthusiastic  applause  which  was  so 
freely  lavished  upon  her.  It  is  scarcely  too  much  to  say 
that,  many  and  many  a  time,  she  seemed  to  be  the  one 
person  in  the  midst  of  the  excited  concourse  of  admiring 
spectators  whom  one  would  have  supposed  to  be  the  least 
interested  in  the  demonstrations  made  in  her  honour.  But 
it  would  be  a  great  mistake  to  infer  from  this  that  she  was 
insensible  to,  or  ungrateful  for,  the  admiration  she  excited. 
The  secret  of  her  outward  calmness  was  that  she  accepted  it, 
not  for  herself,  but  in  the  name  of  the  Art  of  which  she 
herself  was  the  most  fervid  worshipper  in  the  crowd.  Her 
standard  of  self-measurement  was  so  provokingly  low — if  one 


316  JENNY  LIND.  [bk. 


IV.  CH.  XV.- 


can  venture  to  use  the  word,  witliout  disrespect — that  she 
could  never  be  persuaded  to  attribute  to  her  own  genius 
the  results  which  were  evidently  due  to  it.  But,  she  felt  her 
responsibility  keenly,  and  worked  with  untiring  energy  in 
order  that  she  might  not  incur  the  danger  of  falling  short  of 
the  high  standard  that  was  expected  of  her. 

Her  own  state  of  feeling  with  regard  to  her  position  in 
Berlin  at  this  particular  period  may  be  satisfactorily  gathered 
from  a  letter  written  by  her  to  Madame  M.  Ch.  Erikson,  an 
eminent  Swedish  actress,  with  whom  she  had  long  been  on 
terms  of  intimacy,  and  who  died,  at  the  age  of  sixty-eight, 
in  1862. 

"  Berlin,  Nov.  24,  1845. 

"  My  dear  Madame  Erikson, — 

"  It  was  with  the  wildest  pleasure  and  rejoicing  that 
I  had  the  honour  of  receiving  your  kind  letter,  and  I  cannot 
thank  you  enough  for  it. 

"  I  use  no  empty  words  when  I  say  that  my  rejoicing 
was  intense,  for  I  had  not  forgotten  that  it  M^as  you 
who  first  guided  my  sensitive  young  mind  towards  higher 
aims,  or  that  it  was  you  who  saw  beneath  the  surface  and 
fancied  that  you  had  discovered  something,  overlooked  by 
others,  behind  those  small  grey  iusignificant  eyes  of  mine. 

"  How  changed  is  everything  now  !  What  a  position  I 
have  now  attained  !  All  the  musical  talent  of  Europe  is,  so 
to  speak,  at  my  feet.  What  great  things  has  the  Almighty 
vouchsafed  to  me !  It  gives  me  real  pain  to  lose  the  inex- 
pressible satisfaction  of  submitting  the  progress  I  have  made 
to  the  judgment  of  one  who  so  well  understood  me  before 
there  was  any  one  else  who  would  even  believe  in  my  capacity 
to  do  anything  at  all — and  that  one  so  rare  and  gifted  an 
artist  as  yourself ! 

"  What  a  pity  it  is  that  we  Swedes  cannot  get  on  in  our 
own  country  !     No  fame  !  notliing  !  nothing ! 

"What  a  celebrity  you  yourself  ought  to  have  become, 
with  that  grace  of  yours — that  charm  displayed  in  every 
movement  when  you  are  before  the  curtain !  What  a 
sensation  ought  not  that,  in  itself,  to  have  produced  !  for 
grace  is  scarce  upon  this  earth. 

"  In  seven  months  only  I  have  succeeded  in  making  my 


1845.]  Mei^twv  Be  toutcov  i)  ajyairr}.  317 

reputation  here:  and,  after  seven  years  at  home,  not  a 
creature  knew  anything  at  all  about  me.  At  this  present 
moment  all  the  first  engagements  in  the  world  are  ofiered  to 
me  !     After  seven  months  !     Is  it  not  strange  ? 

"  I  have  lately  appeared  in  '  Donna  Anna ' ;  and  have  every 
reason  to  be  more  than  satisfied  with  the  reception  that  was 
accorded  to  me.  The  Berlin  public  is  terribly  critical.  But, 
this  I  like ;  for,  if  I  take  pains,  I  am  at  least  properly  appre- 
ciated. They  want  to  analyse  my  every  gesture — every 
shade  of  expression.  Indeed  one  has  to  be  careful ;  but 
this  certainly  tends  to  mental  cultivation. 

"  I  am  going  to  sing  in  Der  Freischutz  and  the  Die  Vestalin  ; 
for  Operas  such  as  these  win  the  greatest  and  most  solid 
fame ;  though  such  roles  are  not  to  be  lightly  approached. 
And,  moreover,  I  have  to  sustain  no  trifling  comparisons ; 
for  the  moment  I  step  forward  I  am  measured  with  the 
Sontag-measure,  or  that  of  the  greatest  artists  that  Germany 
has  produced. 

"  Perhaps  you  think  that  I  have  grown  vain  ?  No.  God 
shield  me  from  that !  I  know  what  I  can  do.  I  should  be 
very  stupid  if  I  did  not.  But  I  know,  equally  well,  wdiat  I 
•cannot  do. 

"  I  have  not  yet  quite  made  up  my  mind  whether  I  go  to 
Vienna  in  the  spring  or  not.  In  the  meantime,  I  wonder 
whether  I  may  venture  to  tell  you  that,  next  autumn,  I 
mean  to  return  home  quite  quietly,  and  to  settle  down, 
caring  nothing  for  the  world.  You  will  call  this  a  crime. 
But  please  to  reflect,  just  a  little,  how  difficult  it  is  to  stand 
all  this  racing  about — alone! — alone!  with  the  certainty  of 
having  to  rely  on  my  own  judgment  in  everything,  and  yet 
so  absorbed  at  the  same  in  my  roles.  Oh !  it  is  not  easy. 
However,  we  will  not  talk  of  this  just  yet.  Enough 
to  say  that  connection  with  the  Stage  has  no  attraction  for 
me — that  my  soul  is  yearning  for  rest  from  all  these  per- 
sistent compliments  and  this  persistent  adulation. 

"  Is  not  this  sad  news  concerning  Aurora  Osterberg  !*  I 
had  always  cherished  great  expectations  with  regard  to  her, 
for  she  really  possesses  charm  and  natural  dispositions. 
But  when  they  marry  !     Ah ! 

"  I  wish  I  could  hear,  some  day,  that  you  were  re-engaged 
at  the  so-called  '  Great  Theatre.'     I  should  so  rejoice.     Ah  ! 

*  A  young  Swedish  Artist — afterwards  Madame  Olof  Strandberg — who 
•died,  in  1850,  at  the  early  age  of  24 


318  JENNY  LIN  J).  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xv. 

Do  not  resist  the  wish  of  the  public.  "What  a  boon  it  would 
be  to  have  once  more  the  chance  of  seeing  a  true  Artist 
perform !     May  this,  my  sincere  wish,  become  a  reality. 

"  I  trust  that  I  may  be  able  to  be  of  use  to  that  good 
fellow,  Herr  Ahlstrom.*  It  is  hard  for  a  stranger  to  manage 
here  in  Berlin  without  help. 

"  I  do  hope  this  long  letter  has  not  quite  tired  you  out, 
dear  Madame  Erikson ;  and,  in  proof  of  this,  I  trust  that  I 
may  still  look  forward  to  hearing  from  you  again.  It  would 
make  me  so  happy ! 

"  And  here  I  will  finish ;  assuring  you  of  my  sincere 
affection,  and  remain, 

"  Your  grateful  pupil, 

"  Jenny  LiND."t 

It  is  interesting  to  compare  these  remarks  upon  the  style 
of  the  Berlin  criticisms  with  the  copious  extracts  we  have 
reproduced  from  the  writings  of  Herr  Eellstab,  the  character 
of  which  she  exactly  describes.  And  greater  interest  still 
attaches  to  the  comparison  of  what  she  here  says  concerning 
her  retirement  from  the  Stage,  with  the  description  of  its 
"  fascination,"  contained  in  the  letter  written  from  Paris  to 
Madame  Lindblad,  on  the  24th  of  October,  1841.t  That 
description  had,  however,  been  written  four  years  previously. 
Since  then  she  had  passed  through  many  experiences 
— not  all  of  them  exhilarating;  and  it  must  be  confessed 
that  the  remarks  addressed  to  Madame  Erikson  accord  very 

*  Musical  Director  and  Orchestral  Conductor  at  several  of  the  smaller 
theatres  in  Stockholm,  and  afterwards  Bandmaster  of  the  Second  Life- 
Guards.  Later  on  he  was  Organist  of  the  parish  church  of  Hedwio- 
Eleonara,  in  Stockholm,  where  he  died,  in  1857. 

t  Translated  from  the  original  letter,  written  in  Swedish,  and  dated 
Berlin,  Nov.  24,  1845.  Soon  after  Madame  Goldschmidt's  death  the  text 
of  this  letter  was  printed  in  a  newspaper  published  in  the  province  of 
Skania,  whence  it  speedily  ran  the  round  of  the  Scandinavian  press.  Mr. 
Goldschmidt,  having  had  his  attention  drawn  to  it,  endeavoured  to  esta- 
blish its  authenticity,  and  was  fortunate  enough  to  acquire  the  original 
autograph. 

X  See  page  126. 


1845.]  Met^coy  Se  touto)v  rj  ayciTn].  319 

well  with  the  expressions  she  used  when  addressing  Mrs. 
Grote  on  the  same  subject  some  two  months  before  the 
foregoing  letter  was  written.* 

But  in  any  case,  whether  she  then  seriously  contem- 
plated an  almost  immediate  retirement  from  the  Stage  or 
only  thought  of  it  as  a  desirable  and  extremely  probable 
contingency,  she  made  the  noblest  use  of  the  pecuniary 
advantages  she  derived  from  it. 

"We  have  spoken  of  her  offer  to  assist  Herr  Josephson  in 
his  project  of  carrying  on  his  studies  in  Italy. f 

In  the  month  of  June,  1845,  he  wrote,  at  Vienna,  in  his 
Diary  : — 

"  Through  the  care  of  Munthe,  Jenny  Lind's  homme 
d'affaires,  I  have  received  a  letter  containing  a  cheque  which 
guarantees  my  going  to  Italy.  And  now  I  am  looking 
hopefully  towards  the  south.  May  it  prove  of  real  use ! 
Not  in  vain  must  my  good  friend  have  tendered  the 
proffered  aid,  accepted  in  the  name  of  Art.  God  grant  she 
may  ever  prosper  !  She  is  growing  into  my  heart,  as  a  sister 
and  as  a  friend."| 

Mdlle.  Lind  did  not,  however,  write  to  him  herself  until 
the  beginning  of  December,  when  she  sent  him  tlie  following 
letter : — 

"  You  poor  boy !  so  far  away  in  a  strange  country  and  for 
so  dreadfully  long  a  time,  without  having  heard  a  word, 
directly,  from  your  friend  who  is  now  writing  to  you,  and 
who  wishes  you  so  well  and  has  so  faithfully  retained  her 
friendship  for  you  ! 

"  Dear  good  Jacob  !  I  cannot  understand  how  it  is  possible 
that  I  have  left  you  so  long  without  a  word.  But  I  have 
been  travelHng  again  nearly  the  whole  summer,  and  have 
really  not  been  able  to  write. 

"  I  have  received  your  letters  in  due  course,  and  hasten  to 

*  See  page  273. 
t  See  page  218. 

%  N.P.  Odman,  in  oj).  cit.  torn.  ii. 


320  •  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xv. 

answer  the  last.  My  money  matters  are  not  just  now  in  my 
own  hands,  and  as  you  need  money  only  at  the  time  of  the 
new  year,  I  write  this  to-day  before  sending  it.  But  it  is 
cominsr  soon. 

"  And  now  I  suppose  I  must  tell  you  everything  about 
myself.  In  the  first  place,  I  am  splendidly  well.  I  am 
enjoying  myself  very  much.  I  am  very  glad  and  very 
grateful  for  the  kind  treatment  we — that  is,  Louise  and  I — 
are  receiving  at  Professor  Wichmann's,  and  we  find  it  very 
enjoyable  there.  Furthermore,  my  voice  has  grown  twice 
as  strong  as  it  was — the  middle  register  quite  clear.  My 
acting  is  something  quite  different,  with  much  more  vivacity 
and  passion ;  stout  and  broad-shouldered,  and  quite  first- 
rate  !  If  my  success  was  great  last  year,  it  is  now  quite 
furious.  I  have  appeared  here  as  '  Donna  Anna,'  and 
succeeded  well.  Yesterday  also  I  appeared,  for  the  first 
time  in  Berlin,  in  Der  Frcischiitz — and  that  also  went  well. 
ISTow  guess  what  my  next  part  will  be  ?  Die  Vestalin. 
After  that,  '  Alice '  and  '  Valentine.'  Tithatschek  will 
probably  be  here  at  the  new  year.  Meyerbeer  is  still  in 
Paris,  but  is  expected  here  soon.  But,  Jacob,  Mendelssohn 
is  here !  I  see  him  almost  every  day  at  the  Wichmanns'. 
And  he  is  quite  an  exceptional  man.  Dear  !  we  are  going, 
the  day  after  to-morrow,  to  Leipzig.  Now,  at  least,  I  shall 
sing  at  a  Gewandhaus  Concert  under  his  direction  ! 

"  Your  letter  to  Gade  *  has  been  sent  off  in  due  course. 

'•'  Mendelssohn's  (Edipus  has  been  given  here,  and  it  was ' 
magnificent.f     To-nightJ  his  Athalie  is  to  be  produced,  for 
the  first  time,  at  Charlottenburg,  and  I  look  forward  eagerly 
to  the  eveniuQ;. 

"  It  is  possible  that  I  may  go  to  Vienna  next  spring. 
True,  I  feel  restrained  by  nervousness,  but  the  engagement 
is  a  good  one. 

"  All  is  as  before  at  home.  Art  has  disappeared  !  Home- 
life  alone  is  pleasant,  as  before.  Apart  from  that  all  is 
emptiness.  But  how  does  that  help  me  ?  I  have  as  much 
home-sickness  as  ever,  all  the  same.     And  my  only  wish  is 

*  Herr  Niels  W.  Gade  was  then  residing  at  Leipzig,  where  he  had  been 
invited,  at  the  inst^mce  of  Mendelssohn,  to  accept  a  Professorship  in  the 
newh'-fonnded  Conservatoriiim  der  Musik.     (See  also  page  285.) 

t  The  reader  will  remember  that  it  was  produced  in  the  Theatre  of  the 
_New  Palace,  at  Potsdam,  on  the  1st  of  November,  1845. 

t  Sunday,  December  the  1st. 


1845.]  Mel^cov  8e  tovtcov  rj  a'^airrj.  321 

to  attain  repose  away  from  the  Stage.  And  a  year  hence 
I  shall  go  home,  and  remain  at  home,  my  friend  !  Oh  !  how  I 
shall  enjoy  life  !  Ah  !  peace  is  the  best  of  all.  I  have  never 
had  that  as  I  have  it  now.  You  will  come  and  see  me 
sometimes,  will  yon  not  ? 

"  Well !  I  am  quite  ready  to  believe  that  Italy  must  be 
beautiful.  God  give  you  success  and  progress,  my  good 
friend !  We  need  you  much  in  Sweden.  It  would  please 
me  well  to  go  to  Italy  next  spring,  but  I  must  first  earn 
some  money.  So,  God's  peace  and  blessing  be  with  you. 
Eemember  me  to  young  Wichmann.  All  his  people  are 
well. 

"  I  need  not  assure  you  that  I  always  remain 

"  Your  faithful  friend, 

"J.  L."* 

It  is  touching  to  see  the  great  Artist  longing  for  the 
beauties  of  Italy,  yet  deferring  the  enjoyment  of  them  until 
she  could  "  earn  some  money,"  while  she  was  really  enabling 
the  young  student  to  whom  she  wrote  to  prosecute  his  studies 
there  with  money  she  had  previously  earned.  But  she  felt 
that  she  was  doing  a  Q'ood  work  for  him  and  for  Art,  and 
with  her  that  consideration  always  overrode  all  others. 
Her  whole  life  was  modelled  on  the  words  we  have  chosen 
for  the  heading  of  our  present  chapter.  She  not  only  felt,  in 
her  heart  of  hearts,  the  firm  conviction  that  "  The  greatest 
of  these  is  charity,"  but  she  so  lived  that  every  act  of  her 
existence  was  a  proof  of  the  sincerity  of  her  convictions — a 
proof  that  she  not  only  recognised  the  truth  of  the  law  by 
force  of  intelligent  deduction,  or  even  by  grace  of  divinely 
inspired  faith,  but  that  she  herself  felt  personal  experience 
of  its  truth  in  the  ha])piness  she  derived  from  moulding  every 
thought  and  action  of  her  life  in  accordance  with  it. 

It  is  touching,  too,  to  see  how  her  Artist-nature  expands  at 

*  Letter  from  Mdlle.  Liud  to  Herr  Jacob  Axel  Josephson,  dated 
"  Berlin,  Dec.  1,  1845,"  and  translated  from  a  copy  kindly  furnished  by 
Madame  Josephson. 

VOL.  I.  T 


322  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xv. 

the  thought  of  a  closer  acquaintance  with  Mendelssohn — the 
composer  whose  genius  was  in  closer  sympathy  with  her  own 
than  that  of  any  other  musician  then  living, — and  to  mark 
how  she  revelled  in  the  thought  of  singing  to  the  accompani- 
ment of  the  orchestra  he  conducted,  well  knowing  before- 
hand the  delight  she  would  feel  in  being  so  perfectly  and  so 
effectually  accompanied.  None  but  a  really  great  singer 
can  fully  understand  the  delight  of  singing  to  such  an  accom- 
paniment, whether  played  by  the  orchestra  or  on  the  piano- 
forte, and  in  this  case  the  vocalist  was  certainly  not 
disappointed.* 

*  She  was  always  most  particular  witli  regard  to  her  accompaniments, 
and  was  never  satisfied  unless  they  were  as  completely  in  accord 
with  her  own  conception  as  if  she  herself  had  plaj'ed  them.  At  a 
later  date — Octoher  8,  1851 — she  wrote,  from  the  Falls  of  Niagara, 
to  her  guardian,  Judge  Munthe,  with  reference  to  a  concert  tour  of  three 
months'  duration  on  which  she  was  then  starting :  "  Herr  Goldschmidt 
is  our  accompanist,  and  whether  he  accompanies  me  or  I  accompany 
myself,  it  is  absolutely  the  same  thing." 


(     323     ) 


CHAPTEE    XVI. 

AT    THE    GEWANDHAUS. 

In  a  letter  addressed  to  her  guardian,  Judge  Munthe,  on  the 
12th  of  January,  1846,  Mdlle.  Lind  writes  : — 

"  Felix  Mendelssohn  comes  sometimes  to  Berlin,  and  I  have 
often  been  in  his  company.  He  is  a  mcui,  and  at  the  same 
time  he  has  the  most  supreme  talent.     Thus  should  it  be." 

The  words  are  few,  but  weighty  enough  in  their  relation 
to  the  social  history  of  Art ;  for,  taken  into  consideration  in 
connection  with  the   expressions  quoted   in   the  preceding 
chapter    from    her    letter    to    Herr   Josephson,   they   give 
us    the    first    direct    indication    of    a    friendship    which, 
ripening  with  time,  continued,  with  ever-increasing  loyalty 
and  warmth,  until  the  moment  at  which  the  composer  of 
Elijah  entered  into  liis  rest,  on  the  4th  of  November,  1847 ; 
a  friendship  the  full  value  of  which  can  be  understood  by 
those  only  who  enjoyed  the  inestimable  privilege  of  friendly 
intercourse,  though  in  ever  so  humble  a  degree,  with  that 
truly  remarkable  "  man  ;  "  a  friendship  in  which  the  world 
of  Art  itself  was  interested,    For  it  is  absolutely  certain  that 
these  two  artistic  spirits  exercised  a  notable  influence  over 
each  other  in  all  that  concerned  the  Art  they  worshipped ; 
insomuch  that  the  Elijah  itself  owed  something  to  Mendels- 
sohn's  familiarity  with  her  ideal  treatment  of  the  voice,* 
while    her    interpretation   of    his    loveliest    melodies    was 

*  See  Vol.  ii, ;  Book  VIII.,  Chapter  vii, 

Y   2 


324  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xvi. 

undoubtedly  penetrated  with  the  spirit  he  infused  into  the 
harmonies  with  which  he  accompanied  her  on  the  piano- 
forte. 

Though  residing  at  this  time  in  Leipzig,  Mendelssohn 
came  occasionally  to  Berlin,  and  had  evidently  taken  such 
opportunities  as  he  could  of  renewing  the  acquaintance  first 
formed  on  the  21st  of  October,  1844,  at  the  house  of  Professor 
Wichmann.  On  the  1st  of  November,  1845,  he  super- 
intended the  production  of  his  CEcliims  in  Colonos,  at  the 
theatre  attached  to  the  New  Palace  at  Potsdam.  A  month 
later  he  came  again,  to  conduct  the  first  performance  of 
his  music  to  Ptacine's  Athalie,  on  the  1st  of  December, 
at  the  Eoyal  Theatre  at  Charlottenburg,  and  this  visit  lie 
turned  to  excellent  account  in  more  ways  than  one.  He 
was  engaged,  that  winter,  in  conducting  the  famous  Ge- 
wandhaus  Concerts  at  Leipzig,  which  were  then  universally 
acknowledged  to  be  the  finest  in  Europe.  Under  his  all- 
powerful  hdtmi  they  had  met  with  unexampled  success.  The 
best  artists  of  the  day  thought  it  an  honour  to  be  permitted 
to  take  part  in  them.  He,  on  his  part,  did  all  in  his  power  to 
make  them  as  perfect  as  possible,  and  he  eagerly  seized  this 
opportunity  of  persuading  his  friend  to  assist  him  in  his 
noble  work.  The  Intendant  of  the  Opera-House*  seems  to  have 
granted  the  necessary  leave  of  absence  without  difficulty, 
and  on  the  3rd  of  December — the  day  following  the  second 
performance  of  Der  Freischutz — the  two  great  Artists  pro- 
ceeded together  to  Leipzig. 

Though  the  dimensions  of  this  quaint  old  town  were  greatly 
inferior,  in  1845,  to  those  of  which  it  now  boasts,  it  exercised 
a  greater  and  far  more  healthy  influence  upon  the  develop- 

*  Herr  C.  Th.  von  Klistner,  General-Intendant  der  Kouiglichen  Schau- 
spiele,  from  June  1, 1842,  to  May  31, 1851,  of  whose  genuine  kindness  and 
powerful  support,  during  her  residence  at  Berlin,  Madame  Goldschmidt 
spoke  at  all  times  with  warmest  recognition. 


1845.]  AT  TEE   GEWANBEAUS.  325 

ment  of  Art  than  either  Berlin  or  Vienna.     The  audience,  at 
the  Gewandhaus,  was  being  gradually  educated  on  a  system 
which  was  already  beginning  to  bring  forth  excellent  fruit. 
Though  severely  critical,  it  was  prone  to  bursts  of  genuine 
enthusiasm;   and  when  the  good  burghers  who  dominated 
the  society  of  the  town  heard  of  the  treat  that  was  in  store 
for  them,  their  excitement  knew  no  bounds.     Though  the 
prices  of  admission  were  instantly  raised  from  tWo-thirds  of 
a  thaler  to  one  thaler  and  a  third — i.e.,  from  two  shillings  to 
four — the  tickets  were  all  sold  off  at  once,  and  their  lucky 
possessors  were  able  to  command  any  price  they  liked  to  ask 
for  them  at  second-hand.     The  "free  list"  was  stopped,  of 
course,  and  even  the  students  of  the  Conservatorium,*  who 
enjoyed  prescriptive  right  of  admission,  were  politely  told 
that  their  prescriptive  right  would  not  be  recognised  on  the 
evening  of  the  eighth  concert. 

This  arbitrary  resumption  of  vested  privileges  provoked  an 
"  indicrnation  meeting  "  at  the  rooms  of  one  of  the  offended 
brotherhood,  at  which  it  was  resolved  that  a  firm  but 
respectful  protest  should  be  addressed  to  the  most  active  of 
the  Directors — a  gentleman  of  severe  aspect,  but  not  it  was 
hoped  of  absolutely  stony  heart.  The  difiiculty  was,  to  find 
a  mouse  to  bell  the  cat.  A  victim  was,  however,  selected 
and  sacrificed,  and  in  the  course  of  the  day  he  reappeared 
before  the  adjourned  conclave  with  a  face  which  distinctly 
showed  that  he  had  been  received  with  the  gentle  courtesy 
usually  accorded  by  College  dons  to  students  too  keenly 
alive  to  encroachments  upon  their  privileges.! 

The  rush  for  tickets  was,  in  fact,  so  great  that  had  the 
Saal  des  Gewandhauses  been  four  times  as  large  as  it  really 
was  it  could  have  been  filled  over  and  over  again.     Through 

*  Founded  by  Mendelssohn  in  1843,  and  then  flourishing  exceedingly 
under  his  energetic  personal  superintendence. 
t  The  "  victim  "  was  Herr  Otto  Goldschmidt. 


326  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xvi. 

the  kindness  of  Herr  Julius  Kistner,  the  well-known  music 
publisher,  the  writer,  maddened  with  the  excitement  of  the 
moment,  was  fortunate  enough  to  obtain  a  seat  in  the  front 
row,  close  to  the  orchestra,  between  the  places  occupied  by 
the  heroic  presenter  of  the  protest  and  the  late  Mr.  Joseph 
Ascher,  another  member  of  the  "Indignation  Committee." 
The  room  was  crowded  to  suffocation  and  the  audience 
breathless  with  suspense. 

The  programme  contained  the  following  pieces : — 

1.  Sympliouie  von  W.  A.  Mozart  (D  dur,  ohne  Menuet). 

2.  Arie  aus  Norma,  ' Keusche  Gottin '  (* Casta  Diva'),  gesungen  von 

Frl.  Jenny  Lied. 

3.  Adagio  und  Rondo  fiir  die  Violine,  mit  Orchester,  componirt  und 

vorgetragen  von  Herrn  Joseph  Joachim. 

4.  Duet  ('  Se  fuggire ')  von  Bellini,  gesungen  von  Frl.  Jenny  Lind 

und  Miss  Dolby. 


5.  Ouverture  zu  Oheron,  von  C.  M.  von  "Weber, 

6.  Eecit.  und  Arie,  aus  Don  Juan,  von  Mozart,  '  Ueber  alles  bleibst 

du  theuer '  ('  Non  mi  dir '),  gesungen  von  Frl.  Jenny  Lind. 

7.  Caprice  fiir  die  Violine,  iiber  ein  Thema  aus  dem  Piraten,  von 

Bellini,  componirt  von  H.  W.  Ernst,  gespielt  von  Herrn  Joseph 
Joachim. 

8.  Lieder,  mit  Pianofortebegleitung,  gesungen  von  Frl.  Jenny  Lind. 

The  burst  of  applause  which,  at  these  concerts,  was 
usually  reserved  until  the  Gast  of  the  evening  had  earned  her 
laurels,  was  awarded  to  her,  on  this  occasion,  on  her  entrance 
into  the  orchestra ;  but  probably  every  one  in  the  room  felt, 
a  few  moments  later,  that  it  had  been  sufficiently  earned  by 
the  veiled  yet  indescribably  delicious  sweetness  of  the  long- 
drawn  A  with  which  the  scena  from  Norma  begins. 

Herr  Heinrich  Brockhaus,  in  his  Diary,  describes  the 
events  of  the  evening  in  terms  which  exactly  correspond 
with  our  own  recollection  of  them  : — 

"  1845.  Leipzig,  December  4.  Jenny  Lind  has  fulfilled 
the  promise  she  made,  in  the  summer,  to  sing  at  one  of  the 


1845.J  AT  THE   GEWANDHAUS.  327 

subscription-concerts,  to  my  great  enjoyment  and  truly 
heartfelt  pleasure. 

"  Luise  *  wrote  to  Fraulein  Lind  to  offer  her  our  hospitality, 
so  I  am  actually  living  under  the  same  roof  with  our  charming 
visitor. 

"  The  expectations  of  the  Leipzigers — who  pride  them- 
selves somewhat  on  their  musical  taste  and  are  sometimes 
a  little  hypercritical — were  raised  very  high  indeed  ;  but  the 
first  air,  from  Norma,  at  once  won  everything  for  the  Singer, 
and  the  enthusiasm  rose  higher  and  higher  through  a  duet 
with  Miss  Dolby  from  Borneo  and  Juliet,  tlirough  a  recitative 
and  air  from  Don  Juan,  and,  finally,  through  some  songs  by 
Mendelssohn  and  some  Swedish  national  airs,  to  a  quite 
extraordinary  pitch. 

"  And  with  good  reason. 

"  She  is  a  most  extraordinary  singer :  a  musical  nature 
through  and  through,  in  full  command  of  the  most  beautiful 
means ;  and,  besides  that,  so  penetrated  and  spiritualised 
with  the  singing  of  everything  which  she  renders,  that  a 
song  sung  by  her  goes  straight  to  the  heart. 

"  Soul  and  expression  so  intimately  associated  with  so 
beautiful  a  voice  and  so  perfect  a  method  will  never  be  met 
with  again ;  the  appearance  of  Fraulein  Lind  is,  therefore, 
truly  unique. 

"  And  with  all  that  what  noble  and  beautiful  simplicity 
pervades  her  whole  being !  free  from  all  fictitious  coquetry, 
though,  all  the  same,  she  takes  delight  in  the  effect  she 
produces.  One  can  only  wonder,  and  love  her.  And  this 
affectionate  appreciation  of  her  is  universal — the  same  with 
young  and  old,  with  men  and  with  women.  And  again, 
there  is  something  so  thorough  and  consistent ;  a  noble  and 
beautiful  nature  ;  a  manifestation  of  the  o-euius  of  the  noblest 
womanhood  and  the  highest  art. 

"Who  can  sing  either  German  or  Italian  music  as  she 
does  ?  t  "Who  is  so  great  a  mistress  of  ISTational  Song  as 
she  ?  In  the  case  of  other  singers  people  are  often  infiuenced 
by  a  critique,  and  astuteness  prides  itself  upon  the  discovery 
of  some  weak  point.     With  Fraulein  Lind  one  rejoices  one's 

*  Frau  Friedrich  Brockhaus,  nee  Wagner;  a  sister  of  Eichard  Wagner. 

t  Mdlle.  Lind  sang  the  airs  from  Norma  and  Don  Juan,  and  two 
songs  by  Mendelssohn,  in  German  ;  the  duet  from  Romeo  in  Itahan  ;  and 
two  Swedish  songs  in  her  own  language. 


328  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xvi. 

self  at  her  success,  and  feels  \Yit\\  her  until  the  applause 
bursts  forth."  * 

Instead  of  following  up  her  success  by  giving  a  "  benefit " 
on  her  own  account,  and  filling  the  room  to  suffocation,  as 
she  might  easily  have  done  at  any  prices  she  liked  to 
demand,  she  announced  her  intention  of  singing,  the  next 
night,  at  the  concert  which  she  determined  to  give  in 
aid  of  the  Orchester-Wittwcn-Fond — an  institution  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  widows  of  deceased  members  of  the 
Gewandhaus  Orchestra — for  which  the  following  programme 
was  advertised  : — 

1.  Ouverture  zu  Euryanthe,  von  C.  M.  von  Weber. 

2.  Scene  und  Arie  aus  dem  Freischutz,  von  C.  M.  von  AVeber,  gesungen 

von  Fraulein  Jenny  Lind. 

3.  Concert  fiir  Pianoforte,  in  G  moll,  componirt  und  vorgetragen  von 

Herrn  General-Musikdirektor  Felix  Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. 

4.  Finale  aus  Euryanthe,  von  C.  M.  von  Weber.     Die  Parthie  der 

"  Euryanthe,"  vorgetragen  von  Fraulein  Jenny  Lind. 

5.  '  Im  Hochlande.'     Ouverture  fiir  Orchester  von  Niels  W.  Gade. 

6.  Scene  und  Arie  aus  Figaro,  von  W.  A.  Mozart,  gesungen  von 

Fraulein  Jenny  Lind. 

7.  Solo  fiir  Pianoforte. 

8.  Lieder  am  Pianoforte,  gesungen  von  Fraulein  Jenny  Lind. 

At  the  morning  rehearsal  for  this  concert — which  took 
place  on  Friday  the  5th  of  December — the  feted  Gast  was 
greeted,  as  she  entered  the  orchestra,  by  an  unpremeditated 
flourish  of  trumpets ;  and,  while  rehearsing  the  finale  to  the 
first  act  of  Euryanthe,  the  pupils  of  the  Thomas-Schule,  to 
whom  the  choral  portions  were  entrusted,  were  so  enchanted 
with  the  delivery  of  the  graceful  scale-passages  to  the 
words 

"  Sehnen  Verlangen  durchwogt  die  Brust ; 
Wieder  ihm  selien,  0  himmlische  Lust !  " 


*  '  Aus  den  Tagehuchern  von  ffeinrich  Brochhaus,'   (Leipzig,  1884), 
Band  ii.  p.  88.     Privately  printed,  for  friends  only. 


1845.]  AT  THE   OEWANDIIAUS.  329 

that  they  forgot  to  count  their  bars'  rest,  and  Mendelssohn 
broufjht  down  Ms  haton,  at  the  liundred  and  seventh  bar  of 
the  allegretto,  amidst  a  ridiculous  silence,  which  at  any  other 
time  would  have  infuriated  him,  though  on  this  occasion  he 
joined,  as  heartily  as  any  one,  in  the  general  laughter. 

Herr  Heinrich  Brockhaus  has  included  a  minute  descrip- 
tion of  this  Concert  also  in  his  published  Diary ;  but  the 
account  given  in  the  unpublished  note-book  of  his  youthful 
son,  Edouard,  is  so  charmingly  unaffected  and  natural,  that 
we  insert  it  in  preference  to  the  more  mature  remarks  of  the 
elder  gentleman. 

"  On  Friday,  the  5th  of  December,  the  Lind  was  to  sing  at 
a  concert  for  the  Orcluster-Wittiven-Fond.  Every  one  was 
delighted,  but  I  most  of  all,  as  I  hoped  that  I  also  might  get 
a  chance  of  hearing  her  ;  and,  luckily,  at  dinner-time,  mother 
gave  me  a  ticket,  which  I  kept  in  my  hand  all  the  afternoon, 
for  fear  of  losing  it.*  Tickets  were  very  rare  just  then, 
and,  though  they  only  cost  1  Ethl.,  10  Ngr.,!  I  know  that 
some  were  sold  for  3  Ethl.,  and  even  5  Etlil.^  The  concert 
was  to  begin  at  half  past  six  o'clock,  and  I  was  at  the  Gewand- 
haus  by  half-past  five  ;  it  took  me,  however,  a  good  quarter 
of  an  hour  to  get  up  the  few  steps  leading  to  the  hall.  For 
the  steps  were  crammed  with  people,  including  many  ladies, 
and  there  was  scarcely  room  to  stand,  much  less  to  turn 
round.  So  w^e  moved  slowly  forwards,  and  thought  our- 
selves lucky  when  we  mounted  a  single  step.  The  hall  was 
soon  so  full  that  not  another  creature  could  be  squeezed  in, 
and  many  had  to  stand  the  whole  evening  in  the  little  room 
where  the  huffet  is ;  but,  luckily,  I  got  a  seat  in  the  third  row 
in  the  gallery,  where  I  could  see  and  hear  everything, 

"  The  Lind  first  sang  the  scena  and  air  from  Figaro,^  and  I 
can  really  find  no  adequate  expression  to  apply  to  her  singing. 
The  power  of  the  voice,  even  in  the  highest  notes,  the  feeling, 
when  she  sang  pianissimo,  and,  above  all,  the  perfection  of 
her  execution,  cannot  be  described  in  words.     The  shake, 

*  The  usual  diuner-tiour  at  Leipzig  then  was,  and  still  is,  one  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon.  f  Four  shillings. 

%  Kiue,  and  even  fifteen  shillings ;  unheard-of  prices  in  Leipzig. 

§  The  places  of  the  airs  from  Figaro  and  Der  Freischutz  were  changed. 


330  JENNY  LINT).  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xvi. 

and  all  the  finer  nuances,  sounded  so  perfectly  natural, 
and  she  sang  with  such  life  and  expression,  that  she  had 
to  hold  back  continually,  to  keep  herself  from  acting. 
And  the  people  seemed  as  if  they  would  never  leave  off 
applauding. 

"  In  the  second  part  she  sang  the  well-known  scene  and 
air  from  Dcr  Freischiltz,  and  here  again,  from  every  gesture, 
one  could  see  that  it  was  as  much  as  ever  she  could  do  to 
hold  herself  in  check  so  as  not  to  act  it.  And  the  expression 
she  gave  to  every  word,  and  the  swelling  of  the  tones  and 
the  feeling  and  the  execution,  were  really  unsurpassable. 

"After  Mendelssohn  had  played  a  beautiful  solo  on  the 
pianoforte,  in  the  most  masterly  style,*  the  Lind  sang,  last 
of  all,  three  songs.  The  first  was  Mendelssohn's  '  Friihlings- 
lied,'  t  and  the  two  others  extremely  original  Swedish  Volks- 
licder.X  Mendelssohn  accompanied  them  on  the  pianoforte, 

*  This  solo  included  a  remarkable  passage  of  improvisation  which  still 
lives  within  the  memory  of  all  who  had  the  happiness  of  hearing  it. 
Beginning  with  a  characteristic  prelude  in  Eb,  Mendelssohn  played,  as 
he  only  could  play  it,  his  own  Lied  ohne  Worte,  No.  1,  Book  VI.  Then, 
during  the  course  of  a  prolonged  and  masterly  modulation  to  the  remote 
key  of  A  major,  he  continued  the  semiquaver  accompaniment  of  the 
movement  for  some  time  longer,  carrying  it  through  new  and  unexpected 
harmonies,  so  arranged  as  to  permit  the  reiteration  of  the  bell-like  Bb, 
under  constantly  changing  conditions,  and  afterwards  varying  it  with 
other  notes,  similarly  treated,  after  the  manner  of  an  inverted  pedal-point. 
Presently  a  new  figure  made  its  appearance,  invoking  at  first  vague 
reminiscences  only,  but  gradually  settling  down  into  the  floating  arpeggios 
of  the  Allegretto  con  grazia,  No.  6,  in  the  Fifth  Book — the  so-called 
Frilhlingslied.  Every  one  knew  now  what  was  coming  :  but  all  were 
taken  by  surprise  by  the  agitated  climax  into  which  he  worked  up  the 
arpeggio-form  ;  first,  carrying  it  through  a  stormy  fortissimo,  and  then 
sufiering  it  to  die  gently  away  as  it  approached  the  long-delayed  chord  of 
A  major,  until  at  last  the  lovely  melody  fell  on  the  ear  with  a  charm  too 
great  to  be  expressed  in  words.  The  recollection  of  it  returns  as  vividly 
as  if  it  had  been  played  but  yesterday.  It  was,  we  believe,  the  last  time 
that  Mendelssohn  ever  played  this  delicious  movement — now,  alas !  so 
remorselessly  hackneyed  ! — in  public  :  and  all  present  agreed  that  he  had 
never  before  been  heard  to  play  it  with  such  magical  effect. 

t  I.e.  the  vocal  FruldingsJied  in  D ;  '  Leise  zieht  durcli  mein  Gemutli.' 

%  The  first  of  these  Volkslieder  was  the  brilliant  Tanzlied  aus  Dalekar- 

lien — '  Kom  du  Hlla  flicka ' — sung   by  Mdlle.  Lind  in  A  minor,   and 

beginning  with  a  bright  trill  on  the  upper  A ;  from  which  note  it  passed, 

immediately,  to  the  upper  C.     This  song  afterwards  became  extremely 


1845.]  AT  TEE   GEWANDEAUS.  331 

and  with    them   the    Concert    came,    all   too    soon,   to   an 
end. 

"  The  Lind  had  promised  to  spend  the  evening  with  us, 
and  when  we  got  home  we  found  everything  made  ready  for 
her  reception.  As  she  had  begged  that  no  company  might 
be  invited,  mother  *  had  only  asked  Tante  Luise,t  with  the 
rest  of  the  family,  and  the  Mendelssohns. 

"About  nine  o'clock  our  court-yard  was  suddenly  filled 
with  a  crowd  of  people,  mostly  students,  who  had  come,  with 
torches,  to  serenade  the  Lind.  When  a  circle  had  been 
formed,  by  torch-light,  Weber's  JuUlcc  Overture  was  first 
played  ;  |  then  a  song  was  sung ;  and  afterwards  they  sang 
and  played  alternately.  The  Lind  was  quite  taken  by 
surprise,  and  kept  on  asking  father  what  she  should  do  and 
how  she  should  thank  the  people. 

"  While  she  was  peeping  out  of  the  window  there  came  a 
pause,  and  a  lot  of  Concert  directors,  with  Concertmeister 
David  §  and  Dr.  Haertel  ||  at  their  head,  came  into  the  room. 


popular,  both  in  Germany  and  in  Enji;land.  The  second  VoIksUed  was 
Herr  Berg's  FJerran  i  shog — '  Der  Eirt '  (Eerdegossen)~~m  FJ  minor  ; 
la  the  ninth  and  tenth  bars  of  which  occurred  a  long-sustained  pause  upon 
an  unaccompanied  F+f,  in  the  middle  register.  "While  the  audience  were 
listening  to  this  in  breathless  suspense,  as  it  gradually  died  away,  and 
every  moment  expecting  it  to  fade  into  absolute  silence,  it  gently 
descended  to  an  almost  equally  long-drawn  Ft],  so  wonderfully  piano 
that  it  was  all  but  inaudible,  and  yet  so  true  and  firm,  that  it  penetrated 
to  the  remotest  corners  of  the  Concert-room.  The  effect  was  magical :  it 
was,  perhaps,  the  most  marvellous  feat  of  vocalisation  that  had  ever  been 
attempted  within  the  memory  of  the  oldest  critic  then  present ;  a  living 
verification  of  the  legendary  stories  told  of  the  wonderful  Farinelli,  the 
history  of  whose  exploits  has  been  so  frequently  laughed  at  as  too  extra- 
vagant for  credence.  Herr  Berg's  song  will  be  foimd,  in  our  Appendix 
of  Music,  at  the  end  of  Vol.  ii. 

*  Frau  Heinrich  Brockhaus  (nee  Campe). 

t  Frau  Friedrich  Brockhaus  (nee  Wagner). 

X  I.e.  b}'  a  large  band  of  wind  instruments  which  accompanied  the 
students.  The  number  of  serenaders  amounted,  in  the  aggregate,  to  fully 
three  hundred;  and  as  the  concert  was  over  by  half-past  eight  o'clock, 
they  easily  reached  the  house  by  nine. 

§  Mendelssohn's  friend,  Herr  Ferdinand  David,  the  well-known 
violinist. 

II  Dr.  Haertel,  the  then  head  of  the  well-known  music-publishing  firm. 


332  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  svi. 

and,  in  the  name  of  the  musicians,  presented  her  with 
a  beautiful  silver  salver,  on  which  were  engraved  the 
words : — 

" '  To  Fraulein  Jenny  Lind,  from  the  grateful  musicians.' 

"  On  the  salver  was  placed  a  beautiful  wreath  of  laurel 
and  camellias.  It  was  given  to  her  by  the  musicians  as 
a  mark  of  thankfulness,  because  she  had  sung  for  the 
institution  for  the  benefit  of  the  widows  of  members  of  the 
orchestra.  David  accompanied  the  gift  with  a  few  words, 
and  the  Lind  was  so  surprised  that  she  could  only  look  at 
him  while  he  was  speaking,  and  thank  him  with  a  silent 
gesture. 

"  During  all  this  time  I  got  the  champagne  ready,  and 
many  healths  were  drunk — naturally,  hers  first  of  all. 
Father  then  filled  a  great  tankard  and  brought  it  to  her,  that 
she  might  first  taste  it  herself,  and  then  send  it  round  to  the 
gentlemen;  but  she  would  not  do  this — why,  I  cannot 
imagine.  She  passed  it  on,  however,  to  David,  saying, 
'  Drink  to  your  own  health  !  ' 

"  During  the  music  she  stood,  for  the  most  part,  at  the  east 
window,  in  the  corner,  and  listened  to  it  eagerly ;  but  one 
could  see  that  the  crowd  of  people  was  painful  to  her. 
When  the  students  had  left  off  singing — there  were  two 
hundred  singers,  besides  a  multitude  of  others — Mendels- 
sohn led  the  Lind  into  the  court-yard.  I  followed  her, 
with  Tante  Luise ;  and  Mendelssohn  said  that  the  honour- 
able task  of  conveying  to  them  Fraulein  Lind's  thanks  for 
this  had  fallen  to  his  lot,  and  that  he  fulfilled  it  with 
pleasure ;  but  that,  in  addition,  and  in  his  own  person  as 
'  Leipziger  Musikdirector,'  he  wished  long  life  to  Fraulein 
Lind.* 

*  Mendelssolin's  exact  words  were  : — 

"  Meine  Herres  ! 

"  Sie  denken  dass  der  Kapellmeister  Mendelssolin  jetzt  zu  Ihnen 
spriclit,  aber  darin  irren  Sie  sich.  Fraulein  Jenny  Lind  spriclit  zu 
Ihnen  und  dankt  Ihnen  herzlich  fiir  die  schone  Ueberraschung  die  Sie 
ihr  bereitet  haben !  Doch  jetzt  verwandele  ich  mich  wieder  in  den 
Leipziger  Musikdirector  und  fordere  Sie  als  solcher  auf,  Fraulein  Jenny 
Lind  hoch  leben  zu  lassen !  Sie  lebe  hoch  !  und  nochmals  hoch !  und 
zum  dritten  mal  hoch  ! " 


1845.]  AT  TEE   GEWANDEAUS.  333 

"  All  joined,  naturally,  in  shouting  '  Long  life  to  Fraulein 
Lincl ! '  And  we  then  tried  to  get  back  into  the  house,  but 
found  it  very  difhcult  to  do  so,  so  closely  did  the  crowd  press 
round,  on  every  side,  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  Lind. 

"  In  going  away,  they  sang  the  beautiful  '  Waldlied.'  *  The 
gentlemen  who  had  presented  the  silver  inlateau  then  took 
their  leave  after  the  Lind  had  duly  thanked  them,  and  the 
Mendelssohns  did  not  stay  very  much  longer. 

"  No  sooner  were  the  doors  closed  behind  them  than  she 
embraced  mother  and  ]\Iarie,  and  all  who  were  standing  near 
her,  and  jumped  up  like  a  child.  The  presence  of  so  many 
people  had  worried  her,  and  it  was  not  until  they  were  gone 
that  her  joy  broke  forth. 

"  We  now  sat  round  a  table  and  enjoyed  ourselves  very 
much.  The  Lind  showed  us,  among  other  tilings,  her 
bracelets,  two  of  which  were  particularly  beautiful.  One,  in 
the  form,  of  a  serpent,  was  given  to  her  by  the  late  King  of 
Sweden,  and  the  other,  which  was  very  splendid,  by  the 
present  King  of  Prussia.f  At  the  top  of  this  last  was  a  cover, 
with  three  real  pearls  as  large  as  peas ;  and  under  this  cover, 
Avhich  was  made  to  lift  up,  was  a  little  cylinder-watch,  the 
size  of  a  four-groschen  piece.  %  She  looked  with  great 
pleasure  at  our  pictures  and  engravings,  while  I  held  the 
lights  for  her,  ancl  at  about  eleven  o'clock  she  went  down  to 
her  apartments."  § 

The  graphic  and  life-like  picture,  thus  charmingly  painted 
by  the  bright  youth  of  sixteen,  forms  a  fitting  conclusion 


{Translation^ 
"  Gentlemen  .' 

"You  tlunk  that  the  Kapellmeister  Mendelssohn  is  speaking  to 
you,  hut  in  that  you  are  mistaken.  Fritulein  Jenny  Lind  speaks  to  you, 
and  thanks  you  for  the  beautiful  surprise  that  you  have  prepared  for  her. 
But  now  1  change  myself  hack  again  into  the  Leipzig  Kapellmeister,  and 
call  upon  you  to  wish  long  life  to  Fraulein  Jenny  Lind.  Long  hfe  to 
her  !  and  again,  long  life  to  her !  and,  for  the  third  time,  long  life  ! " 

*  '  Lebewohl,  du  schoner  Wald,'  Mendelssohn's  Part-song  for  four  male 
voices,  then  the  most  popular  Part-song  in  Germany. 

t  See  page  254. 

X  A  little  larger  than  an  English  sixpence. 

§  From  a  MS.  Journal,  written,  at  the  time,  by  Mr.  (now  Dr.)  Edouard 
Brockhaus. 


334  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xvi. 

to    our    narrative    of    Mcllle.    Lind's    memorable   visit    to 
Leipzig. 

She  might  well  have  retired  to  her  rooms,  tired  out  with 
fatigue  aud  excitement,  at  eleven  o'clock ;  for  on  the  next 
day — Saturday,  the  6th  of  December — she  was  to  return  to 
Berlin,  where  she  was  announced  to  reappear,  for  the  fourth 
time,  in  Don  Juan  on  the  following  Tuesday. 


(     335     ) 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

DIE    VESTALIN. 

Heer  Josephson  received  ]\Idlle  Lind's  letter  on  the  12th 
of  December,  1845,  and  on  that  day  made  the  following 
entry  in  his  Diary  :  —    • 

"  Letter  from  Jenny  Lind.*  Since  I  left  Leipzig  I  had  not 
once  heard  directly  from  her,  as  her  constant  travels  during 
the  summer  had  prevented  her  from  ^viiting  quietly  to 
friends  far  away.  Her  words  are  full  of  friendship,  and  she 
writes  concernino;  herself  with  a  clearness  which  cannot  but 
be  gratifying  to  lier  friends.  She  speaks  of  new  triumphs  in 
her  artistic  career.  Mendelssohn  has  been  in  Berlin,  and 
she  has  been  to  Leipzig  and  sung  in  the  Gewandhaus 
Concerts. 

"  ]\Iendelssohn  and  Jenny  Lind  together  in  Leipzig ! 
What  would  I  not  have  given  to  have  been  there  in  tliose 
days ! " t 

They  were  very  delightful  days  indeed,  as  the  writer  him- 
self can  testify ;  but  to  no  one  were  they  more  delightful 
than  to  the  two  great  Artists  to  whose  joint  offerings  at  the 
shrine  of  Art  they  owed  the  charm  of  their  enchantment. 

Some  months,  however,  elapsed  before  these  two  great 
Artists  were  again  able  to  pursue  their  high  task  with  each 
other's  assistance.  The  dates  of  Mendelssohn's  visits  to  Berlin 
were  fitful  and  uncertain.  Though  the  Mendelssohn  family 
lived  in  the  Prussian  capital,  and  much  regretted  his  absence 

*  See  page  319  for  the  text  of  Mdlle.  Lind's  letter, 
t  '  Aus   dem   Leben  eines   Schwedischen   Componisten ; '   von   N.  P. 
Odman.     (Tom.  ii.) 


336  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xvii. 

from  it,  his  duty  manifestly  lay  in  Leipzig,  at  the  Conserva- 
torinm  which  he  himself  had  founded  and  in  the  orchestra 
of  the   Gewandhaus.      When  summoned  to  Berlin,  in   his 
capacity  of  Kapellmeister,  by  command  of  King  Friedrich 
Wilhelm  IV.,  he  had,  of  course,  no  choice  but  to  obey ;  but 
no  such  summons  seems  to  have  been  issued  subsequently  to 
the   production  of   OEdiims  in   Colonos  until  long  after  the 
winter  season  was   over.     In  the   meantime,   however,  the 
pretty  room  in  the   Hasenheger   Strasse  was  not  deserted. 
j\Iany  pleasant  evenings  were  spent  in  it  in  the  company  of 
Taubert,  Professor  Edward  Magnus  (the  well-known  German 
painter).  Professor  Werder,  Professor   Schnackenberg,   Graf 
von  Schlieffen,  Concertmeister  Eies,  with,  on  rarer  occasions, 
Lenne,  (the  well-known  landscape-gardener,  and  the  originator 
of  the   German   royal    plantations  around    Potsdam),    Graf 
von  Ptedern   (the   so-called   Musikgraf,  or   Director   of  the 
Court  Music),  and  other  distinguished  artists,  men  of  letters 
and  other  privileged  guests,  on  terms  of  intiinacy  with  the 
Wichmann  family,  and  welcomed  at  their  little  reunions,  in 
virtue  of  their  talents,  their  conversational  powers,  or  their 
achievements    in   various    branches    of   Literature,   or   Art. 
Madame  Wichmann  enjoyed,  in  fact,  the  envied  distinction 
of  forming  a  salon  of  which  Mdlle.  Lind  was  by  no  means 
one  of  the    least    brilliant    ornaments,    though    she   herself 
would    probably   have  been    the   last  to    believe   that    her 
presence  could  have  added  anything  to  the  attractions  of  a 
social    "atherincc   founded    on  so  broad  an  intellectual  and 
artistic  basis. 

On  the  30th  of  December — that  is  to  say,  a  little  more 
than  three  weeks  after  her  return  from  Leipzig — Mdlle.  Lind 
appeared,  for  the  first  time  at  Berlin,  in  a.  new  and  very, 
arduous  and  important  role — that  of  "  Julia,"  in  Spontini's 
opera.  Die  Vestalin — which  she  had  previously  impersonated 
six  times  only,  at  Stockholm,  during  the  whole  of  her  long 


1845.]  DIE    VESTALIN.  337 

career — probably   because    it   was    found    unsuited   to   the 
Swedish  popular  taste. 

Die   Vestalin  had   long   been  a  very  favourite  Opera,  in 
Berlin,   where    it  had   been    placed   upon  the    stage   with 
extraordinary  magnificence,  and  entirely  under  the  composer's 
own  personal  direction,  when  he  was  invited  to  the  Prussian 
capital,   in   the   character   of   General    Music   Director,   by 
King  Friedrich  Wilhelm  III.,  in  the  year  1820.     The  part 
of  "  Julia  "  had  then  been  sustained   by  Madame  Milder- 
Hauptmann,    and    since    then    most  of  the   great  German 
■prime  donne  had  interpreted  it  in  their  turn.     It  was  there- 
fore no  easy  task  to  satisfy  a  Prussian  audience  with  a  new 
conception  of  the  work,  and  as  Mdlle.  Lind  had  intimated 
in  her  letter  to  Madame  Erikson,  her  reading  of  the  leading 
part  was  quite  sure  to  be  judged  by  the  measure  of  all  the 
greatest  singers  who  had  previously  appeared  in  it.     She  had 
spared  no  labour  in  her  endeavour  to  make  it  as  perfect  as 
possible.     As  is  nearly  always  the  case,  when  Prencli  libretti 
are  translated  into  other  languages,  the  text  and  music  of  the 
received  version  fitted  together  so  imperfectly  that  without 
extensive  revision  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  do  full 
justice  to  the  composer's  original  intention.     How  this  diffi- 
culty was  surmounted  when  Die  Vestalin  was  first  produced 
in  Berlin  it  does  not  fall  w^ithin  our  province  to  consider 
Spontini  was  not  an  easy  man  to  satisfy,  even  with  regard  to 
the  minutest  conceivable  details  of  effect  or  expression  ;  but 
whether  he  was  content  or  not  with  the  German  paraphrase 
provided  for  him,  it  is  quite  certain  that  it  neither  satisfied 
Mademoiselle  Lind  nor  the  only  friend  to  whose  assistance 
she  could  trust  as  a  means  of  escape  from  the  difficulty.    We 
have  before  us,  as  we  write,  her  own  well-used  copy  of  the 
little  oblong  edition,  published  by  Meyer  of  Brunswick,  in 
which  page  after  page  is  filled,  in  her  own  handwriting,  with 
pencilled  corrections  suggested  by  Madame  Birch-Pfeiffer — 

VOL.  I.  z 


338  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xvii. 

phrases  substituted  for  those  contained  in  the  generally- 
received  version,  in  order  to  rectify  false  emphasis,  to  provide 
better  opportunities  for  taking  breath,  and  to  supply  a  smooth 
and  more  flowing  translation  of  the  entire  part  of  Julia — the 
text  allotted  to  the  other  performers  remaining,  of  course, 
untouched.  The  amount  of  labour  and  anxiety  expended 
upon  the  work  may  be  conceived  from  the  following  letter 
to  the  talented  authoress,  written  in  December  1845 — pro- 
bably on  the  18th  of  the  month,  though  the  exact  day  is  not 
mentioned : — 

"  Good  Mother  !  Little  Mother  1* 

"  I  cannot  see  you  to-day.  Why  ?  Because  the  good 
King  wishes  to  have  some  more  music  in  Charlottenburg  this 
evening. 

"  How  are  you  to-day  ?  I  hope  much  better.  Good 
mother,  my  refuge  !  What  can  I  do  with  my  Vcstalin  ? 
the  text  is  not  yet  in  order.  If  you  do  not  help  me,  things 
will  go  badly.  Permit  me,  kind  soul,  to  complain  to  you  of 
my  dire  need,  while  I  send  you  the  part  and  the  pianoforte 
score.  Ah  !  if  you  have  time,  mother,  help  me,  for  Heaven's 
sake,  for  I  cannot  begin  to  study  until  the  text  is  properly 
arranged.  You  will  be  quite  weary  of  my  large  demands. 
Tell  the  servant  how  you  are.  Tarewell,  mother.  May  all 
good  spirits  float  around  your  poor  sick  head !  Greet  all 
whom  you  will  from 

"  Wednesday  morning.  "  Your 

"  JENNY."t 

It  is  pleasant  to  know  that  the  improvement  effected  in 
the  text  by  this  careful  revision  was  worthily  appreciated. 

The  impression  the  performance  produced  upon  the  German 
critics  generally  may  be  gathered  from  the  notice  wliich 
appeared  in  the  Bcrlinische  Zeitung  three  days  after  the  first 
performance : — 

*  A  paraphrase  of  the  Swedish  LiUa  Moder ! 
t  From  Frau  von  Hillern's  collection. 


1845-46.]  DIE    VE STALIN.  339 

"  A  joy,"  says  Herr  Eellstab,  ''  and  more  than  a  joy — a 
true  elevation  of  the  spirit  has  fallen  to  the  share  of  the 
writer  at  the  close  of  his  year  of  critical  activity,  in  that 
he  is  able  to  record  an  artistic  achievement,  among  the  most 
memorable  that  he  himself  has  ever  witnessed,  and  one 
which  has  deeply  moved,  not  himself  alone,  but  also  a  large 
and  varied  section  of  the  public. 

"  Jenny  Lind  in  the  part  of  '  Julia.' 

"Grand  memories,  rich  in  Art,  revived  themselves  within 
us  in  connection  with  the  work  and  with  past  interpreters  of 
the  role  who  have  attained  the  sublimest  heights. 

"  It  placed  a  crown  on  the  ravishing  and  lofty  charm  with 
which  Nanette  Schechner* — that  star  so  brilliant,  and  so 
soon  to  vanish  from  the  firmament  of  Art — enthralled  her 
astonished  hearers  with  an  irresistible  enchantment. 

"  Wilhelmina  Schroeder-Devrient  achieved,  in  the  part  of 
'Julia,'  one  of  her  grandest  Art-pictures,  all  glomng  with  the 
fire  of  genius. 

"  In  short,  the  work  marked,  for  many  years,  the  culminat- 
ing point  of  our  noblest  dramatic  power  at  a  time  in  which 
Nature  still  bestowed  upon  us  her  wondrous  wealth  of 
powerful  and  splendid  voices. 

"  But  let  us  now  turn  our  eyes  upon  the  present.  It  will 
give  them  plenty  of  material  which  cannot  well  be  passed 
over.  And  this  time  we  will  occupy  ourselves  less  with 
passing  judgment  than  with  giving  a  history  of  the  impres- 
sions produced  upon  us  by  the  performance. 

"  The  first  act  was  over.  From  first  to  last  the  singer  had, 
through  her  womanly  and  noble  bearing,  excited  the  closest 
sympathy.  The  difticult  entrance  during  the  first  chorus — a 
rock  on  which  so  many  singers  have  been  shipwrecked — 
naturally  afforded  our  Artist  the  opportunity  for  a  triumph, 
through  the  sweetness  of  her  tones,  f  Her  acting  and  singing 
were  everywhere  noble,  but  not  with  the  victorious  effect  we 
expected  from  her.     Sometimes  in  the  latter  she  exliibited, 

*  See  page  311. 

t  By  a  singular  anomaly,  "  Julia,"  in  La  Vestale,  is  first  introduced  to 
the  audience  singing  in  unison  with  the  chorus — but  with  different  words 
adapted  to  the  same  notes.  The  intention  no  doubt  is,  that  she  may  give 
utterance  to  her  own  sad  thoughts,  while  singing  the  Hymn  of  the 
Vestals  by  compulsion.  But  it  takes  a  very  great  singer  and  actress  to 
make  the  audience  understand  this,  and  we  can  scarcely  wonder  that  so 
many  great  singers  have  been  shipwrecked  on  so  dangerous  a  rock. 

Z   2 


340  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xvii. 

here  and  there,  a  trace  of  weariness  and  that  veiling  of  the 
organ  which  represents  her  only  weakness.*  After  that  all 
expressed  sweetest  emotion.  In  holding  forth  the  laurel- 
crown  to  Licinius  her  acting  displayed  a  magic  charm,  due 
to  the  virgin  purity  with  wliich  the  Artist  glorified  the 
entire  scene.  But  we  cannot  deny  that  her  two  great 
predecessors,  each  in  a  different  way,  imparted  to  this  very 
scene  a  ravishing  and  altogether  different  effect.  Nanette 
Schechner  had  here  painted  the  victory  of  the  Eoman 
woman  over  the  virgin,  and  her  singing  was  a  veritable 
hymn  of  triumph.  Wilhelmina  Schroeder-Devrient,  who 
was  not  accustomed  to  enter  into  the  lists  with  these 
weapons,  had  exhibited  here  the  whole  creative  power  of  her 
mimic  talent,  and  painted  a  changeful  scene  that  moment 
by  moment  rose  higher  and  higher  and  held  us  in  breath- 
less thrall.  In  the  face  of  this  strife  between  the  beautiful 
expression  of  the  present  and  the  still  greater  recollections 
of  the  past  the  first  act  closed.  And  it  seemed  to  us — 
perhaps  too  much  preoccupied  with  the  Eoman  spirit — as 
if  the  Singer,  whom  we  have  always  hitherto  beheld  as  a 
conqueror,  had  waged  too  rash  a  battle  upon  too  unfavour- 
able a  field,  and,  goaded  on  by  marvellous  deeds  of  valour 
and  genius  alike  had  lost ! 

"We  found  the  audience  under  a  similar  impression, 
and  awaited  the  second  act  with  an  almost  sorrowful  de- 
pression of  spirit. 

"  Sometimes,  however — if  we  may  still  be  permitted  to 
use  the  language  of  metaphor — a  battle  which,  whether  by 
accident  or  design,  may  seem  to  have  begun  unfavourably, 
recovers  itself,  to  be  crowned  with  the  most  glorious  and 
signal  victory.  And  so  it  was  in  tliis  case.  Erom  the  very 
beginning  of  the  act  certain  passages  breathed  forth,  as  it 
were,  forecasts  of  the  most  fervid,  the  deepest,  the  grandest 
feelings  that  could  agitate  a  loving  womanly  breast.  In  the 
grand  air,  '  Gotte,  ach !  liwt  meiii  Flelien ! '  f  lightning- 
flashes  of  magic  power  gleamed  forth  as  from  some  strange, 

*  This  peculiar  veiled  tone  of  the  middle  register  was  always  noticeable 
in  Mdlle.  Lind's  voice  at  the  beginning  of  a  new  part,  for  the  success  of 
wliich  she  was  more  than  usually  anxious,  and  the  peculiarity  remained 
with  her  to  the  end  of  her  career. 

t  '  Impitoyables  dieux  I '  in  the  original  French,  The  German  version 
by  Madame  Birch-Pfeiffer  is  inserted,  in  pencil,  in  Mdlle.  Lind's  own 
handwriting  in  her  printed  copy  of  the  music. 


1846.]  DIE    VESTALIN.  341 

unknown  region ;    sounds,   accents   such  as  we   had   never 
before  heard.      With  an  holy  grandeur  the  artist  sang  the 
words,  '  Was  j'ctzo  micli  durchgluht,  es  ist  die  Liche  ! '  *     The 
acting  before  the  appearance  of  Licinius,  the  greeting  accorded 
to  him,  the  mimic  recognition  accompanying  every  tone  of  his 
air,  '  Die  Gotter  loerdcn  uns  niclit  gdnzlich  sinkcn  lassen ; '  f 
all  this  formed  a  chain  of  the  most  ravishing  beauties.     It 
was  the  pictvire  of  ecstatic  love  struggling  by  turns  with  the 
shadow  of  the  sombre  presage  of  death.     And  emotion  and 
dread  alternated,  in  like  manner,  in  the  breast  of  the  hearer. 
Words  such  as  '  Venus  sehiitzc  mich,  und  die  Liebe  sci  mciii 
Gott',  X  and  '  Er  ist  frci,'  §  rang  out  with  the  true  blessed 
inspiration   of  a  love   upborne   by  an  inward   power   that 
triumphed  over  every   outward  obstacle.      And    yet,   with 
these  great  effects,  the  artist  mounted  the  first  step  only  of 
the  heights  to  which  she  rose  towards  the  close  of  the  act. 
At   the  words,  '  ScJion  fasst  dcs  Todes  kaltes    Gi^auen    mich 
an,'  II  dim  shadows  began  to  creep  in  as  from  some  doleful 
world  beyond.      And  it  is  worthy  of  remark  that,  through 
an  uninterrupted  course  of  the  most  elevated  and  astonishing 
appearances    on   the   stage    during   the   last   twenty   years, 
nothing  has  so  deeply  moved  us  as  the  impression  produced 
by  our  Artist's    acting   from   this  moment   onwards  where 
terror  awakes  her  from  her  short  dream  of  love.     The  strife 
between  greatness  of  soul  and  holiest  faith  in  the  might  of 
Love  on  the  one  side,  and   on  the  other  the  overpowering 
recoil   of   Nature    from   the   fear   of    death    in    a   form    so 
terrible    that    it    might  well    have    crushed    the    shrinking 
nerves    of    the    boldest   man;    this    strife,   we   say,   is    set 
before    us    in    such    sort   that   the   soul    scarcely  dares    to 
believe  what  the  eye  sees.     It  paints  the  last  extremity  of 
horror,   and  yet  the  limit   of  the   beautiful  is  never   over- 
passed even  by  a  hair's-breadth. 

"Yet  we  stand  here  on  the  threshold  only  of  the  realm 

*  '  L'amour,  le  desespoir,  usurpent  dans  mon  cceur  tine  entiere  puis- 
sance.' 

f  '  Les  dieux  prendront  pitie  du  sort  qui  vous  accahle.'  Throughout 
this  air  Licinius  is  addressing  himself  to  Julia. 

t  '  Eh  Men  I  fils  de  Venus,  a  tes  vceux  je  me  rends  I ' 

§  '  11  vivra  I ' 

II  '  Les  horreurs  du  trepas  sans  espoir  m'environne,''  in  the  origiual 
French.  Here,  again,  Madame  Birch-Pfeiffer's  German  differs  widely 
from  the  usual  version. 


342  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xvir. 

of  wonder  over  which  our  artist  exercises  her  sway.  It 
seemed  to  us  impossible  that  such  an  achievement  could 
have  been  surpassed.     And  yet ! 

"The  third  act,  that  hitherto  has  been  for  all  other 
singers  and  actresses  a  mild  and  gentle  echo  only  of  the 
previous  one,  asserting  its  claim  to  nothing  higlier  than  the 
lyric  expression  of  a  weak  emotion — this  third  act  supplies 
to  our  Artist  a  point  of  union  with  still  higher  dramatic 
impressions;  or,  at  least,  with  others  so  wholly  different 
that  they  belong  to  an  altogether  foreign  and  unsuspected 
category  that  irresistibly  proclaims  her  impersonation  to  be 
the  most  powerful  of  all.* 

"Half  hidden  beneath  the  black  veil,  with  difficulty 
supported  by  two  veiled  sisters,  Julia  glides,  like  a  spirit, 
across  the  stage ;  advancing,  with  faltering  step,  in  the 
funeral-procession  of  the  Vestals,  like  a  shadow  from  the 
depths  below.  It  is  but  a  memory  of  life  that  moves  in 
the  procession  there ;  the  horror  of  death  holds  her  already 
in  its  freezing  thrall.  The  sound  of  her  voice  trembles  in 
ghostly  whispers  upon  her  lips.  Over  her  pallid  face  flits, 
from  time  to  time,  a  faint  smile  of  love,  like  a  dying  sun- 
beam— a  dream  of  the  long-since-vanished  past.  How  can 
one  hope  to  paint,  in  words,  a  picture  so  incomprehensible  ? 
As  we  said  above,  the  soul  itself  doubts  the  testimony  of 
the  living  eye.  And  it  could  not  be  otherwise ;  for  here 
Art  works  her  miracles  in  the  truest  acceptation  of  the 
words.  May  we  be  forgiven  if  we  defer  all  farther  remarks 
to  a  future  opportunity  ?  "  f 

*  The  third  act  of  La  Vestale  presents  a  difficulty  which  few,  even  of 
the  greatest  artists,  can  entirely  overcome.  The  true  catastrophe  of  the 
drama  is  represented  by  the  ghastly  procession  to  the  living  tomb,  so 
powerfully  described  by  Herr  Rellstab  in  his  next  paragraph.  The 
happy  denouement  which  follows  forms  an  anti-climax  quite  out  of  har- 
mony with  the  tragic  complexion  of  the  story,  and  Spontini  leaves  the 
heroine  to  create  for  herself  the  oj)portunity  needed  for  the  adequate 
expression  of  the  joy  she  feels  at  her  deliverance.  When  Herr  Eellstab 
told  his  readers  that  the  interest  of  Mdlle.  Lind's  ideal  culminated  in  the 
third  act  he  gave  her  the  highest  praise  that  it  lay  in  his  power  to 
bestow.  It  ought  to  culminate  there — but  how  consummate  the  power 
of  the  actress  who  can  make  it  do  so ! 

t  Kfjl.  pri.v.  Berlinisclie  Zeitunrj.  (Jan.  2,  1846.)  See  also,  '  G'esam- 
melte  Scliriften  von  Ludwig  BeUstal).'  (Leipzig,  1861,  tom.  xx.  pp. 
397-102.) 


1846.]  DIE    VESTALIN.  343 

We  cannot  but  regard  this  eloquent  panegyric  as  the 
most  just  as  well  as  the  most  important  expression  of 
critical  opinion  that  we  have  as  yet  had  occasion  to  tran- 
scribe from  the  journals  of  this  eventful  epoch  in  Mdlle. 
Lind's  artistic  career.  For  Herr  Eellstab  was  clearly 
writing  under  the  influence  of  an  almost  irresistible  pre- 
dilection in  favour  of  earlier  interpretations  of  the  role  of 
"Julia,"  by  German  artists  of  the  highest  rank — one  may 
almost  say  under  the  shadow  of  a  foregone  conclusion, 
against  which  nothing  short  of  the  conviction  forced  upon 
a  thoroughly  honest,  though  at  the  moment  strongly 
prejudiced  mind,  by  artistic  power  of  the  highest  order, 
could  ever  have  prevailed.  That  it  did  so  prevail,  in  spite 
of  such  self-confessed  resistance,  adds  infinite  value  to  the 
final  conquest,  and  the  frankness  with  which  Herr  Eellstab 
proclaims  his  unqualified  conversion  does  equal  honour  to  his 
criticism  and  its  subject.* 

Those  who  were  familiar  Avith  Mdlle.  Lind's  ideal  concep- 
tions of  the  great  operatic  roles  she  interpreted,  when  at  the 
zenith  of  her  fame,  will  find  no  difficulty  in  understanding 
Herr  Eellstab's  disappointment  at  the  effect  she  produced  in 
the  first  act.  It  was  her  invariable  custom  to  reserve  her 
great  effects,  with  true  artistic  self-abnegation,  for  certain 
points  which  the  unerring  instinct  of  her  genius  indicated  as 
the  fittest  for  the  introduction  of  a  logical  climax,  and  to  the 
power  and  perfection  of  such  a  climax  she  unhesitatingly 
sacrificed  an  indefinite  number  of  those  minor  effects  upon 
which  too  many  artists  gifted  with  less  creative  power  are 
only  too  ready  to  seize  for  the  purpose  of  securing  a  passing 
triumph  at  the  expense  of  the  logical  whole.  It  is  true  that 
at   some  of  her   first   appearances   before   an   entirely  new 

*  Mr.  Chorley,  who  heard  Mdlle.  Lind,  in  Die  Vestalin  at  Frankfort 
expressed  his  opinion  of  the  performance  in  terms  which  entirely  agree 
with  Herr  Rellstab's  verdict. 


344  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  svii. 

audience  she  has  been  known  to  secure  its  sympathy  by  the 
very  first  phrase  she  delivered ;  but  it  was  the  artistic 
delivery  alone  that  produced  this  magical  effect.  Her 
dramatic  power  she  kept  always  in  reserve,  with  a  reticence 
wliich  none  but  the  greatest  artists  are  ever  known  to 
exercise,  for  the  predetermined  situations  in  wdiich  she  felt 
that  it  could  be  successfully  exhibited  with  logical  con- 
sistency and  deepest  reverence  for  dramatic  truth.  And 
Herr  Eellstab's  conversion  only  proves  how  just  was  his 
judgment  on  this  point  with  regard  to  Spontini's  master- 
piece. 

The  particular  performance  of  Die  Vcstalin  criticised  by 
Herr  Rellstab  took  place  on  the  30th  of  December.  The 
Opera  was  given  on  two  other  occasions  only  during  the 
season,  in  consequence  of  the  illness  of  several  members  of 
the  powerful  cast.* 

*  For  the  dates  of  the  performances,  see  p.  367. 


1846.]  (     345      ) 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

AT   WEIMAE. 

We  have  more  than  once  had  occasion  to  speak  of  MdUe. 
Lind's  intimacy  with  Hans  Christian  Andersen,  whom,  in 
accordance  with  the  old-world  Scandinavian  usage,  she  was 
accustomed  to  address  as  her  ''  brother." 

Andersen  spent  the  closing  weeks  of  the  year  1845  and 
the  beginning  of  1846  at  Berlin ;  and,  in  his  well-known 
autobiography,  thus  speaks  of  his  Christmas  festival : — 

"  Amidst  all  this  festive  excitement,  this  amiable  and 
zealous  interest  in  my  behalf,  one  evening,  and  one  only, 
was  unoccupied,  on  which  I  suddenly  felt  the  power  of 
loneliness,  in  its  most  oppressive  form — Christmas  Eve,  the 
exact  evening  on  which  I  always  feel  most  festive,  feel 
so  glad  to  stand  beside  a  Christmas-tree,  enjoy  so  much 
the  happiness  of  the  children,  and  love  to  see  the  elders 
become  children  again.  I  heard  afterwards  that,  in  each 
one  of  the  family  circles  in  which  1  had  truly  been  received 
as  a  relative,  it  had  been  supposed  that  I  was  already  en- 
gaged elsewhere :  but,  in  reality,  I  sat  quite  alone  in  my 
room  at  the  hotel  and  thought  of  home.  I  sat  at  the  open 
window  aud  looked  up  at  the  star-bespangled  heavens. 
That  was  the  Christmas-tree  that  had  been  lighted  up  for  me. 
*  Father  in  heaven  ! '  I  prayed,  as  the  children  pray,  '  what 
wilt  Thou  give  me  ? ' 

"When  my  friends  heard  of  my  lonely  Christmas  feast, 
they  lighted  up  many  Christmas-trees  for  me  on  following 
evenings,  and  on  the  last  evening  in  the  year  a  little  tree, 
with  lights  and  pretty  presents,  was  prepared  for  me  alone — 
and  that  by  Jenny  Lind.     The  entire  circle  comprised  herself 


346  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xviii. 

her  companion  *  and  me.  We  three  children  of  the  North 
met  together,  on  that  Sylvester-evening,  and  I  was  the  child 
for  M'hom  the  Christmas-tree  had  been  lighted  np.  With 
sisterly  feeling,  she  rejoiced  over  my  success  in  Berlin,  and 
I  felt  almost  vain  of  the  sympathy  of  so  pure,  so  womanly  a 
being.  Her  praises  were  sounded  everywhere,  the  praises, 
not  of  the  artist  only  but  of  the  woman.  The  two  united 
awoke  for  her  a  true  enthusiasm."  f 

And  this  homely  little  meeting,  so  touching  in  its  child- 
like innocence — this  pleasant  and  unrestrained  intercourse 
between  two  pure  honest-hearted  souls,  gifted,  each  in  their 
measure,  with  the  fire  of  genius — took  place  on  the  evening 
after  Mdlle.  Lind's  splendid  triumph  on  the  first  night  of  Die 
Vestalin  ! 

The  talented  Dane  tells  another  amusing  little  story  con- 
nected with  Mdlle.  Lind's  performances  at  the  Opera  at  this 
period. 

"  One  morning,"  he  says,  "  as  I  looked  out  of  my  window, 
Unter  den  Linden,  I  saw,  half  hidden  under  the  trees,  a 
man,  very  poorly  clad,  who  took  a  comb  from  his  pocket, 
arranged  his  hair,  smoothed  his  neck-tie,  and  dusted  his  coat 
with  his  hand.  (I  well  know  the  shrinking  poverty  that 
feels  oppressed  by  its  shabby  clothes.)  A  moment  afterwards 
there  was  a  knock  at  my  door,  and  the  man  entered.  It  was 
the  ISTature-Poet,  B  *  *  *  *  *,  who,  though  only  a  poor  tailor, 
has  the  true  poetical  inspiration.  Eellstab  and  others  in 
Berlin  have  mentioned  him  with  honour.  There  is  some- 
thing healthy  in  his  poems,  among  which  some  breathe  a 
true  religious  spirit.  He  had  heard  that  I  was  in  Berlin  and 
had  come  to  visit  me.  We  sat  side  by  side  on  the  sofa,  and 
his  conversation  betokened  a  contentedness  so  amiable,  a 
spirit  so  pure  and  unsullied,  that  it  truly  grieved  me  that  I 
was  not  rich  enough  to  do  something  for  him.  I  was  ashamed 
to  offer  the  little  that  lay  in  my  power ;  but,  in  any  case,  I  was 
anxious  to  put  it  in  an  acceptable  form.  I  asked  him,  there- 
fore, whether  I  might  venture  to  invite  him  to  hear  Jenny 

*  INIdlle.  Louise  Johansson. 

t  '  Das  Mdrchen  meines  Lehens,''  von  H.  C.  Andersen.  (Leipzig,  1880, 
pp.  206-207.) 


1846.]  AT   WEIMAB.  347 

Lincl.  '  I  have  already  heard  her/  he  said,  smiling.  '  I 
could  not  afford  to  buy  a  ticket ;  so  I  went  to  the  man  who 
provides  the  "  supers  "  and  asked  him  if  I  could  not  go  on 
as  a  "  super  "  one  evening  in  Norma.  To  this  he  agreed. 
So  I  was  dressed  up  as  a  Eoman  soldier,  with  a  long  sword 
at  my  side,  and  in  that  guise  appeared  upon  the  stage ;  and 
I  heard  her  better  than  any  one  else,  for  I  stood  close  beside 
her.  Ah  !  how  she  sang  !  and  how  she  acted  !  I  could  not 
stand  it :  it  made  me  weep.  But  they  were  furious  at  that. 
The  manager  forbade  it,  and  would  never  permit  me  to  set 
foot  upon  the  stage  agaui — for  one  must  not  weep  upon  the 
stage.' "  * 

Soon  after  this  Andersen  took  leave  of  his  friends  in 
Berlin  and  proceeded  to  Weimar  on  a  visit  to  the  Here- 
ditary Grand  Duke,  with  whom  he  was  on  terms  of  the 
most  afi'ectionate  intimacy.  And  here,  again,  he  spent  some 
happy  days  in  the  company  of  Mdlle,  Lind,  who  had  also 
been  invited  to  Weimar,  and  sang  there  on  five  evenings, 
three  of  which  were  occupied  by  Court  Concerts  and  two  by 
performances  of  Norma  and  La  Sonnamhula  at  the  Court 
Theatre,!  Here,  as  in  Berlin,  her  performances  produced  the 
most  profound  sensation.  The  Grand  Duke  and  the  various 
members  of  his  Eoyal  Highness's  family  received  her  with 
demonstrations  of  the  warmest  welcome.  In  company  with 
Andersen  and  his  friends,  the  Chancellor  Miiller,  the  Court 
Chamberlain  Beaulieu,  and  the  Court  Secretary  Schdll,  she 
visited  some  of  the  most  interesting  places  in  the  neighbour- 
hood, and  more  especially  those  consecrated  by  memories  of 
Goethe  and  Schiller, 

On  the  29th  of  January — two  days  after  her  last  perform- 
ance at  Court — the  Chancellor  ]\Iiiller  escorted  her,  in  com- 
pany with  Andersen,  to  the  Fiirstengruft — the  burial-vault 

*  *  Das  Mdrchen  ineines  Lebens/  von  H.  C.  Andersen.  (Leipzig,  1880, 
pp.  207,  208), 

t  The  dates  were  :  Jan.  23,  Court  Concert ;  Jan.  24,  Norma,  at  the 
Court  Theatre ;  Jan.  25,  Court  Matiue'e ;  Jan.  26,  La  Somnanibula,  at 
the  Covu-t  Theatre ;  Jan,  27,  Court  Concert,  at  the  Theatre. 


348  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xvm. 

in  the  Neue  Kircliof,  beyond  tlie  Frauentlior,  in  which  for 
many  generations  past,  the  remains  of  the  departed  Grand 
Dukes  of  Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach  and  their  families  have 
been  laid  to  rest — and  there  showed  to  the  little  party  of 
friends  the  cofl&ns  in  which  Goethe  and  Schiller  now  sleep 
their  last  long  sleep.*  The  dimly  lighted  burial-place,  and 
the  solemn  associations  connected  with  it,  made  a  deep  im- 
pression upon  the  friends  ;  and  amidst  its  ghostly  shadows 
the  Austrian  poet,  Hermann  EoUet,  who  accidentally  met  the 
little  party  in  the  vault,  wrote  a  poem,  which  Andersen 
has  printed  in  his  autobiography,  and  the  original  MS.  of 
which  was  carefully  preserved  by  Mdlle.  Lind  among  her 
mementos  of  the  past.  We  subjoin  the  verses  in  the 
original  German,  which  would  be  seriously  weakened  by  any 
attempt  at  translation  : — 

2)2ard()cnrrfc,  tie  2)u  cftmat^ 

2)hcf)  cntjiicft  nut  fiiffcm  2)uft, 
®a^  5)ic^  rantcn  um  tie  ©avge 

Sn  fccc  ©idjterfiirjlengiuft. 

Unt  iitit  !Dir  an  jctcm  ©ar^c 

3n  ter  tcttcnftitrcn  -^att' 
©aft  id?  cine  fdjincrjcntjiicfte, 

Sraumcrifcfjc  9^oc()tigatt. 

lint  id)  frcute  mid^  im  ©titten, 

aBar  in  ticfftcr  SSruft  entjiirft, 
JDaS  tic  tunflen  ©idjterfarge 

©pat  ncdj)  ford()cr  3au6er  fd^miirft. 

Unt  ta?  2)uften  tcincr  Stcfe 

aSoate  turdf)  tic  2:ottcn6aU' 
2)tit  tcr  aBcl}mut^  tci-  in  Svaucr 

©tumnigcttjcrb'nen  Sladjtigntt.  t 

*  The  late  Grand-Duke,  Carl  Augustus,  tlie  father  of  Hans  C.  Andersen's 
friend,  Carl  Alexander,  the  heir-apparent,  and  the  devoted  admh-er  and 
intimate  friend  of  the  two  great  Poets,  gave  orders  that  their  coffins  should 
be  placed  on  either  side  of  his  own ;  but  as  this  arrangement  was  found 
to  be  inconsistent  with  Court  etiquette,  they  now  stand,  close  together,  in 
another  part  of  the  vault. 

t  '  Das  Mdrchen  meines  Lebens ; '  von  Hans  Uliristian  Andersen. 
(Leipzig,  1880,  page  211.)  See  also,  'Bans  C'Jtristian  Andersens  Brief- 
wechsel ; '  herausgegehen  von  Emil  Jonas.     (Leipzig,  1887,  page  29.) 


1846.]  AT   WEIMAR.  349 

The  visit  to  the  funeral-vault  affected  Mdlle.  Lind  very 
deeply ;  and  she  was  evidently  glad  to  relieve  the  sad  im- 
pression by  more  cheerful  thoughts.  In  a  letter  to  Madame 
Birch-Pfeiffer,  she  wrote  : — 

Weimar,  Jau.  27,  1846. 

"  I  have  just  come  out  of  the  vault  in  which  Goethe  and 
Sclnller  lie  entombed,  and  my  whole  heart  is  impressed  and 
excited. 

"  On  Friday  afternoon  I  am  going  to  Leipzig,  where  I  have 
been  most  kindly  invited  to  the  Mendelssohus,  for  the 
evening,  and  on  Saturday  I  return  to  Berlin."  * 

As  her  performances  at  the  Opera  at  Berlin  were  Gastrollen 
only,  and  therefore  subject  to  no  iron  rule  with  regard  to 
specific  dates,  she  enjoyed  much  greater  freedom,  in  the 
matter  of  "leave  of  absence,"  than  she  could  have  hoped 
for  had  she  formed  one  of  the  regular  staff  of  the  com- 
pany. Thus  privileged,  she  was  able  without  difficulty  to 
extend  her  little  holiday  some  days  beyond  the  time  occupied 
by  her  engagements  at  Weimar,  as  we  learn  from  the  fol- 
lowing letter,  written  in  German,  to  Madame  Wichmaun  : — 

"  Weimar,  27  January,  1846. 
"  Alskade  t  Fru  ! 

"  Yes  !  if  I  might  only  continue  in  my  mother-tongue 
— then  would  my  beloved  Frau  Professorin  have  the  chance 
of  receiving  a  fairly  nice  letter.     But,  in  German  !     Ah  !  % 

"  Weimar  is  but  a  little  place,  but  it  is  very  interesting. 
However,  I  will  not  tell  you  all  about  that,  but  will  work  it 
out  in  Berlin. 

"  I  remain  here  until  Thursday  §  morning,  when  I  go  to 
Erfurt,  to  sing  at  a  concert  there.  From  thence  I  go  on,  on 
Friday,  to  Leipzig,  where  I  stay  for  the  night ;  and  you  can 

*  From  Frau  von  Hillern's  collection, 
t  'Beloved.' 

%  It  will  be  remembered,  that  Mdlle.  Lind  wrote  the  first  of  her  long 
series  of  letters  to  Frau  Wichmann  in  French. 
§  January  29. 


350  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xviii. 

well  understand,  my  gracious  Professorin,  from  what  source 
my  kind  invitation  comes  :  *  can  you  not  guess  ?  and  on 
Saturday  we  come,  by  the  first  train,  to  Berlin. 

"  Your  grateful  and  sincerely  devoted, 

"Jenny  LiND."t 

The  memory  of  this  pleasant  holiday — for  it  really  was  a 
holiday,  though  not  a  time  of  idleness — was  very  dear  to 
her.  Soon  after  her  return  to  Berlin  she  wrote  thus  to 
her  friend  Hans  C.  Andersen : — 

"  Berlin,  February  19, 1846. 

"  My  dear  good  Beother  ! 

"  Thanks  for  our  last  meeting.  I  did  so  enjoy  it !  Do 
you  agree  with  me  that  we  have  scarcely  ever  before  spent 
a  more  charming  pleasant  time  together  ? 

"  I  thank  you,  ever  so  much,  for  your  beautiful  letter.  I 
had  a  good  cry  over  reading  it.t 

"  Yes,  yes  !  Germany  is  a  glorious  country.  I  certainly  do 
not  long  for  any  other  except  the  very  best — the  last  one. 

"  Oh  !  how  I  have  wept  over  your  story  about  the  Grand 
Duchess  and  her  little  sweep  !     How  lovely  it  is  ! 

"  In  the  meantime  I  am  perfectly  enchanted  with  her — • 
and  with  the  young  Grand  Duke  and  his  wife  also. 
Dear  Andersen,  when  you  write  to  our  high-born  friend,  tell 
him — if  you  mention  me  § — that,  as  long  as  I  live,  I  shall 
remember  those  few  days  I  spent  in  Weimar.  I  can  con- 
scientiously say  that  I  have  nowhere  else,  as  yet,  found  such 
j)eace  of  mind  and  true  joy ;  and  yet  I  have  been  treated 
everywhere  in  the  most  friendly  way.      I  love  these  high- 

*  The  invitation  came  from  Dr.  and  Madame  Mendelssohn. 

f  From  the  letters  to  Frau  Wichmanu. 

%  This  letter  does  not  appear  to  have  been  preserved. 

§  Anderson  had  already  mentioned  Mdlle.  Lind  and  described  the  visit 
to  the  Fiirstengruft  in  a  letter  to  his  friend,  the  young  Grand  Duke, 
written  from  Leipzig,  on  the  1-ith  of  February — five  days  before  the  date 
of  Mdlle.  Lind's  letter  to  himself — and  enclosing  a  copy  of  EoUet's  Poem  ; 
and  he  afterwards  sent  the  Duke  a  copy  of  that  portion  of  her  letter 
which  referred  to  her  reception  at  the  Court  of  Weimar,  although  it 
was  clearly  intended  for  no  other  eye  than  his  own.  See  '  E.  O. 
Andersen^s  Brief wechsel ;''  heransgegeben  von  Emil  Jonas.  (Leipzig,  1887, 
pages  28-29.) 


18i6.]  AT   WEIMAR.  351 

born  personages ;  and,  just  as  you  say,  Brother,  not  for  the 
stars  and  the  diamonds  they  wear,  but  for  their  true  and 
loyal  hearts.  I  get  quite  enthusiastic  when  I  think  of  these 
two  people.     May  God  preserve  them  and  theirs  ! 

"  My  friends,  the  Arnemanns,  from  Altona,*  have  been 
here.  They  left  yesterday.  I  wonder  when  we  two  shall 
meet  again  ? 

"  I  have  now  quite  decided  upon  going  to  Vienna.  Are 
you  not  going  there,  Andersen?  I  suppose  you  go  on  to 
Italy  direct  ? 

"  Do  you  know,  Andersen,  I  appreciate  your  friend  Beau- 
lieu  very  highly  indeed.  I  have  really  begun  to  feel  a  great 
friendship  for  him.  Give  him  my  kindest  regards  when  you 
write. 

"  And  now,  adieu  !  I  must  start  for  the  Theatre  presently, 
to  sing  in  Das  Fcldlager  in  ScJdcsicn.^  God  be  with  you ! 
Do  not  forget  your  sister.  I  shall  remain  here  until  the  end 
of  March.  After  that  letters  will  find  me  at  Vienna,  from 
the  middle  of  April  until  the  middle  of  May.  Write,  either 
Poste  rcstante,  or  care  of  Herr  Pokorny — the  manager  of  the 
Theatre,  t 

"May  the  blessing  of  God  go  with  you!  then  you  will 
have  enough ! 

"  I  remain, 

"  Your  true  sister, 

"  Jenny." 

She  was  by  this  time  once  more  hard  at  work  in 
the  dizzy  whirl  of  the  Berlin  winter  season.  She  had 
reappeared,  after  her  return  from  Weimar,  on  the  3rd  of 
February,  in  Das  Fcldlager  in  Sehlesien  ;  and,  since  then,  had 
been  singing  regularly  twice  a  week,  though  on  no  fixed  days, 
in  the  above-mentioned  Opera  and  in  Die  Vestalin,  Der  Frei- 
schiitz,  and  La  Sonnambula.  But  in  the  meantime  her  pro- 
mised appearance  in  a  new  and  very  important  part  was 
anxiously  awaited  by  the  art-loving  public. 

*  See  page  299. 

t  For  the  third  time  during  this  season. 

%  I.e.  the  Theater  an  der  Wien,  at  which  she  was  engaged  to  sing,  in 
Vienna. 


352  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xix. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

LES   HUGUENOTS. 

The  next — and  last — new  part  in  whicli  Mdlle.  Lind  made 
her  appearance,  at  Berlin  during  the  eventful  winter  of 
1845-1846  was  that  of  "  Valentine,"  in  Meyerbeer's  Opera 
Lcs  Huguenots — or,  as  it  was  called  in  German,  Die  Hugc- 
notten. 

To  the  uninitiated,  it  may  seem  strange  that,  taking  into 
consideration  Meyerbeer's  all-powerful  ]30sition  and  great 
popularity  in  Berlin  at  this  period.  Das  Feldlager  in  Schlesien 
should  have  been  the  only  one  of  his  Operas  put  upon  the 
Stage,  with  a  Singer  for  whose  talent  he  entertained  so 
sincere  an  admiration  in  the  principal  part,  until  within  a 
few  weeks  of  the  close  of  the  season.  But  tlie  position  will 
not  be  thought  at  all  strange  by  those  who  know  how 
severely  punctilious  Meyerbeer  was,  not  only  with  regard  to 
the  principal  parts,  but  with  all  that  concerned  the  perfection 
of  every  minutest  detail  of  his  works.  It  was  not  enough 
for  liim  that  the  prima  donna  should  be  an  artist  of  un- 
approachable excellence.  If  all  the  other  parts,  great  and 
small,  were  not  represented  to  his  entire  satisfaction  he 
would  not  allow  the  piece  to  be  put  upon  the  Stage  at  all. 
Moreover,  his  independent  position  gave  him  advantages 
which  few  other  modern  composers  have  enjoyed  in  an  equal 
degree ;  and  the  consequence  was  that,  when  he  directed  his 
own  Operas,  they  were  brought  out  with  a  perfection  of  detail 


1846.]  LES  HUGUENOTS.  353 

comparable  only  with  that  insisted  upon,  some  years  earlier, 
by  Spontini. 

The  demands  upon  the  personnel  of  the  opera-staff  in  Lcs 
Hnrjuenots  are  very  heavy.  The  part  of  "  Queen  Marguerite 
of  Navarre  "  is  not  written  for  a  scconda  donnci,  but  a  second 
prima  donna — a  Soprano  leggiero,  as  opposed  to  the  Sojvrmo 
dramatieo  of  "  Valentine."  That  of  "  Urbain,"  the  page, 
needs  a  Mezzo-soprano  of  high  capability.  The  Tenor — 
"Eaoul  de  Nangis,"  and  the  two  Baritoni — "Marcel,"  and 
"  Saint  Bris  " — need  representatives  of  the  highest  rank. 
And  in  face  of  these  demands  we  can  scarely  wonder 
that  a  man  so  hard  to  satisfy  as  Meyerbeer  was  not  too 
ready  to  place  his  second  great  master-piece  upon  tlie 
Stage. 

It  must  be  supposed,  however,  that  he  was  satisfied  at 
last,  for  on  the  26th  of  February  Die  Hvgenotten  was 
announced  for  representation,  with  ]Mdlle.  Lind,  as  we  have 
said,  in  the  part  of  "  Valentine  "  :  and  the  performance  was 
thus  criticised  in  the  journal  from  which  we  have  so 
frequently  and  so  freely  quoted  : — 

"  Our  great  Artist- visitor,  Jenny  Lind,  has  evolved  from 
the  character  of  '  Valentine,'  in  Die  Hugenotten — a  part  as 
rich  in  dramatic  and  musical  expression — a  dramatic  creation 
which,  in  noble  individuality,  occupies  quite  as  high  a 
position  in  the  domain  of  Lyric  Tragedy  as  the  earlier  roles 
in  which  the  artist  enchained  us  with  such  irresistible  power. 

"  We  do  not  hesitate  to  say — as  it  is  more  than  ever  our 
duty  to  do,  in  the  case  of  an  artist  of  such  acknowledged 
worth — that  the  first  part  of  her  performance,  especially  when 
she  was  in  the  presence  of  the  Queen,  did  not  produce  an  al- 
together agreeable  impression  upon  us.  However  many  various 
characters  may  be  in  sympathy  with  her  individuality,  she 
seemed  unwilling  to  identify  herself  with  that  of  the  Court- 
lady.  And,  for  us,  this  impression  was  heightened  by  the 
style  of  the  dress  she  wore,  though  we  admit  that  our  refer- 
ence to  this  savours  of  relapse  into  dilettantism. 

"  So  far  as  the  Actress  was  concerned,  the  role  began  with 

VOL.  I.  2  a 


354  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  six. 

the  third  act,*  when  she  emerges  from  the  natural  forms  of 
life  to  plunge  into  the  depths  of  the  inner  world  with  all  its 
profoundest  impressions.  Here  she  reached  the  highest  and 
most  excellent  point  of  all — the  glorious  virginal  purity 
which  liglited  up  the  tender  romance  of  the  character 
throughout  the  whole  of  its  development.  At  each  fresh 
entrance  of  the  artist  we  debated  within  ourselves  whether 
tlie  praise  should  be  awarded  to  the  Singer  or  to  the  Actress. 
The  two  were  often  so  completely  melted  into  one  that  it 
became  impossible  to  separate  them. 

"  Before  the  time  of  Jenny  Lind,  the  grandest  reading  of 
the  part  was  decidedly  that  of  Wilhelmina  Schroeder- 
Devrient.  She  threw  more  brilliant  lights  upon  it  and 
invested  certain  passages  with  a  more  satisfactory  colour- 
ing; as,  for  instance,  at  the  well-known  ^y ovds,  '  Icli  hin  cin 
3Iddchen  das  ihn  licht'  &c.  And  yet  the  shrinking  breath 
with  which  our  artist  lightly  veiled  this  expression  cast  a 
more  delicate  fragrance  over  the  deep  inward  glow,  and 
imparted  to  it  a  charm  wholly  its  own. 

"A  similar  idea — -if  we  care  to  continue  the  parallel — 
pervades  the  conception  of  the  ])asfiage,  '  leh  Mamm^'c  mich 
an  BicJi,'  in  the  fourth  act.  Jenny  Lind  undoubtedly 
clothed  this  with  a  more  spiritual  expression.  She  scarcely 
dared  breathe  it  to  her  lover,  wliereas  her  great  predecessor 
gave  way  to  a  rush  of  passion  and  sensualised  the  glowing- 
confession  with  ravishing  violence  of  cresture. 

"  But,  as  was  only  to  be  expected  of  an  Artist  so  rich  in 
creative  power,  Jenn}"  Lind  also  struck  out  for  herself  an 
altogether  original  conception  of  the  impersonation,  im- 
pressed it  in  the  most  marked  manner  upon  the  character, 

*  Kellstab  repeats  this  opinion,  in  a  later  critique  on  Madame  Viardot's 
appearance  in  tlie  part  of  "  Valentine,"  in  1847,  and  tliere  finds  the  same 
fault  with  Madame  Viardot  that  he  here  finds  with  ]\fdlle.  Lind,  but 
with  the  saving  clause  that,  in  both  cases,  the  fault  is  inherent  in  the 
part  and  must  not  be  laid  to  the  account  of  the  performer  (See  the 
'  Gesammelte  Schriften  von  Ludwig  Eelhtah ;''  Leipzig,  1861,  tome  xx. 
p,  403.)  The  truth  is,  that  it  is  not  until  the  opening  of  the  Third  Act 
that  the  part  of  "  Valentine  "  becomes  an  important  one.  The  scenes  in 
which  she  previously  appears  offer  no  opportimity  for  the  introduction  of 
marked  effects.  We  have  already  had  occasion  to  direct  our  readers' 
attention  to  the  jealous  reticence  with  which  Mdlle.  Lind  was  accustomed 
to  keep  back  her  greatest  effects  until  the  proper  moment  arrived  for 
their  introduction. 


1846.]  LES  HUGUENOTS.  355 

and  filled  us  with  astonishment  at  the  rich  variety  of  her 
resources.  Her  tliird  act  was  a  touching  prayer  to  her 
bitter  fate;  her  fourth,  a  mighty  battle  waged  against  it; 
her  fifth,  a  splendid  victory  over  it.  She  sang  the  last 
scene  under  truest  inspiration  of  faith. 

"  If  we  would  trace  the  course  of  these  complications  of  the 
character  through  single  passages,  the  choice,  amidst  so 
great  a  wealth  of  impressions,  overwhelms  us  with  difficulty. 
Turning  back  to  the  duet  with  Marcel,  we  remember  the 
charm  of  its  sadness ;  the  trembling  whisper  with  which  it 
opens ;  the  ever-increasing  warmth  of  its  tones  and  passages, 
as  the  certainty  of  love  brings  joy  to  her  heart ;  and,  last  of 
all,  the  fire  of  the  vocalisation  in  the  concluding  di\^sions 
raising  the  conception  to  its  loftiest  climax. 

"  In  the  fourth  act,  the  silence  of  the  Artist  speaks  almost 
more  strongly  to  us  than  the  outpouring  of  her  soul  in  sound. 
Her  acting,  during  the  deliberation  of  the  conspirators, 
her  struggling  resistance,  her  listening,  her  comprehension, 
her  terror,  her  hope — her  changes  of  position,  which  would 
have  afforded  a  painter  opportunities  for  a  hundred  different 
aspects  of  ever-varying  expression — the  living  play  of  her 
motions,  corroborating  and  contradicting  each  other  so 
spiritually,  with  every  scenic  variation — this  host  of  voiceless 
expressions  bore  the  artist  to  the  loftiest  heights  which  make 
the  history  of  her  performance  imperishable.* 

"  Towards  the  close  of  the  act  the  strained  action  of  the 
eye  is  again  exchanged  for  that  of  the  ear,  which  the  sweet 
earnestness  of  the  tones,  here  dwelt  upon  aud  enhanced  by 
the  power  of  the  composition,  holds  in  sad  and  fettered 
enchantment. 

"  But  through  this  night  of  fatal  destiny  certain  dramatic 
gestures  burst  upon  us  like  lightning- flashes  of  deepest 
significance.  Such,  for  instance,  as  the  inward  terror  mani- 
fested at  the  first  boom  of  the  tocsin,  the  ever-increasing 
dread  as  the  delineation  of  the  scene  of  blood  approaches  its 
climax,  and  at  last  the  stunned  fall  upon  the  stage,  with 
eyes  now  closed,  now  open  with  staring  gaze,  as  the  last 
power  to  resist  this  surfeit  of  horror  and  anxiety  dies  out ! 

"  All  these  rich  details,  representing  the  sustained  perse- 
verance of  the  battle  waged  by  the  noblest  and  purest  of 
sentiments,   against   love   and  guilt    and   destiny,    form   a 

*  During  a  great  portion  of  this  powerful  scene,  "  Valentine's  "  back  is 
turned  to  the  audience. 

2  A  2 


356  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xix. 

dramatic  whole,  which,  as  we  have  already  said,  in  no  wise 
fell  short  of  the  loftiest  heights  the  artist  has  reached  as  yet 
in  her  tragic  greatness. 

"  If  the  fifth  act,  when  compared  with  the  fourth,  betokens 
some  loss  of  power,  in  spite  of  the  grand  conception  to  one 
phase  of  wliich  we  have  already  alluded,  the  fault  certainly 
does  not  lie  with  the  performer,  who  here  fulfils  the  whole 
intention  of  the  drama,  but  is  probably  due,  in  part  at  least, 
to  the  fatigue  of  the  hearer's  overstrained  attention.* 

"  So  much,  then,  for  the  present. 

"We  have  always  found  that  the  artist  penetrates  more 
and  more  deeply  into  the  heart  of  her  task  at  every  repetition, 
and  fulfils  it  with  greater  ease  ;  we  may  therefore  in  this,  as 
in  other  cases,  look  forward  to  even  increased  perfection. 
Yet  we  may  almost  ask,  '  What  need  of  more  ? '  in  presence 
of  this  noblest  wealth  of  treasures."  f 

To  sober-minded  English  readers  the  style  of  Herr 
Eellstab's  critiques — and  of  this  one  especially — may  seem 
high-flown  and  exaggerated.  Moreover,  as  we  have  already 
had  occasion  to  remark,  Herr  Eellstab  was  not  only 
a  critic,  but  a  romancist  and  a  poet  on  his  own  account ; 
and  he  worked  no  less  carefully  at  his  critiques  than 
at  his  other  writings,  for  which  reason  a  great  number  of 
his  fugitive  contributions  to  the  Bcrlinisclie  Zeihtng  are 
included  in  the  complete  edition  of  his  works.  %  It 
must  be  admitted  that  the  style  of  these  reviews  differs 
materially  from  that  adopted  in  England  at  the  present  day ; 
but  they  are  of  great  value  to  us,  as  records  of  a  form  of 
criticism  now — in  this  country,  at  least — quite  obsolete. 
Moreover,  in  so  far  as  our  present  purpose  is  concerned,  they 

*  The  last  act  of  Les  Huguenots,  like  that  of  La  Vesfale,  undoubtedly 
represents  an  unfortunate  anti-climax,  the  weakness  of  which  is  increased 
by  the  firing  of  musketry,  and  other  stage-expedients  of  common-place 
character. 

t  Kgl.  priv.  Berlinische  Zeitung.    (Feb.  28,  1846.) 

%  '  GesammeUe  Schriften  von  Ludwig  Eellstab '  (Leipzig,  1861)  ;  from 
the  twentieth  volume  of  which  we  have  reprinted,  among  others,  the 
critique  on  Die  Vestalin,  in  Chapter  XVII. 


1846.]  LES  HUGUENOTS.  357 

honestly  reflect  the  feeling  with  wliich  Mdlle.  Lind's  per- 
formances were  listened  to,  at  the  time  they  were  written, 
by  the  crowded  audiences  who  flocked,  night  after  night,  to 
the  Eoyal  Opera-House  to  hear  her.  The  performer  concern- 
ing whom  it  was  simply  possible  to  write  in  a  strain  so 
exalted  can  have  belonged  to  no  common  order  in  the 
Hierarchy  of  Art.  And  enough  is  known  of  the  character 
of  Herr  Eellstab,  and  of  his  position  in  Berlin,  to  establish 
the  certainty  that  he  honestly  meant  every  word  he  wrote. 


358  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xx. 


CHAPTEE  XX. 

AUF   WIEDEESEHEN  ! 

The  first  performance  of  Les  Huguenots  took  place  on  Thurs- 
day the  26th  of  February,  the  second  on  Sunday  the  1st 
of  March.  A  third,  announced  for  Friday,  March  the  6th, 
was  prevented  by  a  most  unfortunate  accident ;  Mademoiselle 
Lind  sprained  her  foot  on  the  Thursday  so  seriously  that 
for  three  weeks  she  w^as  confined  to  the  sofa. 

The  kindest  sympathy  was  shown  to  the  sufferer  after  tliis 
painful  misadventure,  and  Mendelssohn,  who  had  been  in- 
formed of  the  accident,  endeavoured,  on  the  18tli  of  March, 
to  cheer  her  loneliness  with  a  lono-  and  deliojhtful  letter,  half 
grave,  half  gay,  in  wdiich  the  serious  and  the  playful  were 
intermingled  with  an  easy  grace  in  which  few  adepts  in  the  art 
of  letter-writing  have  ever  been  able  to  rival  him. 

"We  print  this  hitherto  unpublished  letter,  in  the  belief  that 
it  cannot  fail  to  prove  generally  interesting  to  the  reader. 

"  Leipzig,  March  18,  1846. 

"  My  dear  Feaulein, 

"  The  account  that  Taubert  brouoht  of  the  state  of 
your  health  was  not  so  encouraging  as  I  could  have  wished ;  * 
but  as  I  used  to  like,  on  days  such  as  these,  to  sit  dowTi  to 
the  piano,  and  play  to  you,  so  now — since,  unhappily,  I  can- 
not come  to  you  in  person — I  come,  at  least  in  ^^Titing,  and 
fancy  to  myself  that  I  ask,  in  the  entrance  hall,  wliether  I  can 
speak  with  you,  and    am  told — '  yes  ' ;    and  Mademoiselle 

*  Herr  Taubert  had  come  to  Leipzig',  a  few  days  before  this,  for  the 
purpose  of  playing  at  one  of  the  Gewandhaus  Concerts. 


18^6.]  AUF   WIEDERSEHENl  359 

Louise  opens  the  door  for  me,  and  I  see  in  your  hand  one  of 
the  ten  thousand  pictures  and  engravings  with  which  you  are 
now  surrounded,  and  then  I  sit  down  beside  you  and  begin 
like  this : — 

"  Shall  I  tell  you  about  Marie  ?  * 

"  She  talks  to  me,  all  day  long,  about  Fraulein  Lind,  and 
how  she  was  so  kind  to  her ;  and  when  I  went  to  the  children, 
yesterday,  in  the  nursery,  and  found  little  fat  Paulj  practising 
his  writing  on  a  sheet  of  paper,  I  saw  that  he  had  written 
'  dear  Praulein  Lind  '  over  the  whole  page  at  least  ten  times. 
To-day  he  has  finished  a  whole  letter,  and  he  made  me 
promise  that  I  would  send  it  to  you — I  was  absolutely 
obliged  to  promise  it.  Marie  wanted  to  send  her  letter  first, 
but  I  explained  that  one  letter  would  be  enough,  and  she  was 
satisfied  with  signing  it.  Karl  said  he  could  not  sign  it  as 
it  was  not  his  own  letter. 

"  A  funny  tiling  happened  to  us  this  evening.  Cecile  % 
said :  '  It  is  a  long  time  since  we  have  had  any  Swedish 
bread  ;  what  a  pity  it  is  ! '  §  I  said,  '  I  will  write  to-day,  and 
ask  for  some  in  your  name.'  Marie  said,  '  But  Paul  has 
already  written  to  Fraulein  Lind  to-day.'  I  asked  to  see  the 
letter — the  beautiful  scrawl  I  enclose — and  as  Paul  came  in 
at  one  door  with  Iiis  letter  the  servant  brought  in  your 
present  of  Swedish  liread  at  the  other. 

"  The  cliildren  think  of  you  daily  and  hourly,  and  their 
parents  also.  We  long  very  much  indeed  to  hear  soon  that 
you  are  better,  and  once  more  free  from  all  the  weariness  that 
such  a  long  imprisonment  brings  with  it.||  May  you  soon 
send  us,  please  God  !  an  account  of  your  complete  cure. 

"  To-day  we  had  a  very  pleasant  rehearsal.  Taubert 
conducted  his  symphony  and  made  friends  of  the  whole 
orchestra.  To  us,  who  are  artists,  must  certainly  be  conceded 
one  very  delightful  prerogative,  in  return  for  which  we  are 
willing  to  give  up  all  other  prerogatives  whatever :  viz.  that 
in  one  short  half-hour  a  host  of  strangers  can  be  transformed 
into  a  host  of  good  friends.  That  is  a  capital  state  of  things, 
and  many  would  like  it,  though  it  is  given  but  to  few.  To 
my  great  joy,  it  was  given  very  decidedly  indeed  to  Taubert 

*  Meudelssohn's  eldest  daughter. 

t  ^lendelssoha's  second  son. 

%  Matlame  Mendelssohn. 

§  See  foot-note,  p.  122. 

II  I.e.  the  imprisonment  caused  hj-  the  sprained  foot. 


360  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xx. 

to-day;  and  when  lie  adds  to  this  his  playing  of  the 
Beethoven  Concerto  to-morrow  he  may  build  upon  the  Leip- 
zig Musicians  on  both  sides.* 

"  That  which  is  called  '  the  Public '  is  exactly  the  same 
here  as  elsewhere  and  everywhere ;  the  simple  '  Public,' 
assemljled  together  for  an  instant,  so  fluctuating,  so  full  of 
curiosity,  so  devoid  of  taste,  so  dependent  upon  the  judgment 
of  the  musician — the  so-called  connoisseur.  But  against 
this  we  must  set  the  great  '  Public,'  assembling  together  year 
after  year,  wiser  and  more  just  than  connoisseur  and  musician, 
and  judging  so  truly  !  and  feeling  so  delicately  ! 

"  A  grand  new  vocal  composition  by  Gacle  was  also  re- 
hearsed, with  full  chorus,  for  performance  next  week.  I 
hope  it  will  turn  out  both  poetical  and  beautiful.  The 
text  is  from  Ossian ;  and  Fingal,  with  his  warriors,  and 
harps,  and  horns,  and  spirits,  plays  an  important  part  in  it. 
But  Taubert  will  tell  you  all  this  much  better  by  word  of 
mouth,  t 

"  We  also  sang  to-day,  '  Come  cow,  come  calf,'  |  in  such 
sort  that  it  was  worthy  to  have  been  described  as  a  noble 
work  of  Art !  Taubert  sings  better  than  I ;  but  I  pronounce 
Swedish  better  than  he  ! 

"  You  ask  how  things  go  with  me. 

"  On  tlie  days  wdien  I  was  so  quiet  in  my  room,  writing 
music  without  interruption,  and  only  going  out  from  time  to 
time  for  a  walk  in  the  fresh  air,  they  went  very  well  indeed 
with  me — or,  at   least,  I  thought  so.     But,  since  the  day 

*  Herr  W.  Taubert's  Symphony  in  F  major  was  played  at  the  Gewand- 
haus,  under  his  own  direction,  on  Thursday,  March  19,  1846 ;  and  on 
tlie  same  evening  he  played  Beethoven's  Pianoforte  Concerto  in  E  flat. 
Op.  73. 

t  Comala,  a  Dramatic  Cantata,  by  Herr  Niels  W.  Cade— the  composi- 
tion alluded  to  in  the  text — was  first  produced  at  the  Gewandliaus  under 
the  direction  of  the  Composer  on  the  23rd  of  March,  1846,  at  a  Concert 
given  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor,  aud  repeated  on  the  26th  of  the  same 
month  with  great  success. 

t  A  national  melody,  afterwards  known,  in  England  as  the  '  Norwegian 
Echo  Song,'  and  in  Germany  as  the  '  Norwegisdies  Sclmferlied,'  and 
sung  by  Mdlle.  Lind  in  both  countries  with  immense  success.  The 
original  title  was,  '  Kom  kjyra!  kom  kjyra  mi! '  It  ended  with  a  coda 
added  by  herself,  and  sung  in  imitation  of  an  echo  with  an  effect  quite 
irresistible,  and  almost  incredible,  even  to  those  who  heard  it.  {See 
Appendix  of  Music.) 


1846.]  AUF   WIEDERSEEEN !  361 

before  yesterday,  when  I  had  more  to  do  with  the  concert 
affairs  and  all  sorts  of  correspondence  connected  with  them, 
and  things  of  that  kind,  to  which  I  could  only  give  half  my 
attention  because  my  own  work  lay  so  much  nearer  to  my 
heart  * — since  then  I  have  been  a  prey  to  such  fatal  excite- 
ment, and  felt  so  miserably  out  of  spirits,  that,  while  every 
one  says,  '  How  well  you  look,'  you  would  rather  say,  '  What 
is  the  matter  with  you  ? ' 

"  Happily,  however,  this  is  the  last  week,  for  this  year, 
during  wliich  I  shall  be  concerned  with  these  things ;  and 
then  I  mean  to  work  very  hard,  and  after  that  I  shall  rejoice 
in  the  Ehine  and  the  spring-time. 

"  Yes ;  I  rejoice  in  the  thought  of  the  Ehine  and  the 
Musical  restival,t  and  the  real  true  spring — for,  for  many 
days  past,  I  have  been  fearing  that  the  winter  would  come 
back  again,  and  that  the  spring  would  break  off  altogether,  as 
in  my  old  song  in  your  book.  %  And  farther  on,  I,  like  your- 
self, rejoice  very  much  indeed  in  thinking  of  the  time  when 
I  shall  be  able  to  put  aside  the  duty  of  conducting  music  and 
promoting  Institutions,  and  quit  this  so-called  '  sphere  of 
activity,'  and  have  no  other  '  sphere  of  acti\ity  '  to  think  of 
than  a  quire  of  blank  music-paper,  and  no  need  to  conduct 
anything  that  I  do  not  care  for,  and  when  I  shall  be  altogether 
independent  and  free.  It  will,  indeed,  be  a  few  years  before 
this  can  take  place,  but  I  hope  not  more  than  that ;  and  in 
this  we  are  very  much  alike.  I  believe,  in  good  truth,  that 
this  is  because  we  both  have  the  love  of  Art  so  deeply 
implanted  in  our  souls. 

"  But,  I  am  fancying  that  I  have  been  sitting  by  your  side 
quite  long  enough,  and  must  now  take  my  leave  ;  or  else  that 
it  is  Norma  to-night,  and  that  it  has  already  chimed  half-past 
three  § — in  short,  I  must  say  good-bye. 

"  I  hope  I  may  soon  hear  that  you  are  able  to  walk,  run, 

*  Mendelssohn  was  then  actively  engaged  on  the  composition  of  Elijah. 

t  The  Lower  Ehine  Festival  was  to  take  place,  on  the  31st  of  Maj', 
1846,  and  following  days,  at  Aix-la-Chapelle ;  and  it  was  arranged  that 
Mdlle.  Lind  and  Mendelssohn,  who  were  both  to  take  part  in  it,  should 
meet  at  Frankfurt  in  order  that  they  might  travel  down  the  Rhine 
together. 

X  In  allusion  to  a  MS.  Song-book,  written  by  Mendelssohn  for  Mdlle. 
Lind,  as  a  Christmas  present,  in  1845,  and  illustrated  with  pencil  drawings 
by  himself. 

§  In  those  days  the  Opera  began,  at  Berlin,  at  half-past  six. 


362  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xx. 

stand,  jump,  dance,  play  at  billiards,  sing  at  PJes's  Concert, 
and  play  the  parts  of  'Proserpina'  and  'Valentine,'  and 
that  you  have  become  free  of  all  farther  inquiries. 

"  Your  friend, 

"  Felix  Mendelssohn  Bartholdy."  * 

Cheered  by  pleasant  correspondence  such  as  this,  and  still 
more  pleasant  intercourse  with  the  choice  circle  of  sympathe- 
tic friends  who  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  entree  to  the  charmed 
salon  in  the  Hasenheger  Strasse,  the  three  long  weeks  of 
dreary  imprisonment  passed  more  lightly  than  would  other- 
wise have  been  expected.  And  they  were  enlivened  too,  from 
time  to  time,  by  another  source  of  interest  no  less  welcome 
and  agreeable.  Professor  Wichmann  seized  upon  this 
excellent  opportunity  for  securing  the  "  sittings  "  necessary 
for  the  modelling  of  a  beautiful  medallion-portrait  of  her 
in  profile,  designed  upon  a  circular  plaque  fourteen  inches 
in  diameter,  and  eventually  executed  in  white  marble. 
It  is  a  charming  work  of  Art,  regarded,  by  all  who  have 
seen  it,  as  a  valuable  historical  memorial. f 

When  modelling  this  beautiful  profile  the  Professor  did 
not  know  that  his  guest  was  herself  preparing  a  welcome 
surprise  for  the  family  in  anticipation  of  his  idea. 

Wishing  to  present  her  host  and  hostess  with  a  grateful 
memorial  of  the  happy  time  she  had  spent  beneath  their  roof, 
she  had  commissioned  Professor  Magnus  to  paint  her  portrait, 
on  a  large  scale,  in  order  that  she  might  present  it  to  them 
before  leaving  Berlin.  Professor  Magnus  had  accepted  the 
commission,  and  made  some  progress  with  the  work,  when  the 
"  sittings  "  were  interrupted  by  the  accidental  sprain,  which 

*  Translated  from  the  autograph  letter  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Gold- 
schmidt. 

t  A  representation  of  this  medallion  is  impressed  upon  the  binding  of 
these  volumes. 


1846.]  AUF   WIEDERSEHEN !  363 

for  a  time  rendered  the  needful  visits  to  his  studio  impossible. 
As  soon  as  these  could  be  resumed,  he  proceeded  with  his 
work,  and  in  process  of  time  produced  a  portrait  not  only 
valuable  as  a  striking  likeness  of  the  sitter  but  precious  also 
as   a   work    of  Art    which    may    be  fairly  accepted    as    a 
happy  example  of  the  best  school  of  portrait-painting  then 
existing    in    Germany.      That    Professor    Magnus    himself 
regarded  it  in  that  light  is  proved  by  the  fact  that,  after  it 
had  been  presented  to  Madame  Wichmann,  and  treasured  for 
fifteen  years  as  a  precious  family  possession,  he  consented,  at 
the  request  of  Mr.  Goldschmidt,  to  execute  an  exact  replica, 
forming  so  perfect  a  reproduction  of  the  original  picture, 
that  the  Professor   himself  found  it  necessary  to  attach  a 
certain  mark  to  it,  in  order  that  he  might  be  able  to  dis- 
tinguish the  copy  from  the  original.      By   his    desire,  and 
that  of  the  Prussian  Government,  this  replica  was  exhibited, 
in  1862,  in  the  Prussian  Court  of  the  Universal  Exhibition 
at   South  Kensington,  as    the  acknowledged  representative 
of  this  Artist's  style  at  his  best  period — and  it  fulfilled  this 
intention  perfectly  and  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  concerned. 

The  original  picture  remained  in  the  Wichmann  family 
until  the  year  1877,  when  the  Professor's  eldest  son,  Herr 
Herrmann  Wichmann,  to  whom  it  had  passed  by  inheritance 
after  his  mother's  death  in  the  previous  year,  consented  to 
its  removal,  at  the  price  of  twelve  thousand  thalers,  to  the 
Berlin  National  Gallery,  where,  having  now  become  national 
property,  it  is  treasured  as  a  valuable  artistic  and  historical 
monument.*  The  sprain  was  healed,  however,  before  the 
picture  was  finished. 

The  public  were  perhaps  more  impatient  at  the  duration 
of  the  imprisonment  than  the  prisoner  herself.  But  it  came 
to  an  end  at  last ;  and,  after  a  term  of  enforced  captivity 

*  A  copy  of  this  forms  the  frontispiece  to  our  present  volume. 


364  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  iv.  ch.  xx. 

lasting  for  twenty-four  days,  Mademoiselle  Lind  reappeared 
on  the  29tli  of  ]\Iarcli  in  Norma,  before  an  audience  who 
welcomed  her  return  to  the  Stage  with  every  demonstration 
of  uncontrollable  enthusiasm — an  index  of  public  opinion 
which  might  indeed,  by  this  time,  have  been  expected  as  a 
matter  of  course  every  time  she  appeared. 

After  this  performance — the  twenty-sixth  in  which  she 
had  taken  part  during  the  then  current  season — she  appeared 
once  more  in  Das  Feldlagcr  in  Schksien  on  the  31st  of 
March ;  and  on  Thursday,  the  2nd  of  April— her  own  '  benefit- 
night  ' — took  leave  of  Berlin  for  the  season. 

The  house,  we  need  scarcely  say,  was  crow^led  to  the 
roof,  and  the  performance  in  the  highest  degree  satisfactory. 
Herr  Eellstab  thus  feelingly  describes  the  moment  of  the  final 
parting : — 

'•'The  call  before  the  curtain,  which  had  already  been 
anticipated  at  the  end  of  the  preceding  Acts — the  greetings 
represented  by  the  wreaths  thrown,  in  multitudes,  by  the 
hands  of  ladies — ladies  too  who  Avell  knew  how  to  acknow- 
ledge worthily  the  noblest  and  the  highest  Art— all  these 
demonstrations  were  renewed  at  the  close  of  the  performance, 
and  with  such  increasing  warmth  as  we  have  never  before 
witnessed  in  our  lives.  The  entire  mass  of  the  audience 
took  part  in  the  offering  of  applause  :  the  profusion  of  flowers 
seemed  inexhaustible.  The  curtain  fell.  "  But  the  summons 
before  it  was  repeated,  and  the  applause  continued  so  long 
that  the  artist  had  no  choice  but  to  reappear  ;  yet  no  sooner 
had  she  ngain  retired  than  she  was  yet  again  brought  l^ack 
by  a  newly  repeated  summons. 

"  A  burning  wish  seemed  to  inspire  the  multitude — that  for 
one  farewell  word.  The  Artist  who,  from  a  sense  of  shyness, 
combined  with  the  unaccustomed  tones  of  the  language, 
had  always  hitherto  expressed  her  thanks  by  dumb  yet 
telling  motions,  yielded  at  last  to  this  well-understood 
though  unspoken  wish  (for  how  could  it  be  spoken  amidst 
such  a  storm  of  applause  ! ),  and  uttered,  with  deepest 
inward  emotion,  the  simple  and  almost  inarticulate  words, 
'  Ich  daiike  Ihncn — ich  u-crde  das  in  mcincm  ganzen  Lcbcn 


1846.]  AUF   WIEDERSEUEN !  365 

nicht  vergessen  !  '  *     And,  like  her  Art,  this  expression  of  her 
thanks  was  a  precious  truth. 

"  And  again  the  call  was  shouted  by  thousands  of  voices, 
and  yet  once  again  she  had  no  choice  but  to  respond  to  it ; 
and  then,  at  last,  the  audience  was  satisfied. 

"  And  now  let  us  cast  a  glance  backwards  from  this 
brilliant,  toucliing,  overpowering  moment,  upon  that  which 
the  Artist  has  given  to  us  during  the  course  of  the  last  few 
months. 

"  In  the  first  place ;  after  her  first  wonderful  appearance 
among  us,  last  year,  she  has  returned  with  all  tlie  purity,  all 
the  hallowing  through  and  from  her  Art,  that,  to  us,  represents 
the  highest  attribute  of  her  personality.  In  all  her  triumphs 
she  has  lost  nothing  of  the  noblest  quality  that  adorns  her, 
and  therein  lies  her  priceless  reward.  But  she  has  also 
gained  much  in  another  sense.  She  has  returned  to  us  de- 
veloped in  many  ways.  She  draws  fortli  her  creations  from 
a  deeper  source.  Much  that  was  a  charming  bud  has 
blossomed  into  a  still  more  charming  flower.  There  is  not 
one  of  her  impersonations,  already  known  to  us,  that  has  not 
spread  forth  its  branches  to  form  a  richer  crown.  To  the  old 
creations  she  has  added  new  ones — the  sweet  wild-flower 
fragrance  of  her  '  Agathe '  ;  the  wonderful  picture  of  her 
'  Vestal,'  beautiful,  even  amidst  the  terrors  of  the  grave ; 
the  unapproachably  rich  painting  of  her  grief  and  love 
in  the  tragic  part  of  '  Valentine.'  Who  shall  say  which  of  her 
Art-creations  is  the  highest  ?  To  scarcely  any  other  Artist 
has  it  happened  in  the  same  degree  as  it  has  to  her  that  the 
judgment  of  the  public  has  differed  so  widely.  Each  one  has 
chosen  a  role  on  his  own  account.  The  wavering  extends 
from  the  gayest  to  those  who  listen  only  to  grief  and  horror. 
We  believe  the  secret  lies  in  this,  that  she  everywhere 
fulfils  her  task  with  the  highest  perfection  of  which  it  is 
susceptible.  One  sentiment,  however,  pervades  all  her  Art- 
pictures — the  spirit  of  holiness ;  the  transfiguration  resulting 
from  the  purest  reverence  for  Art,  absolute  freedom  from  all 
secondary  objects  and  endeavours.  And  therein  lies  all,  all 
that  lends  to  her  artistic  representations  that  moral  con- 
secration, which  we  once  heard  very  beautifully  described 
by  a  lady  in  the  words — simple  enough,  yet  full  of  esprit — 
'  One  becomes  better  through  having  seen  her.' 

"  And  therefore  it  is  tliat  the  Artist  is  everywhere  spoken 

*  "  I  thank  you — never,  in  my  whole  life,  shall  I  forget  this  !  " 


366 


JENNY  LIND. 


[bK.  IV.  CH.  XX. 


of  with  wonder  as  well  as  with  the  feeling  of  gratitude ;  there- 
fore it  is  that  she  is  accompanied  by  thousands  and  thousands 
of  wishes  that  the  most  beautiful  blessings  of  life  may  be  added 
to  the  noblest  gifts  of  Art  that  she  possesses.  Vacillating 
rumours  whisper  that  she  will  soon  vanish  from  the  Stage 
and  from  us  for  ever !  May  they  prove  false !  We  can  only 
express  the  hope,  in  which  all  will  certainly  join  with  us, 
that  she  may  belong  to  Art  so  long  as  Art  belongs  to  her,  and 
that  her  desire  to  bring  it  back  again  to  us  may  be  measured 
by  the  certainty  of  her  welcome."  * 

And  thus  was  the  second  winter  season  at  Berlin  brought 
to  an  end,  with  mutual  regret  and  warmest  good  wishes  on 
either  side.f 

*  Kgl.  priv.  Berlinische  Zeitung,  April  4,  1846. 

t  Our  account  of  the  Art-work  of  these  two  eventful  seasons  would  be 
incomplete  without  a  detailed  list  of  the  performances  in  which  Mdlle. 
Lind  took  part;  but,  in  order  to  avoid  interrupting  the  course  of  our 
narrative,  we  have  thought  it  best  to  supply  this  in  the  form  of  a  note. 


First  Winter  Season  (1844-5). 
1844. 

Dec.  15  (Sun.)  Norma. 
.,  20  (Fri.)  Norma. 
„    26  (Thur.)  Norma. 

1845. 
Jan.    5  (Sun.)     Bas  Feldlager  in 
Schlesien. 
„    10  (Fri.)      Bas  Feldlagei'    in 

ScJiIesien. 
„    14  (Tue.)    Bas  Feldlager   in 

Schlesien, 
„    19  (Sun.)    Bas  Feldlager   in 

Schlesien. 
„    21  (Tue.)    Norma. 
„    23  (Thur.)  Norma. 
.,28  (Tue.)    Norma. 
„    31  (Fri.)     Norma. 
Feb.    4  (Tue.)    Bas  Feldlager  in 
Schlesien. 
,,      7  (Fri.)      Euryanthe. 
9  (Sun.)    Norma. 


Feb.  11  (Tue.)  Euryanthe. 
„  14  (Fri.)  Euryanthe. 
„    18  (Tue.)     Bie     NacMwand- 

lerin. 
„    21  (Fri.)     Bie     Nachtivand- 

lerin. 
,.    23  (Sun.)     Eitryanthe. 
Mar.    2  (Sun.)    Bie    Nachtwand- 

lerin. 
„      4  (Tue.)     Bas  Feldlager  in 

Schlesien. 
„      7  (Fri.)     Bie     Nachtwand- 

lerin. 
„      9  (Sun.)    Bie     Nachtumid- 

lerin 
„    11  (Tue.)     iVor?na  (for  Mdlle. 

Lind's  benefit). 
[In  all,  twenty-four  performances.] 

Concerts. 
1844. 
Nov.  Soiree  at  the  Prin- 

cess of  Prussia's. 
Dec.  18  (Wed.)  Court  concert. 


1846.] 


AVF   WIEDERSEHEN  ! 


367 


1845. 
Jan.    2  (Thur.)  Court  concert. 
Feb.    2  (Sun.)    Court  concert. 
„     13  (Thur.)  Concert      of     the 
I'rothers  Ganz. 
Mar.  10  (Mon.)  Concert    of    Herr 
Nehrlich. 
„     13  (Thur.)  Concert  for  Blind 
Soldiers  at   the 
Sing-Akademie. 

Second  Wixtee  Season  1845-6. 
1845. 
Nov.  9  (Sun.)     Norma. 
„    13  (Thu.)    Norma. 
„    19  (Wed.)  Don  Juan. 
„    21  (Fri.)      Don  Juan. 
„    25  (Tue.)    Don  Juan. 
„    30  (Sun.)     Der  FreiscJiiltz. 
Dec.    2  (Tue.)     Der  FreiscJiutz. 
[The  visit  to  Leipzig.] 
„      9  (Tue.)     Don  Juan. 
„    12  (Fri.)      Norma. 
„    16  (Tue.)     Der  Freischiitz. 
„    19  (Fri.)     Die    Nachtivand- 

lerin. 
„    23  (Tue.)     Die    Nachtwand- 

lerin. 
„    30  (Tue.)     Die  Vestalin. 

1846. 
Jan.    2  (Fri.)      Die  Vestalin. 
„      6  (Tue.)     Die    NacMwand- 

lerin. 
„  11  (Sun.)  Norma. 
„    15  (Thu.)    Don  Juan. 


Jan.  18  (Sun.)     Das  Fddlager  in 

Schlesien. 
\_Norma  and  Die  Nachtwandlerin 
at  Weimar.] 

Feb.    3  (Tue.)     Das   Feldlager  in 
ScTdesien. 
„      5  (Thu.)    Die  Vestalin. 
„    10  (Tue.)     Der  Freischiitz. 
„    19  (Thu.)    Das  Feldlager    in 

Schlesien. 
„    24  (Tue.)     Die    Nachtwand- 
lerin. 
„    26  (Thu.)    Die  Eugenotten. 
Mar.    1  (Sun.)     Die  Eugenotten. 
(The  Sprained  ankle.) 
„    29  (Sun.)     Norma. 
„    31  (Tue.)     Das  Feldlager  in 
Schlesien. 
Apr.    2  (Thu.)     Die    Nachtivand- 

lerin. 
(For  Mademoiselle  Lind's  Benefit.) 
[In  all,  twenty-eight  performances.] 

Concerts. 

1845-6. 

Six  Court  Concerts. 

1845. 
Dec.13.  (Sat.)      Concert  (Swedish) 
of  Herr  Musik-direktor 
Ahlstrom. 

1846. 
Mar.  2  (Mon.)     Concert  given  by 
!Mdlle.   Lind  for  some 
poor  families. 
„   28  (Sat.)     A  grand  concert. 


BOOK    V. 


PEOGEESS. 


VOL.  1. 


2   B 


(  371  ) 


CHAPTEE  I. 

AT  THE  GEWANDHAUS  ONCE  MORE. 

The  engagement  at  Vienna,  vaguely  alluded  to  in  the  letter 
to  Madame  Erikson,  and  more  decidedly,  in  that  to  Hen 
Josephson,  was  now  finally  arranged,  and  on  the  eve  of  fulfil- 
ment. The  terms  of  this  contract — five  hundred  sjulden  * 
each,  for  five  performances,  witli  an  extra  benefit  night — 
had  been  carefully  discussed,  and  gladly  accepted,  by  Herr 
Franz  Pokorny,  the  then  manager  of  the  Theater  an  der 
Wien,  during  the  latter  part  of  jMdlle.  Lind's  stay  at  Berlin  ; 
and,  as  soon  as  she  could  conveniently  do  so,  after  the 
exciting  scene  at  the  Eoyal  Opera-House  on  the  evening 
of  her  benefit,  she  took  leave  of  her  kind  host  and  hostess, 
and  started,  with  her  companion,  Mdlle.  Louise  Johansson, 
for  Vienna,  via  Leipzig,  in  which  last-named  town  she  had 
been  invited  to  spend  a  few  days,  as  the  guest  of  Herr 
Heinrich  Brockhaus,  and  had  also  decided  upon  giving  a 
concert,  at  the  Gewandhaus,  on  her  own  account. 

On  the  8th  of  April,  1846,  Herr  Brockhaus  wrote  in  his 
diary : — 

"  At  home,  I  found  all  well,  and  in  high  good  humour  with 
an  amiable  visitor — Friiulein  Lind — who,  early  this  morning, 
fulfilled  a  long-standing  promise  to  stay  with  us. 
~  "  I  was  heartily  pleased  to  see,  once  more,  the  amiable  and 

*  Equal  to  alDout  fifty  pounds,  in  English  money.  The  terras  for  the 
"  benefit "  were  to  be,  half  the  receipts,  after  payment  of  the  evening's 
expenses. 

2  B  2 


372  JENNY  LINB.  [bk.  v.  ch.  i. 

unaffected  girl,  whose  natural  simplicity  is  so  beautifully 
united  to  the  greatness  of  the  Artist.  She  was  sociable  and 
cheerful  throughout  the  evening,  which  was  still  farther 
enlivened  by  the  presence  of  IMendelssohn." 

In  a  farther  entry,  on  the  9th  of  April,  Herr  Brockhaus 
continues : — 

"  Unhappily,  Fraulein  Lind  can  stay  no  longer  with  us,  as 
she  has  met  with  her  friend  from  Hamburg,  with  whom  she 
had  made  an  appointment. 

"  We  lunched  with  her,  at  ]\Iendelssohn's,  where  I  also  met 
Dr.  Emanuel  Geibel,  whom  I  had  previously  seen  in  Berlin. 
One  must  like  the  girl  from  the  very  bottom  of  one's  heart. 
She  has  such  a  noble  and  beautiful  nature.  And  yet,  she 
does  not  feel  happy.  I  am  convinced  that  she  would  gladly 
exchange  all  her  triumphs,  for  simple  homely  happiness.  She 
sees  that,  in  Mendelssohn's  house,  where  the  wife  and 
children  make  his  happiness  complete."  * 

The  "  friend  from  Hamburg,"  by  whose  arrival  Herr 
Brockhaus's  arrangements  were  thus  unfortunately  inter- 
rupted, was  Madame  Arnemann.  Mdlle.  Lind  had  stayed  in 
this  lady's  house  at  Nienstadten,  near  Altona,  in  the  autumn 
of  1845 ;  and  had  promised  to  travel  with  her  as  far  as 
Carlsbad,  on  her  way  to  Vienna.  She  had  now  come  to 
Leipzig,  for  the  purpose  of  putting  her  long-cherished 
design  into  execution ;  and  the  visit  to  the  Brockhaus 
family  was  necessarily  shortened,  in  conformity  with  the 
earlier  arrangement. 

But  this  change  of  plan  did  not  prevent  the  welcome  visitor 
from  thoroughly  enjoying  her  brief  stay  in  Leipzig,  or  from 
happy  intercourse  with  her  most  valued  friends  there. 
Among  other  incidents  connected  with  this  memorable  visit, 
the  domestic  happiness  of  Mendelssohn,  whose  devotion  to 
his  wife  and  family  were  no  less  remarkable  than  his  artistic 

*  '  Aus  den  Tagehuchern  von  Eeinrich  Brochhaus,'  Band  ii.  s.  100. 
("Leipzig,  1884.)    See  p.  326,  et  seq. 


1846.]  AT  TEE   GEWANDEAUS   ONCE  MORE.  373 

talent,  made  a  deep  impression  upon  her.  She  had  been 
equally  impressed,  at  Berlin,  by  the  charming  pictures  of 
home  life  daily  presented  to  her  in  the  family  circle  at 
Professor  Wichmann's.  Of  such  a  life  her  own  early  ex- 
perience had  taught  her  notliing.  As  a  child,  at  home,  she 
had  never  been  truly  understood ;  and,  in  consequence  of 
this,  had  suffered  cruelly  from  want  of  sympathy  and 
domestic  happiness.  Who  can  wonder,  then,  at  the  emotion 
she  felt,  when  witnessing,  in  other  families,  the  peaceful 
effect  of  social  relations  to  which  her  own  childhood  had  been 
an  utter  stranger  ?  She  alludes  to  this,  in  touching  terms,  in 
a  letter,  written  about  this  time,  to  Madame  Wichmann  : — 

Leipzig,  April  (8  ?  *),  1846. 

"  Deaely  beloved  Amalia, — 

"  God  bless  you  all,  and  give  you,  some  day,  tenfold 
the  good  that  you  have  given  me  !  For,  Amalia,  I  have  felt, 
for  the  first  time  in  my  life,  as  if  I  had  tasted  the  blessedness 
of  home. 

"  What  can  I  say  more  ?  All  the  rest,  you  can  imagine 
for  yourself.  This  only  will  I  confide  to  you,  that,  if  I  had 
not  before  me  the  prospect  of  soon  seeing  you  again,  it  would 
go  very  sadly  indeed  with  me ;  for  my  heart  now  clings  to 
you  so  that  nothing  else  can  satisfy  me. 

"  I  am  staying  with  the  Brockhauses,  and  they  are  all  so 
kind  and  friendly. 

"  Yours, 

"  Jenny."  t 

In  the  meanwhile,  the  necessary  arrangements  for  the 
forthcoming  concert  had  been  satisfactorily  completed,  under 
the  superintendence  of  Mendelssohn  himself  The  perform- 
ance was  fixed  for  Sunday,  the  12th  of  April ;  and,  as  there 
was   to   be   no   orchestra,  IMendelssohn  had   undertaken  to 

*  The  day  of  the  month  is  not  given ;  but,  the  letter  must  have  been 
written  on  the  8th  or  9th  of  April,  since  Mdlle.  Lind  left  Herr  Brockhaus's 
house  on  the  morning  of  the  last-named  day. 

t  From  the  Wichmann  collection. 


374  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  v.  ch.  i. 

"  preside  at  the  pianoforte,"  as  well  as  to  play  at  least  one 
solo.  His  friend,  Herr  Ferdinand  Da\T.d,  bad  also  promised 
to  contribute  a  solo  on  tbe  violin  ;  and,  wben  tbese  details 
bad  been  finally  decided  upon,  tbe  following  programme  was 
issued  to  tbe  public  : — 

Sonntag,  den    12   April,  1846, 

im  Saale  des  Gewandhauses. 

Concert 

von  Fraulein 

JENNY    LIND. 


Erster  Theil. 

Sonate  von  L.  v.  Beethoven,  G  dur,  vorgetragen  von  den  Herren  G.  M.  D. 

Felix  Mendelssohn  Bartholdy  imd  C.  M.  David. 
Arie  aus  Niohe,  von  Pacini,  gesungen  von  Fraulein  Lind. 
Solo,  fiir  die  Violine,  componirt  imd  vorgetragen  von  Herrn  C.  M.  David. 
A7-ie *  aus  I)o7i  Jiian,  von  Mozart,  gesungen  von  Fiaulein  Lind. 

ZwEiTER  Theil. 

Sonate    in    Cis    moll,  f    von    Beethoven,    vorgetragen    von    Herrn    Dr. 

Mendelssohn. 
Cavatine  aus  Euryanthe  (Glocklein  im  Thale),  und  Cavatine  aus  dem 

Freischutz  ('  Und  oh  die  Wolke  sie  verhiille ')  von  C.  M.  von  Weber, 

gesungen  von  Fraulein  Lind. 
Lied  ohne  Worte,  componirt  und  vorgetragen  von  Herrn  Dr.  Mendelssohn. 
Lieder,  gesungen  von  Fraulein  Lind. 

No  sooner  did  tbis  announcement  make  its  appearance 
in  tbe  Lcipziger  Tagcblatt,  tban  tbe  usual  rusb  for  tickets 
began,  witb  a  vigorous  onslaught  wbicb  exhausted  tbe 
supply  in  tbe  course  of  a  few  hours.  Tbe  most  ardent 
music-lovers  in  tbe  town  lost  not  a  moment  in  their  en- 
deavours to  secure  tbe  best  places.  It  soon  became  evident 
that,  had  the  room  been  even  much  larger  than  it  really 
was,  it  could  easily  have  been  filled,  over  and  over  again. 

*  '  Ueber  alles  bleibst  du  theuer.'    Q  Non  mi  dir.') 
t  Now  popularl}^  known  as  "  The  Moonlight  Sonata  " — a  name  which 
Beethoven  never  applied  to  it,  and  never  heard. 


1846.]  AT  THE   GEWANDHAUS   ONCE  MORE.  375 

And  it  cannot  be  said  that  the  excitement  Tras  extravagant, 
or  unnatural ;  for  it  would  be  difficult  to  recall  to  memory 
a  concert,  within  the  experience  of  the  oldest  musical 
critic  now  living,  in  which  three  such  artists  *  united  their 
forces  for  the  production  of  so  attractive  a  programme — 
an  entertainment  in  wliich  there  was  not  one  single 
weak  point,  one  single  piece  falling  short  of  the  highest 
level  that  Art,  in  the  department  of  "  chamber  music,"  could 
reach. 

Madame  Clara  Schumann  {nee  Wieck),  who  was  then 
residing  in  Dresden,  came  to  Leipzig  in  the  course  of  the 
afternoon,  with  the  intention  of  takincj  a  seat  amons^  the 
audience.  On  arriving  at  the  railway-station,  after  her  four 
hours'  journey,  she  drove  at  once  to  Mendelssohn's  house, 
for  the  purpose  of  paying  him  a  visit.  She  found  him  a 
little  anxious  about  liis  share  in  the  duties  of  the  evening, 
which  was  exceedingly  onerous,  since,  beside  his  own  solos, 
he  had  accepted  the  responsibility  of  accompanying  every 
piece  in  the  programme.  Thus  circumstanced,  he  begged 
INIadame  Schumann  to  add  to  the  interest  of  the  performance 
by  taking  part  in  it  herself.  She  was  tired  with  her  journey ; 
quite  unprepared  to  play,  and  not  even  provided  with  a 
suitable  toilette  for  the  evening ;  but  she  unhesitatingly 
consented ;  and  Mendelssohn  well  knew  that  she  would 
prove  more  than  equal  to  the  occasion,  when  the  moment 
for  the  fulfilment  of  her  promise  arrived. 

Long  before  the  appointed  time,  the  room  was  crowded, 
to  its  remotest  corner.  The  heneficiairc  sang—  as  she  always 
did,  when  supported  by  Mendelssohn's  matchless  accompani- 
ment— her    very  best.      Mendelssohn    played    Beethoven's 

*  Though  almost  unheard  in  England,  Herr  Ferdinand  David  (for  whom 
Mendelssohn  had,  not  long  before,  composed  his  Violin  Concerto  in  E) 
enjoyed,  on  the  Continent,  a  reputation  scarcely  inferior  to  that  of  Spohr, 
and  Ernst,  in  Germany,  or  Baillot,.in  Paris. 


376  JENNY  LIND.  [bk  v.  ch.  i. 

'  Sonata  in  CJf  minor,'  as  no  one  but  he  could  play  it ; 
and,  when  the  point  in  the  programme  was  reached,  at 
which  he  was  expected  to  play  his  own  '  Lieder  ohiie  Worte,' 
he  came  down  to  the  place  in  which  Madame  Schumann 
was  seated  among  the  audience,  and  led  her,  in  her 
travelling  dress,  to  the  piano.  She  was  received  with  an 
ovation  ;  and  played  two  of  the  '  Leider ' — Nos.  I.  and  IV.*  in 
the  Sixth  Book — and  a  '  scherzo  '  of  her  own,  with  an  effect 
which  could  scarcely  have  been  surpassed.  The  performance 
concluded,  in  accordance  with  the  previous  announcement, 
with  a  selection  of  songs,  by  Mdlle.  Lind,  accompanied  by 
Mendelssohn,  in  his  own  inimitable  manner ;  and  the 
audience  departed  in  raptures. 

Could  those  present  have  looked  forward  less  than  two 
short  years  into  the  future,  how  different  would  have  been 
their  feelings!  Who  could  have  believed  that,  even  then, 
over  the  world-famous  concert-room,  which  had  witnessed 
so  many  of  the  most  striking  artistic  triumphs  of  the 
period,  the  Angel  of  Death  was  hovering — that  his  dusky 
wing  was,  at  that  very  moment,  overshadowing  the  greatest 
musical  genius  of  the  age — that,  in  less  than  one  year  and 
seven  months  after  that  delightful  evening,  Felix  Mendels- 
sohn Bartholdy  himself  was  destined  to  be  the  recipient  of 
his  fatal  message. 

Yet,  so  it  was. 

We  little  thought  that  the  concert  which  had  given  us 
such  unclouded  pleasure  was  fated  to  be  the  last  but  one  at 
which  Mendelssohn  would  play,  in  public,  at  the  Gewandhaus  ; 
or  that  the  concluding  symphony  of  Mdlle.  Lind's  last  song 
would  represent  (with  one  exception)  his  last  touch  upon  the 

*  No.  IV.  is  now  commonly  called,  the  Spinnlied ;  and,  more  vulgarly 
known  by  the  ridiculous  title  of  "  The  Bee's  Wedding  " — another  instance 
of  the  aj^plication  of  sentimental  names,  unsanctioned  by,  and  unknown 
to,  the  comjjoser. 


1846.]  AT  THE   GEWANDHAUS   ONCE  MOBE.  Til 

pianoforte,  in  the  concert-room  which,  through  his  influence, 
had  become  so  justly  celebrated.* 

But,  we  must  not  anticipate  the  day  of  sadness.  Xo  one 
foresaw  it,  then  ;  and,  though  the  audience  at  the  Gewandhaus 
was  so  soon  to  bid  its  last  farewell  to  the  beloved  composer 
who  had  so  long  represented  its  heart  and  soul,  Mdlle.  Lind 
enjoyed  the  privilege  of  his  friendship  for  a  full  year  and  a 
half  after  this  eventful  evening.f 

*  Mendelssohn's  last  performance  in  the  Gewandhaus  took  place  on  the 
19th  of  July,  184:6,  when  he  played  the  pianoforte  part  of  Beethoven's 
"Kreutzer  Sonata"  (Op.  47)  with  Ferdinand  David. 

t  Mendelssohn  died  on  the  4th  of  November,  1847.  The  circum- 
stances above  related,  and  still  remembered  by  many,  are  corroborated  by 
entries  made  in  the  writer's  diary,  at  the  time. 


378  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  v.  ch.  ii. 


CHAPTEE  II. 

THE   DEBUT   AT  VIENNA. 

In  accordance  with  the  arrangement  previously  made  with 
Madame  Arnemann,  Mdlle.  Lind  left  Leipzig,  on  the  13th  of 
April — the  day  after  the  concert — and  proceeded,  first,  to 
Carlsbad,  where  she  remained  until  the  1 6th.  She  then  took 
leave  of  her  friend,  and,  accompanied  by  Mdlle.  Louise 
Johansson,  continued  her  journey  to  Prague ;  remained  there 
for  one  night,  and  started,  the  next  morning,  for  Vienna, 
where  she  arrived  on  Saturday,  April  the  18th. 

In  the  meantime,  accommodation  had  been  prepared  for 
her,  at  the  house  of  Dr.  Vivanot,  a  physician  of  some  repute, 
who  occupied  a  conveniently-situated  residence  in  one  of  the 
principal  streets  of  Vienna — Am  Graben. 

The  place  was  a  convenient  one,  in  every  respect ;  and  here 
she  remained  en  pension,  until  the  termination  of  her  engage- 
ment for  the  season,  perfectly  satisfied  with  the  arrangements 
made  for  her  personal  comfort,  though,  in  its  social  aspect, 
her  position  in  Vienna  was  far  more  trying  than  that  which 
had  awaited  her  on  her  first  visit  to  Berlin  in  the  autumn  of 
1844.  For,  the  influence  of  Meyerbeer  was  all-powerful  in 
the  Prussian  capital ;  and  the  introductions  with  which  he  was 
able  to  furnish  her  had  undoubtedly  done  much  towards 
ensuring  her  a  favourable  reception,  both  at  Court,  and  in  the 
best  circles  of  Berlin  society,  before  she  had  had  time  to 
secure  it  for  herself,  either  by  her  talent,  or  by  the  charm  of 
her  personal  character — while,  in  Vienna,  she  knew  no  one. 


1846.]  THE  DEBUT  AT   VIENNA.  379 

and,  except  for  the  ijrcstigc  of  her  artistic  repvitation,  had  no 
claim  whatever  upon  the  good-\Yill  of  the  people  among 
whom  she  had  come  to  reside.  Her  friends  in  the  North  of 
Germany  felt  this  strongly ;  and  did  their  best  to  overcome 
the  difficulty.  Madame  Birch-Pfeiffer  wrote  a  letter  to  a 
friend  in  Vienna,  which  gives  so  true  a  delineation  of  her 
young  friend's  character  that  we  need  no  apology  for  intro- 
ducinsj  it  in  cxtenso  : — 

"On  Sunday,"  she  says,  "our  Angel  fled  from  us;  and 
to-day  only  have  I  brought  myself  to  introduce  her  to  you  by 
this  letter. 

"  Jenny  Lind,  indeed,  needs  no  introduction  to  a  lady  so 
truly  artistic  as  yourself ;  and  I  only  venture  to  give  you  a 
few  slight  indications  of  her  northern  proclivities,  which  your 
own  fine  tact  would  easily  have  discovered  without  them. 

"She  is  reserved,  and  self-contained;  pure,  through  and 
through,  and  sensitive  to  the  last  degree ;  so  strangely  tender, 
that  she  is  easily  wounded,  and  thereupon  becomes  silent, 
and  serious,  when  no  reason  for  it  is  apparent — and  I  have 
long  studied  this  marvellous  character,  and  penetrated  its  pro- 
foundest  depths. 

"A  word  will  often  quickly  shut  her  up  in  herself;  and  I 
tell  you  this,  in  order  that  you  may  see  how  you  stand  with 
her.  When  she  suddenly  becomes  dumb  to  you,  you  may  be 
certain  that  something  has  wounded  her  delicate  sensibility. 
She  is  a  true  Mimosa,  that  closes  itself  at  the  lightest  tpuch. 
Do  not  think,  from  this,  that  she  is  intolerable.  She  is,  by 
nature,  a  truly  lovable  creature.  True,  in  everything  that  she 
does.  Do  not  suffer  yourself  to  be  misled,  by  her  persistent 
silence,  into  thinking  that  she  is  sans  esprit.  She  speaks 
little,  and  thinks  deeply.  She  is  full  of  perception,  and  the 
finest  tact — a  mixture  of  devotion,  and  energy,  such  as  you 
have  probably  never  before  met  with. 

"  Free,  herself,  from  the  slightest  trace  of  coquetry,  she 
regards  all  coquetry  with  horror.  In  short,  she  stands  alone, 
of  her  kind,  from  head  to  foot. 

"  I  adjure  you,  tell  all  your  coterie  that  Jenny  must  be 
brilliantly  received ;  otherwise,  she  will  never  forgive  me  for 
having  persuaded  her  to  perform  in  so  large  a  theatre,  for  she 
fears  that  her  voice  will  not  fill  it.  She  stands  alone  in 
modesty,  as  in  everything  else. 


S80  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  v.  ch.  ii. 

"  If  you  invite  her  to  your  house,  aud  she  does  not  sing, 
when  iirst  you  ask  her,  let  it  pass.  Do  not  suffer  any  one  to 
press  her ;  otherwise,  it  is  possible  that  she  may  not  come 
again.  This  has  often  happened  with  her,  here.  She  is 
passionately  fond  of  dancing ;  and  cares  but  very  little  for 
the  table.  I^othing  is  more  hateful  to  her  than  sitting  long 
at  dinner. 

"  Here  you  have  a  little  confidential  description  of  her 
person.  It  is  weU  that  you  should  be  forewarned  ;  for,  every 
genius  has  her  own  peculiarities. 

"If  you  wish  to  make  her  really  happy,  invite  her  com- 
panion, Louise  Johansson,  to  accompany  her  to  your  parties. 
She  is  an  excellent  girl,  and  Jenny  looks  upon  her  as  a 
sister. 

"  Since  she  has  left  me,  I  have  felt  as  if  in  my  grave.  I 
can  listen  to  no  singing  now.  You  will  soon  understand 
why." 

No  one  who  really  knew  Mdlle.  Lind  will  fail  to  recognise 
the  fidelity  of  this  charming  portrait ;  so  delicately  drawn  ; 
so  truthfully  delineated;  so  conscientiously  describing,  in 
every  well-weighed  word,  the  minutest  traits  of  a  character 
which  needed  so  Hberal  a  share  of  philosophical  discernment 
for  its  successful  analysis,  and  so  deep  an  insight  into  the 
poetry  of  the  human  heart  for  its  full  and  loving  appreciation. 
Such  a  portrait  could  only  have  been  drawn  by  one  who  had 
deeply  and  worthily  studied  the  moving  spirit  by  which  a 
character  so  lovely  had  been  dominated,  through  life ;  and  the 
truth  of  the  picture  is  proved  by  the  ready  assent  accorded  tc 
it  by  aU  who  had  the  privilege  of  knowing  the  original. 
That  it  helped  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  cordial  reception 
that  awaited  MdUe.  Lind  in  Vienna  we  cannot  doubt ;  and,  in 
order  that  nothing  might  be  left  undone  which  could  conduce 
to  that  most  desirable  end,  Mendelssohn,  on  his  part,  fore- 
seeing that  she  might  possibly  need  the  assistance  of  an 
experienced  adviser,  should  any  unfortunate  misunderstand- 
ing occur  in  her  dealings  with  the  strangers  by  whom  she  was 
surrounded,  endeavoured  to  meet  the  difficulty,  by  providing 


1846.]  THE  DEBUT  AT   VIENNA.  381 


her,  when  she  left  Leipzig,  with  the  following  letter  to  liis 

friend,  Herr  Franz  Hauser  :  * — 

"  Leipzig,  April  12,  1846. 

Dear  Feiexd, 

"  These  lines  will  reach  you,  through  my  friend,  Jenny 
Lind ;  and  I  beg  you,  as  soon  as  you  receive  them,  to  call 
upon  her,  and  to  be  as  friendly  and  as  useful  to  her  as  you 
possibly  can  during  the  time  of  her  residence  in  Vienna. 
For,  I  take  it  for  granted  that  it  will  be  with  you,  as  with 
me ;  and  that  you  will  never  be  able  to  look  upon  her  as  a 
stranger,  but  as  one  of  ourselves — a  member  of  that  invisible 
Church,  t  concerning  which  you  write  to  me  sometimes.  She 
pulls  at  the  same  rope  with  all  of  us  who  are  really  in  earnest 
about  that ;  thinks  about  it ;  strives  for  it ;  and,  if  all  goes 
w^ell  with  her  in  the  world,  it  is  as  pleasant  to  me  as  if  it 
went  well  with  me  :  for  it  helps  me,  and  all  of  us,  so  well  on 
our  road.  And  to  you,  as  a  singer,  it  must  be  especially 
delightful  to  meet,  at  last,  with  the  union  of  such  splendid 
talents,  with  such  profound  study,  and  such  heartfelt  enthu- 
siasm. But  I  will  say  no  more.  I  only  ask  you  to  be  friendly, 
and  helpful  to  her,  whenever,  and  wherever  you  can  ;  and  to 
let  her  depend  upon  you ;  and,  when  she  sings  for  the  first  time, 
write  to  me,  on  the  same  day,  and  tell  me  how  it  all  went  ofi'. 
"  You  are  angry  with  me,  I  know,  about  the  barbarous 
letter  that  I  sent  to  you  with  the  Antigone;  but  you  must 
not  be  cross,  for  it  was  not  so  bad  as  you  thought.  And, 
send  me  these  lines  that  I  ask  of  you ;  for  it  is  from  you  that 
I  particularly  wish  to  hear  about  it. 

"  For  ever  and  ever  yours, 

"  Felix  Mendelssohn  BxVetholdy."| 

*  Franz  Hauser  was  born  on  the  12th  of  January,  1794 ;  and  was 
first  known  in  Germany  as  a  bass  singer  of  exceptional  talent.  After 
having  taught  singing,  in  Vienna,  for  many  years,  with  great  success,  he 
Mas  appointed  Director  of  the  Conservatorium  in  Munich,  and  held  this 
important  post  from  the  year  1846  to  1864. 

t  It  must  be  remembered  that  Mendelssohn  looked  upon  the  worship 
of  Art  as  a  veritable  religion ;  and  endeavoured  to  impress  that  view 
ujDon  all  who  were  in  familiar  intercourse  with  him. 

X  Translated  from  the  original  autograph,  forming  }iart  of  the  valuable 
collection  of  letters  in  the  possession  of  Herr  Joseph  Hauser,  by  whose  kind 
permission  we  are  enabled  to  present  our  readers  with  numerous  extracts 
which,  in  future,  will  be  acknowledged  as  "From  the  Hauser  letters." 


382  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  v.  ch.  ii. 

By  a  strange  fatality  Herr  Hauser's  kind  offices  were 
needed,  before  Mdlle.  Lind  had  even  made  her  first  appear- 
ance on  the  stage. 

The  Theater  an  der  Wien,  at  which  she  was  engaged  to 
sing  for  Herr  Franz  Pokorny,  stood  very  nearly  on  the  site 
of  an  older  theatre,  rich  in  historical  memorials  of  a  very 
brilliant  period.  Towards  the  close  of  the  last  century  the 
original  building  was  licensed,  by  Prince  Starhemberg,  to 
a  restless  manager  and  hot-headed  Freemason,  named 
Emmanuel  Schickaneder,  who,  finding  himself  in  difficulties, 
thought  to  repair  his  fortunes  by  producing  an  Opera,  based 
upon  a  masonic  libretto,  and  enriched  with  music  by  Mozart, 
who  himself  was  a  Freemason  also.  Mozart,  who  was  gene- 
rosity incarnate,  yielded  to  the  entreaties  of  his  unhappy 
'brother  mason,'  and  produced  for  him,  as  an  act  of  pure 
charity,  his  last  great  dramatic  inspiration.  Die  Zmtberfidte, 
imposing,  as  Schickaneder  could  not  pay  for  it,  the  condition 
that  the  score  should  not  be  allowed  to  pass  out  of  his  hands. 
Schickaneder  accepted  the  gift ;  but  broke  the  conditions,  by 
supplying,  to  every  provincial  manager  who  was  able  to  pay 
him  for  it,  a  copy  of  the  score.  Mozart  died,  shortly  after- 
wards, in  cruel  poverty.  He  never  received  anything  for  liis 
latest  masterpiece  ;  wliile  the  success  of  Die  Zaubcrjldtc  so 
enriched  Schickaneder  that,  out  of  his  ill -gained  profits,  he 
was  able  to  build  the  present  "  Theater  an  der  Wien,"  which, 
at  the  time  of  which  we  are  now  treating,*  was  the  largest 
and  handsomest  theatre  in  Vienna. 

So  large  did  it  seem  to  the  timid  cUhutante — still  timid, 
and  distrustful  as  ever  of  her  own  powers,  in  spite  of  her 
triumphs  at  Berlin — that,  when  she  entered  it  for  the  first 
time,  in  order  to  take  her  part  in  the  rehearsal  of  Norma,  she 
was  appalled  at  the  sight  of  its  vast  circumference ;  felt  con- 

*  That  is  to  say,  before  the  splendid  new  Opera-House  was  built. 


1846.]  THE  DEBUT  AT  VIENNA.  383 

vinced  that  her  voice  would  prove  insufficient  to  fill  it ;  and, 
under  the  influence  of  an  utterly  causeless  terror,  refused 
even  to  make  the  attempt. 

Herr  Pokorny  was  in  despair.  He  could  not  understand 
the  lady's  fears  ;  nor  could  she  comprehend  his  remonstrances. 
Fortunately,  he  remembered  having  seen  her  in  company 
with  Herr  Hauser,  to  whom  he  sent  a  hurried  message, 
entreating  liim  to  come  to  the  rescue,  without  the  loss  of  a 
moment.  By  great  good  fortune,  the  messenger  found  Herr 
Hauser  at  home.  He  instantly  responded  to  the  appeal ;  and 
reached  the  theatre  while  Mdlle.  Lind  was  still  standing  on 
the  stage,  in  an  agony  of  nervousness  and  indecision.  As  it 
was  impossible  to  discuss  the  question,  in  presence  of  the 
assembled  artists,  he  led  her  to  the  "  green-room,"  where  he 
set  the  case  so  clearly  before  her,  made  her  so  plainly  see  that 
her  fears  would  be  misunderstood,  and  her  position  as  an 
artist  ruined,  that  the  Viennese  would  treat  the  matter  as  a 
joke,  and  hold  Herr  Pokorny  responsible  for  having  befooled 
them,  spoke,  in  short,  so  sensibly  and  so  earnestly,  that,  with 
a  great  effort,  she  overcame  her  terror,  returned  to  the  stage, 
where  Herr  Pokorny  was  anxiously  awaiting  her  decision, 
and  at  once  took  her  part  in  the  rehearsal,  with  every  pro- 
spect of  a  successful  debut  on  the  following  evening. 

How  right  Herr  Hauser  was  in  his  judgment  she  never 
forgot ;  nor  did  Herr  Pokorny  ever  forget  the  kindness  of  his 
intervention.  During  the  whole  remaining  portion  of  the 
season,  he  reserved  a  box  for  Herr  Hauser,  at  every  perform- 
ance, even  when  the  prices  were  at  their  highest,  and 
aj)plicants  were  sent  away,  in  crowds,  for  want  of  room.  And 
this  was  no  small  thing ;  for  never,  within  the  memory  of  the 
Viennese,  had  such  crowds  assembled  at  the  theatre,  or  such 
prices  been  demanded  for  admission. 

The  paralysing  fear  with  regard  to  the  size  of  the  house 
proved,   we   need   scarcely  say,    entii'ely   illusory.      Mdlle. 


384  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  v.  ch.  ii. 

Lind's  voice  was  sonorous  enough  to  have  filled  the  largest 
theatre  in  Europe  ;  and  the  "  Theater  an  der  Wien,"  spacious 
as  it  was,  was  far  from  being  that.  The  scene,  on  the 
evening  of  the  dehut — Wednesday,  the  22nd  of  April,  1846 — 
was  simply  a  replica  of  that  which  had  taken  place,  in  Berlin, 
on  the  9th  of  November,  in  the  previous  year.  The  same 
Opera — Norma — was  wisely  chosen  as  the  work  best  calcu- 
lated to  produce  a  favourable  effect  upon  the  general  public ; 
and  the  result  proved  all  that  could  possibly  be  desired,  not- 
withstanding the  patent  fact  that  a  very  unfair  share  of 
responsibility  was  thrown  upon  the  debutante.  For,  except 
Ijy  Herr  Staudigl,  the  representative  of  Oroveso,  who  was  a 
host  in  himself,  and  Demoiselle  Henriette  Treffz,*  who  sang 
the  part  of  Adalgisa  very  charmingly,  she  was  by  no 
means  worthily  supported.  Concerning  the  tenor,  who  took 
the  part  of  Pollio — called  "  Sever,"  in  the  German  version — 
the  Wiener  Musik-Zcitung  could  find  nothing  better  to 
say,  than  that  "  he  sang  no  worse  than  usual."  The  chorus 
sang,  not  only  without  expression,  but  incorrectly ;  and  the 
orchestra  fulfilled  its  functions  very  inefficiently  indeed.  At 
any  other  time  such  faults  as  these  would  have  been  very 
heavily  visited  indeed  upon  the  management  of  an  Opera- 
House  of  such  high  repute  as  the  Theater  an  der  Wien ;  but, 
in  presence  of  Mdlle.  Lind,  all  collateral  shortcomings  were 
not  only  forgiven,  but  forgotten — if  even  noticed  at  all ;  and 
the  success  of  the  performance  could  scarcely  have  been 
exceeded. 

After  having  entered  so  largely  into  detail,  in  our  descrip- 
tion of  the  performances  at  Berlin,  it  is  unnecessary  that  we 
should  supplement  Herr  Bells  tab's  exhaustive  critiques,  by 
quoting,  at  length,  those  that  appeared  in  the  Vienna  news- 
papers ;  we  shall,  therefore,  content  ourselves  with  saying  that 

*  This  lady,  not  long  afterwards,  became  well  known,  in  London  as  a 
concert-singer,  under  the  name  of  Jetty  Treffz. 


1846.]  THE  DEBUT  AT   VIENNA.  385 

Herr  August  Schmidt,  the  editor  of  the  Winier  AUgcmcine 
Musik-Zeitmifj — a  journal  by  no  means  enthusiastically 
devoted  to  j\Idlle.  Lind's  interests — after  saying,  in  one  part 
of  his  paper — 

"  For  the  initiated  in  music — those  who  listen,  not  with 
the  ear  only,  but  with  the  soul,  and  the  spirit — the  appear- 
ance of  Jenny  Lind  is  an  event  altogether  exceptional ;  such 
as  has  never  before  been  witnessed,  and  will  probably  never 
be  repeated,"  * 

sums  up  his  critique  of  Norma,  with  the  words  : — 

"  The  appearance  of  Fraulein  Lind  is  of  the  deepest 
interest,  in  all  its  aspects  ;  and  her  achievements  in  Art 
deserve,  in  the  highest  degree,  the  universal  acknowledgment 
that  they  have  received.  She  is  the  perfect  picture  of  noblest 
womanhood ;  and  has,  through  her  artistic  aims,  and  the 
liigh  perfection  of  her  artistic  cultivation,  united  to  her  great 
and  many-sided  talents,  already  won  the  sympathy  of  the 
entire  public,  on  her  first  appearance,  in  a  way  in  which  few 
other  singers  have  won  it  before  her.  I  count  the  moments 
that  passed  at  her  debut,  among  the  most  enjoyable  artistic 
pleasures  that  I  have  ever  yet  experienced  ;  and  eagerly  look 
forward  to  her  forthcoming  performances."  j 

*   Wiener  Allgemeine  Musik-Zeitung ,  April  19,  1846,  p.  179. 
t  Hid.  April  25,  1846,  p.  198. 


VOL.  I.  2  C 


386  JENNY  LIND.  [be.  v.  en.  in. 


CHAPTEE   III. 

CORRESPONDENCE   WITH   MENDELSSOHN. 

For  her  second  appearance,  on  Friday,  the  24th  of  April, 
Mdlle.  Lind  again  selected  Norma,  the  reception  of  which 
was,  if  possible,  still  more  enthusiastic  than  that  with  which 
it  had  been  greeted  on  the  evening  of  the  debut.  The 
Viennese  were  delighted  with  the  new  reading  of  the  part, 
so  full  of  passion  and  true  womanly  feeling,  and  so  power- 
fully dramatic  in  all  its  varied  shades  of  expression.  Even 
the  recollections  of  former  triumphs — such  as  those  of 
Mesdames  Pasta,  and  Fodor,  and  Malibran — were  cited  by  old 
and  experienced  critics  as  telling  rather  in  her  favour  than 
otherwise. 

It  is  true,  there  was  a  strong  party  against  her.  Three 
rival  p"im6  donne — Mesdames  Stoeckel-Heinefetter  and  Has- 
selt-Barth  and  Fraulein  Anna  Zerr — though  bitterly  jealous 
of  each  other's  triumphs  at  the  "  Karntnerthor  Theater,"  * 
united  their  forces,  in  opposition  to  the  rising  star,  and  formed 
what  a  certain  section  of  the  press  called  a  Karntner  clique 
for  the  purpose  of  preventing  her  from  singing  in  Vienna. 

In  allusion  to  this  opposition,  the  well-known  p  oet 
Grillparzer,  wrote  the  following  clever  epigram  : — ■ 

^ix  ■ipuiib  k((t  iin  I  en  QJicnt ; 

!I)cr  tcudjtet  Jctc  cjcliiofint, 
(Siebt  fid)  trnH)  ®trat)(en  ^unt, 

Unt  blctft— tcr  bottc  ffliont, 
©cloie  ter  Jpunt— cin  •§iinfc. 


A  famous  Opera-House,  known  also  as  the  "  Hofoperntheater." 


18-46.]        COHEESPONDENCE  WITH  MENDELSSOHN.         387 

But  Mdlle.  Lind  triumphed  over  everything :  over  present 
rivalry ;  over  inefficient  support,  in  the  general  ensemble  of  the 
works  in  which  she  appeared ;  and — a  harder  task  still — over 
the  shades  of  the  great  virtuose  who  had  preceded  her.  In  spite 
of  these  adverse  influences,  she  created  a  profound  impression, 
on  Wednesday,  the  29th  of  April,  in  Bellini's  La  Sonnamhula, 
by  her  inimitable  union  of  the  purest  vocal  method,  with  act- 
ing so  touching,  that  the  coldest  heart  could  not  witness  it 
unmoved.  It  was  this  combined  effect  of  legitimate  vocaliza- 
tion and  dramatic  sensitiveness  that  alone  could  explain  the 
secret  charm  to  which  none  who  heard  her  in  the  part  of  Amina 
ever  failed  to  yield.  The  Viennese  understood  it  at  once ;  and 
sympathised  with  it,  as  unreservedly  as  they  had  sympathised 
with,  and  thoroughly  comprehended,  the  new  reading  of 
Norma.  No  sooner  had  they  heard  and  seen,  than  they  rose, 
one  and  all,  to  a  pitch  of  enthusiasm,  in  no  degree  inferior  to 
that  which  had  been  manifested,  night  after  night,  at  the 
Eoyal  Opera-House  in  Berlin.  She  herself  was  more 
than  satisfied  with  the  reception  she  met  with ;  and,  on  the 
day  after  her  first  appearance  in  Norma,  ^vrote  the  following 
account  of  it  to  Madame  Birch-Pfeiffer  : — 

"  Wien,  23  April,  1846. 

"  Dear  Feiekd, 

"  It  is  over,  at  last — thaxk  God  !  and  I  hasten,  good 
Mother,  to  describe  it  to  you,  though  I  know  that  the  kind- 
hearted  Director,  Pokoruy,  has  written  all  about  it  to  you 
to-day. 

"Well,  then!  Yesterday  was  the  all- important  day  on 
which  I  appeared  here  in  Norma ;  and  the  good  God  did 
not  desert  me,  though  I  deserved  it,  for  my  unreasonable 
nervousness. 

"  Do  not  be  angry  wth  me,  I  beg  you  !  I  can  do  nothing 
with  regard  to  that,  and  I  myself  suffer  enough  for  it.  The 
three  days  beforehand  were  dreadful.  The  idea  of  turning 
back  was  ever  in  my  mind ;  and  I  should  have  done  it,  if  it 
would  not  have  given  offence  to  so  many  people. 

2  c  2 


388  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  v.  ch.  iit. 

"  But,  now,  we  sliall  be  jolly  here,  for  a  little  while,  and 
sing  nine  times ;  and  then  we  can  go  on  still  farther ! 

"  But,  this  Public  !  At  the  close,  I  was  called  back  sixteen 
times,  and  twelve  or  fourteen  before  that.  Just  count  that  up  ! 
And  this  reception  !    I  was  quite  astounded ! 

"  The  salle  is  considerably  smaller  than  that  in  Berlin — Ah  ! 
but  I  shall  always  love  my  Berlin  theatre,  and  my  Berliners, 
immensely ;  they  have  grown  into  my  heart !  iSTeither  the 
Viennese,  nor  any  others,  can  weaken  this  impression 

"  How  are  you  all  ?  A  raging  headache  prevents  me 
from  writing  more.  I  have  not  yet  been  calmed  down 
since  yesterday. 

"  Your  truly  loving 

"  Jenny."  * 

It  is  evident  that  this  description  of  the  excitement  of  the 
"Viennese,  and  the  countless  calls  before  the  curtain,  is  not 
written  in  sportive  exaggeration;  for,  on  the  same  day, 
Mdlle.  Lind  wrote  a  similar  account  of  the  circumstances  to 
Mendelssohn,  from  whom,  a  few  days  later,  she  received  the 

following  reply : — 

"  Leipzig,  May  7,  1846. 

"  My  dear  Fraulein, 

"  You  are  indeed  a  good,  and  excellent,  and  very  kind 
Fraulein  Lind.  That  is  what  I  wanted  to  say  to  you  (and  I 
have  said  it  often  enough,  in  thought),  after  receiving  your 
first  letter  from  Vienna,  written  so  soon  after  your  opening 
performance. 

"  That  you  wrote  to  me  on  the  very  next  day ;  that  you 
knew  there  was  no  one  to  whom  it  would  give  greater  pleasure 
than  to  myself ;  and,  that  you  found  time  for  it,  and  let  no- 
thing hinder  you,  or  hold  you  back — all  this  was  too  good  and 
kind  of  you  ! 

"  Your  description  of  the  first  evening,  and  of  the  twenty- 
five  times  you  were  called  before  the  curtain,  &c.,  &c.,  re- 
minded me  of  an  old  letter  written  to  me  by  my  sister,  when 
I  was  in  London,  a  long  time  ago  :  and  I  looked  for  the  old 
letter  until  I  found  it. 

"  It  was  the  first  time  that  I  had  left  the  shelter  of  the 
parental  roof,    or  had  produced  anything  in  public ;  and  it 

*  From  Frau  von  Hillern's  collection. 


1846.]        CORBESPONDENCE  WITH  MENDELSSOHN.         38& 

had  gone  well,  and  a  stone  had  been  lifted  from  my  heart ; 
and  I  had  written  an  account  of  it  all  to  her.  And,  there- 
upon, she  answered  me  thus : — 

"  There  was  nothing  new  to  her,  she  said,  in  all  that,  for 
she  had  known  it  all,  quite  certainly,  beforehand  ;  she  could 
not,  therefore,  very  clearly  explain  to  herself  why,  in  spite  of 
this,  it  had  been  so  very  pleasant  to  her  to  hear  it  all  con- 
firmed— but  it  was  very  pleasant,  nevertheless.* 

"  It  was  precisely  so  with  me,  when  I  received  your  letter. 
And  then,  you  write  so  well !  In  fact,  when  I  get  a  letter 
like  that  from  you,  it  is  just  exactly  as  if  I  saw  you,  or  heard 
you  speak.  I  can  see  the  expression  of  your  face,  at  every 
word  that  stands  written  before  me ;  and  I  understand  all 
that  took  place  on  the  first  Korma  evening  at  Vienna, 
almost  as  well  as  if  I  had  been  there. 

"  There  came  also  a  very  pretty  description  from  Hauser ; 
a  happier  letter  than  I  ever  before  received  from  him.  And 
in  this  way  you  give  me  so  much,  and  such  great  pleasure, 
even  in  a  secondary  form,  through  the  soul  of  my  friends. 

"  But,  tell  me,  now ;  how  comes  it  that  half  the  Berlin 
Opera  is  so  suddenly  in  Vienna,  the  Kapellmeister  included  ? 
Hauser  wrote  to  tell  me  that  your  Viennese  associates  in 
Norma  were  by  no  means  excellent ;  f  so,  Botticher  %  and 
the  others  could,  after  all,  give  the  Viennese  something  worth 
hearing — if  only  Taubert  beat  time  to  it ! 

"  I  really  feel,  however,  more  pleasure  in  the  enthusiasm  ot 
the  A^iennese,  and  the  twenty-five  calls  before  the  curtain, 
than  these  few  lines  will  perhaps  express  to  you.  It  is  great 
fnn  for  me,  too — not  because  of  what  people  call  triumph,  or 
success,  or  anything  of  that  kind,  but,  because  of  the  succes- 
sion of  pleasant  days  and  evenings  that  it  expresses,  and  the 
numbers  of  delighted  and  friendly  faces  with  which  you  are 
surrounded.  You  must  tell  me  all  about  this,  very  particu- 
larly ;  or  rather,  I  must  worm  it  out  of  you. 

*  The  letter  here  spoken  of  is  not  inchided  in  the  collection  printed,  by 
Herr  S.  Hensel,  in  'Die  Fauiilie  Mendelssohn;'  which,  however,  contains 
one,  of  as  nearly  as  possible,  the  same  period,  addressed,  by  Mendelssohn's 
sister,  Fanny,  to  Herr  Klingemaun,  and  dated,  "  Berlin,  June  4,  1829," 
in  which  she  writes  exactly  in  the  strain  here  indicated,  declaring  that, 
with  reference  to  his  successes,  she  has  "an  almost  silly  belief  in  pre- 
destination."    (See  '  Die  Familie  Mendelssohn,'  Berlin,  1879.) 

t  See  page  384. 

X  The  principal  bass  at  Berlin. 


390  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  v.  ch.  hi. 

"  You  are,  undoubtedly,  quite  right  in  what  you  say  about 
Vienna,  in  your  second  letter.  Where,  then,  is  there  more 
than  a  little  nucleus  that  feels  anything  sincerely,  or  honestly 
rejoices  about  anything  at  all  ? 

"  How  pleased  I  am  that  you  like  Hauser !  He  is  one  who 
has  crept  very  much  into  my  heart;  and  for  whom  I  could, 
at  no  time,  or  for  any  reason,  feel  diminished  affection.  And, 
how  much  good  has  he  not  done  to  me  ! 

"  And  now,  let  me  send  you  a  thousand  thanks  for  what 
you  have  written  to  me  about  Antigone.  Yes  ;  I  should  like 
to  do  that  over  again.  But,  out  of  this,  I  must  weave  the 
material  for  a  new  letter,  and  a  consultation  with  JMadame 
Birch-Pfeiffer— not,  indeed,  about  Antigone  itself,  but  about 
something  else  of  the  same  kind. 

"  But,  my  paper  has  come  to  an  end.  We  are  all  well, 
here,  and  think  of  you  every  day.  I  shall  write  once  more, 
before  long,  to  Vienna :  and  then,  please  God,  we  shall  see 
each  other  again,  on  the  Ehine,  and  make  a  little  music  to- 
gether, and  talk  to  each  other  a  little,  and  I  think  I  shall 
enjoy  myself  a  little  over  it !    Au  revoir* 

"  Your  friend, 

"  Felix  Mendelssohn  Baetholdy."  f 

The  allusion  to  Madame  Birch-Pfeiffer,  in  the  above  letter, 
is  connected  with  an  episode  of  some  importance  in  Mendels- 
sohn's Art-life,  concerning  the  details  of  which  the  public  has 
never  been  very  fully  informed. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  it  was  under  the  superinten- 
dence of  this  lady  that  Mdlle.  Lind  resumed  those  studies  in 
the  German  language  which  had  been  interrupted,  at  Dresden, 
by  her  recall  to  Stockholm,  for  the  coronation  of  King  Oscar  I.  + 

*  These  remarks  refer  to  the  "  Lower  Rhine  Festival  "  which  was  to  be 
held  on  the  31st  of  May,  and  two  following  days,  at  Aix-la-Chapelle. 
Mdlle.  Lind  had  been  engaged  as  the  principal  soprano ;  and  Mendelssohn, 
who  had  accepted  the  office  of  conductor,  had  promised  to  act  as  her 
escort,  during  her  journey  down  the  Rhine. 

t  This  and  other  letters  inserted  in  this  work,  addressed  by  Mendels- 
sohn to  Mdlle.  Lind,  are  translated  from  the  originals  in  the  possession  of 
Mr.  Goldschmidt,  and  now  published  for  the  first  time. 

t   Vide  pp.  220-221. 


184G.]        COERESPONDENGE  WITH  MENDELSSOHN.         391 

While  prosecuting  this  course  of  study,  she  had  met  with 
fretj^uent  opportunities  of  observing,  and  appreciating  at 
their  true  value,  Madame  Birch-Pfeift'er's  literary  talent  and 
thorough  acquaintance  with  what  is  known,  in  dramatic 
circles,  as  "  the  business  of  the  stage."  And  this  experience 
led  to  negotiations,  which,  though  they  afterwards  broke  down 
completely,  seemed,  at  the  time,  to  promise  very  important 
results  indeed. 

During  their  conversations,  Mdlle.  Lind  and  Mendelssohn 
had  frequently  discussed  the  possibility  of  a  union  of  forces, 
which,  had  it  not  been  interrupted  by  his  early  death,  would 
probably  have  exerted  a  marked  effect  upon  the  future  of  the 
musical  drama.  The  scheme  was,  the  production  of  a  serious 
Opera,  for  which  he  should  compose  the  music,  with  special 
reference  to  the  character  and  scope  of  her  vocal  and 
dramatic  talent.  The  one  great  difficulty  with  which  the 
project  was  threatened,  was  that  of  procuring  a  really  good 
libretto  suitable  for  the  purpose.  On  this  point,  Mendelssohn 
was  well-known  to  be  severely  exigeant.  But  both  he  and 
Mdlle.  Lind  thought  that  they  had  found,  in  Madame  Bircli- 
Pfeiffer,  a  colleague  on  whom  they  could  thoroughly  depend ; 
and,  as  we  shall  see,  from  the  following  letter — written  a 
week  later  than  that  just  quoted — Mendelssohn  was  already 
in  active  correspondence  with  the  lady  upon  this  engrossing 
topic;  and,  while  his  friend  was  gathering  new  laurels  in 
Vienna,  was  endeavouring  to  open  a  still  wider  field  for  the 
exercise  of  her  talents  in  the  future. 

"Leipzig,  May  15,  1846. 

■'^  My  dear  Fkaulein, 

"  If  I  am  not  mistaken,  my  last  letter  to  you  must 
liave  seemed  very  stupid — with  absolutely  nothing  in  it.* 
Moreover,  I  fear  it  will  not  be  very  different  with  the  present 
one  ;  and  that  the  two  together  will  mean  no  more  than  just 
a  hearty  greeting. 

*  See  Mendelssohn's  letter  to  Herr  Hauser,  p.  403. 


392  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  v.  ch.  in. 

"  You  must  have  been  suffering  severely  from  home-sick- 
ness !  I  can  see  that,  plainly  enough,  from  your  last  letter  ; 
and  Hauser  also  wrote  something  to  me  about  it.  But,  I 
hope  this  has  long  since  passed  away ;  and,  that  you  are  again 
fresh  and  cheerful,  and  make  music,  and  gladden  the  hearts  of 
the  people  by  means  of  the  many  noble  gifts  with  which  God 
has  endowed  you,  and  which  you  yourself  have  now  made 
your  own. 

"  Will  you  not,  then,  sing  '  Donna  Anna '  at  Vienna  ?  I 
have  long  been  looking  for  news  of  it ;  but  it  has  never 
come, 

"  How  happy  you  have  again  made  my  dear  good  Hauser  \ 
Such  a  delightful  letter  came  from  him,  after  you  had  been  to 
his  house  for  the  second  time.  And,  about  this,  I  am  always, 
thinking — what  if,  of  all  the  true  joy  that  you  shed  around 
you,  the  brightest  rays  could  fall  back  upon  yourself,  and 
could  as  thoroughly  warm  and  quicken  you  as  you  warm  and 
quicken  others  !  But  this  is  not  to  be.  And,  when  we  meet 
again,  I  will  show  you  a  passage  from  Goethe,  in  which  it 
stands  written  why  it  is  not  to  be.  Yet,  how  I  wish  it 
could  be ! 

"  You  must  know,  my  dear  Fraulein,  that  I  have  now  again 
good  hope  of  coming  to  a  satisfactory  arrangement  with 
Madame  Birch-Pfeiffer.  We  have  lately  exchanged  several 
letters ;  and,  as  it  seems  to  me,  she  has  had  a  very  lucky  find, 
and,  out  of  it,  will  work  up  a  subject  that  speaks  to  me 
strongly,  and  unites  in  itself  a  great  deal  of  that  which  you 
like  so  much  in  Antigone.  And  yet  it  is  not  antique.  How- 
ever, I  will  not  write  to  you  about  it,  but  describe  it,  viva  voce,. 
when  we  meet  again.  We  have  quite  given  up  the  subject  of 
the  Peasant  War ;  and  I  have  no  other  wish  than,  (1)  that 
the  whole  idea  may  please  you ;  (2)  that  Madame  Birch- 
Pfeiffer  may  put  it  together  dramatically,  and  truthfully ; 
and,  (3)  that  I  may  write  really  good  music  for  it.  Apart 
from  these  little  matters,  all  is  in  order. 

"  I  write  these  stupid  letters,  because,  for  the  last  fortnight, 
I  have  been  kept  at  home  by  a  very  bad  cold ;  and,  still  more,, 
because  I  have  been  working  very  hard,  and  without  inter- 
mission. To-morrow,  or  the  day  after  to-morrow,  the  first 
part  of  my  Oratorio  *  will  be  quite  finished  ;  and  many  jneces. 
out  of  the  second  part  are  already  finished  also.  This  has 
given  me  immense  pleasure  during  these  last  weeks.     Some- 

*  Elijah, 


1846.]        COERESPONDENCE  WITH  MENDELSSOHN.        39a 

times,  in  my  room,  I  have  jumped  up  to  the  ceiling,  when  it 
seemed  to  promise  so  very  well.  (Indeed,  I  shall  be  but  too 
glad  if  it  turns  out  only  half  as  good  as  it  now  appears  to  me.) 
But  I  am  getting  a  little  confused,  through  writing  down,, 
during  the  last  few  weeks,  the  immense  numljer  of  notes  that 
I  previously  had  in  my  head,  and  working  them  backwards- 
and  forwards  upon  the  paper  into  a  piece,  though  not  quite  in 
the  proper  order,  one  after  another.  Would  that  the  Opera 
were  already  as  far  advanced  as  this  !  I  would  then  play  some 
of  it  to  you.  But,  what  if  it  should  not  please  you  at  all ! — 
Sometimes  it  seems  to  me  as  if  it  were  an  imperative  duty  to 
compose  an  Opera  for  you,  and  to  try  how  much  I  could  ac- 
complish in  it — and  it  is,  in  fact,  a  duty.  However,  it  does 
not  altogether  depend  upon  me,  and  it  will  certainly  not  be 
my  fault,  if  only  the  thing  be  possible.  If  it  were  but  possi- 
ble !    Au  rcvoir. 

"  Ever  your  friend, 

''  Felix  Mendelssohn  Baetholdy." 

It  is  evident,  from  passages  in  this  letter,  that  the  difficulties- 
in  the  way  of  obtaining  a  satisfactory  libretto  for  the  pro- 
jected Opera  were  very  grave  indeed.  In  fact,  it  is  impossible' 
to  read  ]\Iadame  Birch-Pfeiffer's  letters  to  Mendelssohn  * — 
written  in  a  hand  sometimes  almost  illegible  —  without 
arriving  at  the  conclusion  that,  so  far  at  least  as  co-opera- 
tion with  that  lady  was  concerned,  the  cause  was  hopeless,, 
however  sanguine  Mendelssohn  himself  may  have  felt  about 
it.  Madame  Birch-Pfeifter  wrote,  sometimes,  while  suffering 
from  painful  headaches.  Her  letters  contain  allusions  to- 
an  endless  variety  of  historical  and  other  subjects,  which 
she  passes  in  review,  one  after  another,  only  to  condemn  them 
as  unsuitable.  The  Banernlcruy — or  "  Peasant  War  " — and 
Dcr  Truchsess  von    Waldhunj  ;  Tieck's  Gcnofcva,  and  another 

*  It  is  well  known,  through  the  medium  of  his  biographers,  that  Dr.  Felix 
Mendelssohn's  correspondence  was  systematically  preserved  by  him,  in  a 
series  of  volumes  bound  in  green,  which  are  now  carefully  preserved  by 
his  children,  through  whose  kindness  we  are  enabled  to  present  copious 
extracts  from  them  to  our  readers.  In  future  esses,  these  extracts  will  be- 
acknowledged  as  taken  "  From  the  Green  volumes." 


394 


JENNY  LIND. 


[bK.  v.  CH.  III. 


Gcmofcva,  by  Hebbel ;  De  la  Motte  Fouquet's  Kroncnwdchtcr ; 
and  other  like  subjects,  including  a  sentimental  hint  at 
■Consuelo,  are  all  treated  in  turn,  and  in  turn  dismissed.  She 
was  much  disheartened,  too,  by  a  remark  of  Meyerbeer's  to 
the  effect  that  she  had  talent  for  the  elaboration  of  a  plot, 
but,  that  her  verses  were  not  suitable  for  musical  treatment. 
But  we  shall  have  so  much  to  say  on  this  subject,  in  a  future 
■chajDter,  that  it  is  needless  to  discuss  its  minute  details  here. 
All  this  worried  Mdlle.  Lind,  no  less  than  Mendelssohn ; 
though  the  letters  she  received  from  him,  and  from  other 
friends  at  a  distance,  gave  her  great  comfort,  in  her  loneliness 
— for,  lonely  indeed  she  was,  in  the  midst  of  her  constantly- 
recurring  triumphs.  It  was  evident,  that  she  was  far  less 
happy,  in  Vienna,  than  she  had  been  in  Berlin.  Yet,  though 
suff'ering  from  the  home-sickness  alluded  to  by  Mendelssohn, 
and — through  the  painful  mistrust  of  her  own  merits,  con- 
cerning which  we  have  so  frequently  had  occasion  to  speak — 
oppressed,  rather  than  elated,  by  the  enthusiastic  adoration 
wliich  everywhere  awaited  her,  she  could  not  close  her  eyes 
to  the  fact  that  her  visit  to  the  Austrian  capital  had  been 
successful  beyond  the  wildest  expectations  of  her  most  san- 
guine admirers.  ]\Iore  than  once,  she  described  her  new 
and  brilliant  triumphs  to  Madame  Wichmann,  in  the  un- 
familiar German  in  which  she  still  found  it  difficult  to  express 
her  thoughts  with  clearness.  The  following  letter,  written 
nine  days  after  her  arrival  in  Vienna,  gives  a  graphic  picture 
of  her  then  frame  of  mind : — 

"  Vienna,  27  April,  1846. 
■"  Mein  ALSKADE  !  * 

"  I  have  again  been  suffering  from  home-sickness ;  and, 
though  I  may  well  say  that  I  am  at  home  everywhere,  I 
really  feel  quite  homeless.  Do  you  understand  me,  Amalia  ? 
That  is  the  way  it  is  with  me  :  it  is  so.  Only,  during  the 
time  that  I  lived  with  you,  I  had  no  such  longings. 

*  "Beloved." 


1846.]         CORBESPONDENCE  WITH  MENDELSSOHN.       395 

"  Hitherto,  all  has  gone  here  s](lendidly.  I  have  appeared 
twice  in  Norma ;  and  was  called  so  many  times  before  the 
curtain  that  I  was  quite  exhausted.  Bah  !  I  do  not  like  it. 
Everything  should  be  done  in  moderation ;  otherwise  it  is  not 
pleasing. 

"  How  glad  I  should  be,  if  Taubert  were  really  to  come  here. 
I  dare  not  build  too  much  upon  it;  but  it  would  be  very 
pleasant. 

"  Thine, 

"Jexny."* 
And,  again,  nine  days  later : — 

"  Vienna,  May  6,  1846. 

■"  Alskade, 

"  I  think  of  you,  daily,  and  hourly  ;  and  it  goes  badly 
with  me,  since  I  parted  from  you,  my  beloved  friends. 

"  I  have  been  so  home-sick,  that  I  scarcely  knew  whether 
I  should  live  or  die ;  and  so  friglitfully  melancholy,  and  sad, 
that  it  is  a  long  long  time  since  I  have  felt  anything  like  it. 
Do  you  understand  me  ?  I  never  felt  this  anguish  while  I 
was  with  you, 

"  But,  I  am  better,  now ;  and  the  day  before  yesterday, 
Taubert  came.  Ah!  This  joyful  suprise  ! — this  reminiscence 
of  the  past  existence  ! — all  now  comes  so  brightly  before  me  ! 

"And,  now,  I  must  tell  you  a  little  about  the  Theatre, 
and  things  of  that  sort. 

"  Dearest,  dearest  lady  ! 

"  Do  you  know,  I  have  been  placed  in  the  very  worst,  and 
the  most  unfavourable  circumstances  ;  and  yet,  I  have  never 
had  a  greater  triumph  !     Just  think  of  this  ! 

"  To  begin  with  ;  Herr  Pokorny  actually  had  the  rashness 
to  demand  such  frightful  prices,  that  a  single  reserved  seat 
cost  eight  gulden,  and  a  box  forty  !  f  So  that,  since  the 
time  of  Catalani,  such  a  thing  has  never  been  heard  of;  and 
the  public  w^ere  furious  about  it. 

"  Secondly ;  with  these  high  prices,  Pokorny  engaged,  for 
the    first    ten    performances,   a   tenor,   at   whom   everyone 

*  From  the  Wichmann  collection. 

t  Eight  gulden  =  about  sixteen  shillings,  in  English  money,  and  forty 
gulden,  about  four  pounds.  The  usual  prices  were,  thirty-six  or  forty- 
height  kreuzers,  for  a  single  seat ;  and  five  gulden  for  a  box  on  the  grand 
tier :  that  is  to  say,  about  one  shilling  and  twopence  ;  one  shilling  and 
•eight  pence ;  and  ten  shillings. 


396 


JENNY  LIND. 


[bk.  v.  ch.  hi. 


laughed.  Everything  depended  upon  me ;  .so  I  was  made 
the  sacrifice.  And  all  tliis,  I  had  to  bear,  and  do  penance 
for. 

"  In  the  third  place  ;  the  -whole  Italian  faction  was  opposed 
to  me  ;  *  and  was  determined  to  hiss  if  there  was  the  slightest 
thing  that  could  he  found  fault  with.  Nevertheless,  every- 
thing has  gone  well ;  and  my  success  is  only  so  much  the 
greater. 

"  Taubert  is  sitting  with  me,  now,  and  playing  to  me ; 
and  I  persuade  myself  that  I  am  with  you,  and  live  in  quiet- 
ness and  peace,  and  am  assured  that  you  all  know  with  what 
deep  and  true  love  I  cling  to  you,  and  how  impossible  it 
would  be  for  me  ever  to  love  you  less."t 

The  last  leaf  of  this  letter,  together  with  the  signature,  is 
missing ;  but  enough  has  been  preserved,  to  show  the  state 
of  the  writer's  feeling,  both  with  regard  to  the  attitude  of  the 
public,  and  her  own  inner  life. 

Though  it  contains  no  allusion  to  the  circumstance,  this 
account  is  proved,  by  its  date,  to  have  been  written  exactly 
a  week  after  the  first  performance  of  La  Sonnamhula.  This 
was  followed,  on  the  8th  of  ]\Iay,  by  Dcr  Frcischiltz ;  and,  on 
the  15th,  by  Die  Ghibellincn  in  Pisa.  The  first  of  these 
proved,  as  in  Berlin,  an  immense  success  ;  the  second  was 
less  w^armly  received — and,  not  without  good  reason.  Few 
English  readers,  we  think,  will  be  prepared  to  hear  that  Die 
Ghibellincn  in  Pisa  was  neither  more  nor  less  than  a  German 
version  of  Meyerbeer's  Zes  Huguenots,  the  music  of  which 
had  been  tortured  into  association — or  the  reverse  —  with 
another  historical  event,  more  closely  in  sympathy  with 
religious  and  social  conditions  in  Vienna  at  the  time.  Under 
the  title  of  Die  Welfen  unci  Ghihcllinen,  this  version  had  been 
brought  out,  with  the  same  libretto,  at  the  "  Hoftheater,"  in 
1844 ;  and  on  tliis,  its  first  introduction  at  Vienna,  it  had 
proved   by  no   means  a  brilliant  success.      On  the  present 

*  See  page  386. 

t  From  the  Wichmann  collection. 


1846.]       CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  MENDELSSOHN.         397 

occasion,  moreover,  neither  the  chorus,  nor  the  orchestra, 
proved  equal  to  the  demand  made  upon  them  for  the  general 
effect,  and  neither  Mdlle.  Lind,  Herr  Tichatschek,  nor  Herr 
Staudigl,  felt  at  home,  in  roles  dissevered  from  their  logical 
connection  with  the  story  they  were  originally  designed  to 
illustrate.  It  was,  really,  very  much  to  the  credit  of  those 
three  great  artists,  that  they  found  it  impossible  to  lend 
themselves  to  so  barbarous  a  travestie,  the  comparative  failure 
of  which  was  a  real  gain  to  the  cause  of  true  Art.  Mdlle. 
Lind  never  sang  in  it  again,  and  the  blame  of  its  cold  recep- 
tion was  certainly  not  visited  upon  her ;  for,  on  the  20th  of 
May — the  night  fixed  for  her  benefit- — she  received  an  ovation, 
accompanied  by  circumstances,  which,  even  among  the 
brilliant  triumphs  to  which  she  was  now  so  well  accustomed, 
can  only  be  described  as  altogether  exceptional. 

Of  Dcr  Freischiltz,  she  writes,  on  the  18th  of  May,  to 
Madame  Birch-Pfeiffer's  sister — whom  she  familiarly  called 
"  Tante  "  :— 

"  Yesterday,  Ber  Frcisckutz  was  given.  Tichatschek  sings 
beautifully  in  it ;  and  it  is  the  only  Opera  that  has  gone 
fairly  well ;  for  Taubert  was  good  enough  to  conduct  it 
himself,  and  the  public  was  beside  itself."  * 

For  Mdlle.  Lind's  "  benefit "  La  Sonnamhida  was  again 
announced,  as  the  Opera  most  likely  to  please  the  public,  who 
had  been  delighted  with  it,  on  its  first  presentation,  and 
flocked,  in  crowds,  to  hear  it  a  second  time.  Every  available 
seat  in  the  house  was  filled  with  the  elite  of  the  Austrian 
capital.  The  noblest  representatives  of  Art  and  Literature, 
the  highest  of  the  nobility,  and  the  various  members  of  the 
Imperial  family,  assembled,  en  masse,  to  do  honour  to  the 
occasion.  Each  act  of  the  Opera,  each  scene  in  which  the 
leneficiairc  took  part,  was  received  with  acclamation ;  and 

*  From  Frau  von  Hillem's  collection. 


398 


JENNY  LIND. 


[bK.  v.  CH.  III. 


when  the  curtain  fell,  after  the  last  Finale,  and  she  was  re- 
called before  it,  to  receive  the  grateful  acknowledgments  of 
the  audience  for  the  pleasure  she  had  given  them,  while 
flowers  were  falling  in  showers  upon  the  stage,  the  Empress- 
]\Iother  dropped  a  wreath,  with  her  own  hand,  at  Mdlle. 
Lind's  feet. 

Such  a  favour,  involving  so  bold  a  departure  from  the 
severity  of  Court  etiquette,  had  never  before  been  granted, 
by  a  member  of  the  Imperial  family,  to  any  artist  of  any 
rank  whatever,  though  Vienna  had  not  been  slow  to  acknow- 
ledge the  claims  of  true  genius,  or  to  crown  it  with  well- 
earned  laurels. 

As  at  Berlin,  the  audience  seemed  bent  upon  obtaining  a 
spoken  word  of  farewell ;  and,  when  silence  had  been 
obtained,  Mdlle.  Lind  came  forward,  to  the  foot-liuhts,  and 
said,  in  German  :  "  You  have  well  understood  me.  I  thank 
you,  from  my  heart."  *  These  few  heartfelt  words  were 
received  with  a  shout  of  sympathetic  recognition ;  and  it 
was  only  when  that  had  subsided,  that  the  audience, 
quite  overcome  with  excitement,  consented  at  last  to 
disperse. 

And,  this  was  not  all. 

When,  after  the  performance  was  over,  the  heroine  of  the 
evening  prepared  to  return  to  her  temporary  home.  Am 
Grcibe-n,  the  street,  in  front  of  the  stage-door,  was  found  to  be 
so  crowded  with  worthy  citizens,  anxious  to  catch  a  glimpse 
of  her,  that  it  was  thought  imprudent  to  make  the  attempt. 
Hour  after  hour,  she  waited,  in  the  hope  that  the  watchers 
would  disperse.  But,  the  crowd  was  as  patient  as  she  was. 
The  honest  burghers,  who  had  brought  their  wives  and 
daughters  to  see  the  singer,  at  least,  if  they  could  not  hear 
her,  were  determined  not   to   be   cheated   of  their  hardly- 


*  "Sie  haben  mich  leclit  verstanden.     Ich  dauke  Ihnen  aus  meinem 
Herzen." 


1846.]  CORBESPONDENCE  WITH  MENDELSSOHN.      39&- 

earned  pleasure.  They  ^yaited  on,  in  perfect  order,  until  the 
day  began  to  dawn ;  and  then  only  did  she  think  it  safe 
to  step  into  the  carriage,  with  ]\Idlle.  Louise  Johansson 
by  her  side,  and  her  man-servant  in  attendance,  on  the 
"  dicky,"  behind.  Up  to  this  time,  there  was  no  attempt  at 
disorder,  though  the  greatest  excitement  prevailed ;  but, 
before  the  carriage  had  had  time  to  traverse  the  "  Drei- 
hufeisengasse,"  a  band  of  enthusiastic  young  men  unharnessed 
the  horses,  and  would  have  dragged  the  vehicle,  with  its 
occupants,  through  the  crowded  streets  to  the  door  of  Dr. 
Vivanot's  house,  had  they  not  Ijeen  prevented  from  doing 
so  by  a  detachment  of  cavalry.  Fortunately,  the  military 
force  arrived  in  time  to  prevent  a  serious  disturbance ;. 
l)ut,  even  with  this  protection,  the  carriage  was  escorted 
to  the  Graben  by  a  crowd  of  excited  spectators,  who 
insisted  upon  walking  by  its  side ;  and,  when  Mdlle.  Lind 
reached  her  hand  out  of  the  lowered  window,  those  who 
were  near  enough  rushed  up,  in  the  hope  of  respectfully 
kissing  it. 

Unhappily,  the  excitement  produced  a  very  serious  acci- 
dent. The  man-servant,  Gorgel,  who,  as  we  have  said,  was 
seated  behind  the  carriage,  either  fell,  or  was  dragged  from 
his  place,  while  the  enthusiasm  was  at  its  highest,  and  so 
severely  crushed,  that,  even  with  the  best  medical  assistance 
that  could  be  procured,  he  was  unfit  to  travel  for  some  con- 
siderable time,  in  consequence  of  which,  the  departure 
from  Vienna  was  seriously  delayed,  at  a  time  when  the 
hindrance  proved  of  the  greatest  possible  inconvenience  to 
her. 

She  mentions  the  circumstance,  though  without  enterinL"" 
into  the  details — which  she  probaljly  thought  too  closely 
connected  with  her  unbounded  popularity  to  admit  of  nar- 
ration by  herself  without  appearance  of  conceit — in  a  letter 
addressed  to  Madame  Birch-Pfeiffer  : — 


400  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  v.  ch.  in. 

"Wien,  23May,  1846. 

"Dear  good  FEffiXD, 

"  I  really  do  not  know  whether  I  am  dead,  or  alive — 
■so  you  must  just  ask  the  Director,  Pokorny,  who  will,  no 
doubt,  tell  you  all  about  it. 

"It  o-ives  me  unspeakable  regret,  to  think  that  you  will 
perhaps  come  here  to-day,  just  as  I  am  going  away  ! 

"  It  is  four  o'clock  on  Saturday  morning.  Two  hours  ago, 
I  came  from  Herr  Pokorny  ;  and,  think  of  my  horror !  my 
poor  Gorgel  has  been  almost  crushed  to  death  !  *  He  was 
Ijrought  home  in  a  fri"htful  condition ;  and  it  does  not  look 
at  all  well  with  him.  I  have  already  postponed  my  journey 
four  hours  later.  God  grant  that  it  may  not  turn  out  to  be 
anything  dangerous. 

"  Except  for  this,  I  have  spent  delightful  days  here.  I 
have  never  met  with  such  kind  people  as  the  Viennese  in 
general.  I  can  find  no  words  in  which  to  describe  my  stay 
in  Vienna.  Enough  !  Thank  Heaven  for  helping  me  so 
much ! 

"  I  had  much  to  fight  against,  here ;  and  some  day,  I  will 
tell  you  all  about  it.  For  the  present,  good  bye,  dear 
Mother.  I  am  as  I  have  ever  been,  and  shall  never  change. 
May  all  good  attend  you.  May  the  good  God  shield  you,  on 
your  way,  from  all  that  is  called  grief,  and  sorrow !  I  shall 
always  think  of  you  with  heart-felt  love. 

"  Erom, 

"  Jenny."  f 

The  style  of  this  letter  sufficiently  shows  the  haste  and 
•excitement  amidst  which  it  was  despatched ;  but  no  sur- 
rounding circumstances,  however  trying,  could  make  the 
writer  foraret  her  affection  for  those  whom  she  loved. 


"O^ 


*  Zerquetscht ! 

t  From  Frau  von  Hillern's  collection. 


(     401     ) 


CHAPTER  IV. 

CORRESPONDENCE   WITH   MENDELSSOHN  (suitc). 

Herr  Hauser  had  not  forgotten  Mendelssohn's  wish  to  be 
kept  au  courant  with  regard  to  the  events  which  took  place 
at  the  Theater  an  der  Wien.  He  had  written  more  than  one 
account  of  the  various  occurrences  we  have  described  ;  *  and, 
on  the  morning  after  the  "  benefit,"  he  wrote  again,  giving 
his  friend  a  brief  general  description  of  the  events  of  the 
evening,  but  leaving  the  details  to  be  "  wormed  out "  by 
Mendelssohn  himself  during  the  projected  voyage  down  the 
Rhine. 

To  the  first  and  second  of  these  letters  Mendelssohn  sent 
the  following  reply,  containing  much  that  will  interest  the 
reader,  even  in  certain  passages  which  are  not  very  closely 
connected  with  our  present  subject : — 

"  Leipzig,  11th  May,  18-16. 

"  My  dear  Friend, 

"  I  well  knew  how  pleased  you  would  be  with  Jenny 
Lind — I  never  for  a  moment  doubted  it ;  and  I  was  pleased 
indeed  to  find,  from  your  letter,  that  I  had  not  been  mis- 
taken, and  that  you  had  been  so  truly  refreshed  and 
encouraged  by  an  artistic  nature  so  splendid  and  so 
thoroughly  genuine. 

"  Tell  her  that  no  day  passes  on  which  I  do  not  rejoice 
anew  that  we  are  both  living  at  the  same  epoch,  and  have 
learned  to  know  each  other,  and  are  friends,  and  that  her 
voice  sounds  so  joyous,  and  tliat  she  is  exactly  what  she  is, 
and,  with  that,  give  her  my  heartiest  greetings. 

*  See  pp.-3S2-383,  388-389,  &c. 
VOL.  I.  2  D 


402  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  v.  ch.  iv. 

"  And  accept  my  best  thanks  for  your  two  good  letters. 
It  says  something  when  you — miserable  correspondent  that 
you  are ! — awake  out  of  your  sleep,  or  when  1 — miserable 
correspondent  that  I  am  ! — awake  out  of  mine.  I  should, 
indeed,  have  thanked  you  long  ago  for  your  first  letter,  had 
not  my  time  been  so  wholly  absorbed  by  music  that  writing 
was  impossible,  for  I  sit,  over  both  my  ears,  in  my  Elijah, 
and  if  it  only  turns  out  half  as  good  as  I  often  think  it  will, 
I  shall  be  glad  indeed !  The  first  part  will  be  quite  finished 
within  the  next  few  days,  and  a  goodly  portion  of  the  second 
part  also.  I  like  nothing  more  than  to  spend  the  whole  day 
in  writing  the  notes  down,  and  I  often  come  so  late  to  dine 
that  the  children  come  to  my  room  to  fetch  me,  and  drag  me 
out  by  main  force  ;  and  people  seem  to  have  agreed  together 
just  at  this  particular  time  to  worry  me  with  all  sorts  of 
business  letters  and  questions,  and  such  like  odious  things, 
so  that,  sometimes,  I  feel  inclined  to  rush  out  of  the  house — 
for,  at  such  moments,  one  can  neither  converse  to  any 
purpose  by  word  of  mouth,  nor  by  letter.  80  now  you  know 
what  I  mean,  and  how  I  am,  and  I  only  wish  we  could  soon 
see  each  other  again. 

"  But,  really,  I  must  come  some  day  to  Vienna.  I  hear 
so  much  said  about  it,  right  and  left,  and  you  all  say  such 
kind  things  about  my  music,  and  give  me  such  extraordinary 
accounts  of  your  performances,  that  you  make  my  mouth 
water.  Perhaps  I  may  bring  my  Elijah,  while  it  is  quite 
new,  about  the  winter-time — for,  naturally,  it  cannot  be 
given  at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  since  it  is  barely  lialf-finished  ;  or, 
perhaps  I  may  wait  until  I  have  found  a  subject  for  my 
Opera,  and  composed  the  music — if  Jenny  Lind  is  still  there 
— and  this  last  woidd  be  the  best.  But,  in  some  way  or 
other,  I  hope  to  see  our  imperial  city ;  and  I  shall  not  then 
make  my  first  visit  to  the  tower  of  St.  Stephen's,  or  to  the 
Sperl,  but  to  the  Biirenmiihle.*  But  perhaps  you  no  longer 
live  there,  in  which  case  I  shall  come  wherever  you  do  live. 

"  As  soon  as  our  copyist  is  free  again  he  shall  transcribe 
the  score  of  the  QJdijms  for  you,  since  you  wish  to  have  it, 
s^ch  rosd,  and  I  shall  rejoice  if  it  gives  you  any  pleasure.     In 

*  Literally,  the  "  Bear's  Mill."  This  was  the  name  of  the  house  in 
which  Herr  Hauser  had  formerly  lived;  though  Mendelssohn  was  right 
in  thinking  that  he  had  now  removed  to  another  part  of  the  city.  The 
tower  of  St.  Stephen's  Cathedral,  and  the  Sperl,  have  always  been  two  of 
the  great  attractions  of  Vienna. 


1846.]  CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  MENDELSSOHN.       403 

any  case,  find  a  place  for  it  in  your  library,  and  perhaps  that, 
or  the  other  piece,  may  prove  suitable  for  your  society.  Is 
it  still  going  on  happily  ?  Are  you  very  much  worried  with 
stupidity  ?  Have  you  not  yet  got  over  that  ?  I  have  sworn, 
a  thousand  times,  that  I  would  never  allow  myself  to  be 
vexed  about  it  again,  and,  a  thousand  times,  I  have  broken 
my  oath.  But  I  have  lately  discovered,  from  some  passages 
in  Goethe's  later  works,  that,  to  the  end  of  his  life,  he  never 
attained  to  that,  and,  since  then,  I  have  preferred  not  to 
swear  any  more,  for  it  does  not  help  one  in  the  least.  Some- 
times I  fancy  that  the  Devil — the  real  Evil  One — is  nothing 
else  than  stupidity,  though,  truly,  there  are  other  degrees 
that  one  does  not  love. 

"But  it  is  getting  late,  and  I  must  leave  off.  Do  you 
know  whether  Jenny  Lind  is  going  to  sing  the  part  of  Donna 
Anna  in  Vienna  ?  I  should  like  you  to  hear  it.  If  she  does 
not  sing  it,  ask  her  to  sing  the  last  or  the  first  aria  to  you  in 
your  room ;  and,  when  you  greet  her,  from  me,  tell  her  that 
I  will  -^Tite  to  her  this  week,  but  she  must  forgive  me  if  my 
letter  is  stupid,  for,  just  now,  I  cannot  do  anything  better, 

"  Let  me  soon  hear  from  you  again.  What  happened  at 
the  second  performance  of  Antigone  ?  And  how  are  your 
sous,  and  your  wife  ?  Greet  them  all  many  times,  and 
continue  kind  to 

"  Thine, 

"  Felix."  * 

Herr  Hauser's  letter  of  May  21 — the  day  after  the  benefit 
— was,  in  some  sort,  an  answer  to  this.  He  renews  the 
invitation  to  Vienna,  though  complaining  that  he  is  not 
living  so  comfortably  as  in  his  former  house  in  the  Baren- 
miihle.  He  says  that  he  duly  reported  to  Mdlle.  Lind 
Mendelssohn's  thankfulness  that  they  were  both  born  in 
the  same  epoch,  and  himself  hopes  that  they  will  all  lono- 
continue  to  give  thanks  to  God  for  so  artistic  a  nature — and 
not  without  grave  reason,  for  there  are  some  still  living  who 
thank  God  heartily  that  they  were,  to  a  certain  extent,  con- 
temporary   with    Mendelssohn.      And    he    speaks    of    the 

*  From  the  Hauser  letters. 

2  D  2 


404  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  v.  ch.  iv. 

Antigone  as  having  been  sung  to  an  audience  in  fullest 
sympathy  with  it  "  body  and  soul."  It  was  not  quite  fair  to 
call  him  a  "  miserable  correspondent."  He  was  scarcely  a 
less  voluminous  letter-writer  than  his  accuser,  who  certainly 
repeats  the  playful  charge  against  himself;  but  the  most 
interesting  part  of  his  correspondence  is  almost  exclusively 
addressed  to  his  friend,  Herr  Moritz  Hauptmann — the  then 
Cantor  of  the  Thomas-Schule  at  Leipzig,  and  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  successors  of  the  great  John  Sebastian 
Bach  in  that  responsible  office.  A  few  days  after  hearing 
Mdlle.  Lind  for  the  first  time,  he  thus  described  his 
impression  in  a  letter  addressed  to  the  learned  Cantor : — 

"Vienna,  4  ]\Iay,  1846. 

"  Dearest  Friend, 

"  Jenny  Lind  is  singing  here,  and  I  will  say  no  more 
than  that  I  have  caught  the  '  fever,'  and  that  in  its  most 
violent  form.  I  tell  you  she  is  a  dear  one  to  devour,  and  a 
dear,  genial,  honest,  intellectual,  lovely,  &c.,  &c.,  &c.,  &c.,  &c., 
child  she  is  !  Such  a  voice  I  have  never  heard  in  all  my 
life,  nor  have  I  ever  met  with  so  genial,  so  womanly,  so 
musical  a  nature.  Yet  I  can  quite  understand  that  she 
might  easily  be  so  put  out  in  the  concert-room  that  she  might 
almost  fail  to  be  recognised  as  an  extraordinary  singer.  On 
the  stage  she  is  the  loveliest,  purest,  most  charming  creature 
that  one  can  possibly  see  or  hear.  There  is  a  charm  in  her 
voice  that  I  have  never  known  before,  surpassing  all  that 
other  singers  have  attained  to,  however  powerful  their  acting 
on  the  stage.  The  Lind  soars  above  all ;  but  not  through 
any  single  quality.  It  is  the  mastery  wielded  by  this  anima 
Candida  that  works  the  magic." 

And — let  it  be  clearly  understood  ! — this  high  eulogium 
is  addressed  to  one  of  the  most  conscientious  and  least 
impressionable  musicians  then  living,  and  proceeds  from  the 
pen  of  a  critic  noted  for  the  deliberate  caution  with  which 
he  was  accustomed  to  hedge  round  his  publislied  opinions  on 
matters  connected  with  Art.     A  vestige  of  this  deliberation 


1846.]         CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  MENDELSSOHN.       405 

is  discernible  in  the  saving  clause  referring  to  possible 
weakness  in  the  concert-room. 

Mdlle.  Lind  had  sung,  with  her  usual  success,  at  Herr 
Taubert's  matinee  in  Streicher's  Konzert-Salon  on  the  10th  of 
May,  contributing  to  the  programme  two  of  Taubert's  songs, 
and  a  northern  melody ;  and,  on  the  21st,  she  sang,  for  the  last 
time  that  season,  at  a  grand  orchestral  concert,  given  for  an 
institution  for  the  support  of  little  children  at  the  TJieater  an 
dcr  Wien  under  the  patronage  of  His  Imperial  Highness  the 
Archduke  Franz  Carl. 

On  this  last-named  occasion — a  matinee,  beginning  at  half- 
past  twelve  in  the  afternoon — she  sang  the  aria  from  II  Don 
Giovanni  which  Mendelssohn  so  much  wished  Herr  Hauser 
to  hear ;  a  Wiegenlied,  by  Taubert,  and  the  Norivegisclics 
Schaferlied,  and  Tanzlied  aus  DalcJcarlien,  wliich  had  already 
produced  so  marked  a  sensation  in  Berlin  and  Leipzig,  but 
liad  not  previously  been  heard  in  Vienna. 

"  Jenny  Liud's  rendering  of  the  Lied"  said  the  Wiener 
Musik  Zeitung,  in  criticising  tliis  performance,  "  is  so  tender 
and  full  of  feeling,  so  simple  and  expressive,  that  the  hearer 
is  irresistibly  impressed  hy  it,  and  even  the  exotic  element 
in  these  Swedish  songs,  which,  performed  by  any  other 
singer,  would  certainly  sound  strange  to  us,  rejoices  the  very 
soul  through  her  interpretation.  She  yielded  to  the  wish  of 
the  enraptured  audience  in  repeating  the  Schaferlied,  and 
afterwards  sang  a  little  German  song,  which  concluded  the 
performance."  * 

And  thus  ended  the  first  short  season  in  Vienna.  It  had 
been,  for  all  concerned,  a  tentative  one,  for  no  one  could 
predicate,  until  trial  had  been  made,  the  temper  in  wliich 
the  Viennese  might  feel  inclined  to  accept  it.  But  the 
experiment  had  proved  eminently  successful,  and  there  could 
be  no  possible  doubt  on  the  mind  of  any  one  as  to  the  result 

*    Wiener  AUgemeine  Musik-Zeitung ,  May  26,  184:6,  p.  2-t1. 


406  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  v.  ch.  iv. 

of  a  similar  enterprise  undertaken  during  the  ensuing  winter. 
If  the  Viennese  critics  had  seemed  somewhat  more  cautious 
in  their  expressions  than  those  of  Berlin,  the  public  had 
certainly  been  very  much  less  so  in  their  actions. 

We  can  hardly  give  a  clearer  idea  of  the  profound  impres- 
sion produced  upon  the  literary  world,  in  Vienna,  than  by 
closing  our  present  chapter  with  the  charming  verses,* 
addressed  to  Mdlle.  Lind,  on  the  2nd  of  May,  by  the  poet, 

Grillparzer : — 

®ic  ncnncn  i'xd)  tic  Sflad^ttgaH 

SOitt  turft'gcm  SSiltcrraube ; 
®o  fup  and)  kciner  Sicker  ©c^aK, 

3)ocj)  ncnn'  \(fy  t\(^  tie  Zmhc. 

line  bifi  iu  Stosc,  toie  tu'^  h\% 

(Set)'*  tcjin  lie  Sllpcnrofc, 
®ic,  >tiii  fic^  ©cfjncc  iinb  Sc6cn  fiift, 

Slu^glii^t  aui  tiintlcm  2)tei:fe. 

JDu  bift  ntdjt  garbe,  tij^  ni^t  Stdjtj 

3)ag  iSaxbe  erft  teifiinret, 
S)n«,  teenn  fcin  iBcif  an  gremten  bdc^t, 

!Dic  bunte  ^vadjt  ent3iintet. 

Unt  fpcnfccn  Sie  tc5  JBcifall*  So^n 

Zm  3Bunccin  teiner  Sidik, 
$ier  ifi  nidjt  ^Mt^cr,  ift  nic|)t  Zen, 

3ci()  :^6rc  teine  @eete. 


*  The  poem  is  here  given  on  the  anthority  of  Grillparzer's  autograph, 
found  among  Madame  Goldschmidt's  papers,  after  her  death.  It  was  also 
printed,  at  Vienna,  in  a  volume  entitled,  '  Austria  ;  oder  Oesterreichischer 
Universal  Kalender  fur  das  gemeine  Jahr  1847/  In  this  version,  how- 
ever, the  last  line  but  one  differs  from  the  MS.,  and  reads  thus : 

•§ier  ift  uic^t  ^orfcr,  fnum  aucfi  S^on. 


(     407     ) 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE   LOWEE   RHINE   MUSICAL   FESTIVAL. 

As  early  as  the  month  of  January,  1846,  the  committee  of 
the  "  Lower  Ehme  Musical  Festival  "  *  entered  into  negotia- 
tions with  Mdlle.  Lind  in  the  hopes  of  obtaining  her 
assistance  at  the  twenty-eighth  meeting  of  the  Association, 
which  was  appointed  to  take  place  that  year  on  the  31st  of 
May  and  the  1st  and  2nd  of  June,  at  Aix-la-Chapelle. 

The  Association  was,  and  still  is,  one  of  the  most  important 
in  Europe,  and  one  of  the  oldest  also.  First  suggested  in 
1811,  and  regidarly  organised  in  1818,  it  had  since  that  year 
given  an  annual  festival  at  Whitsuntide,  either  at  Cologne, 
Dusseldorf,  or  Aix-la-Chapelle,  each  town  taking  upon  itself 
the  responsibility  of  arrangement,  in  its  regular  turn.  Up  to 
the  year  18.33  two  concerts  had  been  given  annually,  on 
Whitsunday  and  Whitmonday ;  but  Mendelssohn,  who  that 
year  had  been  for  the  first  time  appointed  conductor,  pro- 
posed an  additional  concert  on  the  Tuesday  morning ;  and, 
as  the  programme  was  on  that  day  miscellaneous,  it  was  . 
called  "  The  Artists'  Concert,"  under  wliich  title  it  has  ever 
since  been  annually  repeated.  The  festival  was  held  that 
year  at  Diisseldorf.  Mendelssohn  again  conducted,  in  1835, 
at  Cologne  ;  and  in  1836  he  produced  liis  Saint  Paul,  at  the 
eighteenth  festival  at  Diisseldorf.  Since  then  he  had 
conducted  three  times  ;  and  now  he  was  engaged  again  for 
1846. 

*  Das  Niederrlieinische  Musikfest. 


408  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  v.  ch.  v. 

Many  hindrances  had  arisen,  and  many  changes  been 
made  with  regard  to  the  arrangements,  chiefly  in  consequence 
of  the  difficulty  of  engaging  an  efficient  company  of  artists  to 
support  Mdlle.  Lind;  for,  unlike  Herr  Pokorny,  the  com- 
mittee had  determined  that  she  should  not  be  asked  to  sing 
with  vocalists  of  inferior  merit.  But  all  was  satisfactorily 
arranged  before  she  left  Berlin  in  April,  and  the  programmes 
for  the  two  first  days  decided  upon  in  the  folloAving  order  :— 

Whitsunday,  May  31,  184G, 

1.  Symphony  in  D  major  (No.  5) Mozart. 

2.  Oratorio,  The  Creation Haydn. 

(Mdlle.  Lind  singing  the  music  of  Gabriel, 
in  Parts  I.  and  II. ;  and  that  of  Eve, 
in  Part  III.) 

Whitmonday,  Juke  1,  1846. 
Pakt  I. 

1.  Symphony  in  C  minor  (No.  5) Beethoven. 

2.  Motett,  with  Chorus,  Iste  dies Cheruhini. 

Part  II. 

Overture,  Oleron C.  M.von  Weber. 

Oratorio,  Alexander's  Feast Handel. 

Tuesday,   June    2,    1846. 
("The  Artists' Concert.") 
Miscellaneous  Programme. 

The  first  grand  rehearsal  was  fixed  for  Wednesday,  the 
27th  of  May,  and  it  had  been  arranged  that  Mdlle.  Lind 
should  leave  Vienna  on  the  23rd,  meet  Mendelssohn  at 
Frankfort  on  the  evening  of  the  26  th,  and  proceed  with 
him  down  the  Ehine  to  ALx-la-Chapelle  on  the  27th.  But 
when  the  hour  fixed  for  the  departure  from  Vienna  arrived 
it  was  found  that  the  injured  man-servant  was  quite  unfit  to 
travel. 


1846.]  THE  LOWER  RHINE  MUSICAL  FESTIVAL.        409 

Always  thinking  of  others  before  caring  for  herself,  Mdlle. 
Lind  consulted  with  the  doctors,  and  found  that  they 
demanded  twelve  hours  longer  in  order  that  the  sufferer 
might  be  comfortably  bandaged  and  prepared,  in  so  far  as 
was  possible  under  such  circumstances,  for  the  fatigues  of  the 
journey.  To  this  delay  she  consented,  in  preference  to 
leaving  him  friendless  in  Vienna.  It  was  a  great  risk,  and 
involved  a  terrible  increase  of  fatigue  for  her  at  a  time  when 
she  needed  all  her  physical  powers,  as  well  as  those  of  the 
mind,  in  preparation  for  the  responsibilities  devolving  upon 
her  at  the  festival.  But  she  did  not  hesitate ;  though  in 
consequence  of  the  lateness  of  the  hour  at  which  she  was 
obliged  to  start,  it  was  nearly  midnight  on  Tuesday,  the 
26  th  of  May,  before  she  arrived  at  Frankfort,  where 
Mendelssohn  had  been  awaiting  her  all  the  afternoon  at  the 
well-known  hotel  Der  Weisse  Schwan,  in  an  agony  of  anxiety 
and  suspense. 

It  was,  indeed,  a  desperate  venture;  if,  through  any 
accidental  hindrance,  either  of  them  had  failed  to  appear  at 
the  rehearsal  on  Thursday  the  28  th,  the  success  of  the  entire 
festival  would  have  been  endangered.  But  all  fear  of  that 
was  now  at  an  end ;  and,  leaving  Gorgel  the  wounded  man- 
servant under  careful  medical  attendance  in  Frankfort,  the 
two  friends,  accompanied  by  Mdlle.  Louise  Johansson,  started 
down  the  Ehine,  on  Wednesday  the  27th,  by  the  steamboat, 
and  in  due  time  reached  Aix-la-Chapelle,  where  Mdlle.  Lind, 
in  accordance  with  the  previous  arrangement,  became  the 
guest  of  the  Marquis  and  Marquise  de  Sassenay,  and 
Mendelssohn  occupied  an  apartment  provided  for  him 
by  the  committee  at  the  principal  hotel — the  Grand 
Monarque. 

The  festival  was  declared  by  all  present  to  have  been  the 
best  that  had  taken  place  within  the  memory  of  the  public. 
The  two    principal   songs   in   Haydn's  oratorio,   On  mighty 


410  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  v.  ch.  v. 

^cns  and  With  Verdure  Clacl,  and  tlie  solo  and  chorus,  The 
marvellous  Worh,  were  calculated  to  display  Mdlle.  Lind's 
powers,  whether  of  voice,  method,  or  poetical  conception,  to 
the  greatest  possible  advantage — indeed,  they  became  great 
favourites  everywhere  in  later  years.  And  yet  it  was  un- 
doubtedly in  the  third  part  of  the  Oratorio  that  her  ideal  con- 
ception of  the  work  reached  its  culminating  point.  Would  it 
have  been  a  true  conception,  a  natural,  a  logical  one,  if  it  had 
been  otherwise  ?  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  her  version  of 
it  coincided  with  Haydn's,  in  every  particular.  Both  saw 
that  the  whole  interest  of  the  work  must  of  necessity  con- 
centrate itself  upon  the  point  at  which  the  whole  purpose  of 
the  Almighty  Creator  is  consummated — the  creation  of  man. 
Neither  she,  nor  Haydn,  had  studied  in  the  school  of 
philosophy  which  teaches  us  than  man's  place  in  the  great 
scheme  of  nature  is  that  of  a  mere  accidental  atom.  They 
believed  that  the  material  world  was  designed  as  a  fitting 
residence  for  the  being  who  had  been  created  in  the  image  of 
God.  Penetrated  with  this  idea,  Haydn  clothed  the  part  of 
Gabriel  with  florid  beauty  perfectly  in  keeping  with  the  most 
perfect  ideal  he  was  able  to  form  of  the  angelic  nature ;  and 
that  of  Eve,  with  the  tender  grace  which  he  supposed  to 
express  the  nolilest  conception  of  ideal  woman.  And  it  was 
in  closest  sympathy  with  this  conception — whether  true  or 
false — that  his  careful  interpreter  sang  the  music  assigned  by 
the  composer  to  "  the  mother  of  us  all."  Can  we  believe  that 
either  he,  or  she,  was  mistaken  ?  That  their  joint  ideal  was  a 
false  one  ?  that  the  "  Third  Part "  of  The  Creation  forms  an 
anti-climax,  which  may  be  dispensed  with,  at  will,  without 
injury  to  the  logical  development  of  the  whole  ?  It  is  clearly 
possible  to  arrive  at  this  extravagant  conclusion ;  for,  since 
the  Lower  Ehine  Festival  of  1846,  this  portion  of  the  Oratorio 
has  been  omitted,  over  and  over  again,  both  in  Germany, 
and   in  England,    at  performances  conducted  upon   a  very 


1846.]  THE  LOWER  RHINE  MUSICAL  FESTIVAL.        411 

grand  and  liberal  scale.  But  it  is  equally  clear  that  this 
opinion  was  irreconcilable  with  Mdlle.  Lind's,  for  she 
threw  the  whole  poetry  of  her  womanly  nature  into  this 
part  of  Eve,  and  emphasised  its  importance  in  a  way  which 
attracted  the  attention  of  every  deep  thinker  among  the 
audience. 

Her  part  too  in  Alexander  s  Feast  was  a  very  impor- 
tant one,  demanding  the  combined  powers  of  virtuosa  and 
poetess.  But  her  greatest  success,  perhaps,  was  achieved 
on  the  Tuesday  morning,  at  the  "Artists'  Concert,"  in 
Mendelssohn's  Auf  Flilgcln  dcs  Gesanges  and  Frilhlingslied, 
in  which,  say  the  critics  of  the  period,  "  she  produced 
an  effect  wholly  unparalleled,"  insomuch  that  the  meeting 
of  184G  was  afterwards  known  as  the  "  Jenny- Lind- 
Festr 

Many  dear  friends,  both  of  the  conductor,  and  the  singer, 
assembled  that  year  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  to  do  honour  to  the 
occasion ;  and  it  was  altogether  a  very  happy  time,  as  some 
letters,  fortunately  preserved,  sufficiently  prove. 

It  will  interest  the  reader  to  glance  at  three  descriptions 
of  the  same  pleasant  Whitsuntide  holiday,  drawn  from  three 
different  points  of  view — like  P.  de  Champaigne's  threefold 
portrait  of  the  great  Cardinal  de  Eichelieu  in  the  National 
Gallery — less  gorgeously  toned,  indeed,  and  by  no  means 
so  grandly  modelled  ;  but  certainly  not  less  true  to  nature, 
though  only  in  playful  miniature. 

Among  the  sympathetic  friends  who  flocked  to  Aix-la- 
Chapelle,  and  certainly  not  among  the  least  welcome  of  these, 
were  Professor  Geijer  of  Upsala  and  his  wife,  who  had  not 
breathed  a  M^ord  to  any  one  of  their  intention  to  come.  Their 
presence  in  the  town  was  a  surprise  indeed ;  and  JMadame 
Geijer  thus  describes  the  meeting,  in  a  letter  forwarded  to  us 
by  her  son-in-law  Count  Hamilton,  the  Lord-Lieutenant  of 
the  province  of  Upland. 


412 


JENNY  LIND. 


[bk. 


V.  CH.  V. 


"  Aachen,  Whitsunday,  1846. 

"  Geijer  was  informed  that  '  Fraulein '  Liiid  and  Dr. 
Mendelssohn  were  at  home,  so  he  went  to  Madame  la 
j\[arquise  de  Sassenay's,  where  Jenny  was  staying  during 
her  visit  to  Aachen. 

"  Jenny,  however,  was  at  rehearsal,  so  he  went  to  the  theatre 
and  enquired  for  her  there. 

"  Soon  afterwards  Jenny  came  out,  and  coukl  hardly  believe 
her  eyes.  She  did  not  know  whether  she  was  dreaming, 
whether  she  was  in  Germany  or  in  Sweden  ! 

"  She  put  her  hands  to  her  forehead,  and  was  ready  to  cry. 
Later  on,  she  followed  Geijer  to  the  hotel  at  wliich  we  were 
staying.  Slie  was  joyous,  excited,  and  exceedingly  interest- 
ing and  animated.  She  asked  with  warmth  and  emotion 
after  friends  and  acquaintances  at  home,  and  more  particu- 
larly after  the  Lindblads.  Geijer  told  her  that  LindWad 
was  engaged  on  an  Opera.  '  Well,'  she  cried,  '  and  who  is  to- 
sing  it  ? '  Geijer  answered,  '  You  had  better  say  who.' 
'  Yes,'  she  said, '  I  may  help  him  to  bring  out  an  Opera,  both 
at  home,  and  here  in  Germany ;  there  is  no  doubt  about 
that.' 

"  She  spoke  of  the  great  success  she  had  had  in  Vienna, 
and  told  him  liow,  after  her  last  appearance,  an  attempt  had 
been  made  to  draw  her  carriage,  in  consequence  of  which  her 
man-servant  had  been  severely  injured,  so  much  so  that  she 
had  been  obliged  to  leave  him  behind.* 

"  Jenny  promised  to  get  tickets  for  us  for  the  concert, 
adding,  '  I  shall  tell  them  that  I  will  not  sing,  if  they  do  not 
give  me  tickets  for  you.'  She  also  promised  that  she  would 
arrange  for  Mendelssohn  to  play  to  us,  and,  since  the  world 
now  turns  round  according  to  her  wishes  and  commands,  one 
may  feel  quite  safe  when  she  has  pronounced  her  fiat  in 
one's  favour. 

"  In  the  evening  we  were  present  at  tlie  rehearsal  of  the 
Creation,  and  we  then  heard  the  good  news  that  Mendelssohn 
had  declared  his  willingness  to  play  to  us,  and  that  he  would 
have  a  piano  sent  to  our  rooms  for  that  purpose. 

"  So,  in  the  evening,  Jenny  and  Mendelssohn  came  to  us. 
Jenny  sang  some  Lieder,  and  I  need  neither  describe  nor 
praise  them.  Geijer  was  quite  beside  himself  with  delight 
and  pleasure. 

*  I.e.  at  Frankfort,  as  already  related. 


1846.]  THE  LOWER  RHINE  MUSICAL  FESTIVAL.       413 

"  Mendelssohn  thought  Agnes  *  and  Jenny  so  like  each 
other  that  they  might  be  taken  for  sisters."  f 

Five  days  after  his  departure  from  Aix-la-Chapelle, 
Mendelssohn,  who  was  then  in  Diisseldorf,  sent  the  following- 
account  of  the  Festival  to  his  friend  Franz  Hauser,  at 
Vienna : — 

"  Dusseldorf,  June  8,  1848. 

"  You  wish  me  to  tell  you  about  the  musical  festival  at 
Aachen.  Well,  it  was  very  good,  very  splendid,  towering 
above  all  the  others,  and  chiefly  owing  to  Jenny  Lind ;  for, 
as  to  the  orchestra,  I  have  heard  it  perhaps  better  on  some 
other  occasions,  and  the  chorus,  though  splendid,  has  been 
equally  so  at  previous  festivals.  But  they  were  all  so  up- 
lifted, so  animated,  so  artistically  moved  by  Lind's  singing 
and  manner,  that  the  whole  thing  became  a  delight,  a  general 
success,  and  worked  together  as  it  never  did  before. 

"  I  had  the  clearest  evidence  of  this  at  the  last  rehearsal, 
when  I  had  begged  of  her,  for  once,  not  to  be  the  first  and 
most  punctual  in  attendance,  but  to  take  some  rest  and 
come  in  towards  the  end  of  the  rehearsal.  To  this  she  agreed, 
and  it  was  quite  a  misery  to  notice  how  feebly  things  went — 
so  devoid  of  swing  that  even  I  became  listless,  like  all  the 
others,  until,  thank  God !  Jenny  Lind  appeared,  when  the 
needful  interest  and  good  humour  came  back  to  us,  and 
things  moved  on  again. 

"  There  were,  of  course,  wreaths  and  poems,  and  fanfares, 
again  and  again,  and  the  audience  was  seized  with  that 
excitement  which  manifests  itself  wherever  she  goes.  The 
manner  of  its  manifestation  is  of  no  consequence. 

"  After  the  Festival,  we  went  together  a  little  way  on  the 
Eliine  ;  spent  a  very  pleasant  day  at  Cologne,  Bonn,  up  the 
Drachenfels,  at  Konigswinter,  and  back  (to  Cologne),  and  on 
the  following  day  she  left  for  Hanover,  and  I  for  this  place, 
where  I  took  part  yesterday  in  a  concert  which  also  would 
have  been  a  fine  one  if  Jenny  Lind  had  been  there. 

"  To-morrow  I  leave  for  Liege,  in  order  to  hear  the  Lauda 

*  Professor  Geijer's  daughter ;  the  late  Grafin  Hamilton, 
t  Translated  from  an  extract  from  the  origioal  letter,  kindly  furnished 
by  Count  Hamilton. 


414 


JENNY  LIND. 


[bk.  v.  ch.  v. 


Sion,  which  I  have  composed  for   the   Festival  of   Corpus 
Christi  there."  * 

The  rest  of  the  story  is  told  in  Meudelssolm's  letter  to  his 
sister,  ]\Iadame  Fanny  Hensel : — 

"  Leipzig,  June  27,  1846, 

"You  ask  what  I  did  on  the  Ehine,  but,  unfortunately, 
Cecile's  letter  to  Paul  (giving,  at  my  request,  all  the  par- 
ticulars of  my  journey)  crossed  your  letter  to  me,  so  that  I 
cannot  possibly  tell  what  you  do  or  do  not  know. 

"  The  best  way  will  be  for  me  to  write  only  what  I  know 
Cecile  cannot  have  told  you,  for  there  is  much  choice  of 
material. 

"  The  principal  feature  of  my  stay  in  Aix-la-Chapelle  was 
that  both  the  Marquis  de  Sassenay  and  Biirgermeister 
Nollesen  made  incredible  exertions  to  feast  me  upon  rice- 
milk,  Mdlle.  Lind  having  told  them  of  my  weakness  for  it. 
But  they  did  not  succeed,  for  their  Frencli  cooks  always 
produced  something  quite  different — much  grander,  but  not 
rice-milk. 

"  A  Frenchman — a  real  Parisian — asked  me,  on  Sunday, 
'  Qu'cst-cc  qiCcllc  chante  ce  soij',  Mdllc.  Lind  ? '  I  replied, 
'  La  Creation'  whereupon  he  turned  upon  me  and  said,  '  Com- 
ment  peut  die  chanter  La  Creation  ?  La  derniere fois  que  fai 
cntendu  La  Creation  en  France,  cetait  un  hasse-taille  qui  la 
cliantait ! ' 

"  The  choruses  were  splendidly  sung,  and  if  Paul  could 
have  heard  Jenny  Lind  sing  the  two  first  airs  in  Alexanders 
Feast,  he  would  have  applauded  as  he  did  that  time  at  the 
concert. 

"  On  the  Saturday  before  Whit  Sunday,  Simrock  spent  an 
hour  with  me  over  Elijah.  At  8  (a.m.)  the  rehearsal  began, 
and  lasted  till  two,  when  there  was  a  grand  dinner,  at  which 
I  was  obliged  to  be  present,  and  which  was  not  over  until 
half-past  four.  At  five,  the  general  rehearsal  of  The  Creation 
began,  and  lasted  till  about  nine.  At  nine  I  went  to  see  the 
Swedish  Professor  Geijer — you  remember  him  at  Lindblad's — 
when  we  had  some  music,  and  I  played  the  Sonata  in  Cjf 
Minor  and  some  Licdcr  ohne,  Woi'tc,  &c.,  &c. 

"  Immediately  after  Aix-la-Chapelle  came  Diisseldorf, 
where  they  serenaded  me  twice,  for  the  two  local  Lieder- 

*  From  the  collection  of  Herr  Joseph.  Hauser. 


184G.]  THE  LOWER  BHINE  MUSICAL  FESTIVAL.       415 

tafeln  hate  each  other  so  thoroughly  that  they  could  not  be 
persuaded  to  unite."  * 

Finally,  Mdlle.  Lind  recorded  her  own  impressions  of  this 

Whitsuntide  holiday — for  earnest  work  in  the  cause  of  Art 

is  really  a  holiday  to  earnest  artists,  however  hard  it  may 

be — in  the  following  letter  to  Herr  Eudolph  Wichmann,  the 

Professor's  second  son  : — ■ 

"  Aachen,  June  2,  184G. 

"  My  dear  Eudolph, 

"  My  pleasure  in  Aachen  will  soon  come  to  an  end, 
for  all  will  be  over  to-day,  and  early  to-morrow  we  leave. 
But  I  believe  Mendelssohn  means  to  accompany  us  a  little 
way,  and  we  hope  to  see  the  view  from  the  Drachenfels, 
which  will  be  very  nice. 

"  How  well  everything  went  with  me  in  Vienna !  only  my 
man-servant  was  very  nearly  crushed  to  death,  owing  to  the 
enthusiasm,  so  that  I  had  to  leave  him  beliind  in  Frankfort, 
and  he  has  only  just  now  rejoined  me. 

"  Farewell,  my  dear  boy.     Greetings  from 

"  Thy  Sister."  f 

Mdlle.  Lind  was  evidently  sorry  to  leave  the  gloomy  old 
city  of  Charlemagne,  but  she  was  not  allowed  to  do  so  with- 
out an  ovation.  On  the  day  of  her  departure  she  was 
presented  with  a  poem,  beautifully  printed  in  black  and 
gold,  on  a  sheet  of  white  satin,  twelve  inches  in  height  by 
ten  broad.  The  feeling  displayed  in  the  verses  is  so  good, 
and  the  occasion — entirely  unconnected  with  the  dramatic 
successes  we  have  recorded — was  so  important  in  its  bearing 
upon  a  concert  performance,  that  we  think  no  apology 
necessary  for  the  introduction  of  a  portion  of  the  poem,  of 
which  we  subjoin  the  first  stanza  : — 

"  Wie  aus  des  Chaos  duuklem  Schoos  entsprungen 
Die  junge  Welt  in  brautlich  holder  Pracht, 
Der  erste  Lenz  zu  Gottes  Lob  erwacht, 
Hast  mit  des  Engels  Stimme  du  gesungen,"  &c. 

*  Translated  from  the  '  Familie  Mendelssohn,'  by  Mr.  Sebastian  Hensel. 
t  Translated  from  the  original  letter,  by  the  kind  permission  of  Herr 
Rudolph  Wichmann. 


416 


JENNY  LIND. 


[bk.  v.  ch.  v. 


It  had  been  a  happy  time  for  all ;  but  for  Mendelssohn, 
with  Elijah  not  yet  finished,  though  on  the  eve  of  production, 
and  some  hard  days'  work  still  waiting  for  accomplishment 
in  Diisseldorf,  Cologne,  and  Liege,  the  fatigue  was  dangerously 
heavy,  and  the  amount  of  excitement  with  which  it  was 
accompanied  more  disproportioned  still  to  the  then  con- 
dition of  his  mental  and  physical  powers,  which  sorely 
needed  the  rest  he  was  nevermore  able  to  accord  to  them. 

But  when  did  Prudence  ever  come  to  the  front,  to  calm 
the  suicidal  eagerness  of  Genius  ? 


(     417     ) 


CHAPTSE     VI. 

IN   VIA   EEQUIES. 

The  view  from  the  Drachenfels  answered  all  the  bright 
expectations  that  had  been  formed  of  it ;  and,  after  supple- 
menting it  with  an  afternoon  at  Konigswinter,  and  a 
pleasant  day  at  Cologne,  Mdlle.  Lind  proceeded  to  Hanover, 
where  she  was  engaged  for  four  performances  at  the  Court 
Theatre,  and  a  concert. 

The  Operas  selected  were  Norma  (June  6),  La  Sonnambula 
(June  8),  Dcr  Freischiitz  (June  9),  and  Lucia  di  Lammermoor 
(June  11).  The  concert  took  place  on  the  13th  of  June. 
The  success,  on  each  occasion,  was  that  to  which  all  concerned 
had  so  long  been  accustomed,  that  it  was  now  looked  for  as 
a  matter  of  course.  But,  of  far  greater  importance  than  any 
amount  of  local  enthusiasm  was  the  fact,  that,  during  this 
visit  to  Hanover,  Mdlle.  Lind  was  brought  into  immediate 
relations  with  the  then  Crown  Prince  and  Princess — after- 
wards King  George  Y.,  and  Queen  Marie — who,  amidst  the 
heavy  trials  destined  afterwards  to  fall  upon  them,  never  forgot 
the  friendship  with  which  they  then  learned  to  regard  her ; 
a  friendship  which  remained  undiminished  until  the  day  of 
her  death,  and  which,  even  since  then,  has  been  most 
touchingly  alluded  to  by  Her  Majesty,  Queen  Marie. 

After  fulfilling  her  engagement  at  Hanover,  and  singing 
once  at  a  concert  at  Bremen,  Mdlle.  Lind  proceeded  to 
Hamburg,  where   she  was  engaged  for  a  series   of  twelve 

VOL.  I.  2  E 


418  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  v.  ch.  vi. 

"  Guest-performances  "  at  the  Stadt  Theatre,  supplemented 
by  a  benefit  in  aid  of  the  "Theatrical  Orchestra  Pension 
Fund  " ;  another  for  herself,  and  a  Concert  for  the  poor. 

During  this  visit,  she  did  not  reside  in  Hamburg  itself, 
having  accepted  an  invitation  to  the  house  of  her  friend, 
Consul  Arnemann,  at  Nienstadten,  near  the   neighbouring 
township  of  Altona.     Here  she  spent  many  pleasant  weeks 
with  her  host  and  hostess  and  their  family,  who  had  invited 
another  friend— Mdlle.  Mina  Fundin— to  keep  her  company, 
and  had  also  sent  a  pressing  invitation  to  Mendelssohn,  in 
the  hope  that  he  would  be  able  to  take  Nienstadten  on  his 
way  to  England,  whither  he  was  bound,  in  August,  for  the 
purpose  of  producing  his  Elijah  at  the  Birmingham  Festival. 
This  project,  however,  failed  entirely.     Though  Mendelssohn 
would  have  been  pleased  indeed  to  have  availed  himself  of 
so  pleasant   an   opportunity  for  refreshing  himself  with  a 
brief  rest,  before  his  heavy  work  began,  it  was  quite  im- 
possible for  him  to  do   so.     He   was  working  beyond   his 
strength,  as  he  himself  well  knew ;  and  let  the  consequences 
be  what  they  might,  there  was  no  help  for  it. 

Mdlle.  Lind  arrived  at  Menstadten,  on  the  19th  of  June  ; 
and  began  her  second  season  at  Hamburg,  on  the  22nd,  with 
her  favourite  Opera,  Norma,  followed,  in  turn,  by  La  Son- 
namlula,  Don  Juan,  Lucia  di  Lammermoor,  and,  for  the  first 
time  in  Germany,  La  Figlia  del  Bcggime^ito,*  concerning 
wliich  she  wrote  from  Nienstadten  to  Madame  Birch -Pfeiffer, 


*  The  dates  were : — June  22,  Norma ;  June  25,  La  Sonnambula ; 
June  27,  Norma ;  July  1,  La  Sonnambula ;  July  3,  Don  Juan ;  July  8, 
Lucia  di  Lammermoor;  July  11,  Don  Juan;  July  14,  La  Fiylia  del 
Beggimento;  July  18,  La  Figlia  del  Reggimento;  July  21  (for  the  benefit 
of  the  "  Orchestra  Pension  Fund  "  at  the  Stadt-Theater),  Norma ;  July  24, 
Lucia  di  Lammermoor;  July  26,  La  Figlia  del  Reggimento;  July  28, 
La  Sonnambula  ;  July  30  (benefit).  La  Sonnambula  (act  iii.),  La  Figlia 
del  Reggimento  (act  ii.),  with  Swedish  Songs  introduced,  in  the  scene  at 
the  piano.     August  1,  Concert,  at  the  Stadt-Tlieater,  for  the  poor. 


1840.]  IN   VIA   REQUIE3.  419 

on  the  26t]i  of  June : — "  Cornet  *  plagues  me  about  Die  Tochtcr 
des  Begimcnts ;  and,  although  I  do  not  know  how  that  can 
be  managed  without  your  help,  dear  mother,  I  must  try  " 
— a  sentence  which  proves  how  deeply  she  was  indebted  to 
this  lady  for  the  help  afforded  to  her  in  the  German  transla- 
tions of  works  wliich  she  had  already  sung,  in  her  own 
lan^uase,  at  Stockholm. 

The  terms  of  the  engagement  were  one  hundred  Louis  d'or 
for  each  performance — about  eighty  pounds  in  English 
money.  During  her  first  season  at  Hamburg,  she  had 
received  forty  Louis  d'or  only — about  thirty-two  pounds 
sterling.  But  she  did  not  forget  to  devote  a  large  share  of 
her  earnings  to  charitable  purposes.  The  performance  in  aid 
of  the  •'  Orchestra  Pension  Fund  "  realised  twelve  hundred 
and  forty-one  marks — more  than  sixty  pounds  sterling ;  and 
the  concert  for  the  poor,  about  five  pounds  less.  The  per- 
formances were  received  with  even  greater  enthusiasm  than 
those  of  the  previous  year ;  and  no  less  hearty  were  the 
demonstrations  of  personal  respect,  and  grateful  recognition 
of  benefits  afforded,  for  charitable  purposes,  to  the  old  Hanse 
Town. 

If  a  local  journal  of  the  period  may  be  trusted,  Mdlle. 
Lind's  horses  were  again  unharnessed,  after  the  Concert  on 
the  1st  of  August,  and  her  carriage  drawn  home  by  the 
crowd.  And  she  was  also  serenaded  with  a  Farewell-Ode, 
composed  for  the  occasion  by  Herr  Krebs,  the  conductor  at 
the  Theatre, 

Yet,  during  the  course  of  tliis  visit  to  Hamburg,  she  was 
made,  for  the  first  time  in  her  Art-life,  the  subject  of  a  long 
series  of  virulent  attacks,  prompted  by  the  spirit  of  petty 
jealousy  with  which  inept  mediocrity  never  fails  to  resent 
the  respect  paid  to  true  genius. 

*  A  well-known  tenor  singer,  and,  at  that  time,  the  manager  of  the 
Stacit-Theater  at  Hamburg. 

2  E  2 


420  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  v.  ch.  vi. 

In  1845,  an  anonymous  author  published  a  little 
biographical  sketch,  entitled,  'Jenny  Lind,  the  Swedish 
Nightingale/  *  giving  a  short  'and  fairly  correct  account  of 
Mdlle.  Lind's  early  career,  prettily  written,  and  accompanied 
1  )y  a  pleasing,  if  not  very  accurate  lithographic  portrait. 

This  little  hrocliure,  pleasant  enough  to  read,  met  with 
a  very  extensive  sale,  and  its  success  tempted  certain 
pamphleteers  of  low  degree  to  venture  into  the  field,  on 
their  own  account,  either  with  weak  imitations  of  the  original, 
or  with  attempts  to  turn  it  into  ridicule. 

In  the  same  year  appeared,  '  Jenny  Lind  in  Hamburg. 
An  Apotheosis,'t  and  '  Jenny  Lind  and  the  Hamburgers  ;  or 
half  an  hour  in  the  Jungfernstieg,'  % 

But  it  was  not  until  the  following  year  that  the  annoyance 
reached  its  climax.  In  1846,  the  booksellers'  shops  were 
deluged  with  feuilletons,  in  which  vulgar  cakmhours  and 
senseless  epigrams  were  made  to  do  duty  for  wit  and  humour. 
A  disappointed  genius  lamented,  in  coarsest  satire,  the  fate 
of  the  ill-used  poet,  who  received  less,  for  the  work  that  had 
cost  him  months  of  labour,  than  the  singer  could  gain  in 
three  hours  in  a  single  evening.  At  the  '  Theater  im  Vorstadt 
S.  Pauli/  a  singer  appeared  under  the  pseudonym  of  '  Jenny 
Bind,'  and  nightly  attracted  large  audiences  of  the  lower 
orders,  and  the  name  of  Lindwurm — a  word  used  in  old 
German  romances  as  a  synonym  for  Dragon — was  passed, 
from  mouth  to  mouth,  among  the  envious  and  disappointed, 
as  an  excellent  joke. 

But  the  loyalty  of  the  public  itself  never  wavered  for  a 
moment.     Hamburg  was  as  true  to  its  allegiance  as  Berlin, 

*  '  Jenny  Lind,  die  schwedisclie  Nachtigall.'    (Hamburg,  1845.) 
t  '  Jenny  Lind  in  Hamburg.    Apotheose.'     (Hamburg,  1845.) 
%  'Jenny  Liud  und  'die  Hamburger:  ein  Stiindchen im  Jungfernstieg." 
Hamburg,  1845.     The  Jungfernstieg  is  the  principal  street  around  the 
Aisterbassin  ;  in  it  stood  Mdlle.  Lind's  hotel,  the  Alte  Stadt  London. 


1846.]  IN   VIA   BEQUIES.  421 

or  Vienna.  As  at  the  Eoyal  Opera  House,  and  the  Theater 
an  der  Wien,  the  prices  for  admission  to  the  Stadt-Theater 
were  raised,  whenever  a  "guest-performance"  took  place; 
the  local  journals  were  loud,  and  unanimous,  in  their  praise ; 
and  the  demonstrations  in  the  Theatre  were  of  the  warmest 
and  most  enthusiastic  character. 

Mdlle.  Lind  prolonged  her  visit  at  Nienstadten— with 
interruptions — for  some  considerable  time,  after  the  termina- 
tion of  her  engagement  at  the  Theatre.  Like  Mendelssohn, 
she  had,  for  some  time  past,  been  working  far  beyond  her 
strength,  and  the  fatigue  was  now  beginning  to  tell  upon 
her  with  serious  effect.  She  herself  saw  this  very  plainly. 
Madame  Wichmann,  with  two  of  her  sons,  had  spent  four 
days  with  her  in  Hanover,  and  tried  to  persuade  her  to 
accompany  the  family  on  a  journey  to  Switzerland,  towards 
the  close  of  the  summer ;  and  had  written  to  Mendelssohn, 
telling  him  of  her  hope  that  the  plan  was  finally  and  success- 
fully arranged.  But,  on  the  day  after  the  first  performance 
of  Don  Juan,  at  Hamburg,  Mdlle.  Lind  wrote  to  her  friend, 
deploring  her  long  neglect  of  rest,  and  explaining  that  the 
journey  was  impossible  : — 

"  Nienstadten,  July  4,  1840. 

"  Dear  Amalia  ! 

"  Beloved  Amalia  !  I  feel  very  much  pulled  down. 
After  all,  these  fatigues  leave  their  trace,  and  convince  me 
that  I  am  not  strong  enough  to  undertake  such  a  journey, 
without  injury  to  my  health.  I  must  sing  here  a  few  times 
more — but  that  cannot  be  helped.  I  have  consulted  a 
physician ;  for,  these  nervous  contractions  from  which  I  am 
suffering  rendered  it  indispensable.  He  says  it  is  im- 
peratively necessary  that  I  should  go  to  some  bathing  place. 
My  nerves,  he  says,  are  seriously  attacked ;  and  I  ought  to 
have  done  it,  long  before  this.  I  know  that  the  doctors  in 
Sweden  recommended  this,  four  years  ago ;  but  I  could  not 
possibly  do  it,  then. 

"I  have  quite  made  up  my  mind,  that,  next  summer,  or 
next  autumn  at  the  latest,  1  will  leave  the  stage.     I  will, 


422  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  v.  ch.  vi. 

therefore,  make  the  best  use  I  can  of  the  time  ;  and,  as  I 
have  already  arranged  for  the  coming  season,  it  will  be  only 
reasonable,  now,  to  provide  the  necessary  strength  for  next 
winter. 

"  Greet  my  beloved  there,  from  thine  ever  loving 

"  Jenny."  * 

The  project  for  retiring  from  the  stage  was,  as  we  are 
already  aware,  no  new  one ;  but  it  was  forced  into  greater 
prominence,  just  at  this  time,  by  the  inroads  that  excessive 
fatigue  was  making  upon  Mdlle.  Lind's  health  and  strength. 
Indeed,  one  can  only  look  on  in  wonder  at  the  amount  of 
work  she  was  able  to  accomplish,  without  actually  breaking 
down.  The  constant  performance  of  familiar  parts,  with  new- 
associates,  needing,  every  time,  laborious  rehearsal ;  the 
exposure  to  draughts  on  the  stage,  and  to  changing  weather  on 
the  long  journeys  between  ;  the  excitement  of  the  calls  before 
the  curtain ;  the  nocturnal  serenades  ;  the  social  claims ;  the 
constant  appeals  for  pecuniary  help,  afterwards  so  strongly 
animadverted  against  by  Mendelssohn  ;  all  these  might  well 
have  worn  out  a  constitution  of  steel.  The  work  of  older 
and  more  firmly  established  ijrime  donne,  such  as  Madame 
Persiani,  or  Madame  Grisi,  with  regular  seasons  in  London, 
during  the  summer,  and  in  Paris  in  the  winter,  was  light 
indeed  compared  with  it.  But  it  had  to  be  done,  for  the 
present  at  least,  whatever  the  sacrifice  might  be. 

In  the  meantime,  the  correspondence  with  Mendelssohn 

was  not  allowed  to  languish.     Towards  the  end  of  July,  he 

v/rote  thus  : — 

"  Leipzig,  July  23,  1846. 

"  My  dear  Pr.AULEiN, 

"  As  usual,  I  come  to  you,  to-day,  asking  a  favour.  1 
mean,  that  I  am  anxious  to  know  how  matters  stand,  with 
regard  to  your  travelling  arrangements,  both  now,  and  in  the 
future — and  I  hope  you  will  explain  them  to  me.  In  your 
last  letter,  you  told  me  that  you  were  going  to  Switzerland,. 

*  From  the  Wicbmann  collection. 


1846.]  IN   VIA   BEQUIES.  423 

with  the  Wichmanns,  on  the  first  of  August.  Does  this  plan 
still  hold  good  ?  And,  is  it  true,  or  not,  that  you  will  be  at 
Frankfort  in  September  ?  Also,  are  you  going  straight  from 
Hamburg  to  Berlin,  to  fetch  the  Wichmanns  ?  All  this  I 
want  to  know.  And  it  is  because  I  want  to  know  this,  that 
I  ask  you  to  tell  me  of  your  plans,  both  before  and  after  your 
journey  to  Switzerland  and  Vienna ;  and  whether  you  still 
adhere  both  to  the  one  and  the  other  intention.  The  reason 
is,  that,  since  my  return  from  the  Ehine,  I  have  lived  the  life 
of  a  marmot.  I  was  rather  frightened,  when,  on  coming 
back,  I  saw  the  amount  of  work  that  lay  unfinished,*  and 
compared  it  with  the  time  that  remained  to  me.  Then,  I 
made  up  my  mind  not  to  write  to  you  until  my  Oratorio  was 
quite  complete ;  but,  for  the  last  few  days  I  have  not  been 
well  (you  will  find  it  out,  sooner  or  later),  so  now  I  shall  not 
be  ready  till  August,  and  I  dare  not  delay  my  letter  so  long 
as  that,  or  it  will  be  brought  to  you  while  on  the  back  of  some 
mule  or  other,  to  some  cow-herd's  hut. 

"  Madame  Arnemann  has  written  me  a  very  friendly  letter, 
and  invited  me  to  Nienstadten.  As  yet,  I  have  not  been  able 
even  to  thank  her  for  it ;  and  yet,  how  gladly  would  I  have 
accepted  the  invitation  !  But,  I  cannot  get  away  from  here 
before  the  middle  of  August ;  and,  even  then,  I  must  make 
haste,  in  order  to  reach  England  in  time.  To-day,  however, 
I  really  will  write  to  Madame  Arnemann,  or  she  will  be 
vexed — and  with  good  cause. 

"  Is  it  true  that  you  have  been  singing  the  '  Eegimentstoch- 
ter '  in  German  ?  If  so,  I  should  have  liked  to  have  been  one 
of  the  audience.  And,  do  you  know  that  the  Geijers  have  lately 
been  here  ?  and,  that  they  invited  me  to  go  to  Sweden,  to  feast 
on  a  roasted  reindeer  ?  (I  can  get  rice-milk  at  your  house  !) 
And,  that  Fraulein  Geijer  sang '  Vorwdrts  so  heisst  des  ScJiicksals 
Gebot '  to  me  again  ?  and  the  song,  by  Lindblad,  in  C  major. 

"  But,  I  will  leave  off,  for  to-day.  My  letter  is  tiresome, 
and  stupid,  and  will  continue  so  to  the  end.  Only,  grant 
my  requests.  And  tell  me  all  about  yourself,  and  how  you 
are  getting  on,  and  whether  you  are  having  much  music, 
and  whether  you  are  in  good  spirits,  and  in  first-rate  voice  ? 

"  We  are  all  well,  at  home,  and  often  remember  you. 

"  Your  friend, 
"  Felix  Mendelssohn  Bartholdy." 

*  For  Elijah,  wliich  was  to  be  produced,  at  the  Birmingham  Festival, 
iu  August. 


424 


JENNY  LIND. 


[bK.  v.  CH.  VI. 


The  idea  of  the  journey  to  Switzerland  was  never  revived, 
after  the  doctor  had  recommended  a  course  of  baths  ;  and  the 
changed  plans  for  the  autumn  were  thus  detailed,  in  a  letter 
to  Madame  Wichmann : — 


Dearly  Beloved  Amalia  ! 


"  Nieustadten,  August  1,  1846. 


"  To-day,  I  sing  for  the  poor ;  and  positively  for  the 
last  time. 

"  On  Thursday,  the  fourth  of  August,  I  go  to  Cuxhaven, 
with  the  Brunton  family.  (Do  you  remember  the  long 
letters  that  the  daughter*  used  to  write  to  me?)  They 
have  always  been  very  kind  to  me.  But  there,  I  shall  be 
quite  at  rest ;  and  take  the  sea  baths  for  four  weeks. 

"  In  the  meantime,  Louise  stays  here,  to  take  care  of  her 
health ;  for  she  is  ordered  to  drink  the  mineral  waters. 
When  I  have  done  with  Cuxhaven,  I  shall  come  here 
again ;  for  I  am  very  happy  here,  and  I  can  only  compare 
this  family  with  yours. 

"  I  shall  rest  until  about  the  20th  of  September.  Then 
I  go,  first,  to  Frankfort ;  and,  from  thence,  to  Munich,  as 
you  know ;  and,  from  Munich,  to  Stuttgard — but  this  will 
be  later  on.     From  Stuttgard,  I  go  to  Vienna. 

"  When  shall  I  see  you  again  ?  If  we  could  only  go  to 
Pari,^  together,  next  summer,  somewhere  about  the  month 
of  June !  I  should  so  much  like  to  see  Garcia  again, 
before  I  leave  Germany  for  ever. 

"  God  keep  you !  Farewell !  Write  to  me  soon  again  ; 
and  I  will  duly  answer  you.  Ah,  Amalia !  Next  spring, 
I  shall  be  free!  I  am  afraid  so  great  a  happiness  will 
never  fall  to  my  lot. 

"  Your  ever  truly  loving 

"  Jenny." 

"  P.S. — Many  thanks  for  the  portrait  of  Mendelssohn.f 
Eemember  me  to  Magnus,  and  thank  him  for  it."  % 


*  Fraulein  von  Seminoff. 

t  This  was  a  replica  of  the  portrait  painted  by  Magnus,  and  by  him 
presented  to  Mdlle.  Lind,  who  subsequently  bequeathed  it  to  Mendels- 
sohn's daughter,  Mrs.  Victor  Benecke. 

X  From  the  Wichmann  collection. 


1846.]  /xV   VIA   EEQUIES.  425 

The  events  whicli  took  place  between  this  period,  and 
the  beginning  of  September  need  no  detailed  record.  It 
was  a  time  of  rest,  much  needed,  and  hardly  earned.  We 
shall,  therefore,  resume  our  history,  with  the  return  to  a 
more  active  Art-life,  in  the  autumn. 


426  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  v.  ch.  vii. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

CONTEACT   WITH   MR.   LUMLEY. 

After  leaving  Cuxhaven,  Mdlle.  Lind  wrote  again  to  Madame 
Wichmann : — 

"Nienstadten,  3  Sept.  1846. 

"  Beloved  Am  alia, 

"  I  am  thinking  whether  I  can,  by  any  possible 
means,  manage  to  visit  you  for  a  few  days.  For  I  long  for 
you  all  with  my  whole  soul,  and  you  would  not  believe, 
Amalia,  what  an  impression  my  stay  in  your  house  has  left 
upon  my  inner  life. 

"You  will  write  to  me  soon,  and  tell  me  you  are  well. 
I  shall  stay  here  a  fortnight  or  three  weeks  longer.  My 
good  Louise  has  been  ill,  and  is  not  yet  so  well  that  I  can 
put  a  strain  upon  her.  So  I  am  not  going  to  begin  my 
'  guest-performances  '  just  yet. 

"  The  baths  seem  to  have  done  me  a  great  deal  of  good. 
I  am  at  Nienstadten  again,  and  shall  continue  to  rest  myself 
here. 

''  All  good  angels  be  with  you !  Farewell,  dear  friend. 
Forget  not  your  for  ever  and  ever  loving  and  grateful 

"  Jenny."  * 

Mdlle.  Johansson's  illness  was  not  a  serious  one,  and  soon 
after  the  middle  of  September  she  was  able  to  accompany 
Mdlle,  Lind  to  Frankfort,  where  the  business  of  the  autumn 
season  began. 

Mdlle.  Lind  had  by  this  time  acquired  a  thoroughly 
methodical  and  business-like  way  of  keeping  records,  and 
one  of  her  first  acts,  on  arriving  at  Frankfort,  was  the  pur- 

*  From  the  Wichmann  letters. 


1846.]  CONTRACT   WITH  MR.   LUMLEY.  427 

chase  of  a  thick  and  sturdy  memorandum-book,  a  square 
bulky  volume,  of  quarto  size,  labelled,  "Annotation-Book  *  of 
Jenny  Lind,"  and  filled  -with  ruled  "  sermon-paper,"  in  which 
she  entered  every  one  of  her  engagements,  from  that  time 
forward,  up  to  the  moment  of  her  marriage,  in  America,  in 
the  year  1852. 

The  value  of  this  document  to  her  biographers  may  be 
imagined.  Henceforward  we  shall  no  more  have  to  send  to 
Berlin,  or  to  Vienna,  for  official  lists  of  the  various  perform- 
ances with  which  we  are  concerned.  It  is  true  that,  up  to 
this  date,  such  lists  have  been  furnished  to  us  through  the 
intervention  of  Mr.  Gbldschmidt,  with  never-failing  courtesy, 
by  the  officers  in  whose  charge  the  archives  of  the  different 
theatres  are  placed.  The  information  for  which  we  have 
asked,  whether  at  Berlin,  Vienna,  Stockholm,  Copenhagen, 
Hamburg,  or  elsewhere,  has  never  once  been  refused  to  us, 
and  as  much  care  has  been  bestowed  upon  the  verification  of 
a  date  as  if  the  welfare  of  the  theatre  itself  had  depended 
upon  its  correctness.  For  this  we  tender  our  best  and  most 
sincere  thanks ;  but  henceforth  every  date,  in  whatever  country, 
will  be  given  on  the  authority  of  Mdlle.  Lind's  own  hand- 
writing, and  the  advantage  of  this  is  manifest. 

The  first  entries  in  the  Ijook  are  : — 


« 


Frankfort  a/M.  1846. 

Sonnambula Sept.  25 

Norma „     28 

Figlia •      .      .      .  „     30 

Figlia .  Oct.      2 

Sonnamhula )>       5 

Vestale  (50  Louis    d'or  for    the    members    of  the 

chorus)  X „       't 

Figlia  (benefit  for  the  orchestra  pension-fund)  x  „     10 

We  subjoin  a  fac-simile  of  the  first  page.     The  little  cross 
means  that  the  performance  was  given,  wholly  or  in  part,  for 


*  I 


Annotations-Bok.' 


428 


JENNY  LIND. 


[bK.  v.  CH.  VII. 


charitable  or  benevolent  purposes,  and  the  number  of  such 
crosses  in  a  single  page  is  sometimes  very  remarkable.  In 
the  present  case  fifty  Louis  cVor  of  the  proceeds,  on  the  7th 
of  October,  were  given  to  the  chorus,  and  on  the  10th  the 
whole  was  devoted  to  the  ''  Orchestra  Pension  Fund  "  of  the 
Frankfort  Stadt  Theatre. 

The  performances  were  crowned  with  the  usual  success, 
and  followed  by  the  usual  demonstrations  of  enthusiastic 
admiration ;  but  this  visit  to  Frankfort  was  memorable  for 
reasons  quite  unconnected  witli  its  individual  triumphs,  for 
it  was  here  that  the  idea  of  an  engagement  at  Her  Majesty's 
Theatre,  in  London,  first  took  a  definite  and  palpable  form. 

When,  in  her  letter  of  October  18,  1845,  Mdlle.  Lind 
assured  Mr,  Bunn  that  she  "  did  not  count  upon  taking  any 
other  engagement  in  England,"  she  wrote  in  perfect  good 
faith.  She  had  made  no  engagement  with  any  other  English 
manager,  and  did  not  contemplate  making  one. 

On  the  other  hand,  when  Mr.  Bunn,  in  his  letter  of 
October  30,  accused  her  of  trying  to  get  rid  of  her  liability 
at  his  theatre,  in  order  that  she  might  make  an  engagement 
at  the  Italian  Opera,  he  probably  believed  that  he  was  telling 
the  truth,  though  he  based  his  conclusions  upon  reports  which 
might  or  might  not  have  reached  the  ears  of  his  correspondent. 

Long  before  that,  some  of  her  friends  in  London — 
including  Mrs.  Grote,  who  herself  mentions  the  fact  in  the 
MS.  "  Memoir  "  from  which  we  have  so  frequently  quoted — 
had  "  urged  Mr.  Lumley  to  make  efforts  in  this  direction,"  * 
and  he  had,  in  fact,  "  made  more  than  one  tentative  to  obtain 
tlie  services  of  the  celebrated  songstress  for  Her  Majesty's 
Theatre."  f  Hearing  of  this — as  no  doubt  he  did — Mr.  Bunn, 
looking  at  the  circumstance  from  his  own  point  of  view,  put 
the   worst   possible   construction   upon   it,  and   took  it  for 

*  MS.  '  Memoir,'  by  Mrs.  Grote. 
t  Ihid. 


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l-'ACtelMlLE   I'AGK    OF    ENUAGEMEXT    liOOK. 


\_Toface-p.  428. 


1846.]  CONTEACT   WITH  MB.   LUMLEY.  429 

granted  that  his  correspondent  was  cognizant  of  all  that  took 
place — which  was  not  true.  She  did  not  know  of  it,  until  the 
period  affected  by  Mr.  Bunn's  contract  had  long  been  over- 
passed. It  was  not  until  long  after  that  date  that  Mr. 
Lumley  made  her  a  definite  and  tangible  offer  for  Her 
Majesty's  Theatre  ;  and,  when  the  offer  came,  she  refused 
even  to  think  of  it.  She  was  so  terrified  at  the  penalties, 
the  law-suits,  and  the  disgrace  with  which  Mr.  Bunn  had 
threatened  her,  that  her  dearest  and  most  trusted  friends 
could  not  persuade  her  to  entertain  the  idea  of  appearing  at 
a]i  English  theatre,  under  any  circumstances,  or  upon  any 
terms  whatever. 

And  yet  her  destiny  seemed  to  be  wea\dng  a  net  round 
about  her,  from  which  no  way  of  escape  was  visible.  She  was- 
brought,  apart  from  her  own  will  entirely,  under  the  steadily 
increasing  influence  of  English  friends.  ]\Irs.  Grote  was- 
most  anxious  that  she  should  come  to  London.  Her  brother, 
Mr.  Edward  Lewin — of  whom  more  will  be  said  in  a  future 
chapter — saw  no  insurmountable  difficulties  in  the  way  of  an 
engagement  at  Her  Majesty's  Theatre.  Mr.  Lumley  was  un- 
ceasing in  his  endeavours  to  induce  her  to  rescind  her  decision  ; 
and,  while  she  was  still  in  Frankfort,  the  musical  correspon- 
dent of  one  of  the  most  influential  art  journals  in  England 
turned  aside  from  his  travels,  in  the  hope  of  hearing  her  sing,, 
and  begged  an  introduction  to  her,  from  a  quarter  whence  he 
well  knew  that  it  would  be  favourably  received. 

The  following  letter  from  Mendelssohn,  which  arrived  in 
Erankfort  almost  simultaneously  with  Mdlle.  Lind  herself,, 
will  explain  the  situation  exactly  : — 

"  Leipzig,  September  23,  1846. 

"  My  deae  EkAulein, 

"  If  you  will  do  me  a  real  favour,  and  if  you  are  not 
too  much  occupied  and  worried  during  your  stay  in  Frank- 
fort, let  me  beg  of  you  to  receive  the  bearer  of  these  lines, 


430  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  v.  ch.  vii. 

Mr.  Choiiey  (an  acquaintance  of  mine  of  long  standing,  and 
a  gi'eat  lover  of  music),  with  your  usual  kindness,  and  to  sing 
liim  one  of  my  songs.* 

"  He  is  an  excellent  listener,  and  you  will  make  him  very 
happy  if  you  grant  my  wish.  I  believe  he  is  going  to 
Frankfort  solely  on  this  account,  so  that  I  have  really  no 
choice  but  to  come  to  you  with  this  new  request. 

"  Many  thanks  for  your  last  letter,  which  I  only  received 
after  I  had  left  London,  and  at  the  moment  of  starting  for 
Ostend.  f 

"  I  have  so  much  to  say  about  England,  and  your  journey 
thither,  that  I  really  do  not  know  how  I  am  to  write  it.:{: 
In  any  case,  everything  depends  upon  the  way  in  which  one 
establishes  oneself  there ;  or,  rather,  upon  the  way  in  whicli 
you  establish  yourself,  for  you  have  the  whole  thing  entirely 
in  your  own  hands,  and  English  lovers  of  music  are  expecting 
you,  in  a  frame  of  mind,  and  speaking  of  you,  in  terms,  which 
please  me  very  much  indeed — a  thing  which  very  seldom 
happens — when  I  hear  you  spoken  of.  So  you  can  manage 
it  exactly  as  you  will;  though,  for  that  very  reason,  you 
alone  are  in  a  position  to  decide  upon  it. 

"  Till  we  meet  again,  merry,  happy,  unchanged, 

"  Eelix  Mendelssohn  Bartholdy." 

Thus  prepared  for  Mr.  Chorley's  visit,  Mdlle.  Lind  received 
him  when  he  called,  a  few  days  later,  with  the  friendly 
courtesy  which  she  felt  it  no  less  a  pleasure  than  a  duty  to 
extend  to  the  friends  of  those  with  whom  she  was  herself  on 
terms  of  intimacy.  He  repeated  his  visit  more  than  once, 
heard  her  sing  in  La  Figlia  del  Rcggimento,  and  afterwards  in 
La  Sonnamlula  and  Die  Vestalin,  and  wrote,  on  the  4th  of 
October,  to  Mrs.  Grote,  describing,  in  the  most  enthusiastic 
terms,  the  pleasure  he  had  felt  in  hearing  her  sing.  "  And 
now  let  me  tell  you,"  he  says,  "  how  thorouglily,  with  my 

*  Mr.  Chorley  was  the  musical  critic,  attached  to  the  Athenxum. 

t  That  is,  on  his  return  home,  after  the  first  performance  of  Elijali,  at 
the  Birmingham  Festival. 

X  Mendelssohn  evidently  supposed  the  negotiations  with  Mr.  Lumley 
to  have  advanced  farther  than  they  really  had  at  this  moment. 


1846.]  CONTRACT   WITH  MB.   LUMLEY.  431 

whole  heart,  I  like  her  as  a  singer,  more,  by  twenty  times, 
than  I  had  expected.  The  only  fault  I  can  find,  or  fancy,  is, 
that  she  is  too  fond  of  using  all  her  powers,  the  end  of  which 
is  a  feeling  of  heaviness — the  one  tinge  of  Germanism  which 

remains  about  her  style I  was  really  delighted  to  find 

that  I  am  not  past  the  old  thrill,  or  the  old  beating  of  the 
heart,  and  that  I  could  not  go  to  bed  till  I  had  written  a  note 
(in  horrible  French)  to  say  '  Thank  you.'  "  * 

On  the  same  day  (October  4th)  he  also  wrote  to  Mendels- 
sohn, to  thank  him  for  "  the  very  very  intense  pleasure  "  that 
had  made  him  "  laugh  and  cry  like  a  child  again,"  after  "  a 
fear  of  disappointment "  which  he  "  hardly  liked  to  describe," 
ending  his  letter  with  the  words,  "  She  says  she  will  not  come 
to  London,"  f — from  which  it  is  evident,  that,  if  he  did  not 
endeavour  to  persuade  her  to  come,  he  had,  at  least,  discussed 
the  subject  with  her. 

She  would  have  liked  to  come,  very  much  indeed,  if  only 
to  please  Mendelssohn,  who  was  most  anxious  that  she 
should  do  so,  and  whose  wish  was  shared  by  many  other 
friends  in  whose  judgment  she  placed  great  confidence  ;  but, 
believing,  as  she  did,  that  Mr.  Bunn's  threats  were  no  mere 
idle  words,  but  menaces  which  he  possessed  full  power  to 
carry  out,  and  certainly  had  the  will  to  carry  out,  if  she 
ventured  to  set  foot  upon  English  soil,  she  did  not  dare  to 
listen,  either  to  the  whispers  of  her  own  feelings  on  the  sub- 
ject, or  the  wishes  of  her  friends.  Her  fears  overcame  every 
other  consideration ;  and,  against  these  fears,  Mr.  Lumley 
found  himself  absolutely  powerless  to  contend. 

The  next  engagement  was  at  Darmstadt,  where  she  sang 
three  times  at  the  Court  Theatre,  in  La  Sonnamhula, 
on  the  13th  of  October,  and  in  Norma  and  La  Figlia 
del  Beggimento,  on  the  16th  and  19th.      The  memory  of  the 

*  From  Mrs.  Grote's  MS.  '  Memoir.' 

t  From  the  original  letter,  preserved  in  the  '  Green  Volumes.' 


432  JENNY  LIND.  [bk. 


V.  CH.  VII. 


previous  performances  in  September  1845  were  still  green  and 
flourishing,  and  the  success  of  the  second  visit  was  greater  than 
that  of  the  first.  The  account  of  La  Sonnamhula,  given  in  the 
local  journal,  on  the  day  after  the  performance,  was  written 
in  a  strain  as  exalted  as  that  of  Herr  Eellstab  himself;  and 
described  a  wealth  of  wreaths  and  flowers  rivalling  those  of 
Berlin  and  Vienna.  The  prices  were  raised,  after  the  usual 
manner,  for  these  three  performances  ;  and,  when  these  were 
over,  Mdlle.  Lind  gave  a  concert,  for  the  young  son  of  a 
musician  named  Panny,  who  stood  in  need  of  help  for  the 
development  of  his  talent,  and  thus  supplemented  her 
engagement,  as  she  had  so  often  done  before,  by  an  act  of 
benevolence. 

In  the  meantime,  Mr.  Lumley  had  not  been  idle.  He  had 
now  abundant  hope — having  gained  the  all-powerful  support 
of  Mendelssohn — and  the  engagement  of  Mdlle.  Lind  was 
a  matter  of  such  vital  importance  to  him  that  he  could 
not  afford  to  let  the  subject  drop.  Since  the  close  of  the 
previous  season,  the  affairs  of  Her  Majesty's  Theatre  had 
been  in  the  utmost  possible  disorder.  The  company,  wdth 
Mesdames  Grisi  and  Persiani  at  their  head,  had  revolted,  and 
there  was  no  one  to  take  their  place.  Mr.  Lumley's  friends 
in  England — among  them,  Mrs.  Grote,  who  took  the  keenest 
interest  in  his  negotiations,  and  in  whose  judgment  and 
discretion  he  placed  great  faith — and  a  host  of  amateur 
musicians  who  had  the  interests  of  the  musical  drama  really 
at  heart,  saw,  in  the  proposed  engagement,  his  only  chance 
of  escape  from  absolute  ruin,  and  urged  him  to  leave  no 
stone  unturned  that  might  help  to  bring  the  matter  to  a 
successful  issue.  By  their  advice,  he  followed  Mdlle.  Lind 
from  Frankfort  to  Darmstadt,  and  there  again  presented 
himself  to  her,  armed,  this  time,  with  a  letter  from  Mendels- 
sohn, whom  he  had  seen  in  Leipzig,  and  to  whom  he  had 
taken  a  letter  from  herself. 


1846.]  CONTRACT  WITH  MB.    LUMLET.  433 

Feeling  sure  that  the  missive  with  the  delivery  of  which 

he  was  entrusted  was  a  very  valuable  one,  and  not  at  all 

likely  to  be  written  in  opposition  to  his  own  interests,  Mr. 

Lumley  lost  no  time  in  presenting  it  in  person  ;  and  thus  it 

ran  : — 

"  Leipzig,  October  12,  1840. 

"My  deak  Feauleix, 

"  I  intended  to  write  to  you  on  the  day  on  which 
your  first  letter  arrived  ;  but  a  few  hours  afterwards  came 
your  second  letter,  and  Mr.  Lumley,  who  brought  it.  All 
that  he  said  to  me,  and  all  that  passed  through  my  mind  in 
connection  with  it,  and  the  different  thoughts  that  crossed 
each  other  hither  and  thither,  made  it  impossible  for  me  to 
write  to  you  until  to-day ;  and  I  told  Mr.  Lumley  that,  if  he 
should  be  coming  here  again  after  his  journey  to  Berlin,  I 
would  meanwhile  think  it  all  carefully  over,  and  would  then 
tell  him  whether  I  could  advise  you  to  go  to  London 
or  not. 

"Upon  that — i.e.,  upon  my  advice — he  seems  to  set  great 
store,  and  I  have  already  told  you  in  my  former  letter  that 
the  whole  success  of  his  undertaking  depends  upon  your 
coming. 

"  In  short,  I  can  only  repeat  what  I  then  wrote — I  should 
like  you,  as  far  as  is  humanly  possible,  to  arrange,  as 
complcteli/  as  one  could  wish,  for  your  own  comfort,  and, 
when  that  has  all  been  settled,  I  should  like  you  to  go 
there. 

"  I  should  have  strongly  urged  Mr.  Lumley — at  least,  on 
his  return  here — to  speak  clearly  and  exactly  about  money 
matters  ;  becau.se  that  is  a  very  serious  point,  in  England  ;  and 
because  you  could,  and  ought,  to  make  such  terms  as  no  one 
else  could  at  this  moment,  since  you  are  the  only  one  upon 
whom  alone  the  whole  thing  depends.  But — do  not  be 
angry  with  me  ! — I  had  not  the  courage  to  do  this  :  not  even 
for  you,  though  I  know  that  you  understand  that  kind  of 
thino-  even  less  than  I  do — in  other  words,  not  at  all.  But 
it  is  such  a  very  sore  point  with  me,  and  I  rejoice  so  much 
when  I  have  nothing  to  hear  or  say  about  it,  that  I  could 
not  bring  the  words  to  my  lips.  And,  at  last,  I  thought,  '  It 
is  not  my  province,'  and  so,  after  all,  I  let  it  pass. 

"  Therefore  I  can  only  repeat,  it  must  all  be  as  is  just  and 
right  to  you. 

VOL.  I.  2  F 


484  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  v.  ch.  vii. 

"  Nevertheless,  you  will  certainly  meet  with  such  a  recep- 
tion there,  that  you  will  be  able  to  think  of  it  with  pleasure 
throughout  the  whole  of  your  future  life.  When  the  English 
once  entertain  a  personal  liking  for  anyone,  I  believe  that  no 
people  are  more  friendly,  more  cordial,  or  more  constant ;  and 
such  a  feeling  you  will  find  there.  For,  as  I  told  you  before, 
I  have  noticed  that  they  entertain  this  true  feeling  there,  not 
only  about  your  singing,  but  about  your  personality,  and 
your  whole  being,  and  upon  this  last  they  even  set  more  store 
than  upon  the  singing  itself.     And  this  is  as  it  should  be. 

"  In  my  opinion,  therefore,  it  cannot  for  a  moment  1)6 
doubted  that  you  will  be  received  there  as  you  deserve — 
more  warmly,  enthusiastically,  and  heartily,  perhaps,  than  in 
all  your  former  experience  :  and  you  have  experienced  a  great 
deal  in  that  way.  You  will  therefore  give  your  friends  great 
pleasure  if  you  go  there ;  and  I,  for  my  part,  should  be  very 
glad  indeed  if  you  were  to  go. 

"  Insist  upon  all  possible  conditions  that  can  in  the  least 
degree  make  things  agreeable  to  you,  and  insist  upon  them 
very  firmly,  and  strictly,  and  clearly.  Do  not  forget  any- 
thing that  may  be  pleasant  for  you,  and  have  nothing  to  say 
to  anything  that  may  be  unpleasant.  Going  to  London,  and 
singing  there,  can,  in  itself,  be  nothing  but  pleasant — of  that 
I  am  firmly  persuaded.  Everything  else  depends  only  upon 
the  manner  in  which  this  is  done,  and  all  that  you  have  in 
your  own  hands. 

"  I  am  selfish,  too,  in  my  advice  ;  for  I  hope  that  we  shall 
there  meet  in  the  world  again.  While  still  in  England, 
I  had  half  promised  to  return  there  next  April ;  had  I  only 
known  that  you  would  be  there  at  that  time,  or  would  be 
ooino-  there,  you  may  imagine  how  much  more  willingly  I 
should  have  settled  it.  Mr.  Lumley,  also,  in  the  kindest 
manner,  proposed  that  I  should  compose  an  Opera  for  him 
next  May,  and  I  could  only  answer,  that,  on  the  self- 
same day  on  which  I  succeeded  in  getting  a  good  libretto,  on 
a  f'ood  subject,  I  would  begin  to  write  the  music ;  and  that, 
in  doing  so,  I  should  be  tiilfilling  my  greatest  wish.  He 
hopes  soon  to  be  able  to  procure  such  a  libretto,  and  has 
already  taken  some  decided  steps  with  regard  to  it.  God 
o-rant  that  some  good  results  may  follow.  From  Madame 
Birch-Pfeiffer,  I  have  not  heard  a  single  word,  for  a  long 
time.  In  the  meantime,  I  have  music-paper  and  finely- 
nibbed  pens  lying  on  the  table — and  wait. 


1846.J  CONTRACT   WITH  MR.   LUMLEY.  435 

"  But,  apart  from  this,  I  hope,  as  I  have  told  you,  to  visit 
London  again  next  spring,  and  what  a  pleasure  it  will  be  to 
me  to  witness  there  the  most  brilliant  and  hearty  reception 
that  can  possibly  fall  to  an  artist's  lot !  For  I  know  full 
well  that  that  is  what  your  reception  will  be,  and  it  will  be 
great  fun  for  me  that  you  yourself  will  be  the  feted  artist. 

"For  myself,  I  am  doing  well;  but,  during  the  three 
weeks  that  have  elapsed  since  I  returned  here,  I  have  done 
scarcely  anything  but  rest,  so  tired  was  I — and  still  am, 
sometimes — with  the  work  that  preceded  the  journey  to 
England,  and  the  journey  itself  The  performance  of  my 
Elijalh  was  the  best  first  performance  tliat  I  have  ever  heard 
of  auy  one  of  my  compositions.  There  was  so  much  go,  and 
swing,  in  the  way  in  wdiich  the  people  played,  and  sang,  and 
listened.  I  wish  you.  had  been  there.  But  I  have  now 
fallen  back  into  the  concert  trouble,  and  can  neither  get 
true  rest,  nor  quietness  here.  So  I  have  built  myself  a  grand 
castle  in  the  air ;  namely,  to  travel,  next  sunnner,  with  my 
whole  family,  in  my  favourite  country — wdiich,  as  you  know, 
is  Switzerland — and  then  to  study  uninterruptedly  for  two 
months  on  one  of  the  lakes,  living  in  the  open  air.  If  God 
gives  us  health,  we  will  carry  out  this  plan ;  and  when  I 
think  of  such  a  quiet  time  in  the  country  after  all  the  hurry 
and  bustle,  and  all  the  brightness  of  a  London  season,  and 
remember  how  dear  both  of  them  are  to  me,  and  how  well 
they  please  me,  I  almost  wish  that  the  spring  were  already 
here,  and  that  I  was  taking  my  seat  in  the  travelling 
carriage. 

"  And  now,  to-day,  I  have  still  a  request  to  make.  Write 
to  me,  at  once,  when  you  have  come  to  a  decision  concerning 
England ;  and  tell  me  everything,  with  all  the  details  :  for  you 
know  how  much  it  all  interests  me.  Before  all  things,  tlieu, 
write  to  me,  from  time  to  time ;  and  think  kindly  ot  me, 
sometimes. 

"  As  for  myself,  you  know  that  I  am,  and  remain, 

"  Your  friend, 

"Felix  Mendelssohn  Bartholdy." 

The  result  of  Mendelssohn's  advice  will  be  most  clearly 
manifested,  by  a  letter  which  Mr.  Lumley  wrote  to  him  after 
his  interview  with  Mdlle.  Lind — a   letter  which  is   all   the 

2  F  2 


436  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  t.  ch.  vii. 

more  interesting,  inasmuch  as  it  treats,  also,  of  the  long- 
hoped-for  libretto  in  such  sort  as  to  show  that  the  manager 
had  already  begun  to  look  upon  it  as  "  a  matter  of 
business." 

"  Darmstadt,  October  17. 

"Deak  Mr.  Mendelssohn, 

"  I  am  delighted  to  tell  you  that  your  letter  has  had 
■its  effect ;  and  that  the  lady  has  signed  an  engagement.  * 

"Your  letter  charmed  her  so  much.  It  was  a  most 
IDleasing  picture — her  countenance,  when  reading  it.  No  sun 
could  ha\'e  infused  more  joy  into  a  beautiful  landscape,  than 
your  letter  did  on  her. 

"To  give  her  peace  of  mind,  I  added  clauses  to  the 
engagement,  which,  if  known  by  persons  not  intimately 
acquainted  with  her  charming  character  and  feeling  of 
honour,  would  perhaps  incur  for  me  the  charge  of  folly.  But, 
I  know  I  can  depend  on  her  honour ;  and  I  am  perfectly 
happy  and  contented  on  that  head.  I  have  prepared  the 
engagement  wholly  in  her  favour ;  but  I  proposed  to  her  to 
add  anything  else  that  you  might  think  advisable,  and  I 
added  a  clause  to  that  effect. 

"  She  would  not  enter  into  the  question  of  money  ;  but  I 
am  quite  sure  you  will  be  satisfied  that  I  have  done  every- 
thing right  in  that  way. 

"  I  need  not  tell  you  liow  truly  grateful  I  am  to  you.  The 
English,  as  a  nation,  will  owe  you  a  debt  of  gratitude ;  for  I 
look  upon  the  engagement  of  Lind  as  a  new  era  in  the 
progress  of  Art  in  England.  Her  success  will  be  transcen- 
dent. Independently  of  her  great  genius,  she  has  that 
purity  and  chastity  of  manner  which  none  but  a  really  good 
person  can  possess,  and  which,  in  England,  will  gain  her 
partisans  on  all  sides.  I  say  '  on  all  sides,'  because,  even 
with  the  vile,  there  is  that  in  real  goodness  and  virtue  which 
commands  admiration. 

"  Pray  remember  me  most  kindly  to  Madame  Mendels- 
sohn, and  to  her  mother,|  and  permit  me  to  send  my  love  to 
your  children,  not  forgetting  the  baby,  and  that  beautiful 
boy  Carl,  who,  though  suggestive  of  the  pictures  of  Eaphael, 
and  Correggio,  reminds  us  that  there  is  an  artist  far  above 

*  The  document  was  formally  signed,  on  the  17th  of  October,  1846. 
t  ^ladame  Je  inniiaiid. 


1846.]  CONTRACT    WITH  MR.    LUMLEY.  437 

the  greatest  of  liumau  artists,  and  that  the  real  is  frequently 
more  beautiful  than  the  ideal. 

"  My  joy  on  the  completion  of  the  affair  is  not  unsullied. 
I  am  fearful  that  she  may,  for  a  time,  at  least,  tease  herself 
with  fears,  which,  though  entirely  groundless,  may  equally 
torment  her.  I  will  venture  to  entreat  you  to  assure  her  of 
the  absolute  certainty  of  her  great  success  to  give  her 
encouragement. 

"  I  shall  lose  no  time  in  occupying  myself,  immediately, 
with  the  libretto  for  our  grand  affair  ;  and  I  do  not  despair  of 
providing  you  with  a  libretto  which  shall  give  you  pleasure 
and  ensure  your  valuable  aid. 

"  It  is  of  importance  that  this  affair  of  Lind  should  be  kept 
private  for  the  present.  I  shall  lose  no  time  in  occupying 
myself  about  the  '  affaire  Burin.' 

"  I  need  not  say  that  it  will  give  me  gi-eat  pleasure  to  hear 
from  you. 

"  Yours  most  truly, 


T    >'    * 


"  B.  LUMLEY. 

Without  wearying  our  readers  with  a  literal  transcript  of 
the  "Lumley  Contract,"  with  its  endless  circumlocutions  and 
technical  legal  phraseology,  we  may  briefly  say  that  it 
provided : — 

(1.)  An  honorarium  of  120,000  francs  (£4800)  for  the 
season,  reckoned  from  the  14tli  of  April  to  the  20th 
of  August,  1847. 

(2.)  A  furnished  house,  a  carriage,  and  a  pair  of  horses,  free 
of  charge,  for  the  season. 

(3.)  A  farther  sum  of  £800  if  Mdlle.  Lind  wished  to  spend 
a  month  in  Italy  before  her  debut,  for  the  purpose 
of  studying  the  language,  or  for  rest. 

(4.)  Liberty  to  cancel  the  engagement,  if,  after  her  first 
appearance,  she  felt  dissatisfied  at  the  measure  of 
its  success,  and  wished  to  discontinue  her 
performances. 

(5.)  Mdlle.  Lind  was  not  to  sing  at  concerts,  public  or 
private,  for  her  own  emolument. 

*  Transcribed  tVoiu  the  original  letter,  preserved  in  the '  Cireen  Volnmes.' 


438  JENNY  LIND.  [bk.  v.  ch.  vii. 

So,  the  question  of  appearing  at  Her  Majesty's  Theatre  was 
decided  at  last ;  and,  wlien  Mdlle.  Lind  left  Darmstadt,  for 
Munich,  she  had  hound  herself  to  the  most  important 
dramatic  engagement,  and  prepared  the  way  for  the  most 
solid  artistic  triumph  that  ever  had  been,  or  was  ever 
destined  to  he,  associated  with  her  name. 


END    OF   VOLUME    1. 


LONDON  : 
PRINTED   EY    WILLIAM    CLOWES    AND    SONS,    LUIITED, 

stam;fo::d  stkeei  anu  citARiNa  c:toss. 


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