Show t to t t i t is to toTtiE f HERALDS e ellorne f 4 4 v 4 4 Study Circle 4 4 f 4 4 4 f 4 4 4 Copyright 1899 1195 by Seymour 4 4 Directed by Prof Seymour Eaton Eaton 4 t 4 t Prof Seyou 4 I I I BIOGRAPHICAL BI S STUDIES IS FOR POR GL BY CHARLOTTE R JOR JOn JORDAN JORDA i DAN DA DAEN I XIV EN I I II Through Jenny LInd I first became sensible of the holiness holness of art Through her I learned l that tat one must forget ones self sel in the service of cf e the supreme supreme No books no men have had bad a more ennobling Influence upon me as a a poet than Jenny LInd Hans Chris Christian Christan Christian tian Andersen tan Great musicians singers singes and play players players ers era labor under heavier disadvantages disadvantage In convincing posterity of their right to fame than do the other children of genius the portable nature of their profession its except in the memories of their hearers make succeeding generations inclined to at attribute attribute tribute e their reputation to the extravagance extravagant extravagance or 1 to the susceptibility of their f I Ii e c C 1 i N j I 7 tr I 1 4 I q qI I I c v 5 r rI v I fl C i N NTEN TEN j contemporaries Jenny Lind land would have ha e shared this general fate were were it not that her remarkable personality made such an indelible impression upon the people of all al classes in Europe and America upon the like Uke Dean Stanley as a vj ll l as upon musi musicians clans dans like Uke Meyerbeer that these impressions im impressions ns have been been recorded in Jr the memories of every noteworthy person who knew her from Victoria Mendel lendel ashen shon Schumann Andersen G W Curtis Curts down to P PT PT PT T Barnum As a child of 3 she imitated upon the piano the fanfare of the street buglers and through her girlhood the super superabundance abundance abundance of music in her found ex cx expression preson in every ever step st p and bound that her restless feet made Until 9 years old she had no n more appreciative audi audience audience audience ence than her Ier cat to which h she sang by the hour till ti the theonder wonder onder of her childish voice attracted the attention of an actress boarding in inthe Inthe inthe the neighborhood Jenny Linds mother a governess embittered by her hard struggles to support husband and children was with wih difficulty persuaded by this actress to subordinate her herI burgher prejudices to the future of the I child and consent to having the tie little girls voice tested at the Royal RO yal theatre I Jenny Lind describes herself at that time as a a small ugly shy sh gauche guche girl yet the rare promise in her voice cast her hel awkwardness so entirely in the back bak background ba k ground that the head of the theatre agreed to take the 9 earold child and educate her at the government ex cx expense expense pense for the te next ten years The Lind found this theatrical training always invaluable to her Her position however was by byno byno byno no means a sinecure and her efforts to make restitution for the drill dri and expense bestowed upon her would have I broken down a less rugged constitution constitution tion ton At 10 she played the part of An Angela AnI Angela gela gel a in The Polish Mine at 13 she appeared in performances I but hut not until she was 17 after having appeared on the stage 11 times for fot fotI i i her board and d clothes did the directors decide to allow her a small smal salary for I her services service That year jear she played times In twelve new characters chiefly among which was Agatha in Webers Der In this she practically practically cally made her debut and awoke to the te teI knowledge of the great at dramatic gift I I which God had g to her This date March 7 she celebrated each year I thereafter as a second birthday In a somewhat different wording than that employed by Byron she expressed the same idea of a famous fanous awaking I 1 got up that morning one creature I went to bed another creature creat re I had found my power U Soon afterward she sheI I was w made a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music and re received received the appointment of court singer I Within a few years rears she earned enough money from provincial tours to enable her to go to Paris for the study of techniQue Her Bel career career thenceforth wa was a won wonderful wonderful wonderful exposition of theory t eory that patience Is the necessary ingredient ent eat of genius enius Once before as a 9 child of of H 14 her ner voice threatened for some sometime sometime time to leave leave her and had had she not j patiently striven at these critical times to t recover it i it is probable that her genius might quickly have degenerated degener degenerated degenerated into mediocrity Her voice was not naturally flexible yet by means of her inexhaustible perseverance she sheI I I became enabled so skillfully to blend i the various registers that the k most I critical ear failed to discover their points point of junction By practice too she attained the power of ot rapid exe execution execution cution not as a natural to her as aa the richer sustaining power of her notes She would practice alone for hours on the correct enunciation of some words difficult to pronounce on on can a a high note without wi hout the grimacing she detested and by she also learned to re refill refill fill her l liing with wih such dexterity that fl the the renewal i of f her breath was im impossible impossIble possible of detection She took the greatest care of ot her voice never dane dancing lug ing or drinking wine tea or coffee Her conscientiousness was due to her feel feeling feelIng feeling ing each morning that her voice was wasa wa waa a gift from God and that perhaps that very day might be the last lat of its use After having mastered the details of technique so that she might give gie her dramatic and spiritual nature full ful play unhampered unhampered by the mechanics of art Jenny Lind r lura to Stockholm Here she astounded ast even her most enthusiastic frie friends friens s by hep heu he enormous development in singing a develop development development ment which made her voice unique in inthe inthe the world Her progress in music thenceforth was a series seres of triumphal ovations in Berlin Finland Finland Copenhagen Leipzig Munich Vienna London and America the joy of each nationality in being awakened musically to consciousness I of itself Itel finding expression expresion in many many j curious and characteristic ways Stu Student Students S dents dent serenaded serenade her in Copenhagen and Berlin the te art ari lovers of Vienna fashioned silver siver wreaths for her and the crowned heads of Europe present presented ed her with wih gifts estimated to be worth I The names name name f the Swedish 1 Nightingale and the divine Jenny were popular efforts efort to express ap appreciation appreciation of the birdlike qualities quaites of her voice i Her course through Europe could easily be traced by b the chain of chari charities char charities ties te which she left in her wake These charities consisted not only in gra ous concerts concert in singing in private to the sick or needy in surprising home sick Hans Christian Christan Andersen with wih a Christmas tree on Sylvester evening but in giving wherever she tarried thousands of dollars to the poor and needy giving it gleefully like a a child chil The only allusion she was ever known to make to her wonderful talent was wa in Copenhagen after singing for a Home for the Prevention of Cruelty to Chil thu Children hi dren When she heard the unusually large amount which her concert had raised her eyes filled fled with wih tears and she said to Hans Christian Christan Andersen it beautiful that I can sing so Despite Depie the undoubted success of her operatic career creer she longed longe constantly for a homely life so much so that she decided to abandon the stage in 1849 1549 just eleven years from that memorable memorable memorable able March 7 the birthday of her gen genius geni ius lus i s This decision she never regretted She sung thereafter in m concert concert or poured out her soul in oratorio Men Mendelssohn Mendelssohn n who considered her the te great greatest est eat artist artst he had known know wrote geatI the Elijah Eljah for the peculiar beauty of her voice and in that she was at her best for she said it lifted her into another world Her for retirement from the thc stage did not spring from a puritanical aversion to it it She did not think it immoral or she would not hav gone to see others act nor would she shO sh have founded a school for the education of stage aspirants aspirants aspirants ants It I was simply because because having passed unspotted through the evils evis of stage stag environment environment she felt worn wor by the artificialities and difficulties of her progress and longed longe for the homeliness of home In England she was wa greatly beloved and thorough reciprocated this appreciation elation so much so S that soon son after her marriage she made mae that that country countr her home bore Jenny Jenn Linds American tour under the management of f P T Barnum was an unequivocal success Although un undertaking undertakIng Undertaking this venture v ture with some trepidation trepidation trepidation dation Jenny Lind felt feU that she did not dare to miss such a golden opportunity opportunity of doing good She writes ries thus to a friend I have for long had the most eager wish to earn somewhere a great deal of money so as to endow a school for poor Door lost children in my myown myown myown own country and the invitation to America came as a direct answer so that I go there in this confidence and andI I pray God in heaven heven out of a full ful heart that he will guide me thither thaher as ever before with wih his gentle hand and will wi graciously forgive me my sins and my infirmities I shall have much to encounter It is a very arduous under undertaking undertaking undertaking taking But since I have have no less an aim before me than to help belp in widening Gods kingdom the of life vanish in face of this As A a proof of this sincerity of spirit she he sent for the mayor of New York the night of her first concert concertin in Amer America AmerIca ica and divided the he proceeds nearly according to his advice among the charities of the city This precedent prece precedent precedent dent she followed throughout her trip tip giving the t e entire entre amount mount received froh frOh her American tour more than among charities charies This tour brought her a great geat sorrow sorow and a great geat joy Her er mothers death saddened Jenny Linds visit to Amer America America ica lea While in the prima donna then in her year was wa married maried to Otto Goldschmidt Goldschmidt an accomplished voun musician who had accompanied her hern at t several of her concerts The I marriage proved a a most happy one and I i upon their return they founded foun ed a a home in England Here Mme Goldschmidt I led the toe busiest happiest kind of a life for she said she had ha found all al that her heart heart ever wanted or loved Before settling in England the te young wife wie sang to delighted audiences in Hol Hoi Holland Holland Hoiland land Austria Ireland Iland and Germany Gerany She sang thereafter only on special oc occasions occasions occasions generally for charity some sometimes sometimes sometimes times in oratorio sometimes in the i opera of Ruth URuth composed co d by her hus bus husband band and In concert with wih I I Mme Schumann or or To the last she he retained the fire fre and charm of that r voice oice which I Iwas was a combination of the special quail qualities ties of several prima donnas One sur surprising surprising surprising feature feature to her audiences washer was washer washer her ability upon attaining attaining an unusually unusually ally aly high note to reach which her hearers through the habit of mind in induced induced induced by listening to other great geat sing singers sing ers em would suppose her to have expend expended erg ed cd all al her strength to carol Ol away away with the ease the insouciance of a bird She possessed too an original nD wonderful 1 reserve power in her voice which en enabled I her carefully to avoid any temp temptation tation to mere stage vocalism and with a a fine reticence 10 o hold her power well In hand until she reached the rell planned climax which invariably swept her audience out of Itself into the en enchanted enchanted enchanted chanted realm ream where she reigned su supreme supreme preme Besides her originality she had hada ha a dramatic force based upon the study of ot the art of Rachel which would have won her distinction even if she had hadnot ha hadnot not been a prima prim donna donna To these gifts git she added fire fre sympathy an in intellectual Intellectual grasp gap of her subject and sin sincerity a combination of the ant gifts gift of several artistic temperaments And yet so SG all her contemporaries de declare declare clare dare the magic of her voice was wa as a nothing to the personality of the wom worn woman woman an So keen was wa her intellectual grasp ip of the topics the problems of the day day so noble yet so kindly withal was wa er conception of life and its it duties dutes that tt those these who were uplifted by the charm of her voice declared like the mother of Dean Stanley that they would rather hear Jenny talk than sing Back of all aU charm lay the g o nes of the woman a goodness which leveled all aU class distinctions which converted the skeptic and and strengthened the believing the perfect flowing of a deeply practical religious nature upon which had been grafted the marvelous gift gif of music Because Christianity was the master mater spring of her life her message was optimistic and therefore helpful She said s Id d that she was wa glad from morning till night night as who would not be entrusted with the guardianship of so great a gift gif Surrounded by her happy children and grandchildren n she died as beautifully beautifully fully as a she had lived Stretching outher out outher outher her hands hands to the sunlight coming in through the shutters which her daugh daughter ter had bad just opened there burst from her lips the first notes of her favorite An den Sonn Sonnenschein and so singing there passed into the eternal sunshine Jenny Lind one of the most helpful geniuses that the world has ever I known kown |