Jenny Lind - 200 year anniversary

 One does not get out too much these days. I was therefor happy to see that there is an exhibition about Jenny Lind, the famous opera singer of the 19th century. The exhibition, at Torup castle, was a guided tour and the group was limited to 12 persons due to the restrictions.

Jenny Lind was born on the 6 October 1820 under difficult circumstances. Usually, you can read in the church books 'father unknown', but for her birth, it said 'parents unknown'. She mostly grew up in foster care, but her mother took her in from time to time, more disrupting her life than caring for her.

One day she was sitting in her window singing. A maid working for a ballet dancer at the opera house passed by and heard her sing. She was amazed at the voice and talked to the people in charge of the opera. She came to audition when she was only eight. Much was lacking in her voice at the time, but she was accepted. As they say, 'the rest is history'. 

She had a very successful life, singing at the great opera houses of Europe. She was called 'The Nightingale'. When she retired she went to America and worked with P.T. Barnum for 93 concerts all over the country. It made both her and Barnum rich. She finally settled outside London with her husband Otto Goldschmidt. They had three children. 

H.C. Andersen was a great fan of hers and proposed to her five times. He always received a no. "She is believed to have inspired three of his fairy tales: "Beneath the Pillar", "The Angel" and "The Nightingale". He wrote, "No book or personality whatever has exerted a more ennobling influence on me, as a poet, than Jenny Lind. For me, she opened the sanctuary of art." (Hetsch, Gustav [da] and Theodore Baker. "Hans Christian Andersen's Interest in Music", The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 16, No. 3 (July 1930), pp. 322–329).

She was a close friend of Felix Mendelssohn. They worked together, both in Germany and London. There are indications that they loved each other. However, he was married and she did not want to break up the family. Mendelssohn was probably the love of her life and she was devastated when he died in 1847, only 38 years old.  

The exhibition covers her life from early on until her death in 1887. There are very few items saved from her life. A few small items were shown in the exhibition. None of her clothes was saved, but a designer had created dresses that were used at the time. Two of those fantastic creations you see in the photos. 

The excursion started with a small walk in the surrounding forest before the exhibition, and afterwards, we went to a nearby golf club for lunch. A day out for a change.