New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-06-03

Ctner.
This visit of JENNY LIND To the United
States is certainly one of the most brilliant
and striking phenomena with which the his
tory Of Art has ever been marked. Such a
triumphal march as hers through our cOun-
try was never before heard Of. No doubt
much of it has been due to her great Euro
pean reputation; much to the popular ad-
miration of her personal character, her gene
rositv. her contempt for social cOnyentionali-
ties: much to the admirable tact, the Law
ishness of expenditure, and the care for the
public accommodation and comfort with
which the Concerts have been managed :;
much too, to the musical science and judg-
ment which have presided in their arrange
ment and execution; but when all these
causes are reckoned at their fullest value,
the effect is still not half accounted br.-
And if testimony were wanting to the gen.
JUS and endOwmentS of this remarkable wo-
man, it might be found in the applaus, and
the wealth which these hundreds of hou-
sands Of the People have delighted to show.
or upon her. For such a triumph, so pro-
longed, so sincere, so universal, swaying the
untaught masses and captivating the most
cultivated critics alike, is incOnceivable for
any other than the genuine Artist who, in
in her particular sphere of the Beautiful,
embodies what is noblest, Seyerest, purest,
most native and magnetic to the Utmost
heart of all Not every success can be
taken as the measure of merit, but every
such success as this may be- 1t is vain to
say that it has been to any large extent
forced or Fictitious That may be the case
with things done on smaller scale; but
here II is impossible to suppose 1t. If any
one thinks otherwise, let him engage any one,
or any half dozen of the most accomplished
and famous singers in the world, and try it,
with all the devices that Barnum ever heard
of, to help him No, the success of JENNY
LIND is of the true kind hers by right d.
vine.
Nor is it altogether just to compare her
with other artists of merit who have never
reaped such harvests of fame and fortune,
and to infer that luck and caprice have made
her their peculiar favorite. The masses
cannot be carried captive by luck and ca
price in that way nor could they refuse to
be affected by the true magic Of genius,
were it equally present with the less sue
cessful Others may delight the connoi-
seurs, but not many possess that original
electricity which thrills and charms the
multitude with new and unimagined plea
sure that few can resist and none deny.
We confess that we find satisfaction in
the fact that this great artistic triumph has
taken place in a democratic country This
seems to settle the question as to where Art
is sure of the most generous appreciation.
And after all kings and aristocracies are poor
and pennyess, compared with the Democra-
CIV of a land where education, thrift, abund-
ance, are the general rule. In the Old
World of privilege, the few rich lavlshly
compensate the Artist as an ornament and
stimulus of their luxury but IN the New
World of equality the many with the easy
gifts of competence reward him ten-fold
and send him on his way rejoicing IN the
heartiness and honor with which their trlb-
ute was conferred. We take this as
presage of the future Though, now at the
beginning, not a country for the formation of
artists, not attractive TO them as 4 residence,
with its people not so cultivated and refined
as to Judge wisely and well what IS good
and what is not in the various departments
of Art, we now see that America can be
more than royal TO the more than royalty Of
genius. We are proud of this, not national
" as an American, but as democrat, as
believer in the Future as greater than the
Past And here let no fool on either side
of the Atlantic suppose that we think Of the
eccentricity and mercantile speculatlOns
which have caused enormous and exagge-
rated prices to be paid for admission to
these concerts. We speak of the sincere
and universal enthusiasm and hberality of
the People, which had no end in view but
its own delight, no object but the admired
singer and the miracles of melody she
worked
Not less, but rather more, do we take
pleasure in Jenny Limbs triumph, because
it is achieved by a Woman. Very few are
the spheres of action which society now opens
equally tothe two sexes fewer still those in