Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1883-10-04
A Famous Singer at Sixty.

A Famous Singer at Sixty.
Jenny Lind has left her pleasant
home in Moreton gardens and has gone
to Malvern for the summer, or rather,
/ hear, she has purchased residence
there and will hereafter make IL her
home. coming only to London during
the season. The air of Malvern is ex-
ceedingly pure, and its situation is
charming. The views, too, in the
borhood are lovely, but in itself Malvern
is as stupid place of summer resort as
can well be imagined. There is moth
ing TODD, and no place in particular to
60. Situated on the side of steep
hill, most of its streets are inclined at
an angle of forty-five degrees, which
makes walking difficult. But it is
famed for the salubrity of the atmos-
phere and its imperturbable quiet.
Quiet it certainly is. A frisky mouse
or a frolicsome sparrow would be GER
tain to create commotion anywhere
in the solemn precincts of the pretty
little town. 1t is the resort of nervous
dowagers in ill-health. and / hope it
will bring health and repose to this
suffering dowager queen of song. For
Jenny Lind is a great sufferer from
a neuralgia affection, which attacks
her throat and chest, and which form
erly took the shape of agonizing head
aches, which attacked her after every
one of her appearances in the opera.
The fatigue and excitement of the act
ing seldom failed to bring on one of
these attacks, and it was their fire.
quency and intensity that induced the
great prima donna-undoubted the
greatest one of our generation--to quit
the stage while still in the full possess
sion of her unrivaled powers. Jenny
Lind is now over 60 years of age, a
delicate-looking old lady, with soft,
gray hair, which she still wears in the
single roll at either side of her face that
she popularized as the fashionable Golf
fure of the day over thirty years ago.
Her beautiful blue eyes retain their
assure and their sparkle, and she has
still the trick of resting her clasped
hands upon her knees as she talks, an
attitude rendered familiar. by countless
portraits of her in by-gone days. A
large portrait of herself in concert CO.'S
tune, adorns the drawing-room of her
house In Moreton gardens, as does also
fine life-size bust in. marble, the latter
reproducing the peculiarly graceful
poise of her head, which no one who
ever saw her in the days of her youth
and celebrity will forget. But no like
ness of Jenny Lind that I have ever
seen gives any idea of the serapic
sweetness and elevation of her counter
ance; that almost celestial expression
which used to transform her somewhat
heavy features into vision of I'M
earthly loveliness. Goldschmidt, as l
suppose we ought to call our idol of
other days, is a great favorite with the
royal family of England, the Princess
Christian in particular, she being the
musician of the family, coming very
often to call upon the quiet old lady,
who was once so gifted and so wor-
shipped.
Was there ever such a career as hersp
We talk of Patti, and Albani, and Nils
son, and Lucca, but what are their
triumphs and their achievements COM
pared to those of the blue-eyed Swede
who drove the civilized world wild by
the magic of her genius and the mar
velous loneliness of her wonderful
voice? have seen old men, who knew
no more about music than they did
about Sanscrit, sit with the tears stream.
ing down their faces as they listened to
her singing of Il Know that NY Re-
deemer Liveth." | have known careful
and close-handed business men, who
grumbled nightly at paying So (Which
sum represented twice as much in those
days as it does now to hear, as they
phrased it, girl sing five or six songs,
and who, in the first intermission on the
programme, rushed out to take tickets
for every remaining concert of the series.
And we must remember that when
Jenny Lind was at the apogee of her
fame the world was full of great singers.
Grisi was in her prime and Albani the
most wonderful of contraltos, and
Peretani, and Viardot Garcio, and
Sophie Cruvelli-the list was a long and
brilliant one. Yet the gifted Swede
was the worlds recognized queen of
song, despite the presence of so many
rival princesses. And here, o sermon
on the valley of the worlds greatness,
is the end of that dazzling career-the
quiet home of an invalid amid the
peace and silence of these English hills.
| wonder sometimes if it were not bet
ter to die like Mallbran or Rachel, in
the height and splendor of great
triumph-submerged beneath the top
most wave in fame's mighty sea-than
to fall like this in the shadows and the
hush of old age and retirement. Yet
Jenny Lind. it is true, has been and is
happy wife and mother, and troops
of friends crowd around her in her
peaceful retirement. She has tasted
the two extremes of earthly bliss, the
glories of a triumphant public career
and the sweets of conjugal and mater
nal love and the joys of happy home.
To the splendid noontide of her life has
succeeded tranquil sunset And yet,
were | great actress or singer, | should
prefer the fate of Mallbran to that of
Jenny Lind.-London Cor. Washington
Post.