New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-07-07

sh friend finds her sitting on the steps of bathing
| machine, on the sands, with Lutheran Bible open
on her knee. She is looking across the water lhto
the glory Of sunset. The inevitable question Is
asked "Oh, Madame Goldschmidt how was 1t that
You ever came to abandon the stage at the very
Height OF your SUGGEST" "When' this was the an
swer) "every day ii made think less OF TINS laying
o finger the Bble) and nothing at all OF that
pointing TO the sunset. "wfat else could &c"
| sweet story which needed no inerpretatkh moie
eloquent by far than any portion OF the long hoh|
| for which it supplies text:
"The Bible and the sunset! There IS what she
always needed There Is what she wished AT al coso
TO preserve Eacs Of them is closed a sr Hne tone
and it this tone which she fonnd II lmpossiolo
to preserve amid the dsgneHng @SrG or %
this Judgment of hers she not bringing t1 4c
p ppTans mise ! Even any AZ the moment the actual
withdrawal she was possessed by Influences wnr E
repudiated with hot Indignation. any aspeISion wmch
implied contempt for her profession"
And so on for half dozen pages to the end OF the
book. We shudder at the thought Of the magnitude
which the would have reached had it not been
cut short at Jenny Linds arrival in this country OF
Canon Hollands vocabulary not given out.
story widely believed at the time. accounted for
Jenny Lnd's retirement from the operate stage by
attrbuting 1t to the objections to actresses life
entertained by gentleman to whom she was engaged
| in marriage. This engagement afterward broken
| off,
The story is told fully in Vol H. but 1t seems that
abandoning the stage for her lover she aban
doned him to remain the stage Only short time be-
fore she had broken of another engagement with
tenor singer OF stockholm, because marriage 10 him
would bind her closely to the stage The expana-
ton of her retirement nevertheless not difficult to find
but her conduct can only be understood when viewed
in the light of a waverng disposition which marked
many of her acts notably the rupture Of her contract
with Bum, the London manager, and which IN one
instance brought upon her kind but firm rebuke from
Meyerbcer one Of her frmet and sinccres friends.
portion Of the explanation is given in allcgonca
form in the Bible and sunset story portion can
easily be found in the many evidences which the
memoir affords Of the fact that though practically
reared in a theatre and phenOmenally gifted with
histronic talent, she yet mentally morally and
physically i'll adapted for theatrical career. Her
humble origin and labOriOus youth had bred In her
simple tastes and when the sun of prosperity began
to shine on her brightly than il had shOne
of her tribe, her character had become fixed
Her success dazzed and almost frightened her. she
fully conscious Of the plenltude OF her
artistic gifts and the furore which she created had, in
consequence, an element Of mystery ard solemnity
connected with it which awed her mind, nat
urally dcvout and impressible. she came to
look upon herself, in sense, as
public amoner. This feeling and the innate
simplicity of her inner nature published in letter
to her legal guardian from Boston:
at is indeed a great Joy and a gift from God 10 be
allowed to earn much money and aferward to help
ones fellowmen with it. This is the highest JOY I
from the many -coored course of my path earth.
Few know though. what beautiful and Quiet inner life
world and its splendOr have been able to turn my
mind gddy Herrings and potatoes, clean wooden
would make me skip like a child for JOY ~
Before the eyes of the world had grown sufficiently
accustomed TO the phenomenon which she presented
TO look upon it without being dazzled and blinded,
Jenny Lind withdrew from Its gaze She gave up the
stage and came to the United States Here this
memoir leaves her. summing up the rest Of her career
in footnote and few pages of rhapsody about her
married life. single paragraph might have been
added to record to what extent the million dollars
earned In less than two years in the United States
trbu to that sweet domesticty for which, from the
begnnin. Of her mature life, she had cherished q
strong predispOson but which, with Sir julius Ben
edicts story in mind. she may be said seemingly at
least, to have abandoned when she wrote the letter
which we have quoted above. to her guardian. 1t was
at the close OF her American tour that she married Mr.
Goldschmidt, who time before had succeeded Sir
Julius Benedict as musical director Of her concert
company.
1t is no reflection upon the nobleness and goodness
Of Jenny Linds character, the sweetness and purity
Of her motives TO say that though her extraordinary
popularity primarily due to the excellence Of her
genius much of it the product of the advertising
skill of her managers who filled their while
filing hers SO well had this been done by the showd
English Jew who managed her London fortunes and
the clever American Snowman who brought her here
just in the nick of time that Mr.. ChOrey while paying
ample and fragrant tribute to her wOndrous art was yet
constrained ever and to anmadvert the impos-
sibity of winning the of the public for discrm-
mating discussion of her gifts.
$50 many sympathes and party interests got
mixed up, with the merits and popularity of
lower octave Of her voice was yelled was consd-
cred the attack of Mephisopheles upon her char.
ity while TO speak amisS OF her Norma" rated
by new opera-goers (whO had broken VOWS against
wicked opera going In favor Of so much virtue as a
black and covert defence Of all manner OF nquity In
art. There prrent curiosity 10 illustrate the
new singers most private virtues something cees-
al by prying and fetching and carrying anecdotes,
has been shown in the case of those nnhappy sus-
pected, when prosecuting antpahy has been interested
bankrupt citizens and in every transaction great or
small SO many falsehoods and failures"
This the statement of difficulty ont Of which this
memoir ought surely to have helped the student Of
to-day. Yet 1t does not of Mendelssohn's remark.
recorded by Mr.. ChOrley, that she always sang bad
music the BEST" there IS not word though pages are
devoted to Memberships admng letters to and about
her. Nor the fact, damaging to her much mooted
unsesh devotion to art for arts sake that she used
to insist upon the excelsior of the part Of Isabella from
Robert 10 Diable" in order that no other soprano
should be heard beside her, even referred to. Mr..
Chorley said that she "was only positively successful
in four operas, Roberto La Sonnanlbula La Fgla
del Reggmento' and lie Nogze di FigarO'"; Sir julius
Benedict wrote 1t cannot be denied that il was only
| in five parts that she held undsputed sway over
her audiences" and thought that it tation
of her sphere which helped her determine TO- leave
the stage, feeling she did the immense RESPONSE
| bility of maintaining position so exceptional, so
glorious. but also dangerous" Mr.. Rockstro has
written the distinctly musical part of the memoir and
has been much special plesder his collaboration
Much stress is laid upon the fact that in Berlin
MademOselle Lind insisted upon restoration Of the
| final scene of Don Giovanni" which the good jude
ment of critics and managers had long condemned as
an antclimaX. We refer to the scene in which after
the wicked Don has been carried of by the mps of
hell, the other characters of the piece return to the
stage to hear cOmical account of the catastrophe