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

diaries. ETC. collected by Mr.. otto GOldschmidt,
Henry Scott Holland NJ. A., and w: 5; RocsstIo
Two volumes, PIP. AS. 402. New-fork Charies
Scribner's Sons.
More than anything else these two volumes are cacu
lated to set judicous reader TO wondering what
biographical writing IS coming TO. Mr. Ihayer mas
been working thirty years on "Lifc OF Beethoven
That life composed twice many years as the period
covered by this "Memorr and may be said without
dsparagement to the amabe subject of the book before
u.s. to have been ten thousand times significant from
the viewpoint of art; but Mr. Thayer, with all his
appendices and reprints of records, will not, when he
has concluded his work, have filled more than twice
the number of pages that Canon Holland ana Mr.
Rockstro have devoted TO Jenny Lind, nor have IN
dulged altogether in many laudatoy epithets as are
10 be found on almost any one page OF this Memoir
Yet Beethoven the greatest poet in tones that the
world ever saw and his life full of the lights and
shadows OF romance. jain has written three volumes
on Mozart, Spitta three volumes on Bach, Marx TWO
volumes on Gluck and two on Beethoven Glasenapp
two volumes on Wagner; but these works are
not biographies but profound studies of the men, their
creations and their times 1t looks as If the singer
whose career so far the world outside OF her nome
Is concerned, brief that she seems to nave
flashed across tie heavens like meteor. emerging
out of the obscunty Of theatre in Stockholm ana
disappearing behind the cloudveil OF private life so
quickly that the wsrld seems scarcely TO have mad
time to convince itself of the reality, much less the
entitled TO consideration than of the great creative
geniuses of music II is more than a generation since
she withdrew herself from public gaze, yet we ma
nearly thousand pages Of eulogy devoted 10 her'
The Queen Of England accepts the dedication OF the
book, and gracOusly permits the use OF her private
Journal that the impression made upon her royal nina
forty years ago may be publicly recorded; brother
and sister royalties follow her example, and thousands
Of musty documents and ancient newspapers are turned
over TO shed lustre the memory Of one whose In
fuence In art, compared with that exerted by the
great composers whom we have mentioned, was haruly
more enduring than the shadow of a passing cloud
Jenny Lind was a great singer, perhaps the great
est singer Of her time. As a merely executive or
interpretative artist, however the impression whch
she could make upon the public mind was necessarily
evanescent. The most that such an artist can
hope for is for moment to be the object of feverish
id0latry The public Is tickle. "The garlands which
the people Irvine for one" says Sehuinann'
they always pull to pieces again to offer them IN
another form to the next conner who chances 10 Know
how TO amuse them better" Art students Will always
be glad to know wherein the excellence OF great
singer or performer Of the past lay but this desire does
not account bulky volumes largely occupied by
private letters and long forgotten newspaper criticisms
full of the ndiscrimnate gush peculiar to the German
writers of fifty years ago Plainly these volumes were
not written because Jenny Lind was great singer and
we must search further for their inspiring cause
Jenny LIND was also good woman simple
sweet benevolent sou who found honest pleasure in
making her fellow mortals happy. For brief space
she lived IN a fercer public light than that which
heats upon a throne without discovering flaw in
her private character Many singers have been as
much admired, many singers have been as full OF
virtues and amiabe qualities, no singer has been so
widely loved But though she died little more than
three years ago, TO the world she has long been
dead and two volumes seldom given to woman
nIor,f in
all very strange almost bewildering and entirely in
comlrchenslble were not the personal equation so
obvious in the volumes themselves This memoir is
the monument raised by grateful husband to his dead
wife Canon Holland and Mr.. Rockstro are the lit
erary agents Of Mr.. Otto Goldschmdt they are also
the literary executors Of Madame Jenny Lind-God-
schmidt, who his wife, and who began the col
lection of the materials out of which the astounding
memoir has been constructed. Only in this manner
can we explain the volumnousness of the work. it's
angulares OF style and its unnterruptedly eulogsc
strain 1t is not a memoir but q memorial; not
biography, but panegyrc. TO whose purposes the
authors and compilers have devoted boundlesS en-
thusasm obviously born of afectonate friendship lat
least on the side of Canon Holland and sacrificed
literary taste, judgment and considerable degree of
fairness. After reading the two bulky volumes
not quite able to say, with positiveness whether not
Jenny Lind ate eggs for breakfast fifty years ago come
tomorrow, whether or not she ever got her feet
a child; but feel thoroughly grounded as to
the origin and development of every amiable trait
In her character well the magnihccnce of every
artistic triumph which she achieved; moreover, VIC
believe that if she had had brother We could pro-
nounce with inerrsncy the Bible critics say on
the likelihood Of his taste with reference to cheese
unamiable traits Of Character and artistic failures
evidently did not exist In the person and career Of
this marvellous creature, who borne through this
life angels wings. escaping all the con-
terminating influences that surrounded her and preach
ing gospel of art whose every note revelation
of celestial beauty and set standard of nfalbility.
II will be plain to the meanest understanding that
in any department Of Intellectual artistic activity
such creature wonld be absolutely unique and that
in telling the story Of her life the widest flights of
perfervid panegrc would be justified. But Jenny
Lind not such a creature. either artist or as
woman, and every attempt to create the impression
that she will miscaTy. no matter how august the
auspices under which II may be made. The spirit of
the romantic Of italian opera, which came to a
close with the Swedish nightingale, can not be
transported into the thoughts and feelings of people
who longer susceptible TO the tragic grandeur
of Bellinis Norma and RosSlni's semiramis. What
they want to know is wherein Jenny Lnd's excel
lence artist lay what were the features in her
performance that differed from those of her great
contemporaries and immediate predecessors what were
the circumstances Of her life and artistic training that
developed in her the artistic and personal character
which caused such fever of excitement
as marked the last few years of her pro
fessional career Such a tale might be told
simply and fully in one-quarter the space
occupied by this memoir and thus told it would com
mand respect and admiration. In fact, it might almost
be extracted from these volumes by the simple process
of looping away the hundreds Of pages which have
been written to swell their maSsiveneSs and to
display the exquisite sensibilties of Canon Holland
This Canon is charged TO the muzzle with fine words
The proportion given up TO his specuatiOns reflections
interpretations and prophecies is incredible. Docs
Jenny Lind In letter quoted mention fear? I'm
mediatey a dozen fair pages filed with wonder
ment at It's cause, speculation about its magnitude,
Interpretation OF it's nature, prophecy TO its out
When she fails to mention anything of the
kind equal amount of coruscating elOquence is ex