THE LAST OF JENNY LIND.
Madame Goldschmidt Lind gave her "last- farewell concert" at Exe- ter Hall on Monday evening. It was an evening of extraordinary ex- citement, not exceeded by that of her first appearance at Her Majesty's Theatre nine years ago ; and this though the excitement of that memor- able evening was largely mingled with curiosity, which has long since been satisfied. For that feeling another was now substituted—regret at parting with one whose popularity in this country has not only been unbounded, but who has gained a larger share of personal regard and even affection than any foreign artist who ever visited our shores.
As this last appearance of Jenny Lind may be regarded as an incident of interest in English musical annals, we insert the programme of the concert.
PART I.
Overture, Clemenza di Mto Hymn for Soprano, Chorus, and Organ—Madame Goldschmidt Concerto Drammatico, Violin, Herr Ernst Sacred Cantata, the 130th Psalm—Solos, Madame Goldschmidt and Mr. Lockey
PART U.
Overture, The Ruler of the Spirits Aria, " lion paventar "—Madame Goldschmidt Concerto for Pianoforte, with Orchestra Scene and Aria, " Ah, non giunge "—Madame Goldschmidt Fantasia, Violoncello, Signor Piatti Swedish Melody, " The Echo "—Madame Gold- schmidt.
Conductor—Mr. Benedict.
An excellent selection; but composed entirely of pieces performed at Mr. and Madame Goldschmidt's previous concerts of the season. Mr. Goldschmidt's Sacred Cantata was given with increased effect : the choral portion was executed with more precision, and the design of the work was on repetition better understood. Madame Goldachmidt exerted
Mozart.
Mendelssohn. Spohr.
Otto Goldschmidt.
'Weber. Mozart.
Otto Goldschmidt.
Boffin'. Piatti.
herself to the utmost, displaying her beauties in all their lustre— from the wonderful power of her voice, in its highest regions, in the song of the Queen of Night, to the rapt earnestness of her expression!in Mendelssohn's Hymn, and the outpouring of love and joy in the finale of the Sonnambula. She left on the minds and hearts of the vast assem- bly who heard her that evening, and who rose from their seats with one consent to wave their adieus, an impression which will never be effaced. In losing Jenny Lind, we have lost the most remarkable vocal artist that has appeared in England within living memory. We ourselves can look back, through the long vista of years reaching almost to the begin ning of the present century, and see in imagination the line of beautiful forms which people it, from the distant visions of the Mama, Billingtons, and Catskills, to the San-coders, Malibrans, and Grisis ; and we do not find in the whole series any image which will fill so large a space as that of Jenny Lind in the eye of a future age. Her artistic peculiarity is catholicity : others have possessed themselves of corners of their art—have excelled in this or that branch or department ; she is mistress of the whole field—no portion of it has been left unconquered. In the musical drama—in the oratorio—in the most highly finished music of the concert-room and the chamber—in the simple rustic ballad of her own and other countries— with all she is equally conversant, in all she is equally at home. She can speak every dialect of the universal language of music : to her no one seems foreign or acquired, they appear all alike to be her native language, her mother tongue. Compare Jenny Lind with every other singer in this one respect, and it will be seen how she stands alone among them all. Her peculiarities may be traced to the largeness of soul with which Nature has gifted her, to her expansive impulses, her boundless sympathies with all that is great and beautiful in art, and the intense earnestness of feeling which such sympathies must necessarily engender. Few of her successors will be able to emulate her greatness, but all may profit more or less by her example. All may strive to attain that pure-minded devotion which has made her so great an artist, and all may practise those feminine virtues which have made her so bright an ornament of her sex.
Previous page
