Great Singers, Second Series: Malibran To TitiensFerris, George T. (George Titus)
History
Great Singers, Second Series: Malibran To Titiens
Ferris, George T. (George Titus)
Singers -- Biography
Jenny Lind's tribulations, however, were not yet over. She had
overstrained an organ which had not gained its full strength, and it was
discovered that her tones were losing their freshness. The public began
to lose its interest, and the opera was nearly deserted, for Jenny Lind
had been the singer on whom main dependence was placed. She felt a deep
conviction that she had need of further teaching, and that of a quality
and method not to be attained in her native city. Manuel Garcia had
formed more famous prima donnas than any other master, and it was Jenny
Lind's dream by night and day to go to this magician of the schools,
whose genius and knowledge had been successfully imparted to so many
great singers. But to do this required no small amount of funds, and to
raise a sufficient sum was a grave problem. There were not in Stockholm
a large number of wealthy and generous connoisseurs, such as have
been found in richer capitals, eager to discover genius and lavish
in supplying the means of its cultivation. No! she must earn the
wherewithal herself. So, during the operatic recess, the plucky maiden
started out under the guardianship of her father, and gave concerts in
the principal towns of Sweden and Norway, through which she managed
to amass a considerable sum. She then bade farewell to her parents and
started for Paris, her heart again all aflame with hope and confidence.
II.
Manuel Garcia received Jenny Lind kindly, who was fluttered with
anxiety. The master's verdict was not very encouraging. When he had
heard her sing, "My good girl," he said, "you have no voice; or, I
should rather say, you had a voice, but are now on the verge of losing
it. Your organ is strained and worn out, and the only advice I can offer
you is to recommend you not to sing a note for three months. At the end
of that time come to me, and I'll see what I can do for you." This was
heart-breaking, but there was no appeal, and so, at the end of three
wearisome months, Jenny Lind returned to Garcia. He pronounced her voice
greatly strengthened by its rest. Under the Garcia method the young
Swedish singer's voice improved immensely, and, what is more, her
conception and grasp of musical method. The cadences and ornaments
composed by Jenny were in many cases considered worthy by the master of
being copied, and her progress in every way pleased Garcia, though he
never fancied she would achieve any great musical distinction. Another
pupil of Garcia's was a Mlle. Nissen, who, without much intellectuality,
had a robust, full-toned voice. Jenny Lind often said that it reduced
her to despair at times to hear the master hold up this lady as an
example, all the while she felt her own great superiority, the more
lofty quality of her ambition. Garcia would say: "If Jenny Lind had the
voice of Nissen, or the latter Lind's brains, one of them would become
the greatest singer in Europe. If Lind had more voice at her disposal,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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