Thirty Years of Musical Life in London

urn:iso:std:iso:639:ed-3:eng

8-9

text excerpt

It was in St. Andrew's Hall, also, that I was vouchsafed as a boy the privilege 
of hearing, on a solitary occasion only, one of the greatest artists the world 
has ever possessed. I refer to Jenny Lind. The close association which existed 
between that gifted and noble woman and the city of Norwich is a matter of 
common knowledge. A bishop of Norwich (Dr. Stanley) it was who persuaded the 
first of the "Swedish Nightingales" to abandon, on religious grounds, the 
operatic stage; which premature and much-regretted event occurred in 1849. But 
the famous singer frequently visited Norwich, and more than once she appeared 
at concerts given on behalf of the funds of the Jenny Lind Infirmary for 
Children, an institution founded by her and still flourishing in the old city. 

At one of these concerts, some time during the middle "sixties," I heard Jenny 
Lind sing. The voice, I remember perfectly, was as exquisitely clear and fresh 
as a young girl's; its sweet tones haunted me long afterward. Of the wondrous 
art of the great singer I was too young to judge; but I shall never forget what 
she sang, or the rare wealth of religious sentiment with which she invested the 
prayer of Agathe in the favorite scena from "Der Freischütz." Upon the stage, 
of course, the heroine of Weber's opera always kneels while uttering her 
touching appeal for her lover's safe return, and Jenny Lind also knelt while 
singing the same passage upon the platform of St. Andrew's Hall on the occasion
I am alluding to.

excerpt from 'Thirty Years of Musical Life in London, 1870-1900' pp. 8-9 (259 words)

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1438868867038