In 1849, Lind was approached by the American showman P. T. Barnum with a proposal to tour throughout the United States for more than a year. Realising that it would yield large sums for charity, particularly the endowment of free schools in her native Sweden, Lind agreed. Her financial demands were stringent, but Barnum met them, and in 1850, they reached an agreement.Together with a supporting baritone, Giovanni Belletti, and her London colleague, Julius Benedict, as pianist, arranger and conductor, Lind sailed to America in September 1850. Barnum's advance publicity made her a celebrity even before she arrived in the US, and she received a wild reception on arriving in New York. Tickets for some of her concerts were in such demand that Barnum sold them by auction. The enthusiasm of the public was so strong that the American press coined the term "Lind mania".After her first two performances in New York in September 1850, Lind's party toured the east coast of America, with continued success, and later took in Cuba, the Southern US and Canada. By early 1851, Lind had become uncomfortable with Barnum's relentless marketing of the tour, and she invoked a contractual right to sever her ties with him; they parted amicably. She continued the tour for nearly a year, under her own management, until May 1852. Benedict left the party in 1851 to return to England, and Lind invited Otto Goldschmidt to replace him as pianist and conductor. Lind and Goldschmidt were married on 5 February 1852, near the end of the tour, in Boston. She took the name "Jenny Lind-Goldschmidt", both privately and professionally.Details of the later concerts under her own management are scarce, but it is known that under Barnum's management Lind gave 93 concerts in America for which she earned about $350,000, and he netted at least $500,000[18] ($10.9 million and $15.6 million, as of 2021, respectively). She donated her profits to various charities, including free schools in Sweden and some US charities. The tour is a plot point in the 1980 musical Barnum and the 2017 film The Greatest Showman, both of which include a fictionalized relationship between Lind and Barnum with "romantic undertones".

She received a wild reception on arriving in New York

Jenny Lind's tour of America

With her new husband, Otto Goldschmidt, she returned to Europe in 1852, where she had three children and gave occasional concerts over the next three decades, settling in England in 1855. From 1882, for some years, she was a professor of singing at the Royal College of Music in London. Lind retired from the operatic stage in the 1850s but continued to perform in oratorio and to teach. She died in 1887 in Worcestershire, England, leaving behind a legacy as one of the most influential vocal artists of her century.

Jenny Lind, known worldwide as the “Swedish Nightingale,” was one of the 19th century’s first true international celebrities—a soprano celebrated for the purity, agility, and emotional clarity of her voice. Born in Stockholm in 1820, she rose to prominence in European opera houses before embarking on her legendary 1850 American tour, organized by P.T. Barnum, which generated unprecedented press attention and drew enormous crowds across the country. She gave 93 large-scale concerts for him and then continued to tour under her own management. She earned more than $350,000 (equivalent to $10,887,800 in 2020) from these concerts, donating the proceeds to charities, principally the endowment of free schools in Sweden. Her visit coincided with a politically turbulent moment in the United States, and contemporary accounts note that her performances unfolded against the backdrop of debates over slavery and the Compromise of 1850.&nbsp;Lind performed in Philadelphia in 1850, where the excitement surrounding her arrival rivaled that of major political events. Newspapers described her as the first true global superstar of the musical world, and her concerts in the city helped cement Philadelphia’s status as a major cultural center in the antebellum era.&nbsp; Her American tour also produced a vast material legacy—souvenirs, portraits, sheet music, and later the “Jenny Lind” style of furniture—reflecting the depth of her impact on popular culture.

Burial Site: Great Malvern Cemetery in Worcestershire, England

Jenny Lind

She was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music from 1840. Lind became famous after her performance in Der Freischütz in Sweden in 1838. Within a few years, she had suffered vocal damage, but the singing teacher Manuel García saved her voice. She was in great demand in opera roles throughout Sweden and northern Europe during the 1840s, and was closely associated with Felix Mendelssohn. After two acclaimed seasons in London, she announced her retirement from opera at the age of 29.

Jenny Lind

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ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS