To mark the 150th anniversary of Jenny Lind's birth, Frances Cavanah, who with two previous books on the subject is an acknowledged authority on the Swedish Nightingale, has written the engrossing story of the effect of Jenny Lind on America, during her memorable tour of 1850-52.
P. T. Barnum, the first and greatest impresario of them all, saw in Jenny Lind an attraction which would appeal to Americans in towns and cities across the land. His methods of publicizing her outshone anything done before or since. It was during this tour that Jenny Lind lost her heart to Otto Goldschmidt, her accompanist. They were married in Boston and spent their honeymoon in Northampton, Massachusetts.
Her travels and concerts took her to New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D. C., Richmond, Charleston, Havana, New Orleans, St. Louis, Nashville, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Toronto and a number of smaller cities. In some towns where there were no concert halls she sang in churches so small that many stood outside beside the open windows in their eagerness to hear her. Jenny Lind's visit is still remembered as an historic bit of Americana.
Frances Cavanah, author of two earlier books, Two Loves for Jenny Lind and Jenny Lind and Her Listening Cat, has recreated the beloved singer with warmth and understanding. To obtain additional information for this new, expanded volume and to research a part of the tour hitherto neglected, she visited museums, consulted contemporary newspaper files and clippings, and made use of unpublished letters. Jenny and her America live again in this memorable book.
—from the dust jacket
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