Jenny Lind
Swedish opera singer (1820–1887)
Johanna Maria "Jenny" Lind (Madame Goldschmidt) (6 October 1820 – 2 November 1887), was a Swedish opera singer, often called the "Swedish Nightingale". One of the most highly regarded singers of the 19th century, she performed in soprano roles in opera in Sweden and across Europe, and undertook an extraordinarily popular concert tour of the United States beginning in 1850. She was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music from 1840.
Lind became famous after her performance as Agathe in Der Freischütz at the Royal Swedish Opera 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.
In 1850, Lind went to the United States at the invitation of the showman P. T. Barnum. 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 $13,545,000 in 2025) from these concerts, donating the proceeds to charities, principally the endowment of free schools in Sweden.
“Jenny Lind” enters the record as swedish opera singer (1820–1887). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Jenny, Lind and Swedish can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Jenny Lind” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Jenny, Lind and Swedish provides the most credible route into that argument.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q231345. VIAF identifies the subject as 74649260. The Library of Congress control number is n80024529. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1820, 1887, 1850 and 1840.
Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Jenny Lind”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Jenny Lind primary sources, Jenny Lind archive and Jenny research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Jenny Lind”?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Jenny Lind” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.