Oh, yes. Is it just me or does she look a bit like {{gwi:873799}}?

I'm looking forward to trying Jenny Lind this year. Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds offers both gold & green varieties of this melon, & they sent me a free bonus seed packet of "Golden Jenny" to try. (They also sent me a free bonus packet of "Green Zebra" tomatoes that germinated in 3-1/2 days!!!!)

I LOVE when seed companies do that! You figure, it really doesn't cost them that much, & it's such a nice surprise & goodwill gesture.

Did she ever make a recording? I found an eBay auction for a Victor Talking Machine Company advertisement in Harper's Magazine. I have no idea how long the image will be online. Under a drawing of Jenny Lind performing at Castle Garden in 1851 it says:

"All that remains of Jenny Lind is her autograph, her picture, and memories dear to all who ever heard her sing."

"Her greatest charm - her wondrously sweet and melodious voice - is gone forever."

"How different had she lived in the present day!"

"The Victor would have preserved her beautiful voice to posterity, just as it has Tamagno's; just as it does the other great singers of the world."

"You can hear them to-day on the Victor whenever you like; and generation after generation will keep on hearing them though the artists themselves will be forever silent."

Of course, those last two statements are stretching things a bit, but maybe they did really believe that 85 years later we would still be listening to Tamagno, whoever that is.

Anyway, that's one source closer in time that says no recordings were made.

Here is a link that might be useful: Victor ad featuring J.L.

Golden Jenny? Is it an heirloom? I love the original green fleshed Jenny Lind melon. Does the Golden one have the navel on it? Definitely one of my favorite melons. Just don't ask me if I prefer that melon over other luscious aromatic green ones like Haogen and Galia. I could eat one a meal during the summer months.

As far as Green Zebra, it's the most beautiful tomato you'll see. The outside is light green stripes and dark green ones with some golden yellow tinges when ripe. The inside looks like green jello surrounding the seeds. I have a friends who fight over them when I bring them into the office. A little too tart for me. But they are definitely a conversation piece.

Ironically, the idea that the melon was named for the singer after her American tour is a myth. The generally accepted date of introduction is 1846, but the Swedish Nightingale didn't make her American debut until 1850.

Until about the turn of the century, Jenny Lind was well known in the markets of Philadelphia and New Jersey, but was relatively unknown in most of the rest of the country. Fearing Burr doesn't mention it in his 1863 "Field & Garden Vegetables of America," nor do any of his descriptions resemble it. This oversight probably results from his New England bias.

"Golden Jenny" is not an heirloom. At least not yet. It's an open pollinated melon, developed by Merlyn Neidens, a seed grower and plant breeder from Illinois. The melons resemble Jenny Lind (including having the navel), but tend to be slightly larger. Jenny Lind runs 1-2 pounds, whereas Golden Jenny averages 2 pounds.

"The generally accepted date of introduction is 1846, but the Swedish Nightingale didn't make her American debut until 1850."

But she was famous well before her arrival in America. Isn't it likely the melon was named for her prior to her coming here?

Jim

Quite possible, Jim. She was very well known in Europe before her American tour.

It's kind of interesting, though, that her debut was in Philadelphia, and the melon remained very popular in the markets there for half a century after her performance. Which may be why it's commonly believed that it was named for her upon making that debut.

Here's something that's pure speculation, as I have absolutely no evidence for or against it. But.....we don't know how long Barnum worked on arranging her tour. It's conceivable, given the kind of promoter he was, that he convinced a breeder to name the melon for her as part of a multi-year pre-tour promotional build up.

You've got good material there for a novel, GardenLad. A novel about a vegetable. How about that!

Jim

In point of fact, Jim, ferreting out the histories of some of our heirlooms actually reads like a good detective novel.

Hmmmmmmm? Sam Spade and the Green Melon. :>)

There is a recording of a copy of a copy of a copy of a Jenny Lind recording at Elder Music Library at Adelaide Uni,Adelaide,South Australia.
Details
Now searching: The University of Adelaide Library

Search Request: Keyword = Jenny Lind
Search Results: Displaying 1 of 11 entries

________________________________________

Elizabeth Soderstrom sjunger Jenny Lind sanger

Relevance:
Author: Söderström, Elisabeth, 1927-

Title: Elizabeth Soderstrom sjunger Jenny Lind sanger [sound recording]
Published: Swedish Society/Grammofon Ab Electra, 1964
Other Author(s): Eyron, Jan

Lind, Jenny

Schumann, Robert, 1810-1856

Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix, 1809-1847.

Lindblad, Adolf Fredrik, 1801-1878

Josephson, Jacob Axel

________________________________________
Location: Music Recorded discs
Call Number: RET 2976

Status: Available
Yours sincerely
Ruth Currie

Re: RHBC
I am from the home town of Jenny Lind in Sweden originally. She is a National Treasure for us there. Many things have been named after her. But we heard nothing of this Jenny Lind or Golden Jenny Mellon. Then I found that there are these melons in Austria and Germany even today. But then, they are further south of our Nordic country climate.

The singer of this recording that you suppose is of our Jenny Lind (actually is by Elizabeth Soderstrom) and can not be Jenny's voice. Only Elizabeth singing songs Jenny either wrote or sang herself. Elizabeth was also a Swedish singer and did record an album of Jenny Lind songs.

Even in Jenny's home town there is no evidence that she ever recorded anything at any time in her life. These are just sagas or fairy tales. After her last child was born she did not appear in public. Even in Switzerland where she had bought her parent's a home to retire in after her tour of America. They were the only ones she would sing for (and of course her children after that around 1865 or so). Even this Victor Talking Machine Ad you speak of here, demonstrates that Edison never contested Jenny Lind having never been recorded singing or talking. Otherwise he would have informed his competitor Victor of this error. The Ad pictured Jenny Lind singing with two violins in the World Renown Castle Gardens. This was to emphasize that if she had been born later, her great voice would not have been lost for all time.

This NYC location is where 30-40,000 people gathered for the event of the century. Where they were even selling row boat seats outside for $25 each in 1850 for what would be called Jenny Lind Mania and wasn't even accorded the Beatles American arrival over a 100yrs later.

Even so, after her parents died, she wouldn't even sing for her own children or her grandchildren. She was a very proud lady, that also suffered greatly from stage fright and dare not attempt to sing after she reached a certain age. Just stage fright alone might bring upon her and embarrass her. None of the great Coloratura Prima Donna's ever sang past 40 to 50yrs of age anyway. That's when they begin to lose their high notes past 40yrs old. Amazingly only the late great Norwegian Coloratura Soprano, Eide Norena ever recorded the Norwegian Echo Song (Kom Kjyra), that Jenny so loved to sing along with other Traditional Nordic songs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLoWmUagivs

Like Lullabies, Ballads and Kulnings (the word we use for maiden cow calling in spring), with some of the high pitched tones you'll heard in this song. For the echo part of the song the singer tightens their throat forcing the voice into a chamber adjacent to the back of the larynx of some females. It's a form of throat singing actually or ventriloquism. In this recording Eide also demonstrates voice "Shake" (one of the many vocal techniques Jenny also used and taught as a teaching Master). Although Eide was an amazing singer, she was not capable of the quality of voice, Kulning and Shake (nor the vocal agility of high notes) that Jenny was. Though both Eide and Elizabeth did master the masked (hidden) breathing techniques that those listening to Jenny Lind took for granted.

The Shake was a technique of rapidly Kulning (singing at the front of mouth-head tones loudly for cows to hear far far away) and Echo sounding (throat singing) the lower note alternately like a Nightingale (that could also be heard as if far away). Extremely difficult to do properly and not recorded in any way since Eide. There is a recording of an American Opera singer performing Norwegian Echo song at one of the many Jenny Lind Gala events over the last over 150 years. But I'm afraid "Shake" and many other vocal techniques Jenny had mastered are now lost, never to be heard again. Her name is Elizabeth Parcells singing it here in the 1970's Live (in Jenny's English Translation version of this Kulning);
http://beemp3.com/download.php?file=2365390&song=Norwegian+Echo+Song+tradiational+folk+song

Swedish folklore or sagas speak often of some magical powers in the high notes of the female voice to communicate with wildlife. That in every girl or maiden hides a Nightingale waiting for May Day to sing of her yearnings for warm summer days. There are tales of Jenny at a very young age mastering the call of the Nightingale. This is what she patterned her voice "Shake" technique after. Ultimately this is why she became known as the Swedish Nightingale even as a young child. Even her great great grandchildren know nothing of any recording ever being produced. Sorry!

Here is a link that might be useful: Elizabeth Parcells singing Norwegian Echo Song