Jenny Lind - Namesakes and commemorations

Soprano, born in Stockholm, Sweden. She trained in Stockholm and Paris, made her debut in Stockholm in 1838, and attained great popularity everywhere. After 1856 she lived in England, and became professor of singing at the Royal College of Music (1883–6).

For the locomotive named after her, please see Jenny Lind locomotive

Johanna Maria Lind (October 6, 1820 – November 2, 1887), better known as Jenny Lind, was a Swedish-born singer, often known as the Swedish Nightingale.

Born in Stockholm, she was noted for her singing voice from a very young age. When she was nine years old, her singing was overheard by a passerby, who the next day came with a music master and paid who had charge of Lind to give her up.

In January 1849, she performed in concert in Norwich, the first concert was organised by the Norwich Choral Society.

In winter term 1849-50 Jenny Lind became member of the student fraternity Burschenschaft Hannovera in Goettingen, Germany. Her membership in the fraternity earned her the name "Little Lady Jenny" amongst the appreciative male members of the organization.

In 1850, Lind sailed to the United States and under the management of P.T.

Although she ceased her professional singing career with her return to Europe, she continued to perform in a number of oratorios, concerts, and choruses, with a particular interest in Bach. Jenny Lind lived her last years at Wynd's Point, behind the Little Malvern Priory, and is buried in the Great Malvern Cemetery in Malvern, Worcestershire.

The artwork on the Swedish 50 krona banknote has a musical theme, the front of the note featuring a large portrait of Jenny Lind as a tribute to her memory.

Namesakes and commemorations

Lind's fame garnered her many commemorations in Western societies. In Britain, when the Pottergate infirmary was closed in 1898, a new Jenny Lind Infirmary for Sick Children was built in Unthank Road, which opened in 1900. The Lind Infirmary itself closed in 1975, with the children's services transferred to Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, St Stephen's Road. Lind was again honored in 1985 when this Norfolk and Norwich wing was named the Jenny Lind Children's Department. When the new Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital was established in 2001, the Lind Department moved with it, where it remains to this day.

There is a plaque commemorating Lind in The Boltons, Kensington, London. Under the name "Jenny Lind Goldschmidt", she is commemorated in Poet's Corner, Westminster Abbey.

Many objects have been named for Lind as well, including the Jenny Lind locomotive and the gold-rush town of Jenny Lind, California (despite the fact that she only performed on the East Coast while in the United States). During her visit to America, she was reported to have slept in a bed with turned spindles, leading to the naming of a bed or crib with vertical bars on all sides as a "Jenny Lind cot" (or crib or cradle).

Many artistic works have honored or featured Jenny Lind. Anton Wallerstein composed the "Jenny Lind's Lieblings-Polka" in 1845. In 1941 Ilse Werner starred in the German-language film Schwedische Nachtigall as Jenny, with Joachim Gottschalk as Hans Christian Andersen.