Sheet Music: "The Skylark: A Morning Song" composed by Julius Benedict
Sheet music for "The Skylark: A Morning Song" composed by Jules Benedict and "sung by Miss Louisa Pyne at her concerts in America." These eight pages of musical notation were paired with, but physically separated from, the illustrated sheet music cover for "Jenny Lind's Greeting to America." It is likely "The Skylark" was originally bound with it, along with the now missing pages with the "Greeting" song; the connection is that both songs were composed by Julius Benedict. Benedict accompanied Jenny Lind on her concert tour of America in 1850-1851. In the lower left corner a notation reads: "J. L. No. 5" which may identify this sheet music with a Jenny Lind songbook. "The Skylark" was published in 1850 "under the supervision of Henry C. Watson & Ce of Loder, New York, and published by S.C. Jollie, 300 Broadway & Firth, Pond, & Co., 1 Franklin Square."
Jenny Lind (October 6, 1820 - November 2, 1887) was a Swedish opera singer, popularly known as The Swedish Nightingale. The exceptional quality of her voice was recognized when she was young, and she received training at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Sweden, and the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. She reached high acclaim in Europe, and was especially popular with English audiences prior being engaged by P. T. Barnum to give a concert tour in North America in 1850-1851. Lind, previously unknown in the US, was heavily promoted by Barnum, creating an insatiable demand for concert tickets and the innumerable consumer products that were manufactured with her name or general likeness. "Lindmania" took hold of the popular imagination and continued for decades though Lind's time in America was relatively short. While in America, Lind married her accompanist, Otto Goldschmidt. The couple later settled in England and raised three children. Lind became a professor of singing at the Royal College of Music in London. She is buried at the Great Malvern Cemetery in Malvern, Worcestershire, England.