In the newspapers of the time, one can see how P.T. Barnum comes into the story, and from there, her fame only grew. She was already applauded by newspapers before her tour of the United States, where P.T. Using the material found in Gale Primary Sources, one can see exactly how the media praised Jenny Lind and her voice so strongly, even suggesting she was the greatest songstress there had ever been. 1 On the contrary, Rogers claims, her amazing fame was mostly due to luck and catchy marketing that made people so interested in her that when they heard her voice – which was not bad by any means – they thought they heard something that was out of this world. Indeed, the concert tour amassed him a sizeable fortune, and the humble Scandinavian singer donated her own share – which was by no means small – to charities of her choice.Īccording to Francis Rogers who wrote an article on her in The Musical Quarterly in the 1940s, Jenny Lind was not the greatest and most magnificent singer of her time. Barnum did start small and end up as a household name he did bring ‘The Swedish Nightingale’ to the United States and make her tour a success like never before. Whilst it is undoubtedly quality entertainment, the 2017 Hollywood film The Greatest Showman should not be taken as an accurate history lesson… However, among all the drama, singing and dancing, it does portray some facts P.T. Kettunen, Gale Ambassador at the University of Helsinki | The Importance of Archives – Preserving the Past and Contextualising the Present - May 11, 2022.
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