Summary of 2002-2010
research updated 1 March 2010
We are working on a new book (in French) with all the
research material.
Chopin and Jenny
Lind
Their romance has been one of the best kept secrets
in musical history. The new insight could benefit
their
legacy for so long obscured by falsified
information. |
"A body of irrefutable proof shows that Chopin and Jenny
Lind, the Swedish Nightingale, developed a close and
lasting relationship in 1848-1849."
"Furthermore, the
depth of Chopin and Jenny Lind's relationship is
astounding. Beyond any reasonable doubt:
She was
his musical and financial
benefactor; she
planned
three times
to marry him in
1849 with the knowledge of Queen Victoria; she sang at his deathbed;
and she arranged his lavish and unprecedented funeral at
La Madeleine with special permission by Louis Napoleon,
President of France."
"The research also shows how Jenny Lind contributed for the rest
of her
life to
the
enshrinement of Chopin's legacy. She emphasized in many ways the Polish
roots of his oeuvre.¹ An opportunity now exists to
reinterpret the cult and artworks paying tribute to
Chopin in Poland and Paris, the scope of which surpasses commemorations
of any other composer."
 "Chopin
and Jenny Lind's romance has, till.today,
been guarded as a secret and systematically obscured by
falsified translations and other means which have even
injured Mendelssohn's good name. - Why? It adds
weight to all the evidence, but damages Europe's
cultural heritage." |
"Manipulation of history is deplorable.
It strikes no doubt a raw nerve with a country that has used
language and culture
to maintain a strong national identity in turbulent
times. The truth about Chopin and Jenny Lind's
relationship could be a benefit for their legacy and for
Polish poets, painters and sculptors, as well as for
Richard Wagner, Liszt, Mendelssohn
and Oscar Wilde. Today, this new insight could also have a
bearing on Poland's dialogue with Sweden and Russia
and on Poland's stature in Europe." |
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¹ POLAND
/ ZELAZOWA WOLA
As discovered by Icons of Europe, Jenny Lind - and later Princess Winnaretta de
Polignac
through her Paris salon - took many initiatives to call attention to Chopin's Polish roots.
While
his music was appreciated in Paris and London and even America in the
second
half of the
19th century, the musical elite of Russian-occupied Poland did at the time
not appear to
have any deep knowledge of Chopin's works.
For example, the musical programme at the unveiling of
Chopin's memorial
at
Zelazowa Wola on 14 October 1894 had as item n° 7 "Polonaise in A major for
chorus
and orchestra". The piano items of the programme were performed by Mily Balakirev
(1837-1910), the Russian pianist, conductor and composer, known today
primarily for his
work promoting nationalism in Russian
music. Source:
Balakirev: A critical study of
his
life and music by
Edward Garden, Faber and Faber, London 1967, p. 140.
 In this connection, Icons of Europe has proposed to the
Fryderyk Chopin Institute in Warsaw a joint research project on how
the whole Zelazowa Wola estate could have
been inaugurated
and financed in 1894, under the Russian occupation, with the
"supreme permission" of Tsar Alexander III (painting).
Icons of Europe's initial research suggests that the timing of the
unveiling of Jenny Lind's memorial at Poets' Corner of Westminster
Abbey with royal patronage, also in 1894, was not a coincidence. |
JENNY LIND
Jenny Lind
(1820-1887),
the celebrated
soprano and
wealthy philanthropist
known
as
the Swedish Nightingale,
is portrayed above
by a daguerreotype from ca. 1850.
COPYRIGHT
Icons of
Europe holds all rights on the research
material
developed since 2002.
This online summary of the findings,
copyright © 2003-2009 Icons of Europe, B-1380 Brussels,
may be quoted in part or be reproduced as a whole,
provided that the source
is specified as:
"Cecilia and Jens Jorgensen, Icons of Europe, Brussels". |
