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The Swedish soprano Jenny Lind, often known as the "Swedish Nightingale" was one of the most highly regarded singers of the 19th century. At the height of her fame she was persuaded by the showman P.T. Barnum to undertake a long tour of the United States. The tour began in September 1850 and continued to May 1852. Barnum's advance publicity made Lind a celebrity even before she arrived in the U.S., and Tickets for her first concerts were in such demand that Barnum sold them by auction. The tour provoked a popular furore dubbed "Lind Mania" by the local press, and raised large sums of money for both Lind and Barnum. Lind donated her profits to her favoured charities, principally the endowment of free schools in her native Sweden.

Lind's concerts featured a supporting baritone, Giovanni Belletti, and her London colleague Julius Benedict as pianist, arranger and conductor. Lind found Barnum's relentless commercial promotion of her increasingly distasteful, and she terminated her contract with him in 1851 under amicable circumstances, continuing to tour for nearly a year under her own management. Benedict returned to England in 1851, and Lind's friend Otto Goldschmidt joined the tour as her pianist and conductor. She and Goldschmidt married in February 1852.


Touring

Under the management of Barnum, whose publicity always preceded her and whipped up enthusiasm (he had up to 26 journalists on his payroll), Lind and her company toured first in the eastern United States, with concerts in Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C. and Richmond, Virginia. From there they went by ship to Charleston, South Carolina, a short but perilous voyage during which they came close to being sunk by a storm; the ship was at one point reported lost. From Charleston, the company went to Havana, but Lind was less successful there; the local public wanted her in opera rather than in concert. From Cuba the party sailed to New Orleans, where Lind was greeted with rapturous enthusiasm. The historian Keith Hambrick has published a study of Lind's time in the city, which includes details of the commercial marketing of her image, unauthorised and of no monetary reward to her, such as Jenny Lind shirts, Jenny Lind cravats, Jenny Lind gloves, Jenny Lind pocket handkerchiefs, Jenny Lind coats, Jenny Lind hats, and even Jenny Lind sausages. Tickets for all of her 13 concerts in New Orleans were so much in demand that a charge was made for admission to the auction for tickets. Hambrick quotes details of the programming of some of the concerts:

Belletti came on before Lind, and after his own numbers he went offstage and escorted her to the platform. She would sing five or so numbers during the course of the concert: on one occasion in New Orleans these were "Come per me sereno", from Bellini's La sonnambula; a buffo duet with Belletti ("Per piacer alla Signora") from Rossini's Il Turco in Italia; her trademark trio for voice and two flutes composed for her by Meyerbeer; and to finish the concert, a Swedish song, the "Herdsman's Song", sung in her native language. At other concerts, Belletti sang "Largo al factotum" from The Barber of Seville and Lind sang "Casta diva" from Norma and "I know that my Redeemer liveth" from Messiah.

From New Orleans, the party sailed up river to Natchez, Mississippi, Memphis, Tennessee, and St. Louis, Missouri.

The last stops in the Barnum tour were Louisville, Kentucky, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where the crowds were so unruly that Lind was trapped in the concert hall for a short time. Stones were thrown at her carriage and into her dressing room, and Barnum hastily rearranged the tour schedule. After a detour to New York, the company returned to Philadelphia. There, Lind and Barnum parted company on 9 June 1851. The separation was amicable, and they remained on good terms afterwards, but Lind had wearied of Barnum's assertive marketing of her. For the rest of her American tour she was her own impresario. She extended her itinerary to include Canada, giving a concert in Toronto for which tickets sold out within 90 minutes of going on sale.

At about the same time, Benedict received an offer from London to take over as musical director at Her Majesty's Theatre. He accepted, and to replace him, Lind invited Otto Goldschmidt, whom she had known for many years. He was nine years her junior, but they formed a close attachment and were married quietly in Boston on 5 February 1852, shortly after he had been baptised an Episcopalian out of consideration for Lind's religious views.

The tour finally returned to New York in May 1852. The New York Times reported, "Madame Goldschmidt's Farewell Concert, last evening, was attended by the largest and finest audience we ever saw assembled in New-York. The vast area of Castle Garden was crowded to its utmost capacity, and thousands thronged the passage ways – the covered bridge leading from the Garden to the Battery, and the walks into the street far beyond the outer gates." Her best known numbers were joined on this occasion by a new song "Farewell to America", with words by C.P. Cranch and music by Goldschmidt. On 29 May 1852, Lind, Goldschmidt and the party sailed from New York back to England.