Jenny Lind (1820-1887)
Nine autograph letters signed (‘Jenny’, ‘Jenny Lind’ and ‘Jenny Goldschmidt’) to Jacob-Axel Josephson, Berlin, Paris, Stockholm, Vienna, Darnstadt, Karlsruhe and Wiesbaden, 1840-1863
In Swedish. 32 pages, various sizes. With an autograph letter from Axel Munthe to Josephson. Provenance: Sotheby's, 18 & 19 May 1989, lot 440.

On Lind’s travels and interactions with composers at the height of her operatic career. The letters discuss, amongst others, Mendelssohn, Meyerbeer, Schumann, and Liszt, as well as her work with Garcia and her singing teacher in Paris. Lind describes her encounters with Tamburini, Rachel, Lablache, and particularly her engagements with Mendelssohn in Leipzig. She mentions roles she is to perform, ‘I have been given the drafts for Les Huguenots and Lucia [di Lammermoor]’, with discussion of her other parts in Robert le diable and Le nozze di Figaro.

Josephson was a composer; he and Lind shared a close relationship, with Lind giving him a grant allowing him to tour and study in Europe between 1844 and 1847.