• LIND, Johanna Maria: soloist, v
• GOLDSCHMIDT, Otto: soloist, pf
• Estates Theatre orchestra: participating orchestra, orch
• NESVADBA, Josef: director of ensemble, conductor

The correspondent signed ‘h.’ of the Prague newspaper Tagesbote aus Böhmen 22/1/1858 reported that ‘The first Concert of Mrs Jenny Lind-Goldscmidt has been announced for next week on Friday 29th January. We are able to communicate reliably the programme, which has not yet been published. Mrs Jenny Lind Goldschmidt will sing the first aria of Gabriel from Haydn’s Schöpfung, the final aria from Nachtwandlerin and the aria of Pamina (G minor) from Zauberflöte; then the Lieder „Auf Flugeln des Gesanges“ by Mendelsson and „Ich muß nun einmal singen“ by Taubert. Mr Otto Goldschmidt plays Beethoven’s great Piano Concerto in C minor and a Fugue by Bach.’

Further news, signed ‘i’, was published by Tagesbote aus Böhmen 27/1/1858, which reported the venue, time and ticket prices for the event, as well as noting the conductor and identifzing the opening Overture. ‘The Concert of Mrs Jenny Lind-Goldschmidt, the programme of which we have related previously, takes place on Saturday at 12 noon in the [Žofín] Island hall (circle 3fl, Stalls 2fl, Gallery 1fl). The [Estates] Theatre orchestra under the direction of Kapellmeister Mr Neswadba [Nesvadba] accompanies the artiste in opera numbers and offers also the Overtures to „Euryanthe“ and „Zauberflöte”.

A review, signed ‘h.’, appeared in Tagesbote aus Böhmen 31/1/1858. The correspondent reported: ‘Music. First Concert of Mrs Jenny Lind-Goldschmidt. – Prague is likely to be the last amongst all major musical cities in Europe to be blessed by the charming appearance of Jenny Lind. The artiste lately decided to fill the void of her celebrated name in the musical annals of our city; her luminous star, which rose as a morning star from the North about eleven years ago, now appears to us as an evening star. But the unique magic that comes makes the appearance of the „Swedish Nightingale“ so instantly delightful, is still preserved in its entirety, the unsullied freshness of her genial gift in harnessing the highest degree of artistry to the poetic idea. The most charming effect without any trace of [deliberate] intent, the most brilliant art without artifice, that is Jenny Lind’s Talisman; the picture of the bird, who has to sing without being able to know „Why?”, seemingly at one with her favourite song, so simple, so untouched by any artifice in her tone and voice. One does not admire the unsurpassable virtuosity of the trills and the rapidly repeated notes [doppelschläge] in the performance of the first aria of Gabriel from the Creation, but the charm of the „flying pair of pigeons” and the „Nightingale”. All the artistry of Mrs Lind-Goldschmidt, the magical pianissimo - still to which the voice is invested of the most subtle nuance - the graceful style of exemplary, correct ornamentation elevating us above purely reflective pleasure in her success to pure, truly beautiful rapture. Also the nimbus of her etheral stage presence, the delicate virginal dramatic conception of the artiste rounding off the charming picture: even now in the concert hall Mrs Lind-Goldschmidt’s emphasis, gesture and expression imbues her singing with an almost dramatic quality. Especially original was Taubert’s song Ich muß nun einmal singen in which the most brilliant characteristics of the worthy artiste were encapsulated: poetry, mood, and how the birdsong is expressed in the natural and lovely style of the coloratura. It was a pity that the ornaments in the refrain of the middle stanza we not so lightly and tastefully rendered as in the first and third [stanzas]. The artiste’s admirable command of her voice was exhibited in Amina’s great aria from the first act of Somnabula. The mezza voce tones of the first part [of the concert] possessed the enchantment of the purest breaths of the aeolian harp; in the second part the voice, despite some brittleness in the aria from Schöpfung, had become tamed. Understanding and simple poetry were most evident in the G minor Cavatine of Pamina from Zauberflöte. The simple lament, fading away without a „biting” conclusion, yesterday caused a sensation in the concert hall... that to our knowledge has never been achieved in the opera. Mrs. Lind-Goldschmidt sang especially beautifully in the Cavatine [in the section] from the modulation to B flat major; in the simple portamento the singer does not engage the classically decorative technical manner, but floats as though elevating upwards with the wings of a butterfly.  Similarly, in Mendelssohn's magnificent Auf Flügeln des Gesanges, the third, intimately and powerfully elevated stanza, the „sacred waves [heiligen Wellen]” of this song stream seemed to lap upon us as calmly and broadly as they flowed. The Prague public honoured the name of the artist though their mass attendance of this Concert, evident in the presence most brilliant names of the nobility, the intellectual elite, and aristocracy of art, and [paid tribute to] her artistry through approbation of the highest and most unadulterated kind, increasing with each successive number from respectful congeniality to a storm of enthusiasm.

  Mr Otto Goldschmidt, the husband of the celebrated artiste, is a pianist of the solid, precise school, and of unusual delicacy and understanding as an accompanist. Of his solo performance, the first movement of Beethoven's Concerto suffered from a little dryness and monotony; the purely formal-technical pieces from a Suite by Bach, on the other hand, were very polished, clear and powerful. The Theatre orchestra, conducted very firmly and with fire by Mr. Neswadba, performed the classical overtures to Euryanthe and Zauberflöte with a purity and tenderness which the poor acoustic of the theatre seldom allows us to appreciate, and accompanied the soloists in the three remaining pieces with perfect precision.   -h.’