The Snow Queen was real! what was the name of the one that refused Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen was born in the small Danish town of Odense, he was round-shouldered, short and plain. Now you guess who became the prototype of the Ugly Duckling? However, the storyteller himself called himself that more than once.
Most often, Andersen “copied” the main characters from himself or his environment, so the Steadfast Tin Soldier, the Ugly Duckling, Kai and the Snow Queen have real prototypes. The one that did not reciprocate the storyteller
Jenny Lind was considered one of the most sought-after opera singers of the time. In addition to a charming voice, the girl had very worthy external data.
She was called the Swedish nightingale, because for several centuries before and after there was no person who could bring her vocal abilities closer to Jenny’s range.
For the whole century, no personality like her was born, ” Lind Mendelsohn described.
Jenny was only 18 years old when she entered the operatic stage. The first concert ended with a full house and a standing ovation. The singer formed a huge army of famous fans, including Balzac, Dumas, Dickens and Andersen.
No less beautiful were her inner qualities. Lind made millions, but didn’t keep a penny for herself. Jenny gave money to the poor and also made donations to the benefit of culture.
She was never proud of her talent, Lind perceived it as a divine grace given to her to help those in need.
It is not surprising that the idealistic Andersen, in whose soul the fairies from fairy tales sang, was fascinated by Lind.
The singer and writer first met in 1843 when Lind arrived in Copenhagen on tour. At dinner after the performance, Hans and Jenny had a lively conversation about something, and then went for a walk around the city.
After the departure of the singer, Andersen could not find a place for himself, he wrote Linda a love letter, but there was no answer either a month or six months later.
They managed to meet again only in 1845, when Jenny again came on tour. Andersen came to dinner after the opera, where he was able to talk with his muse. He crucified in compliments, and she listened and blushed.
Do you want, Andersen, to become my brother?” Lind said after the confessions of the writer.
Andersen accepted the offer with enthusiasm, because being a brother is much better than being forever rejected. The storyteller came several times to the hotel where Lind lived, he guarded her after the performances. But all he could count on were short walks around Copenhagen in the evening.
On Christmas Eve, Andersen decided to invite Lind to celebrate the holidays together. He once again approached the hotel and asked me to tell Mrs. Lind that her brother had come.
Later in his diary, the writer writes that they talked for about half an hour. Jenny gave him a ticket to the opera for Christmas Eve, and to his proposal to spend Christmas together, laughingly replied:
It never occurred to me, but we will arrange another Christmas Eve, and the child will receive his Christmas tree on New Year’s Eve!
This attitude forever broke Andersen’s heart. He no longer wrote her letters. They met only once, when Jenny, along with her pianist husband Otto Goldschmidt, came to the next tour in Copenhagen.
The writer expressed his admiration to the spouses and presented them with a short story about the boy Kai, whose heart was frozen in ice. He could only be near the Snow Queen and spread the word «eternity» an infinite number of times.
