Opera on the Move in the Nordic Countries during the Long 19th ...

Jenny Lind’s vocal strain
connections with other European centres. Thus, he cannot be entirely dismissed
as incompetent. However, in the 1840s, criticism of his teaching
abilities began to emerge. In the journal Stockholm’s Figaro (14 June 1846)
Berg was criticised for several fatigued voices of singers under his instruction,
for instance, Elna Ström, Julia Liedberg, Olof Strandberg and Mina
Fundin. The journal claimed that it was fortunate that Jenny had sought
help from the great Manuel García (Stockholms Figaro, 14 June 1846).
But the question remains of what was it about Isak Berg’s training that
failed to produce an adequate vocal technique? Berg wrote about his vocal
pedagogy in a few unpublished manuscripts: “Notes about the voice,
the singing and the art: Testament to my pupils” (1868, 1869), 9 “Advice for
singing exercises given by the tenor singer at the Royal <strong>Opera</strong> House in
Stockholm: Berg after the Italian school” (1879) 10 and “Notes on vocal pedagogy
and harmonoc theory” (1880). 11 Among his ideas, there are some that
indicate his teaching and treatment of young voices may have contributed
to exhausting them.
Berg generally placed the chest voice a little too high in the register.
He claimed that a woman’s chest voice starts at g1 and continues downward
(Berg 1868, p. 53), whereas García believed that a woman’s chest
voice should be kept below e1. García’s contention was that women can
produce pitches in the chest voice over e1, but if over-used, this could damage
the entire voice and even reduce it in a short time (García 1894, p. 15).
The baritone Isidor Dannström, who often sang with Jenny Lind during the
1840s, thought that in her youth Jenny had used her chest voice too high in
her register (Dannström 1896, pp. 34–35). Adding to this, García claimed
that a voice veiled by the middle tones could be caused by using the chest
voice in too high a range (García 1894, pp. 8–9). There is considerable difference
between Berg’s and García’s assessments about where to use the
chest voice. They differ by a minor third in their advice, which was probably
one of the reasons why Jenny exhausted her voice. Berg’s teaching can also
be compared to the manual Vocal-Learning (1814) 12 in which a soprano was
taught to sing in a chest voice up to f1 (Sång-lära 1814, p. 5). That is higher
than García’s e1, but still as much as a whole tone lower than Berg’s g1.
9 Anteckningar rörande rösten, sången och konsten, testamentet till mina lärjungar
(Berg 1868, 1869).
10 Råd vid sångöfningar gifna af Tenorsångaren vid Kungliga <strong>Opera</strong>n i Stockholm Berg
efter Italienska skolan (Berg 1879).
11 Anteckningar i sångpedagogik och harmonilära (Berg 1880).
12 Sång-lära 1814.
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