JOHANNES FØNSS (AARHUS,
16 JANUARY, 1884 - COPENHAGEN, 16 DECEMBER, 1964)
He first studied with Rosenfeld in Copenhagen and made his stage debut
in 1905 at the Royal Copenhagen Opera as Frère Laurent in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette. He then continued
his studies in Paris and later with his fellow countryman Ejnar Forchhammer in
Frankfurt am Main. From 1907 to 1909, he was engaged at the Court Theatre in
Mannheim, after which he studied with Vittorio Vanzo in Milan. Between 1910 and
1914, he appeared annually at Covent Garden in London, performing primarily in
Wagner roles. In 1911, he sang in the English premiere of Humperdinck's Königskinder, and in 1913 he appeared
in the English premiere of Waltershausen's Oberst Chabert.
From 1912 to 1917, he was a member of the Frankfurt Opera, where he
created the role of King Philip in the 1913 premiere of Verdi's Don Carlos and sang Gurnemanz in the
first Frankfurt performance of Wagner's Parsifal
in 1914. Guest engagements took him to Berlin, Dresden, Cologne, Wiesbaden,
Zurich, and other major theaters. From 1915 to 1929, he appeared regularly at
the Royal Copenhagen Opera, and in 1928 he also sang at the Royal Stockholm
Opera. He performed both on stage and in concert in North America as well.
His major operatic roles included Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte, Daland in Der fliegende Holländer, the Landgrave in Tannhäuser, King Henry in Lohengrin, Pogner in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, King
Marke in Tristan und Isolde,
Fafner and Hunding in the Ring
cycle, Sparafucile in Rigoletto,
and Marcel in Meyerbeer’s Les
Huguenots.
From 1929, he held a prominent position as opera director at the
Copenhagen Opera. Beginning in 1930, he also wrote music criticism for the
leading Danish newspaper Nationaltidningen.
Between 1931 and 1957, he undertook several guest tours with opera ensembles he
assembled, performing in the principal cities of Denmark.
In 1940, he married the opera singer Dorothy Larsen (1911–1990). Their
daughter, Mime Fønss, became a very popular actress in Denmark. His brother,
Aage Fønss (1887–1976), was also a well-known bass-baritone who sang under the
name Aage Fønss-Zimmermann at the Munich Court Opera.
His voice—a large, dark bass—was recorded on Danish G&T
(Copenhagen, 1906), as well as on Zonophone, Polyphon, and HMV discs, and on
Pathé cylinders. Electronic recordings appeared on HMV at the end of the 1920s.
TRACKLIST
Absalon bygged en borg ved havn (Lembcke) 7-282045 13452o (sm)
Gramophone, København 1916-12-14
Der var engang (Lange-Müller) Midsommervise 7-282043 13473o (sm)
Gramophone, København 1916-12-15
Hvor elven nedstyrter (Malmqvist) 7-282038 13442o (sm) Gramophone,
København 1916-12-14
I Danmark ligger der hus ved hus (Kjerulf) 7-282044 13451o (sm)
Gramophone, København 1916-12-14
I dyben kælder (Im tiefen Keller) (Fischer) 7-282039 13441o (sm)
Gramophone, København 1916-12-14
Jylland mellem tvende have (Heise) 7-282037 13453o (sm) Gramophone,
København 1916-12-14
Kongernes konge (Hornemann) 7-282036 13443o (sm) Gramophone, København
1916-12-14
Nattens dæmrende taager (Mortensen) 7-282042 13470o (sm) Gramophone,
København 1916-12-15
Tannhäuser (Wagner) Landgrevescenen (w. Larsen) Z141 CE1004-2 HMV,
København 1923-03-21
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