Dorothy Larsen

She made her début in Copenhagen's Royal Danish Theatre as Fricka in Die Walküre in 1937 and remained with the company until 1960.

Appearing in a wide variety of roles, she went on to develop her Wagnerian talents as Elisabeth in Tannhäuser and Elsa in Lohengrin but was also particularly admired as Tosca.

[6] As a child, she first intended to become a dancer and took lessons at the Vestoff-Serrova School of Dance but soon discovered she had a mature singing voice.

When she arrived with her parents in Dresden, she opted for singing and in Copenhagen she attended the Royal Theatre's opera school.

Other major roles in the early 1940s included Margarethe in Faust, Elisabeth in Tannhäuser, Elsa in Lohengrin and Eva in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.