Johanne Brun

As a result, in May 1896 she was able to make her stage début at the Royal Danish Theatre as the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute, mastering the role's coloratura requirements as well as its dramatic components.

[1][2] It was not until May 1898 that Brun made her second appearance, this time in the title role in Aïda, receiving ever warmer acclaim from the critics, both as a singer and an actress.

In subsequent seasons, under year-to-year engagements, her roles included Leonora in Il trovatore, Desdemona in Otello, Elsa in Lohengrin, and Ingeborg in Peter Heise's Drot og marsk.

In 1902, thanks to the initiative of the Norwegian conductor Johan Svendsen, the Royal Danish Opera staged The Ring Cycle, giving Brun her first Wagnerian role, that of Sieglinde in Die Walküre.

The same year, probably as a result of conflicts with the stage director Julius Lehmann (1861–1931), she failed to be chosen to sing Kundry in Parsifal.

She nevertheless performed all the Wagnerian heroines as well as the leading soprano roles in Fidelio, Un ballo in maschera, La Juive, Aïda and Il trovatore.

She was particularly successful performing in Eugen d'Albert's Die toten Augen, receiving unending applause, large flower arrangements and written congratulations from the mayor.