Hortensia (Tenna) Kristine Sofie Erogine Kraft née Frederiksen (1885–1954) was a Danish

operatic soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

. One of the

Royal Danish Theatre The Royal Danish Theatre (RDT, Danish: ') is both the national Danish performing arts institution and a name used to refer to its old purpose-built venue from 1874 located on Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen. The theatre was founded in 1748, first s ...

's outstanding sopranos in the early 20th century, she sang in operas by

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...

Puccini Giacomo Puccini ( Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long ...

and Richard Strauss. She gained particular success in 1926 with the title role in Siegfried Salomon's Danish opera ''Leonora Christina'' which included the popular ''Der er tre hjørnestene''.

Biography

Born on 16 May 1885 in Copenhagen, Hortensia Kristine Sofie Erogine Frederiksen was the daughter of the house painter Christian Frederiksen (1859–1911) and Sophie Frederikke née Greisen (1859–1908). In 1927, she married the director of the Danish Petroleum Company Frederik Wilhelm Kraft (1879–1962). A talented singer as a child, she first studied in Copenhagen under Jens Larsen Nyrop and Osta Schottlænder before becoming a pupil of

Désirée Artôt Désirée Artôt (; 21 July 1835 – 3 April 1907) was a Belgian soprano (initially a mezzo-soprano), who was famed in German and Italian opera and sang mainly in Germany. In 1868 she was engaged, briefly, to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, who may h ...

and

Jean de Reszke Jean de Reszke (14 January 18503 April 1925) was a Polish tenor and opera star. Reszke came from a musically inclined family. His mother gave him his first singing lessons and provided a home that was a recognized music centre. His sister Josep ...

in Paris. Tenna Frederiksen made her début at the Royal Danish Theatre on 4 April 1906 taking the role of Elsa in ''

Lohengrin Lohengrin () is a character in German Arthurian literature. The son of Parzival (Percival), he is a knight of the Holy Grail sent in a boat pulled by swans to rescue a maiden who can never ask his identity. His story, which first appears in Wolf ...

''. Thanks to her fine golden timbre and lyrical warmth, she became firmly established from the start, performing in a wide range of classical operas. Over the next 33 years, she played most of the well-known leading roles, including those in ''

Tosca ''Tosca'' is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1887 French-language drama ...

'' and '' La traviata'', Tatyana in ''

Eugene Onegin ''Eugene Onegin, A Novel in Verse'' (Reforms of Russian orthography, pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform rus, Евгений Оне́гин, ромáн в стихáх, p=jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ɐˈnʲeɡʲɪn, r=Yevgeniy Onegin, roman v stikhakh) is ...

'', Desdemona in '' Otello'' and Elisabeth in ''

Tannhäuser Tannhäuser (; gmh, Tanhûser), often stylized, "The Tannhäuser," was a German Minnesinger and traveling poet. Historically, his biography, including the dates he lived, is obscure beyond the poetry, which suggests he lived between 1245 and ...

''. She was particularly popular in Danish works such as Peter Heise's '' Drot og marsk'' and Siegfried Salomon's highly acclaimed ''Leonora Christina'' which was specially written for her. On her retirement from the stage in 1939, she was celebrated at a reception in the

Hotel d'Angleterre The Hotel d'Angleterre is one of the first deluxe hotels in the world. Situated in the heart of Copenhagen, Denmark, it is located on Kongens Nytorv opposite Charlottenborg, the Royal Opera and Nyhavn. While its history dates back to 1755, it h ...

with 200 guests in the presence of Prime Minister

Thorvald Stauning Thorvald August Marinus Stauning (; 26 October 1873 in Copenhagen – 3 May 1942) was the first social democratic Prime Minister of Denmark. He served as Prime Minister from 1924 to 1926 and again from 1929 until his death in 1942. Under Stauni ...

. Tenna Kraft died on 16 March 1954 in Copenhagen and is buried in

Vedbæk Vedbæk is a wealthy suburban neighbourhood on the coast north of Copenhagen, Denmark. It belongs to Rudersdal Municipality and has merged with the town of Hørsholm to the north. The area has been inhabited for at least 7,000 years, as evidenced ...

Awards

In 1914, she was honoured by

King Christian X Christian X ( da, Christian Carl Frederik Albert Alexander Vilhelm; 26 September 1870 – 20 April 1947) was King of Denmark from 1912 to his death in 1947, and the only King of Iceland as Kristján X, in the form of a personal union rath ...

as a Kongelig kammersangerinde or Royal Chamber Singer while in 1922 she received the Ingenio et Arti. In 1932, she was awarded the

Tagea Brandt Rejselegat The Tagea Brandts ''Rejselegat'' (Travel Scholarship) is a Danish award to women who have made a significant contribution in science, literature or art. The grant, which is given without application, was created and endowed by Danish industrialist ...

, an honour reserved for outstanding women.

References

External links

"Tenna Kraft. The Danish Soprano of the 20th Century" from Musicweb
with extensive reviews by Michael Cookson and Jonathan Woolf {{DEFAULTSORT:Kraft, Tenna 1885 births 1954 deaths Actresses from Copenhagen Danish operatic sopranos Recipients of Ingenio et Arti