Johanne Brun

Johanne Marie Emilie Brun née Prieme (1874–1954) was a Danish operatic soprano. She made her début at the Royal Danish Theatre in 1896 as the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute. In 1916, after being honoured with the title of Royal Chamber Singer, she sang at opera houses in Germany, becoming a favourite of the Nuremberg opera and later performing in Aachen and Danzig. In 1924 she returned to Denmark where she had to cope with financial difficulties.

Born on 23 August 1874 in the Frederiksberg district of Copenhagen, Johanne Marie Emilie Prieme was the daughter of the commercial traveller Niels Lorenz Emil Prieme (1841–1882) and his wife Johanne Dorthea née Henriksen (1836–1907). In 1893, she married the opera singer Frederik Carl Christian Brun (1852–1919). Their daughter Gertrud was born in 1894. The marriage was dissolved in 1906.

When she was seven, she entered the Royal Danish Ballet school, singing in a children's chorus in Carmen when she was ten. Aged 19, she married the prominent Wagnerian tenor Frederik Brun. Recognizing the potential of her "powerful voice", together with the voice teacher Fanny Gætje and the conductor Frederik Rung, he trained her for the next 18 months. 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.