ELSE BREMS - Naxos Music Library

himself saw Cmen as "a wench who, from the age of
twelve, had been messing about in the gutter with the
boys". Neverlheless, Else Brems caried through her
own more sophisticated interyretation of the figure,
suppofied by the conductor Leo Blech, and won the
approval of the audience as well as the critics. In 1944
she made several recordings ofthe Habanera (I, I ), and
the Seguidilla (I,2). Because ofthe war, the recordings
were done in the rather uncouth Danish translation'
instead ofthe original French Nonetheless, Else Brems
managetl to sing these famous rias with an effortless
elegance strongly suggestive of a later, famous Cmen,
Victoria de los Angeles. It is noticeable, indeed, that
both are outstanding lied singers, and as such preoccupietl
with the subtle interplay between music and
text rather than with a display of vocal brilliance. For
her Camen in The Royal Theatre Else Brems had five
different Don Jos6s: Niels Hansen, Marius Jacobsen'
Thyge Thygesen, Stefan Islandi, and Erik SjOberg. Add
to these Otte Svendsen, who sings the part in the present
recording.
On several occasions. El.e Brem\ srng tie two famous
Dalila arias at concefi perfomances of SainlSadns's
Samson et Dalila.-fhere tre comparatively few operatic
mias for mezzo-soprano suitable for such performances.
but the Dalila rias with their seductive' lyrical
melodies suited Else Brems's voice to perfection The
recording is in French, which is, presumably, due to
the fact that she never sang the part on stage (I' 3&4)
In 1939. on her return from America, she was given
the part of Orpheus tnGltck's Orfeo ed Eurtdice atthe
Royal Theatre. We possess a pdvate recording from a
concert pedomance on Danish radio in 1948 at which
she sang the part in French. This demonstrates clearly
how perfectly her voice suited this classical bel canto
part (I,7). From the same concert we have another
recording of Else Brems singing Comelia's first aria
from Handel's Giulio Cesare,pefiomed, in Danish' at
the Royal Theatre in 1947. Cornelia has just lemt that
her husband, Pompeius, has been murdered' and she
gives vent to her sonow in a beautiful cantilena which
EIse Brems endows lrom first to lasl note wilh a cenain
mournful quality, uniquely her own. (I'6).
She felt at home even in comic opera and operetta She
was a "gorgeous" Euridice in Offenbach's Orphde aux
enfers, andtn 1940 she was the "lovesick' wonderfllly
voluptuous, young" watchmaker's wife in Ravel's
L'heure espagnole, and ten years later the "lovely'
unchaste" Susannah in Krudige Riisager's Sasanne
built on a theme from The Apocrypha, and of which
the title part was written specifically for her. Other
Danish composers created operas with Else Brems in
mind. Of these the most outstanding is Ebbe Hamenk's
Marie Grubbe from 1940. The stomy life of the
historical Marie Grubbe, a lady ofnoble birth, has been
treated by several Danish writers such as Ludvig
Holberg, H. C.Andersen, and J. P Jacobsen. The libretto
for the opera was written by Fredrik Nygard
who, perhaps because ofthe wil, stresses Marie Grubbe's
love for her native country in several lyrical
passages. One of them "To Denmark", recorded here
from a private recording of a radio concert (I,8)' shows
how perfectly Hamerik understood the quality of Else
Brems's voice. The period was a flourishing one for
Danish opera; Ebbe Hamerik's The Travelling
Companion, afterH.C.Andersen, was put on with Else
Brems as the wicked princess; she sang important parts
in Jprgen Bentzon's Saturnalta, in Knud Jeppesen's
Rosaura, and Johan Hye Knudsen's Church and Organ.
In 1943, in blacked-out Copenhagen George
Gershwin's Porgy and Bess had its turbulent European
premiere. Nazi bomb scues threatened to boycot the
perfomance in which Else Brems, as the firstnon-black
singer, was to sing the part of Bess The perfomance