1 Einsamkeit (Loneliness)
2. Die Erwartung (The Assignation)
3. Den angrende Skole-Pige (The Remorseful School Girl)
4. Granen ved Lougen (The fir tree at the Lougen River)
5. Über die Berge dort (Romance)
6. Græd ei! (Do not cry!)
7. Der Abschied (The goodbye)
8. Den elskende Bondeknøs (The Loving Peasant Boy)
9. Vinterangst (Fear in winter)
10. Zum neuen Jahr (On the new year)
11. Byrons Statue (The Statue of Byron)
12. Regnbuen (The Rainbow)
13. Die spröde Schäferin (The reluctant shepherdess)
14. Vals og Romance “Mi eja Jente” (Waltz and Romance “Mi eja Jente ”)
15. Aly og Gulhyndi (Ali and Gulhyndi)
16. Romance-Eccoet på Møn (The Romance Echoe auf Møn)
17. Maylied (May Song)
18. Wechsellied zum Tanze (Reciprocal Invitation To The Dance)
Ida Henriette Fonseca © Henrik Engelbrecht
Ida Henriette Fonseca – her surname is often written d’Fonseca and da Fonseca – was born in Copenhagen in 1806. Her father was Abraham Fonseca, a first generation immigrant and a German-Portuguese Jew from Hamburg, who at the beginning of the 19th century settles down in Copenhagen as a broker. Here, he marries a young local woman, Maria Louise Kiaerschou.
The Danish theatrical historian Poul Hansen describes Abraham Fonseca at the end of the 19th century quite derogatively as “an immigrated Portuguese from the newly arrived banker aristocracy”.
Ida has three sisters and two brothers. The finance sector is by no means a big business in Copenhagen in the years following the national bankruptcy of 1813. So the Fonseca Family have to struggle to feed the many children’s’ mouths. The children grow up and must contribute to the household as soon as possible. Several of them obviously are talented singers, and if one wants
to progress as a singer in Copenhagen in the 1820’es, there is one man to turn to: the choirmaster Giuseppe Siboni at the Royal Theatre (“Det Kongelige Teater”).
Both Ida and two of her sisters, Emilie and Julie, are among the pupils Siboni is mostly fond of. They are all engaged as singers at The Royal Theatre. The two younger brothers, Georg and Carl, also try their luck with Siboni, but they do not really reach the level of their sisters, and they never get a job at the theatre.
On December 8th 1827, Ida Fonseca has her debut in the title role as the crusader in Rossini’s opera Tancredi. She is only 21 years old, but an early career is completely normal – in the case of women often as teenagers. The voice is dark and warm, probably somewhere between mezzosoprano and contralto, and Ida Fonseca also has enough flexibility and technique for the many
coloraturas that Rossini exposes his singers to. The critiques are positive, and also the opera interested Christian Frederik – who will later become King Christian the 8th – is enthusiastic. He personally sends the debuting singer a financial cheer up via Siboni.
RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 2018
CATALOGUE NUMBER: DACOCD 777
EAN: 5709499777008