Fanger studied at the Stern'sches Konservatorium in Berlin with Nikolaus Rothmühl, then with Alberto Selva.
He had his first contract at the Stadttheater in Lübeck 1907–09.
His career evolved as follows:
1909–12 Stadttheater in Krefeld
1912–14 Theater in Königsberg
In 1914, Fanger became a member of of the Opernhaus in Frankfurt. He stayed there as first heldentenor until
his death.
He made the following guest appearances: 1908 at the Deutsches Theater Prague, 1915 at the Hoftheater Karlsruhe, 1916 at the
Hoftheater Stuttgart, 1917 and 1918 in Leipzig, 1917 in Zürich (as Tristan), 1919 at the Staatsoper Dresden, 1921 in
Basel.
During the first world war, he was drafted, however he could still sing from time to time in Frankfurt.
He was praised as a Wagner tenor: Parsifal, Rienzi, Tannhäuser, Lohengrin, Siegmund, Siegfried (x 2), and
Stolzing.
In 1930, Fanger sang his 100th Tristan in Frankfurt.
His repertory also included: Florestan, Pedro, Matthias (Evangelimann), Herodes, Kaiser (Frau ohne Schatten), Robert le
diable, Raoul, Éléazar, ...
On July 1, 1920, he sang Chabel in the world premiere of Die ersten Menschen by Rudi Stephan, who had been killed
during the war.
In 1931, Fanger sang Tambourmajor in the Frankfurt's premiere of Wozzeck.
He died suddenly. He was very well liked in Frankurt so that thousands of people followed his coffin from the opera house
to the main cemetery of Frankfurt.
Reference 1: Kutsch & Riemens
Reference 2
