Watson, Claire (1927–1986)

US soprano. She studied with Elisabeth Schumann in New York, making her debut in 1915 at Graz, as Desdemona. In 1955 she was engaged by Solti for the Frankfurt Opera, and sang Pamina, Elisabeth, and Aïda. She was well known in operas by Strauss and made her debuts at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London (1958) and Glyndebourne (1960) as the Marschallin; other Strauss roles included Arabella, the Countess, and Ariadne. She sang at Munich from 1958, appearing as Eva in the 1963 production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg/The Mastersingers of Nuremberg, which opened the rebuilt National Theatre. She performed in the USA from 1969 and retired in 1976.