Helen Watts (7 December 19277 October 2009) was a Welsh

contralto A contralto () is a classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range is the lowest of their voice type, voice types. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare, similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to ...

Early life

Helen Josephine Watts was born in

Milford Haven Milford Haven ( ) is a town and community (Wales), community in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is on the north side of the Milford Haven Waterway, an estuary forming a natural harbour that has been used as a port since the Middle Ages. The town was ...

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and otherwise by the sea. Haverfordwest is the largest town and ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. Her father was a pharmacist, Tom Watts and moved to live above his shop at 26 Market Street,

Haverfordwest Haverfordwest ( , ; ) is the county town of Pembrokeshire, Wales, and the most populous urban area in Pembrokeshire with a population of 14,596 in 2011. It is also a Community (Wales), community consisting of 12,042 people, making it the secon ...

, Wales as a child. She was educated at Taskers School for Girls in Haverfordwest, the Abbots Bromley School for Girls, and at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

where she was taught voice by Caroline Hatchard.

Career

She began her career with the Glyndebourne Festival Chorus, and was a regular broadcaster on the Welsh Home Service. She subsequently had a distinguished career as an

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

singer. She sang Bach arias at her debut at

The Proms The BBC Proms is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in central London. Robert Newman founded The Proms in 1895. Since 1927, the ...

, in 1955. She toured the Soviet Union with the English Opera Group in 1964, singing the lead in '' The Rape of Lucretia''.Patrick O'Connor
"Helen Watts Obituary"
''The Guardian'' (15 October 2009). She was also known for her 1969 performances as Mistress Quickly in Verdi's '' Falstaff'' with the Welsh National Opera. In 1969, her voice was described by a critic as "not particularly large, but the general purity and warmth of its tone gives it a direct, communicative power. And the singer uses it with taste and imagination." The many recordings by Helen Watts included a "monumental" edition of forty Bach cantatas, with Helmuth Rilling conducting the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart. She also made several recordings as a soloist in Handel's ''

Messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...

'', various roles in Wagner's Ring cycle, and an album of Welsh songs with the

Treorchy Treorchy (; ) is a town and Community (Wales), community (and electoral ward) in Wales. Once a mining town, it retains such characteristics. Situated in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf in the Rhondda Fawr valley. Treorchy is also one of t ...

male voice choir. She was asked to choose her favourite record, book, and luxury as a guest on BBC Radio 4's ''

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight audio recordin ...

'' in 1970. They were: * favourite track: Betrachte Meine Seele, from the '' St John Passion'' by Johann Sebastian Bach; book: Illustrated book on gardening; luxury:

Diego Velázquez Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (baptised 6 June 15996 August 1660) was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the Noble court, court of King Philip IV of Spain, Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and of the Spanish Golden Age. He i ...

's The Maids of Honour, ('' Las Meninas'') in the Prado. In 1978, she was appointed a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE).

Personal life

Helen Watts married Michael Mitchell, a viola player with the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

, in 1980. Mitchell died in 2007. Watts died on 7 October 2009 at the age of 81.Profile
gramophone.co.uk; accessed 12 April 2014.

References

Literature

* D. Brook, ''Singers of Today'' (Revised Edition - Rockliff, London 1958), pp. 198–200.

External links

bach-cantatas.com; accessed 12 April 2014. {{DEFAULTSORT:Watts, Helen 1927 births 2009 deaths Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Welsh contraltos 20th-century Welsh women opera singers British operatic contraltos People from Milford Haven People educated at Abbots Bromley School for Girls Place of birth missing