The mezzo-soprano Josephine Veasey, who has died aged 91, was famed for her interpretations of Dido in Berlioz’s Les Troyens and Fricka in Wagner’s Ring, but was also a familiar and much admired singer at Covent Garden throughout the 1960s and 70s, making 780 appearances in 60 roles there.
Having the good fortune to reach her vocal maturity at a time when the Royal Opera had its own company of singers who were encouraged to essay a wide range of roles, she was able to move at her own pace, during her years as a company principal (1955–82), from lighter roles such as Dorabella in Così Fan Tutte and Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia to heavier ones including Iphigénie (Iphigénie en Tauride), Preziosilla (Il Forza del Destino), Eboli (Don Carlos), Fricka and Waltraute in the Ring, Brangäne (Tristan und Isolde), Venus (Tannhäuser), Kundry (Parsifal) and first Cassandra, then Dido in Berlioz’s epic masterpiece.
