Opera Singer. A soprano who sang lyric and dramatic roles in the world's leading opera houses, she became particularly known as the tragic courtesan Violetta of Giuseppe Verdi's "La Traviata". The child of an operatic stage manager, she was raised in several large cities and exposed to opera early, becoming fluent in English during an extended stay in London. Returning to Italy at 16 she studied voice in Turin with Annetta Casaloni and made her operatic debut January 15, 1910, at Arezzo as the title heroine of Jules Massenet's "Manon". Claudia's progress was rapid and in 1913 she made her bow at La Scala Milano, as well as in Paris, as Desdemona in Verdi's "Otello", and in London as the title lead of Puccini's "Manon Lescaut". While in London she performed Mimi in Puccini's "La Boheme" and the title role of the same composer's "Tosca", both with tenor Enrico Caruso. Her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York came in December of 1916 as Tosca and on December 14, 1918, the venerable house was to witness the world premiere of Puccini's "Il Tritico" with Claudia in the role of Giorgetta in "Il Tabarro". Making her debut at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires in June 1919 she was to appear there in 23 different roles over the next 15 years; she performed in Chicago regularly from 1922 until 1932 and on October 15, 1932, sang Tosca for the opening performance of the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco. Claudia married the much younger Renato Liberati in 1929 and suffered financial reverses due both to extravagant spending and to the Depression. Bothered with vague health problems over her last few years, she 'officially' died of heart disease though there were rumors of suicide at the time. Always active in the studio she left numerous excerpts of all of her noted roles and while she had the misfortune to record mainly for two companies not widely distributed at the time (Pathe and Edison), most of her legacy is available today on CD.