Birgit Nilsson

Like Derek Bailey, Birgit Nilsson also died on Christmas Day. The Associated Press have this anecdote:

Johanna Fiedler, in her book about the Met, "Molto Agitato," tells the story of Nilsson's unhappiness with the gloomy lighting on which Herbert von Karajan insisted for his production of the "Ring." To register her objections, she appeared on stage during a 1967 rehearsal of "Die Walkuere" wearing a coal miner's helmet with searchlight and wings.