The Times is reporting that legendary soprano Birgit Nilsson, one of the greatest singers of the 20th century, passed away, aged 87, on Christmas Day.
She owned all the big dramatic soprano roles—Brunhilde, Turandot, Isolde, Aida, and so on and so forth—during her career, and we are lucky enough that many of her signature roles were captured in the recording studio. Legend has it that EMI’s recording engineers had trouble recording her properly during the taping of the Solti Ring Cycle because her voice was so huge.
The opera world will miss her.
Update: Opera blog Parterre Box posts a tribute to the Great Swede, and also kindly provides a few clips of that great voice in action as a tribute.