Lia Origoni (20 October 1919 – 26 October 2022) was an Italian singer, well known from the 1940s to the 1960s.

Life

Origoni was born in

La Maddalena La Maddalena (Gallurese: ''Madalena'' or ''La Madalena'', sc, Sa Madalena) is a town and ''comune'' located on the islands of the Maddalena archipelago in the province of Sassari, northern Sardinia, Italy. The main town of the same name is loca ...

, Sardinia, on 20 October 1919. Her uncle Giacomino Origoni had been an actor in early silent films in Italy. In 1934, she decided to focus not on her violin playing but on her soprano voice under the advice of fellow Sardinian singer

Bernardo de Muro Bernardo De Muro (November 3, 1881 – 27 October 1955) was a Sardinian operatic tenor. Biography Bernardino de Muro was born on November 3, 1881, in Tempio Pausania, Sardinia, to Antonio Maria and Jeanne-Marie Demuro. His father was a small ...

and the writer after she and de Muro sang in a concert to commemorate the life of Italian hero

Giuseppe Garibaldi Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as ''Gioxeppe Gaibado''. In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as ''Jousé'' or ''Josep''. 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, patr ...

. Origoni gave jazz concerts accompanied by pianist Giuliano Pomeranz, Leonardo Angeloni on flute and guitarist Guglielmo Paparano. In 1939, she was the first star to be signed by the fascist Italian TV station

EIAR Ente Italiano per le Audizioni Radiofoniche (EIAR, "Italian Body for Radio Broadcasting") was the public service broadcaster in Fascist Italy and the only entity permitted to broadcast by the government. History The company was established in 192 ...

and a film was made to record her performance. The broadcast was made although at the time there were only two televisions that could receive the signal. One of these was in Villa Torlonia, the home of

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in ...

. Origoni's theatrical debut was in Rome on Christmas Day 1940 in ', a work by Michele Galdieri, starring

Totò Antonio Griffo Focas Flavio Angelo Ducas Comneno Porfirogenito Gagliardi de Curtis di Bisanzio (15 February 1898 – 15 April 1967), best known by his stage name Totò (), or simply as Antonio de Curtis, and nicknamed ''il Principe della risata ...

and

Anna Magnani Anna Maria Magnani (; 7 March 1908 – 26 September 1973) was an Italian actress.Obituary ''Variety Obituaries, Variety'', 3 October 1973, pg. 47 She was known for her explosive acting and earthy, realistic portrayals of characters. Born in R ...

. She later said that Galdieri disliked her popularity with the audience, but Totò treated her paternally, trying to protect her from distasteful behaviour. During the war, in 1942 and 1943, she sang in Berlin and

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. One of the locations was to entertain the SS guards of the Auschwitz concentration camp. The concert was in February 1943. Origoni said she refused to attend a meal, as the guest of honour, given by the Nazi propaganda minister

Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician who was the '' Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to ...

. The meal went ahead without her, with her chair remaining empty. In 1947, her singing talents were confirmed when she was hired to sing the role of Flora in Giuseppe Verdi's opera ''

La traviata ''La traviata'' (; ''The Fallen Woman'') is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on '' La Dame aux camélias'' (1852), a play by Alexandre Dumas ''fils'' adapted from his o ...

''. The performance was directed by

Giorgio Strehler Giorgio Strehler (; ; 14 August 1921 – 25 December 1997) was an actor, Italian opera and theatre director. Biography Strehler was born in Barcola, Trieste; His father, Bruno Strehler, was a native of Trieste with family roots in Vienna and di ...

at the

Teatro alla Scala La Scala (, , ; abbreviation in Italian of the official name ) is a famous opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the ' (New Royal-Ducal Theatre alla Scala). The premiere performan ...

in Milan. On her 100th birthday in 2019, special celebrations were held in her birthplace. The mayor unveiled a plaque and there was a screening of the biopic "Lia: Music non-stop". The film was created by a fellow Sardinian who had spent time to digitally restore early recordings of Origoni's singing. Italian politician arranged for a street in La Maddalena to be named in her honour noting how well known she had been from the 1940s and 1960s. Origoni died on 26 October 2022, at the age of 103.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Origoni, Lia 1919 births 2022 deaths People from La Maddalena Italian sopranos Italian centenarians Italian singers 20th-century Italian women 21st-century Italian women Italian people of Sardinian descent Sardinian women Women centenarians