Quick Facts
Biography
Giuseppina Finzi-Magrini (Turin, 1878 - Desio, 1944) was an Italian soprano.
Finzi-Magrini made her debut in 1896 as Oscar in Lucia di Lammermoor. She was remembered for her style and moderation. In retirement she turned to teaching. Her students included the Danish baritone Frantz Rabinowitz (1918–1948).
In 1943, when Italy came under Nazi occupation and Jews were being hunted, Finzi-Magrini who was of Jewish origin went into hiding under a false name. In 1944 a young nephew was deported to a concentration camp, causing a heart attack that left her mute and paralyzed. She died six weeks later from wounds received in an American air-raid on Desio.
Recordings
- Rigoletto: Deh non parlare (with Tito Ruffo).
- American celebrity recordings, 1900-1925 Julian Morton Moses - 1993 p208 (8059) Note: Among a host of other selections, this fine soprano sang the usual coloratura aria from the above opera both for Fonotipia before 1909 on No. 92276 and for Columbia after that date on No. 11162
In Fiction
Finzi-Magrini is referenced often in Andre Maurois' 1920 novel Les silences du colonel Bramble (The Silence of Colonel Bramble). She is the favorite singer of the British officer of the title, who likes to listen to her singing on his gramophone throughout World War I.