Virgilio Savona
Antonio Virgilio Savona (21 December 1919 – 27 August 2009) was an Italian composer, arranger, and singer in the Italian vocal group, the Quartetto Cetra.[1]
Biography
Savona was born in Palermo, Italy. His artistic career started very early. In 1926, aged 6, he began studying music. Two years later, he joined a choir and at the age of 10, he debuted in a radio broadcast playing a piece on a piano during a children's program.
After high-school, Savona enrolled at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome to study piano.
In 1941, he replaced
On 19 August 1944 Virgilio Savona married the singer Lucia Mannucci, who later joined Quartetto Cetra to replace Enrico De Angelis, who left the group in 1947.
Besides singing, Savona
Savona composed music and wrote scripts for radio and TV programs, stage shows and films. During the 1970s, he was active as pianist, orchestra conductor, arranger and producer. He extensively researched on folk songs. In 1971, he wrote Angela, a song for Angela Davis, Black American communist leader, innocent in prison at this time. In 70s, he published also other controversial songs, as Il testamento del parroco Meslier ("The Testament of Parson Meslier"), a violent attack on power and religion, based on the Testament of the priest and illuminist atheist philosopher Jean Meslier.
In 1991, he wrote a popup book about Quartetto Cetra, published by
In 2009, he passed away in Milan from complications of Parkinson's disease.
References
- ^ Mario Luzzatto Fegiz, Corriere della Sera (29 August 2009). Addio a Virgilio Savona, ideologo del Quartetto Cetra. Retrieved 13 December 2012.