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Olga Rudge
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Olga Rudge
Olga Rudge (April 13, 1895 – March 15, 1996) was an American-born concert violinist, who had a long-term relationship with the poet Ezra Pound, by whom she had a daughter, Mary.
A gifted[1] concert violinist of international repute, her considerable talents[2] and reputation were eventually eclipsed by those of her lover, in whose shade she appeared content to remain. In return, Pound was more loyal, not to say faithful, to her than to any of his many other lovers. He dedicated the final stanza of his epic The Cantos to her, in homage and gratitude for her courageous and loyal support during his 13-year incarceration in a mental hospital after having been indicted for treason against the United States for supporting Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime. She also defended Pound against the accusation that he was antisemitic. During the last 11 years of Pound's life, Rudge was his devoted companion, secretary, and nurse, as he sank into eccentricity and prolonged periods of silence.
Rudge survived Pound by twenty-four years, remaining in the small house in Venice she had shared with him. In her declining years, an ongoing difficult relationship with Mary, her only child, left her vulnerable to the attention of parties with ulterior motives, resulting in the sad situation described in John Berendt's The City of Falling Angels, in which Rudge could not account for how Pound's papers and letters in her possession had found their way to Yale University. Failing health eventually forced her to leave her beloved Venice and spend her final days with her daughter. Rudge died at age 100 and is buried next to Pound in Venice's Isola di San Michele cemetery.
Rudge was born to J. Edgar Rudge, a real estate investor, and Julia (née O'Connell) Rudge, a professional singer. Wanting to pursue a singing career, Julia moved to Europe with her three children when Olga was 10, living first in London and then in Paris. Olga was educated at a convent school in Sherborne, Dorset, England, before studying in Paris under the violinist Léon Carambât of the Opéra-Comique.
By 1916, Rudge was a renowned concert violinist, performing in many concerts to raise money for the British and French sides of the First World War. Her brother, Arthur, was killed in action in 1918. At the end of the war in 1918, she began her career as an international concert violinist, under the auspices of Ildebrando Pizzetti and his patroness Katherine Dalliba-John. In 1918, Pizzetti and Rudge did a joint concert tour of Italy, performing modern Italian music.
Rudge first met the poet Ezra Pound when he reviewed a concert Rudge gave at the Aeolian Hall in November 1920, admiring the "delicate firmness of her fiddling" yet criticising the "piano whack" of her accompanist Renata Borgatti.[3] Rudge continued her association with Borgatti and pursued her interest in modern Italian music, giving concerts with Borgatti and Pizzetti at the Sala Bach in Rome in 1921, and joining Renata Borgatti again at the Salle Pleyel in 1922.
One of her first meetings with Pound took place in 1923, in Paris at the salon of Natalie Barney. Pound later recalled "her delicate and unemphatic reserve".[4] At this time Pound was developing his own musical interests, composing an opera and advancing the work of American composer George Antheil. Antheil and Rudge were to enjoy a long professional collaboration dating from this period, which also marked the beginning of her sexual relationship with Pound. Rudge was now an established and successful soloist living in a luxurious apartment on Paris's respectable "right bank". She had nothing to gain by an association with a bohemian eccentric poet such as Pound,[5] who was definitely "left bank" in his views and works. This willingness to flout convention and put her reputation at risk would typify her long affair with Pound.
In December 1923, Rudge and Antheil gave a concert at the Salle du Conservatoire which included not only works by Mozart, Bach, and Antheil, but also Ezra Pound's "Sujet pour violin". For his work to be performed by a notable soloist was exactly the publicity Pound the aspiring composer desired. In 1924, Rudge and Antheil performed "Musique Americaine" at the Salle Pleyel. This concert also included work by Pound and Antheil's "Deuxieme Sonate", dedicated to Rudge. From 1923 onwards, Pound's letters to Rudge advise her on her career. He strongly recommended she pay more attention to her patrons (something he himself never failed to do), and chided her for her lack of interest in the press comments concerning her concerts.[6]
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Olga Rudge
Olga Rudge (April 13, 1895 – March 15, 1996) was an American-born concert violinist, who had a long-term relationship with the poet Ezra Pound, by whom she had a daughter, Mary.
A gifted[1] concert violinist of international repute, her considerable talents[2] and reputation were eventually eclipsed by those of her lover, in whose shade she appeared content to remain. In return, Pound was more loyal, not to say faithful, to her than to any of his many other lovers. He dedicated the final stanza of his epic The Cantos to her, in homage and gratitude for her courageous and loyal support during his 13-year incarceration in a mental hospital after having been indicted for treason against the United States for supporting Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime. She also defended Pound against the accusation that he was antisemitic. During the last 11 years of Pound's life, Rudge was his devoted companion, secretary, and nurse, as he sank into eccentricity and prolonged periods of silence.
Rudge survived Pound by twenty-four years, remaining in the small house in Venice she had shared with him. In her declining years, an ongoing difficult relationship with Mary, her only child, left her vulnerable to the attention of parties with ulterior motives, resulting in the sad situation described in John Berendt's The City of Falling Angels, in which Rudge could not account for how Pound's papers and letters in her possession had found their way to Yale University. Failing health eventually forced her to leave her beloved Venice and spend her final days with her daughter. Rudge died at age 100 and is buried next to Pound in Venice's Isola di San Michele cemetery.
Rudge was born to J. Edgar Rudge, a real estate investor, and Julia (née O'Connell) Rudge, a professional singer. Wanting to pursue a singing career, Julia moved to Europe with her three children when Olga was 10, living first in London and then in Paris. Olga was educated at a convent school in Sherborne, Dorset, England, before studying in Paris under the violinist Léon Carambât of the Opéra-Comique.
By 1916, Rudge was a renowned concert violinist, performing in many concerts to raise money for the British and French sides of the First World War. Her brother, Arthur, was killed in action in 1918. At the end of the war in 1918, she began her career as an international concert violinist, under the auspices of Ildebrando Pizzetti and his patroness Katherine Dalliba-John. In 1918, Pizzetti and Rudge did a joint concert tour of Italy, performing modern Italian music.
Rudge first met the poet Ezra Pound when he reviewed a concert Rudge gave at the Aeolian Hall in November 1920, admiring the "delicate firmness of her fiddling" yet criticising the "piano whack" of her accompanist Renata Borgatti.[3] Rudge continued her association with Borgatti and pursued her interest in modern Italian music, giving concerts with Borgatti and Pizzetti at the Sala Bach in Rome in 1921, and joining Renata Borgatti again at the Salle Pleyel in 1922.
One of her first meetings with Pound took place in 1923, in Paris at the salon of Natalie Barney. Pound later recalled "her delicate and unemphatic reserve".[4] At this time Pound was developing his own musical interests, composing an opera and advancing the work of American composer George Antheil. Antheil and Rudge were to enjoy a long professional collaboration dating from this period, which also marked the beginning of her sexual relationship with Pound. Rudge was now an established and successful soloist living in a luxurious apartment on Paris's respectable "right bank". She had nothing to gain by an association with a bohemian eccentric poet such as Pound,[5] who was definitely "left bank" in his views and works. This willingness to flout convention and put her reputation at risk would typify her long affair with Pound.
In December 1923, Rudge and Antheil gave a concert at the Salle du Conservatoire which included not only works by Mozart, Bach, and Antheil, but also Ezra Pound's "Sujet pour violin". For his work to be performed by a notable soloist was exactly the publicity Pound the aspiring composer desired. In 1924, Rudge and Antheil performed "Musique Americaine" at the Salle Pleyel. This concert also included work by Pound and Antheil's "Deuxieme Sonate", dedicated to Rudge. From 1923 onwards, Pound's letters to Rudge advise her on her career. He strongly recommended she pay more attention to her patrons (something he himself never failed to do), and chided her for her lack of interest in the press comments concerning her concerts.[6]