EZRA, OLGA, and DOROTHY : EZRA BECOMES A FATHER AGAIN, THIS TIME WITH HIS WIFE and EGERTON DID NOT GIVE UP

Reading Anne Conover Carson's book, I sought information on what Dorothy Pound knew and what her relationship with her husband, Ezra, was really like.

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Olga Rudge, who hid her pregnancy, gave birth to her daughter and left her in the care of a villager, so that she could continue her music career and earn a living. She also experienced depression after the birth for some time. She kept that she had a daughter a secret from her father for the rest of her life. 

Meanwhile Dorothy Pound, Ezra's wife, sometimes traveled with him or alone. The movement of these people for work and pleasure created obstacles but also opportunities for them to reunite. In Rapallo, a hill town in Southern Italy, known for it's Mediterranean produce and wine making. Ezra and Olga spent Christmas of 1925 there, one of the rare times they would be able to spend the holiday together, because Dorothy was traveling. In 1926, in Paris, Olga's financials were good enough to renew the lease on the apartment her mother had first rented for the family for another four years. Her father remarried, much to Olga's approval, and visited her in Paris with his new wife.

What was attractive to Olga about Ezra?  It would seem his literary accomplishments and acceptance of her as a woman of intelligence, of her having a 'fine mind,' as well as his allegiance with her to further her career as a concert violinist. Certainly she had to learn that he would not meet all her needs nor could be commanded to see her. Ezra came up with reasons or excuses to cancel plans with her but no doubt he was proud of her and attended her performances when possible. Olga performed in George Antheil's unconventional masterpiece Ballet Mecanique and Ezra created an avant-guard opera Le Testement de Villon in 1926.

But then Dorothy, nearing forty, as Ezra was also, became pregnant with her first child and gave birth in September of 1926. It was American ex pat writer Earnest Hemingway who took her to the hospital in Paris, a friend of the couple but where was Ezra?. One wonders if Dorothy had a child competitively with Olga. Omar, a son, would live with Dorothy's parents. Ezra Pound himself checked into the hospital, some thought due to the stress of "divided loyalties." He now had two children, a daughter and a son, with a mistress and a wife, and both children were being raised by others, and possibly his in-laws also provided the finances for their garndchild. For as esteemed as he was as a creative person of achievement, he was not financially independent enough to be capable of supporting children. Olga and Ezra saw their daughter between concerts. Mary reported mostly seeing her parents a day or two here and there as they made side trips to visit with her. 

Mary was about four years old when Ezra told his father that he was the father of a daughter. His parents were not rich but he was suggesting this be considered when they were writing their will. However, his father may have not told his mother.

But Egerton Grey, who had married and divorced again, also paid Olga a visit, as if he were in competition with Ezra for her.  He proposed marriage again.  Olga was unable to bring herself to tell him about Ezra or that she had a daughter. She was keeping important secrets from those closest to her. Perhaps she feared becoming infamous because she had become a public person as a performer but Egerton's love for her seemed to be unconditional.

Late in the summer of 1928 came the shock that Egerton Grey was dead.  He had been a student at the Biochemical Institute and working on his book. It was said that he was 'ill from overwork." Olga was thirty three. As her life went on, being with Ezra, she became sentimental about Egerton. While Ezra was away, she had the attention of many men, and he even encouraged her to entertain being with a younger man.  Did she ever? We don't know.  It's assumed that Ezra always managed to keep her for himself, even if she did mention the flirtations to make him jealous.

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I have to admit to my readers that I have a suspicion that Egerton might have been struggling with his sexuality, that he might have been homosexual at a time when he would not have had an easy time of it in society if he were out.  His love for Olga outstanding, I wonder how he could have had two quick marriages.  What had gone wrong?  Perhaps Olga knew that she could always have his love if they did not marry.  The reason for his death also sounds suspicious to me.   --- Missy

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VENICE

 

OLGA RUDGE BECOMES A SINGLE MOTHER WITH EZRA POUND AS THE BIRTH FATHER

At twenty six years old, in 1921, Olga went to Capri, before it became a tourist spot, where there were many women living, artists and musicians, what could be called a lesbian colony.  She went there with the woman who she had partnered with for her performances, pianist Renata Borgatti, who was lesbian, and they shared housing.  The question lingers, the possibility that the two women did have a lesbian relationship.  Olga seemed to deny it, was even a bit defensive, and yet, it seems that Ezra considered that she might have had an experience.  What is known is that the two women were life-long collaborators, and that Ezra Pound got used to Renata's temperament. Olga wrote years later that the three men most important in her life, her father, Egerton, and Ezra all liked Renata but that might have been sentimentality.  Egerton continued to profess his love for Olga that summer and in some way Olga continued to love him, for she would someday be buried in a red kimona that he had brought back from Japan for her. Ezra had attended Olga's performance, and we know they had written to each other, but exactly when the couple became a couple remains a mystery.

Whatever the case there is evidence that Ezra was slow to acknowledge or accept the new circumstances of his life. He remained married to Dorothy, and was known for socializing without her, but when he had Olga come to Rapolla, Italy, in February 1924, he installed her in the same hotel where he and his wife were staying,  which angered her.  Meanwhile Egerton again proposed that he and Olga marry. These were years in which both Olga and Ezra traveled for performances and business and to connect with their peers, family and friends. She went back and forth to London. They came and went and so there many have been weeks or months in which their paths did not cross.  And, there is always a question of how much Dorothy knew or accepted. The Pounds were thinking that Rapolla would be their permanent home. It can also not be assumed that it was Ezra who seduced the much younger Olga. He may have kept a certain distance in their relationship or his wife might have tried to do that in the beginning. But they certainly managed to meet up because Olga became pregnant by Ezra.  Ezra and Dorothy remained childless and rumors were that Dorothy had never warmed to sexuality.

Excerpt page 56:

In Olga's view, Ezra should not be deprived of the privilege of having a child, a torchbearer. They had a daughter by "mutual consent." Olga wrote "but it was I who wanted the child, and saw no reason to make him responsible... EP could not have undertaken the child's upbringing, and OR was not counting on it." When she first mentioned the subject, Ezra had turned down the suggestion: the world was no place to bring a child into, he said, especially without economic security. ......  she did not mention the subject again until an unidentified patron if the arts, a friend of both, suggested to Ezra that she would supervise the upbringing of Olga's child and support it financially.  With this commitment, Ezra changed his mind and asked Olga if she might change hers.

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It's possible that the unknown art patron was lesbian Natalie Barnes, who's friendship with Ezra was enduring.  In any case, Olga decided she would not accept financial help. She though stipends from her father and subletting her deceased mother's Paris apartment would suffice

Olga Rudge gave birth after a long and difficult labor that required a surgery, a daughter Mary, and she registered Arthur Rudge, the name of her brother who had died in World War I, as the father, to spare her daughter and Ezra future difficulties. She had given birth in a town north of Rome at a time when unaccompanied women were not welcome in hotels and she had kept her pregnancy quiet from some of her peers and was not honest with her own father.  Baby Mary was premature and not robust and Olga could not breast feed. She was left with a wet nurse in the village so that the baby would prosper and Olga could continue to perform concerts and earn money.

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HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO ALL YOU MISTRESSES OUT THERE!

Many of the women who've been covered here at Mistress Manifesto have had children with their man without marriage and sometimes without his financial support. 

These include Olga Rudge, Isadora Duncan, Dorothy Kilgallen, Cynthia Beck, and Bruna Palombo.

You can bring up posts about these women by clicking on the label extra-matrimonial children. 
 

WRITE ME

 

TEENAGE OLGA RUDGE : HIGH SOCIETY IN PARIS : MOMAGER JULIA : AND COMING OF AGE

Excerpt page 27:

Olga and her mother were always welcome in Parisian society; they rated high on guest lists that included barons and baronnes, comtes and comtesse, and the occasional prince or princess.  "My mother would take me to the along for my education, on the condition that I put my hair up," Olga remembered; "I usually wore it tied back with a large bow." A petite five feet three inches tall, Olga appeared younger than her years...

Excerpt page 28:  

Another venue for Olga's talent was St. Genevieve's Club on the rue Vaugirad in Monteparnasse (known to the American colony as Sylvia Beach;es father's club).  The British group assembled at the Lyceum where Olga, still in her tees, "performed with finish" before the evening was brought to a close with impromptu dancing and enthusiastic renditions of "God Save The King."  Through Julia's contacts, Olga was also invited to perform at the matinees musicales at the avenue Niel home of Madam Giulia Valda with the American soprano Julia Porter, then the star pupil of Madame Valda. The Musical Courier applauded the obbligato in the Bach-Gounod arrangement of Ave Maria" of the very capable young violinist whose excellent musicianship has been mentioned before.

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Olga had a first love, Egerton Grey, a friend of the family who returned her affections.  Egerton accepted an arranged marriage that soon turned out to be a mistake. But war (World War I) was brewing and many Americans feared they might be caught up in it. Many expats went back to America.  Others left continental Europe. As the Rudge's moved to London, war in progress, recitals and performances were rare.

In July of 1916 in London, Olga played at an "All British" concert in which King George, Queen Mary, and the Queen Mother Alexandra were patrons. Attending were the Princess of Monaco, the Grand Duke Michael of Russia, Lady Randolph Churchill, Lady Cunard, and the Princess de Polignac, a Singer sewing machine heiress, who would later be Olga's primary patron.

Her mother single-mindedly promoted Olga's career the young woman turned twenty-one.  In 1916, among her notable performances was at Aeolian Hall where the audience numbered 600.

Meanwhile Olga's brothers participated in the war as did Egerton Grey. One of her brothers was killed and the other lost his eye. Though Egerton and Olga continued to write to each other, bit by bit the beautiful and accomplished Olga Rudge was loosing interest.  Perhaps she knew her first priority had to be her career. Her reputation as a concert violinist was growing and she was praised for her virtuosity. While the war and all the horror it brought had effected her family, the biggest shock was yet to come.

Julia Rudge died in May of 1920.  The emotional stress of the war was blamed  - a "broken heart."  But as she was dying she made Olga promise that she would not continue on with Egerton Grey, who was awaiting the official annulment of his brief marriage.  Olga did so, though she broke the romantic Egerton's heart, who reminded her that he knew she loved him and that she had vowed to be his forever. They had been in love with each other for about eight years.

 Excerpt age 44:

In her journal many years later, Olga confessed: "If I had let my mother know how much (Egerton) meant to me, she would have acted and felt differently. She was right.  I did not care enough." Thumbing through the pages of The Cantos, she turned to the line, "Nothing matters save the qualify of the affection.

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As a note The Cantos is a long poem written by Ezra Pound. Described as unfinished and written mostly between 1915 and 1962, comprised of 120 Cantos... A canto is a break in a long poem, each canto is like a chapter. Here is an explanation: POETS ORG - GLOSSARY : CANTO

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Notes and excerpts:

FLORANCE

 

VIOLINIST OLGA RUDGE : CONTEMPORARY VIOLINISTS and THE NEW MUSIC EXPERIMENTS OF PARIS IN THE 1920's : OLGA RUDGE, EZRA POUND.

Alas!  Research Ezra and much comes up.  Olga  - not so much.  But musical compositions that she did play as a violinist in Paris do come up, and this series from Arizona State University circa 2015 in which violinist Hannah Leland did her final performance as a Doctoral Candidate, is exciting. Aimee Fincher is the pianist.  According to the information about this video, George Antheil wrote three sonatas between 1923 and 1924 as commissioned by Ezra Pound for Olga Rudge to perform. Here is the musical innovations that happened a hundred years ago.  (On another such video it says that Ezra played drums on a composition that Olga also played on.)

From the book by Anne Conover Carson :  pages 6-7 (circa 1923)   Ezra soon introduced Olga to Margaret Anderson's protege, George Antheil, a young pianist and composer from New Jersey who had arrived in Paris to attend the premier of Igor Stravinsky's  Les Noces on June 13.  With his Romanian belle amie Boski Marcus, he took rooms above Sylvia Beach's landmark Left Bank bookshop, Shakespeare and Company. Short and slight, with clipped blond bangs that made him look even younger than his twenty-three years, Antheil met avant-garde composer Erik Satie and "that Mephistophelian red-bearded gent, Ezra Pound," at a tea honoring Anderson and the actress Georgette Leblanc.

Ezra began to take Antheil to Olga's flat to practice. ....  Antheil soon set to composing a violin sonata for Olga, determined to make the music, he wrote for Ezra, "as wildly strange as she looked, tailored to her special appearance and technique.  It is wild, the fiddle of the Tziganes ...totally new written music...barbaric, But I think Olga will like it... it gives her more to do ad show off with than other sonata.

... The Antheil-Rudge collaboration at Olga's flat continued on an almost daily schedule in the all.  Antheil praised Olga's mastery of the violin:"I noticed when we commenced playing a Mozart sonata ...  (she) was the consummate violinists.... I have heard none with the superb lower register of the D and G strings that was Olga's exclusively."  On October 4 at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees, the three short Antheil sonatas that premiered as the curtain raiser fr opening night of the Ballet Suedois became the most controversial musical event of the season.  A corespondent of the New York Herald compared the evening the the premier of Stravinsky's Sacre du Printempts: "a riot of enormous dimensions occurred when George Antheil... played several piano compositions... Antheil is a new force in music ... of a sharper and more breath-taking order that Stravinsky."

TIED WITH RIBBON