Olga Rudge & Ezra Pound: "What Thou Lovest Well..."

78 The Hidden Nest
hopes it is not his intention to take anyone else with him,’’ Olga wrote,
referring to his wife, Dorothy. ‘‘She considers that her private life, and
would very much resent any intrusion.’’
She asked Ezra to take her gift, a violin, to the child. Mary was then
three years old, the age Olga was when Julia placed a violin in her small
hands. A violin is a tactile instrument; a child can pick it up as easily as a
teddy bear. Olga always felt comfortable with its shape and sound. When
she listened to Julia sing, she tried to imitate her voice with her instrument.
Some thirty years later Mary wrote that she was ‘‘not particularly happy
to receive a violin . . . the tunes were too di≈cult and alien. . . . I would
have asked for a zither or a mouth organ to play gay and simple tunes.
Mamile [Olga] showed me how to hold it . . . but as soon as I was left to
myself, I banged it hard on the chicken coop.’’
Antheil was in Vienna in April, corresponding with ‘‘Ezzerah’’ about
Olga’s forthcoming concerts. ‘‘I have touched up my friendship with Paul
Hindemith a bit, and he . . . would advise Olga to concentrate on modern
music until she gets a slight name in Germany. Modern music concerts pay
for themselves, because of the great interest. . . . Please have Olga do
nothing . . . but the hardest, most painstaking, backbreaking technic . . .
spend any money that is to be spent upon a good teacher that will raise hell
with her.’’
An Austrian pianist, Fräulein Kraus, accompanied Olga in Vienna, and
after the concert Antheil reported to Ezra: ‘‘I went to Miss Kraus . . . the
very next day. . . . she doesn’t consider Olga her equal at all.’’ Neither did
Edward Steuermann, another important pianist with whom Olga played
professionally. The Germans—strictly trained in rigorous technique—did
not consider her ready for a joint artist’s tour, Antheil said. ‘‘I shall do my
very best, always, for Olga, who has done a lot for me. But when I listened
to [her] Mozart, although I admired the warmness of her tone and interpretation,
it struck me that . . . Mozart needed to be hard and absolute, with
the finest filigree work. . . . Olga can’t get the hardness, or the perfection of
the filigree. . . . She must do it . . . must work all summer long . . . not on
Mozart, but on technic.’’
Olga urged Ezra to join her and Antheil on the American tour. ‘‘Will He