Olga Rudge 1895-1996

 
Olga was a gifted concert violinist of international repute, especially well known in Paris, London and Italy. In 1923 she met Pound in Paris and became his lifelong lover and stable anchor.

Pound dedicated the final stanza of his epic The Cantos to her, in homage and gratitude for her courageous and loyal support. During the last 11 years of Pound's life, Rudge was his devoted companion, secretary, and nurse.

Rudge survived Pound by twenty-four years, remaining in the small house in Venice she had shared with him. Failing health eventually forced her to leave her beloved Venice and spend her final days with her daughter, Mary de Rachewiltz, at Brunnenburg Castle. Rudge died a month before her 101st birthday and is buried next to Pound in Venice's Isola di San Michele cemetery.

Readings on Olga:

Anne Conover. Olga Rudge and Ezra Pound. "What Thou Lovest Well...". New Haven: Yale UP, 2001. 

Anne Conover. Olga and Ezra in Paris (1922–1923). Read article here

Anne Conover. The Last Ten Years (1962–1972). Read article here