Ornella Volta

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Ornella Volta
Born1 January 1927
Trieste, Kingdom of Italy
Died16 August 2020(2020-08-16) (aged 93)
Paris, France
Nationality Italian-French
OccupationMusicologist

Ornella Volta (1 January 1927 – 16 August 2020) was an Italian-born French musicologist, essayist, and translator. [1]

Contents

Biography

A cinematographic journalist and writer, Ornella married her spouse, Pablo Volta in 1957, and the couple moved to Paris. She was a friend of Federico Fellini, with whom she collaborated for the 1970 film I clowns . She carried out research for the film on the circus and produced the French language version of the dialogue. [2] She also served as assistant director of the 1955 film The Belle of Rome , directed by Luigi Comencini. In the 1960s, she published multiple books, such as Vampires parmi nous, Le Vampire, and Frankenstein & Company. She also collaborated with magazines such as Vogue , Quindici, and Il Delatore.

Volta devoted nearly 50 years of her life to researching and writing about the life and works of composer Erik Satie. In 1981 she established the Fondation Erik Satie at her home in Paris, [3] and in 1983 she became the founder-curator of the Musée-Placard d'Erik Satie (Cupboard Museum of Erik Satie), located in a tiny room Satie occupied in Montmartre during the late 1890s. [4] Reputedly one of the smallest museums in the world, it exhibited items belonging to Satie, mainly drawings and paintings, as well as an artist-authorized replica of Man Ray's sculpture The Gift (1921). Volta was forced to close the museum in 2008 due to lack of subsidies. [5]

In 2000, Volta donated a large collection of Satie's works to the French National Archives, which entrusted their conservation to the Institute for Contemporary Publishing Archives. She also organized numerous exhibitions dedicated to Satie, including the foundation of Erik Satie : les Maisons Satie in Honfleur in 1998. [6]

Musicologist Robert Orledge dedicated his book Satie the Composer (1990), a major work in Satie studies, to Ornella Volta. She was a member of the Carnets de l'Iliad-Club and a Regent of 'Pataphysics. [7] Volta died on 16 August 2020 in Paris at the age of 93. [8] At the time she was editing a new version of her book Erik Satie, Correspondance presque complète (2000). [9]

Bibliography

General works

On Erik Satie

Expositions

Distinctions

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erik Satie</span> French composer and pianist (1866–1925)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Musée-Placard d'Erik Satie</span>

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<i>Enfantines</i>

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<i>Messe des pauvres</i>

The Messe des pauvres is a partial musical setting of the mass for mixed choir and organ by Erik Satie. Composed between 1893 and 1895, it is Satie's only liturgical work and the culmination of his "Rosicrucian" or "mystic" period. It was published posthumously in 1929. A performance lasts around 18 minutes.

<i>Danses gothiques</i>

The Danses gothiques is an 1893 piano composition by Erik Satie, one of the works of his "Rosicrucian" or "mystic" period. It was published posthumously in 1929. A performance lasts around 12 minutes.

<i>Cinq grimaces pour Le songe dune nuit dété</i>

The Cinq grimaces pour Le songe d'une nuit d'été is a set of incidental music pieces for orchestra by Erik Satie. Composed in 1915 for a planned circus-style staging of Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream, it marked the composer's first collaboration with author Jean Cocteau. The production failed to materialize and Satie's music went unperformed in his lifetime. His score was published posthumously in 1929.

<i>Sports et divertissements</i>

Sports et divertissements is a cycle of 21 short piano pieces composed in 1914 by Erik Satie. The set consists of a prefatory chorale and 20 musical vignettes depicting various sports and leisure activities. First published in 1923, it has long been considered one of his finest achievements.

<i>Trois morceaux en forme de poire</i>

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<i>Préludes flasques (pour un chien)</i>

The Préludes flasques – Flabby Preludes – is a set of four piano pieces composed in July 1912 by Erik Satie. In performance it lasts about 5 minutes.

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<i>Veritables Preludes flasques</i> (pour un chien) 1912 composition for piano by Erik Satie

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<i>Petit prélude de La Mort de Monsieur Mouche</i>

The Petit prélude de 'La Mort de Monsieur Mouche'(A Little Prelude to "The Death of Mr. Fly") is a 1900 piano composition by Erik Satie. It was written to introduce a three-act play by J. P. Contamine de Latour, writing under the pseudonym "Lord Cheminot". The play itself is lost and Satie's music went unpublished for many years. In performance the piece lasts under 2 minutes.

<i>Croquis et agaceries dun gros bonhomme en bois</i> Piano composition by Erik Satie

Croquis et agaceries d'un gros bonhomme en bois, translated as Sketches and Exasperations of a Big Wooden Dummy, is a 1913 piano composition by Erik Satie. One of his pre-World War I humoristic suites, it was published by E. Demets that same year. Ricardo Viñes gave the premiere during a concert of the Société Nationale de Musique at the Salle Pleyel in Paris on March 28, 1914. A typical performance lasts about five minutes.

<i>Vieux sequins et vieilles cuirasses</i>

Vieux sequins et vieilles cuirasses(Old Sequins and Ancient Breastplates) is a 1913 piano composition by Erik Satie. One of his humoristic keyboard suites, it was published by the firm E. Demets that year but not premiered until 1917. In performance it lasts about 5 minutes.

<i>Verset laïque et somptueux</i> Composition by Erik Satie

Verset laïque et somptueux(Secular and Sumptuous Verse) is a pièce d'occasion for piano composed in 1900 by Erik Satie. With it he bid an ironic farewell to the style of his "Rosicrucian" or "mystic" period, which he ultimately dismissed as "musique à genoux". It was written for an ephemeral publication and never performed in Satie's lifetime.

<i>Le Bœuf Angora</i> Composition by Erik Satie

Le Bœuf Angora(The Angora Ox) is an unfinished tone poem composed around 1901 by Erik Satie. Based on a tale by Lord Cheminot, it was his first attempt at writing for large orchestra. The original score has never been published, though Satie reused a portion of it as the Redite movement of his Trois morceaux en forme de poire (1903). Today the existing work can be heard in a reconstruction for solo piano. In performance it lasts about 8 minutes.

<i>Le poisson rêveur</i> Composition by Erik Satie

Le poisson rêveur(The Dreamy Fish) is an unfinished tone poem for solo piano composed between 1900 and 1901 by Erik Satie, based on a tale by "Lord Cheminot". The text does not survive and Satie's music went unpublished for decades. In performance the piece lasts about 6 minutes.

References

  1. ↑ "Disparition d'Ornella Volta, grande spécialiste d'Erik Satie". France Musique (in French). 18 August 2020.
  2. ↑ "Décès d'Ornella Volta". Crescendo Magazine (in French). 17 August 2020.
  3. ↑ "Ornella Volta la vampirologa amica di Fellini". Il Piccolo (in Italian). 30 December 2016.
  4. ↑ "Maisons Satie : bienvenue dans l'âme d'Erik Satie". Ville de Honfleur (in French).
  5. ↑ Melville, Antony (2020-11-01). "Ornella Volta obituary". the Guardian. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  6. ↑ "Ornella Volta". France Culture (in French).
  7. ↑ "Mort d'Ornella Volta, spécialiste de Satie". Forum Opera (in French). 19 August 2020.
  8. ↑ "Ornella Volta : Une vie consacrée à Erik Satie". Erik Satie (in French). 17 August 2020.
  9. ↑ Melville, Antony (2020-11-01). "Ornella Volta obituary". the Guardian. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
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