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190 THIS DIFFICULT INDIVIDUAL
thanks to Olga Rudge's research and to microfilm technique, has
since been made available to the public. Some Vivaldi inedita were
given at Rapallo. Particular interest attaches to Gerhart Munch's
transcriptions of mss. embodying researches by the late Oscar
Chilesotti into old music (e.g. Dowland, Jannequin, Francesco da
Milano).
"The Bartok played here by the Hungarian Quartet, though
published, was as yet seldom played and little known. As far as
possible Ezra decided on local talent. Yet he was far from excluding
good or excellent professionals on condition the program
was not made up to show off the performers, but rather based on
intrinsic musical worth. Nor was any discrimination ever made on
grounds of race or nationality. Incidentally, the only aid received
from the authorities was the loan of the hall. Besides the artists
already mentioned, we heard Tibor Serly in Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante
and Sonata for Violin and Viola, and some compositions
of his own; Renata Borgatti in Bach, Haydn, Mozart and Debussy;
Chiara Fino Savio singing Arie antiche, and Lonny Mayers, Hindemith.
Lugini Franchetti and Giorgio Levi were due to come when
war cut short so many things more important (but how few rarer!)
than concerts memorable for music and innocent of banality and
display." 43
Stella Bowen says that these winter concerts afforded timely
support for musicians who had been hard-hit by the depression.
Ezra stood at the door of the hall and held out his slouch hat to
the concert-goers. The proceeds were divided among the players.
During these years, Olga Rudge lived in a tiny villa above
Rapallo. The house had no water or electricity, and she prepared
her meals on a charcoal stove. The present vogue of Vivaldi's
music in the United States and in other countries may be traced
directly to the spadework that she and Ezra did on the work of
the "Italian Bach" during the early 1930s.
When the war clouds were threatening, he realized that the
priceless manuscripts of Vivaldi might be destroyed by an enemy
attack. The practice of microfilming rare documents was then in
its infancy, but he contacted Bottai, Minister of Information, and
demanded that this cultural treasure be protected by the process
of putting them on microfilm. Later, during the enemy invasion,