Ornella Volta (1 January 1927 – 16 August 2020) was an Italian-born French musicologist, essayist, and translator.
Biography
A cinematographic journalist and writer, Ornella married her spouse, Pablo Volta in 1957, and the couple moved to
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
. She was a friend of
Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and most i ...
, with whom she collaborated for the 1970 film ''
I clowns
''I clowns'' (also known as ''The Clowns'') is a 1970 mockumentary film by Federico Fellini about the human fascination with clowns and circuses.
Plot summary
Cast Main
* Riccardo Billi as Himself – Italian Clown (credited as Billi)
* Fede ...
''. She carried out research for the film on the circus and produced the
French language
French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...
version of the dialogue. She also served as assistant director of the 1955 film '' The Belle of Rome'', directed by
Luigi Comencini
Luigi Comencini (; 8 June 1916 – 6 April 2007) ''The Guardian'' was an Italian
. 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
Vogue may refer to:
Business
* ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine
** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine
** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine
** ''Vogue China'', ...
'', ''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
Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (, ; ; 17 May 18661 July 1925), who signed his name Erik Satie after 1884, was a French composer and pianist. He was the son of a French father and a British mother. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, but was an und ...
. In 1981 she established the Fondation Erik Satie at her home in Paris, 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
Montmartre ( , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank. The historic district established by the City of Paris in 1995 is bordered by Rue Ca ...
during the late 1890s. 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
Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealism, Surrealist movements, although his t ...
's sculpture '' The Gift'' (1921). Volta was forced to close the museum in 2008 due to lack of subsidies.
In 2000, Volta donated a large collection of Satie's works to the
French National Archives
The Archives nationales (, "National Archives" in English; abbreviated AN) are the national archives of France. They preserve the archives of the French state, apart from the archives of the Ministry of Armed Forces and Ministry of Foreign Aff ...
, which entrusted their conservation to the
Institute for Contemporary Publishing Archives
' (IMEC), translated as The Institute for Contemporary Publishing Archives, is a French institution created in 1988 at the initiative of researchers and professionals in French publishing to gather archives and studies related to the main French ...
. She also organized numerous exhibitions dedicated to Satie, including the foundation of Erik Satie : les Maisons Satie in
Honfleur
Honfleur () is a commune in the Calvados department in northwestern France. It is located on the southern bank of the estuary of the Seine across from le Havre and very close to the exit of the Pont de Normandie. The people that inhabit Honf ...
in 1998.
Musicologist
Robert Orledge
Robert Orledge (born 5 January 1948) is a British musicologist, and a professor emeritus of the University of Liverpool
, mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning
, established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 ...
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
Pataphysics (french: 'pataphysique) is a "philosophy" of science invented by French writer Alfred Jarry (1873–1907) intended to be a parody of science. Difficult to be simply defined or pinned down, it has been described as the "science of ima ...
. Volta died on 16 August 2020 in Paris at the age of 93. At the time she was editing a new version of her book ''Erik Satie, Correspondance presque complète'' (2000).
Bibliography
General works
*''Le vampire : la mort, le sang, la peur'' (1962)
*''Brèves rencontres avec André Breton, avec vingt-deux photographies de Pablo Volta'' (2003)
On Erik Satie
*''Écrits'' (1977)
*''Erik Satie'' (1979)
*''L'Ymagier d'Erik Satie'' (1979)
*''Satie et la danse'' (1992)
*''Satie/Cocteau : les malentendus d'une entente'' (1993)
*''Erik Satie'' (1997)
*''Le Piège de Méduse'' (1998)
*''La banlieue d'Erik Satie'' (1999)
*''Erik Satie, Correspondance presque complète'' (2000)
Expositions
*''Satie op papier'' (1976)
*''Erik Satie à Montmartre'' (1982–1983)
*''Erik Satie et la tradition populaire'' (1988)
*''Le Groupe des Six et ses amis'' (1990)
*''Erik Satie. Bibliographie raisonnée. Première exposition bibliographique autour d'Erik Satie'' (1995)
*''Erik Satie del Chat Noir a Dadá'' (1996)
*''Erik Satie de Montmartre à Montparnasse'' (2000)
*''Satie sur scène'' (2000)
*''Variations Satie'' (2000)