Renata Borgatti

Renata Borgatti [http://www.jssgallery.org/Resources/Photos/People/Renata_Borgatti_Photo.jpg] (1894 - March 8 1964) was the daughter of the great Italian Wagnerian tenor Giuseppe Borgatti (1871-1950), whose splendid career at La Scala was curtailed by blindness. [cite book | last = Secrest | first = Meryle | title = Between Me and Life: A Biography of Romaine Brooks | publisher = Doubleday | date = 1974 | location = Garden City, NY | pages = 292 | id = ISBN 0-385-03469-5 ] She originally trained as a ballerina but abandoned dance to become a concert pianist specialising in works of Debussy.

Professional career, relationships

Borgatti was recognized as a world-class concert pianist, performing both internationally and in the United States of America. A lesbian, she initially settled in Capri in the early 1900s, where her lifestyle raised fewer eyebrows than elsewhere in Europe. In 1918 she became involved in a lesbian affair with socialite and Venetian Baroness Mimì Franchetti. The two were together for just over a year, until Franchetti left Capri and became involved with artist Romaine Brooks.

In 1920 Borgatti left Capri to pursue her career in mainland Europe. She also became involved romantically with Brooks, the latter who was by that time involved with writer Natalie Barney. Her affair with Brooks was on and off for at least three years, and eventually just ended when Brooks began avoiding contact with her. During the mid 1920's, she became involved with Winnaretta Singer, heiress to the Singer sewing machine fortune.

During the 1920s she performed often with the violinist Olga Rudge. The two worked frequently together, despite Rudge's lover Ezra Pound, who was then a music critic, often describing her playing as "plonking". Like many musicians of the day, she disliked Pound, mostly due to his inconsistency in his assessments. Despite Pound's dislike for her musical talents, and her dislike for him, she and Rudge continued to play together for several years. Although possible that this musical relationship continued due to a lesbian affair between the two, it is most likely that they simply enjoyed the same musical tastes.

She later taught music, dying in Rome of leukemia in 1964.

References

ee also

*Romaine Brooks

External links

* [http://andrejkoymasky.com/liv/fam/biob4/borg1.html Renata Borgatti, images.]