Pound, Ezra (Loomis)
Pound, Ezra (Loomis) (b Hailey, Idaho, 1885; d Venice, 1972). Amer. poet, music critic, and composer. Went to It. 1908, Eng. 1908–20, Paris 1920–4, It. 1924–45. Settled in Rapallo and became champion of Vivaldi. Admiration for Mussolini led him to give many talks on Rome Radio during Second World War. He was arrested in 1944 and sent to a prison camp in Pisa. Sent to USA to be tried for treason, he was declared insane and committed to Amer. mental hospital, 1946–58. Returned to It. 1958. Principally known as poet, but wrote mus. criticism regularly in Eng. from 1908 (a collection, ed. R. M. Shafer, was pubd. 1977). Especially interested in mus. of medieval troubadours. Wrote 1-act opera Le Testament de François Villon (1920–1) with help from George Antheil; Hommage à Froissart for vn. (1926); Cavalcanti (unfinished opera, 1920s).
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Pound, Ezra (Loomis)
